December 14 - 18, 2020

We made it to the Holiday Break!! We wish everyone a safe and happy time to relax and be blessed. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!

December 7- 11, 2020

 Don't you just love Alabama weather in December? Freezing on Monday and short sleeves on Friday and rain in the forecast. At least the children got to go outside everyday for recess. Meanwhile in class, they are learning about Vikings, using a "bird's eye view" map, and capillary action in plant stems. Weekly practice continues for basic lessons in reading comprehension, cursive handwriting, word study, math facts, operations with multiplication, rounding, time, and money. Everyone had an introduction to adding mixed numbers for fraction work. The students are working hard to finish their workplans and do some holiday choice jobs. We can hardly wait for next week!! Remember that Friday, December 18 will be Pajama Day. They can wear pajamas that still meet school clothing guidelines.

Nov.30 - Dec.4

 Welcome back from Thanksgiving Break.  All 3 grade levels are practicing new parts of speech: 1st-verbs, 2nd-prepostions, and 3rd-pronouns.  The students are also writing more descriptive paragraphs. Rounding has been introduced starting at rounding to the tens place. Branching off one of the Fundementals of Geometry, students were presented 3 positions of a straight line: horizontal, vertical, and oblique. Everyone should still be reading every night and please record the titles on the Reading Log. It really helps the students to look over the list to spell the words correctly when choosing an AR quiz. Only 2 weeks until the Holiday Break. We are ready to finish out this 2020 crazy year.

Week of November 2-6

 We are truly enjoying the lovely weather Alabama is having lately. It is especially nice for outdoor botany lessons as we learn more about the Plant Kingdom. Our globe skills continue to grow with practice using lines of latitude and longitude to locate places on the earth. Students were given the Fifth Great Lesson: the Story of Numbers. We will study Roman numerals as an extension job. A new word study category of homographs was introduced. We specify them as words that are spelled the same but sound different. Another new lesson was finding symmetry as an extension of the study of polygons. Everyone is encouraged to practice memorization of basic math facts toward the goal of answering 100 mixed all facts in 5 minutes with 85% accuracy. Expectations are for 1st graders to master addition, 2nd graders to master multiplication, and 3rd graders to master subtraction and division. Looking to next week, remember that there will be no school on Wednesday, November 11th. Have a wonderful weekend.

Week of October 26-30

 Spirit Week was so much fun. We enjoyed the camaraderie it promoted. Who knew it would include the perfect Pajama Day with a delayed opening on Thursday? Lower Elementary had new lessons on latitude and longitude, an extension of Great Lesson 4 creating their own hieroglyphics, and taking a botany walk around campus. Thanks to the PTO for the treats on Friday afternoon to finish the week. It is hard to believe next week is November. We hope everyone has a safe Halloween tomorrow night and remember to set your clocks back so we will see everyone safely back to school on Monday.

Week of October 19 -23, 2020

 What a beautiful week we had. The weather was not too hot. The children were busy. It was such a pleasure to come to school and learn together... with masks and social distancing, of course.  New lessons included: Needs of Humans, Botany Chart introduction, Parts of a River, and Polygons. We continued practicing multiplication, recognizing even/odd numbers, renaming improper fractions to mixed numbers, telling time, counting money, matching homophones, identifying common/proper nouns, and extension lessons with parts of speech. Everyone wrote a final copy of their literary character paragraph and decorated their pumpkins. The pumpkins are awesome!! Each one is as individual as the children who painted them. Be sure to come and see them placed around the campus for Spirit Week starting this coming Monday, October 26th. Also, remember the themes for each day so wear “crazy socks” and have “crazy hair” on Monday. We’ve got spirit! Yes, we do! We’ve got spirit! How ‘bout you?

Week of October 13 - 16

 Fall is here! We watched a video and took notes about the seasons. Ask your child if they remember that the earth’s tilt and distance from the sun affects the temperature and length of day.  Another special presentation was the Montessori Great Lesson on the Coming of Humans. Humans are special because of our brain, thumb/hand, and ability to love for others. First graders had an introduction to adjectives. Second graders identified irregular past tense verbs. Third graders had an introduction to adverbs. The students are working on their pumpkin paragraphs.  We can’t wait until we get to decorate the pumpkins and place them around the campus. Enjoy the beautiful weekend that is predicted.

Photos from Classroom 3

Zayden selecting a job from his work plan while  Kavya works on a cultural job. 

Mrs. Genie giving an article lesson to the first grade students. 

Lily and Kelsey displaying their flowers they made for Mrs. Theresa. 

Kavya and Eliza working on facts about the planets. 

Drew creating a poster for Mrs. Theresa.

Carlos and Linus working on their poster. 

Evan and Jack creating flowers. 

Justice creating his flower. 

Bella working on a vocabulary quiz. 

Week of October 5 -9

 We had a very productive week. Since the end of the quarter is next week, there were no new lessons. Many students were able to finish all their assignments and make choices for follow-up jobs. Everyone made “book covers” for their finished narratives. It will be so much fun to write a descriptive paragraph about a character from a favorite story next week and then decorate a pumpkin to look like that character. Pumpkins will be on display Monday, October 26th - 30th. That will also be Spirit Week with fun themes for each day. Remember that there will be no school on Monday, October 12th. Have a safe and relaxing weekend!!

Week of September 28- October 2

Now that October has arrived we are enjoying the cooler weather.  We continued our study of the universe with learning about the phases of the moon. Did you see the Harvest Moon and the planet Mars on Thursday or Friday night? Another way we are learning about our earth is through a timeline of life. Students choose a plant or animal and recorded information from the timeline. This includes eras, periods, kingdoms, phylums, and changes in the crust. Also, they are identifying more land and water forms. Everyone is practicing math facts to improve memorization and faster recall. For geometry, our lessons have been terms for triangles. Equilateral, isosceles, scalene, acute, right, and obtuse maybe some new words you hear. Writing a narrative using the components of characters, setting, plot, editing, and final draft has been a focus that resulted in some fun stories. Looking forward to more writing fun in October with "Literary Pumpkins". Details next week. Have a good weekend.

September 25th

We had an amazing week in lower elementary. All the students received lessons on advanced landforms, astronomy concepts, and another Great Lesson. The Second Great Lesson is a story accompanied with a timeline of organisms. Students learned about the simplest organisms up to human life. 

This week, first graders learned the rule on when to use a, an, and the. Second graders are learning more about verbs while 3rd graders are finishing up lessons on prepositions. 

This week, all students will be working on large multiplication. We will continue to give lesson on triangles by sides and angles. As always we will continue to give weekly practice on counting coins, telling time, and cursive. 

Be sure to check the daily announcements from Mrs. Jenn to stay current with what is happening on campus. 

September 8th-11th

Wow! That's was a quick week. The students had a blast this week with picture day as well as the cooler temperatures. This week, we continued to learn about narrative writing. Next week, we will start our first draft in which we will take to final print. 

The students continued to practice large addition, antonyms, time, and money. Lessons were given in grammar for all students. We did not give any formal lessons in cultural but many students selected their own jobs for these subjects. It is always so interesting to see what materials the children love to revisit. 

Next week, we will be introducing equivalent fractions to everyone. 2nd and 3rd graders will start multiplication. Students will learn about the different eras of history in a lesson called "The Clock of Eras". In science, students will learn about the parts of the sun. For geography, students will learn about basic landforms. 

Please continue to complete your child's health form each morning. The drop off process is going very smoothly and we appreciate that so much. Hope you all have an amazing weekend.

Week of August 24th-28th

 Dear Families, 

We had another amazing week in Lower Elementary. The children seem to really be enjoying being with their friends and completing the work plan. Each week the children are given an individualized work plan that they are expected to complete. Some jobs are to be done independently while some lessons require a presentation from a teacher. 

On the work plan for next week the students will be introduced to the solar system, continents and oceans, antonyms, and grammar lessons. 1st graders are learning about nouns, 2nd graders are working on verbs, and 3rd graders are learning about prepositions. Each week all students will be given practice on cursive writing, creative writing, telling time and counting coins. 

Remember that we will be closed next Monday, September 7th for Labor Day. Also continue to complete the health form before school each morning. This allows us to quickly get the children signed in each morning. 

Great First Week Back!

 Dear Parents, 

We had an amazing first week back. The children were eager to work and spend time with their friends. We had opportunities to work as well as get to know each other better. This week, we focused on assessing the children. Looking forward, this week we will be moving into the work cycle. All students will receive lessons on large addition, place value work, ABC order, and compound words. We will start a unit on narrative writing as well. All students will complete weekly work on telling time as well as counting coins. These are great skills that can be practiced at home. 

Many jobs in the classroom will be based on your childś reading ability. Jobs such as SRA, Barnell Loft, and vocabulary can be altered and modified to meet the needs of each child. We look forward to a great week. Please continue to complete the health forms at home before school. Check in is going great because of your help! Let me know if you ever have any questions or concerns. 

A Great First Day Back

Families thank you so much for a wonderful first day! You all did amazing with completing the health forms and with drop off. I'm adding a few photos from today. 

See You Tomorrow!

Dear Families, 

Here are some photos of our classroom. Hope you enjoy!

What a long strange summer itś been!

 Dear Parents, 

We are all currently at the school preparing for Tuesday. Anthony has worked so hard over the summer to provide us with a safe environment for the 2020-2021 school year. We are looking forward to an amazing year here at Bruno. 

Orientation is Monday morning at 10 am. I have sent the link for the Zoom meeting to your emails. If you did not receive it, please contact me at catherine@jbma.education

Things that will be required for the 2020-2021 school year.....

- a mask 

- water bottle 

- lunch box (unless you are buying from Christian Catering)

Please label all items with your childś name.

Please read handbook and Covid Preparedness form and sign and digitally return to us. 

We are excited to see your children!

What a week!

Last week the 3rd graders went to Camp McDowell. This is an environmental camp located in Jasper, Alabama. The students spent 3 days and 2 nights exploring nature. This is a wonderful opportunity for children to learn about their environment as well as appreciate the beauty of nature. 

Here are some pictures from our travels.

February 18th, 2020

Last week the students had a blast! We had our 3rd annual Peace Assembly with the 1st graders presenting. That afternoon we enjoyed a special Valetineś Day snack. Thank you to all of the parents who were willing to help. 

This week, we have been finishing up our invertebrate research. Please join the Lower Elementary for a "Hall of Invertebrates" presentation on Friday, March 6th from 2:00-3:00 in the gym. Students have conducted research on various invertebrates and are excited to share their learning with you!  Come by and hear presentations about Sea Stars, Black Widows, Sea Slugs, and even some invertebrates that students "discovered" themselves! We hope you can drop in!

February 5th, 2020

We have had a wonderful start to the month of February!

This week Classroom 3 (Carolyn and Catherine) will be going to Children's Theater Thursday, February 6, 2020. Genie and Tejal's classes will be attending February 7, 2020.


Next week, we will be having a Valentine's Day special snack and card exchange. Children will need to bring a Valentine exchange cards for their classmates only. Please just have your child sign the cards rather than addressing them to each classmates. We will have a special snack starting around 2:30. If your child has allergies please send in a special snack so they can partake.

Catherine and Carolyn's room has 25 students.
Tejal and Shweta's room has 16
Genie's room has 12

We will also be having our 3rd Peace Assembly the morning of the 14th. As always parents are invited to attend at 9:00 a.m..

Week of January 20-24, 2020

We had a great short week. Students were busy helping restore the environment and practicing materials to present to their parents. This Thursday, January 23rd, we are having our Parent's Night at Bruno. 

Toddlers and Preschool 6:00-6:45 p.m.
Lower Elementary 6:30-7:30 p.m. 
Upper Elementary 7:00-8:00 p.m. 
Middle School 7:00-8:00 p.m.

Parents’ Night is a fun and interesting way for parents to be informed about the learning that takes place in the classroom. Students become the teachers as they choose jobs to demonstrate to the parents and other guests. There is no better way to demonstrate understanding than to be able to teach others. Whether it is a multiplication lesson on the checkerboard or a project-based learning activity, parents always enjoy seeing firsthand what their children do each day in the classroom.

On Wednesday, February 5th, all 3rd grade parents are invited for a short meeting in regards to Camp McDowell. This trip is scheduled for March 11th-13th. The meeting will be held in Classroom 3 at 7:30 am. If you are unable to attend no worries. I will send all paperwork home with your child that day. 

First Week Back January 7-10, 2020

We all had a great first week back! Students were eager to be with their friends and I think we all agree that being back on a schedule felt good.

This week, students jumped right back into the curriculum. First graders are still practicing with identifying and symbolizing articles, adjectives, and nouns. Second graders are working on adverbs while 3rd graders continued their practice with conjunctions. In math, all students practiced both large addition and multiplication. Next week, we will start our practice on subtraction. We also started learning about homophones. Homophones are words that sound the same,  spelled different, and have different meanings. An example is sea and see OR I and eye.

Students were also introduced to persuasive writing. We will be working with the students closely on this writing genre during the quarter. All students continued practice on telling time, counting coins, and cursive. We encourage each child to read a book at home and take an AR test at school. Parents should help their child record the name of the book in their reading log. This is located in their red folder. If your child has misplaced that please let a teacher know.


In January we have several important dates.

January 13th, Progress reports will be sent home at 5:00 pm
January 20th, Monday, School will be closed for Martin Luther King Jr Holiday.
January 23th, Thursday will be Parent's Night.