WELCOME TO FIFTH GRADE

THANKS for finding our class blog.  Here is a short video about the journey we will share together.  Take a few minutes to listen to it; then write down the 3 things I suggest that are important to any successful journey.  Bring that list with your name and your parent's signature on it to the first day of school and I will have something special for you.

FIFTH GRADE ORIENTATION will take place before school begins this year on Tuesday, August 31, at 6:30 p.m.  It will also include an ice cream social for all students and parents.  This is an important opportunity for me to meet students and their families, so be sure to mark this date on your calendar.

SCHOOL BEGINS on Tuesday, September 7, at 8:53 a.m.  Be sure to bring the gear that was mentioned in the letter you recently received.  The first day is a full day of class and students will be dismissed at 3:52 p.m.

MY FAMILY is important to me and you will probably hear me talk a lot about them.  Here is a brief glimpse of the Chittendens.

Kirby, Shelby, Susan, Jeff, and Theresa

Our daughter, Shelby (right), is shown here with Theresa, our exchange student, on graduation day from Spring Lake High School.  Shelby will attend Community Based Instruction in Grand Haven this fall.  Theresa returned to Germany this summer after spending a year with our family.

Our son, Jeff, worked with the district technology team this summer.  He is shown here (foreground), wiring our classroom for the new media cart and interactive whiteboard.  Jeff attends Grand Valley State University and is interested in computer science and education.

THE ODRAM (One Day Ride Across Michigan) involved about 85 cyclist traveling from Montague to Bay City on Saturday, August 21.  My training partner and friend, Jennifer Mason, and I are pictured here in Blanchard after stopping for lunch about halfway through the journey that took 10 hours, 50 minutes.