No lego club on Thursday, Jan 3.

Hello,

An IEP meeting was just rescheduled for the Thursday that we get back to school.  Therefore, Lego Club is cancelled on Thursday. 

Have a great holiday vacation.  I look forward to the new year and the opportunity to be your child's teacher for another six months.

Merry Christmas,

Mr. Shea

Last blog before break

Hello,

First of all, I want to suggest that you check out the letter from our superintendent on the school homepage.  A paper copy went home today, but if you didn't see that, the letter on the website is identical. 

Secondly, I want to thank you for a great start to our school year.  We have a very important few months coming up.  I think we've set the stage for some real growth.  It's kind of like Saturday at the Masters.  That's called "Moving Day" in the golf world.  Jan, Feb, and March are the important "Moving Days" for school.  We've gotten to know each other.  The expectations are in place.  Good habits have (hopefully) been established.  Now it's time for some learnin'.  Together, that is what we will get.

Our Roald Dahlathon has been very successful.  The kids are reading the books and are excited to tell me about them.  I look forward to being able to use their common knowledge of these books to start dialogues on all sorts of topics.  103 books have been read by the class in the last eight days.  That is an average of over five per kid.  It's impressive. 

Unless I get some random inspiration, I probably won't blog over the holiday.  I generally stay away for five or six days and then get back in to reorganize the mess that I've created over the first few months. 

Happy holidays.  Enjoy the family time.  It is a wonderful age.

Thanks,

Mr. Shea

No Blog Tonight

Hello,

I'm sorry.  Our team meeting ran long.  I'm late for a dinner.  Book swap tomorrow.  Spelling test tomorrow.  Lego Club tomorrow.

Good night,

Mr. Shea

Hello,

We had a limited math class today.  It was only about a half an hour due to guest speakers from Maine Operation Lifesaver.  (http://www.maineol.org/)  They are a group that teaches about safety around railroad tracks.  Their message was to stay away from the tracks and don't put anything on the tracks, including pennies. 

We had music class this morning.  As I'm sure you've heard, fourth graders learn to play recorders.  Ms. Brown has a great system where the kids can earn "belts" as they are able to play more and more difficult songs.  She calls it Recorder Karate and the kids tend to really get into it.  Ask your child what color belts that they have earned.

We spent a little time on manners and shaking hands this afternoon.  It was mainly the basics.  Shake hands with your son or daughter tonight.  I hope they can give you a firm handshake and look you in the eye.  We also talked about please, thank you, excuse me, and holding doors open for people.  After the holidays, I will give a standard negative response to anyone asking for some sort of permission, unless they say please.   I hope these manners carry over to your household.

We're wrapping up the geology unit.  We spent a little time going over the fourth grade rocks and minerals test.  I don't like the test very much so I'm explaining some of the things on the test that I would like to see changed.  I will give them a similar test during the first week in January.  Their homework tonight is to explain the rock cycle.  Judging by the reaction that I got when I wrote the assignment on the board, I still have some work to do to get that knowledge cemented. 

On an awkward note, please don't feel obligated to buy me a Christmas gift.  Feel free to donate to a charity or local library.  The teachers at school are doing a little "Secret Snowflake" gift exchange.  I got Kitkat 6-pack today.  The kids were drooling.  The eating tally stands at: KIDS 0, ME 1.  I'm looking at a clean sweep on this one. 

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Notes

Hello,

No students asked me about the events in Connecticut.  It was not addressed.  We went on with our regular business.  Snow was the main topic of the day:  Where can we go without snowpants?  Do you think they should have cancelled school today?  Did you hear how loud the snowplows were last night? 

Our school staff held a meeting this morning.  Our school counselor let us know that extra counseling services would be available in the coming weeks, for staff and students.  She anticipated that these events were affecting us a lot more than our children.  I'd say she was right about that, based on what I saw today. 

I've been running a lot of the "What if..." scenarios in my head.  Here is my opinion:  No amount of security can stop a determined maniac.  I don't want to live in fear. I don't want to see our front doors locked again.  I didn't like it when it was a rarity to see a parent in the halls.  A school needs to be safe, warm and welcoming.  On opening day, HBS only felt safe.  We have been making headway on the warm and welcoming.  I don't want to go back to sliding lunches through the window box into the office.  I totally understand anyone wanting to go back to the locked doors, but I don't agree.

I went to see some of the rec basketball games on Saturday morning.  After the news of Friday, I just wanted to go see "my" kids.  That probably sounds ridiculous to some of you, but I can assure you that it doesn't take long for most teachers to feel that way about their students.  I don't have kids of my own.  My classroom students are my kids.  With that in mind, it doesn't surprise me in the least that the teachers in Connecticut acted as heroically as they did. 

I hope that you have all taken a look at the message from the Superintendent.  It went home with all students this afternoon.  It is also on the school website.  Attached to his message was a note on recommendations for talking with your children about the incident.  Please contact me with any comments or questions.

Have a good night. 

Mr. Shea   

The Dahlathon is on

Hello,

The teams are picked.  The books are stacked up in front.  Now it is time to read!!!  Students will be reading books from my favorite children's author, Roald Dahl, from now until vacation.  (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Magic Finger, James and the Giant Peach, Esio Trot, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Danny, Champion of the World, and the list goes on.  These are all books that should be read before leaving fourth grade.  Ask your child how our class competition will work.  A lot of books got taken home tonight.  I hope they are well loved.

The Snowy Owl made it to the final four for the first time since I have been holding the WWF adoption tournament.  The Tiger went down by a six vote margin.  The Grizzly Bear takes on the Red Fox in our next quarterfinal matchup. 

Mineral identification is going pretty well.  I hope to get all of their final "best guesses" tomorrow.  Feldspar, quartz and sulfur seemed to be the easiest.  Three different forms of gypsum seem to be throwing them.  I think that we can all agree that mineral identification is a difficult endeavor.

The character stories are coming along nicely.  We'll have to find time for some sharing tomorrow, so they can get some reader feedback.

The Lego Club made some movable pulleys this afternoon.  The power of multiple pulleys is very impressive.  We'll be making a machine that uses pulleys next week and then it will be on to wheels and axles.

My math class struggled a bit on last night's homework.  We had gone over the first couple in class and I thought they understood enough about multiple digit multiplication to get through it easy enough, but it was difficult for them.  Believe it or not, I feel like it was more a misunderstanding of what an equals sign means than anything else.  We went over where we had trouble and the same homework as last night is reassigned for tonight.  It should go more smoothly.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Have a great night.

Early Release tomorrow

Hello,

Don't forget that tomorrow will be an early release day.  It is a 1:00 dismissal time.  Teachers will be meeting to discuss our math program.  I probably won't do a blog tomorrow.  We only have math and phys. ed before lunch.  Harry Potter lunch will have to be cancelled due to all classes eating in their homerooms.  HP club will still meet on Friday after school.

Homework club met tonight.  Math homework is proving to be very difficult.  Please don't help your child to the point that the homework shows that they know something that they really do not.  Homework should always be a review or extra practice.  If it looks Greek, leave a note explaining what was attempted. 

The Komodo Dragon won narrowly 11-9 over the Grey Wolf in this morning's vote.  Only nine animals still in contention to be the class adoptee. 

We'll be having a book swap next Thursday.  Here is a look at part of the flyer without any graphics:

Book Swap

Thursday, December 20th

 Tired of the same old books on your bookshelf?

Need something new and exciting to read?

 

You’re in luck!

 

It is time for a good old-fashioned book swap!

 

       Bring in up to 10 books (good condition please) that you no longer want or need. For every book that you donate to the swap, you will be able to pick out a book to take home.  For example, if Joe brought in four books to the swap, he would get to choose and take home four other books.

*Books must be brought in by Thursday, December 20th.

*Bring in appropriate grade level books in good condition.

*Mr. Shea will add plenty of books to the cause.

 

I've bought a lot of 25 and 50 cent books over the past few months to add to the sale.  It should prove to be fun and worthwhile to everyone participating. 

I've got to run.  Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Happy Monday

Hello,

There are still two full weeks before vacation, but the kids are doing well to keep their focus.  We jumped in to mineral identification today.  Students have 15 minerals and are writing down their observations in seven categories: feel, color, streak, hardness, light, luster, and shape.  They should be able to explain all seven of those mineral properties to you.  They will continue to write down their observations tomorrow.  They have streak plates, pennies, and nails to do their testing.  Later I will take away the minerals and give them mineral identification cards.  We'll see how many of them can identify them based on their writing. 

I had a class of enthusiastic writers this afternoon.  The students created characters last week and now have been paired up to write stories that have their characters in it.  Some are writing together.  Some are writing individually.  We have some odd character pairings which should make for some interesting scenarios. 

The Harry Potter Club is meeting after school on Friday to make house banners.  Here is the permission slip that went home tonight:

Harry Potter Book Club

 

The Harry Potter Book Club will be gathering after school on Friday, December 14th from 3:30 to 5:00.  We will be creating our house banners.  The meeting will be sprinkled with occasional trivia questions about the first book and prizes will be awarded.  Refreshments will be provided, but if crackers, fruit, and fruit juice doesn’t work for your child, could you please send them in with their own snack?  This meeting is completely optional.  Please sign below to let me that your child has permission to stay. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please fill in one:

 

____________________ will stay after school on Friday, Dec. 14 

 

Parent’s Signature_______________________________ 

 

I'm not sure if you can see all of that, but I'm done fooling around with it trying to make it fit.

The Black Jaguar was the second big cat in a row to go down in our WWF adoption elections.  The Grizzly Bear was the big winner today.  The Red Fox beat the Leopard on Friday.  Tomorrow's election will pit the Grey Wolf vs. the Komodo Dragon.  The last of the final eight will be decided on Wednesday with the Emerald Hummingbird going up against the Cheetah.  Has your child supported any of the victors thus far?

Thanks for reading.  Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Aaaahhhh... much better

Hello,

I told you that today would be a better day.  Nothing like two birthdays in the classroom to pull you out of the muck.

We met with our second grade book buddies today.  They came in for a twenty minute reading session before we joined them for lunch.  Our kids did a great job reading and listening with their little pals.  I was very pleased.

Our math class is flying through the multiplication.  Rocket Math is all about automaticity.  If you don't immediately know the answers, you won't pass the tests.  So far, so good.  Make sure to get a look at your child's results one night.  They can explain how it works.  If your child's math teacher doesn't do Rocket Math and you are interested in doing it, let me know and I'll show you the program. 

I introduced an addition game to my math class today as well.  Those facts are not to be forgotten.  I can see that many kids know their multiplication better than their addition.  We'll get both down pretty well this year. 

The Lego Club had a second successful meeting.  I'm actually teaching much of our simple machines unit through the Legos.  Your children will definitely have a "LEG" up when we get into that unit later in the year.  I'm planning to use them as experts and I am very excited to see how far they will be able to push themselves.  The club is definitely just an extended school day, only with their teacher a little more relaxed.  It is never too late to join.  (Every Thursdays until 5:00.)

Another thing I want to mention about our homework clubs.  I can see how much some children are struggling with the math homework.  This work should be review and shouldn't take too long.  If your child spends a good twenty minutes on math and has still not finished, you have my permission to write: "Spent 20 minutes on." and then sign your name.  None of us want your child to flounder or worse, do things incorrectly over and over.  I hope that they will come in and articulate where they had trouble, however. 

Reading books need to be finished by next Wed.  Check to see if your child is on pace. 

I'm off to the Bates Bowdoin basketball games.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Wow, rough day

Hello,

I'm sure your child was able to label me as "crabby" today.  It was a long day.

Things that children said to me today:

"But everyone else does it."

"But I didn't do it on purpose!" 

"Do we have to do the homework?"

"What if we don't?"

"But I did it, I just left it at home."

"My mother didn't put it in my backpack."

"You didn't give me one."

"I thought you were talking to her."

"We were just taking the long way back to class.  We're allowed to."

I'm barely cracking the surface. I had some of the most one-sided conversations today.  It was a terrible storm of "Not my faults," and "Who me?"  I felt like I was in lecture mode for half the day.  AAuugh!  I really don't like days like this.  One of the best things about teaching is that the next day always feels like it is going to be better. 

We did have some learning take place in between all of the times children weren't taking responsibility for their behavior.  We heard from several speakers about the Amur Leopard and the Duck-billed Platypus.  The Leopard won the class vote 13 - 7.  I think the students were quite shocked to learn that there are only 30 Amur Leopards left on the planet.  Tomorrow's match-up is between the Red Fox and the (traditional) Leopard.

In science, we heard about the rock cycle in a presentation from our Rocks and Minerals group.  This was the last in a series of presentations that started yesterday.  We also did a couple of geologic charades.  One group performed as a canyon being formed by a river.  Another group was a destructive earthquake.  Many students were confused by this performance, so I showed them a video clip of how the land acts very much like a liquid during an earthquake.  The quake moves in waves and the land "ripples" like water.  The performers did a good job of this.  We'll do a couple more geologic charades tomorrow.

My math class has been working on gaining the knowledge they need to tackle chapter three head on.  We have been working with multiplication and factors.  In Rocket Math, the class voted on the theme of our inspirational posters.  In the past, I have had race cars, a football field, a rocket going across space, etc.  The idea is that every time a student passes a math level, they get to move their rocket, car or ball.  This year they voted on bowling for the theme.  I've cut out the lanes and copied the pins and bowlers.  As soon as I can put the finishing touches on these things, the kids will be able to move their bowling ball closer and closer to the pins as they pass more and more multiplication tests.  The ten pins will represent the last ten tests.  Pass all the tests, get a strike.  Not as easy as a race track, but we're making it happen.  I don't think it is the bowling theme, but the fact that the results are public that will make this motivating. 

Welcome to any math parents reading this for the first time.  Please feel free to call (841-2599) or email me with any questions or concerns about math class. 

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

PS. Lego Club tomorrow until 5:00.

Chorus concert tonight

Hello,

The homework club just left and the chorus concert starts in one hour.  I hope everyone made it home in time for a bite to eat.  Homework was a limited tonight due to this.  One math class didn't give any and I just gave six problems on greatest common factors.  Come on by the school at 6:30 if you want to hear some festive music.  It still seems early to fa la la to me, but I've always been a procrastinator.

In the WWF adoption elections today, the Snowy Owl took down the Tasmanian Devil quite easily.  The Tiger, with two people speaking in favor of it, (Did you know there are only 3200 left in the world?) beat the Zebra in a very close election.  The Zebra also had a spokesperson.  (I learned that each zebra family (a dozen or so) are led by a zebra stallion.)  Tomorrow pits the Duck-billed Platypus vs. the Amur Leopard.

Students were put into groups of two and three this afternoon and tried to identify whether rocks were igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic.  Overall they did very well.  It is a very tough thing to do.  Tomorrow they will get twelve rock identification cards that describe the rocks that they are working with.  I'm hoping they can match the details of the written cards with the rock specimens that they belong to.  Your child should know the difference between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic at this point.  They might be able to sing you a song about it. 

Speaking of songs, the continent song looks like it will make it through another year.  The kids have learned it and haven't tried to top it.  They wrote it in cursive this morning for morning work.  I'm having to come up with more limited morning work assignments than I'm used to, now that we are switching for math right at 9:10.  I wish we had a little more class time before rushing off to math, but such is our schedule this year.

I'll see some of you in a half hour at the chorus concert.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Let the tournament begin

Hello,

The Amur Leopard took down the Bison 12-7 and the Black Jaguar narrowly defeated the Penguin 10-8 in the first round of WWF adoption voting.  No one did any outside research to be able to earn the chance to stand up and speak on behalf of their animals.  In the past two years, every animal that has been vouched for by a student has won their competition.  It pays to try to sway the voters.  We'll see if anyone feels strong enough about the Zebra, Tiger, Snowy Owl, or Tasmanian Devil to find out info that might convince some classmates to vote their way.

Class presentations on caves, rocks and minerals, fossils, volcanoes, crystals, and earthquakes brought out some interesting questions and discussions.  Students saw pictures of the giant crystals of Mexico (worth looking up), Carlesbad Caverns, and Luray Caverns.  We saw a youtube clip of bats coming out of Carlesbad.  We talked a bit about echolocation and then got into a little bit about how we see.  The kids liked the changing size of a pupil under bright light. 

Just a reminder: Tomorrow night is the chorus concert.  6:30 until 7:00 in the gym. 

I'm really feeling run down right now and am calling it the earliest night of the year.  I need a nap.

See you tomorrow.

Mr. Shea

Long day

Hello,

It was a long day with no specials and a spelling test.  For whatever reason, many kids came in without their homework.  A couple told me up front, and then little by little as the day passed, more and more were exposed.  When I caught someone blatantly cheating, I thought my head was going to explode.  I ripped up the paper and threw it away.  You could hear a pin drop for the rest of the spelling test.  Poor choices that hurt themselves are really disappointing. 

I set up our Animal Bracket last night.  We have eighteen contenders vying for the title of 2012-2013 class adoptee.  Every year I tell the kids that my Christmas gift to them is to do an animal adoption through the World Wildlife Federation.  WWF offers symbolic adoptions where they will send you an adoption certificate, stuffed animal and info card on the animal that you select.  I have many of the past winners above the tall bookshelf.  This year the class has nominated eighteen different animals from big cats to small birds and every day we will have a mini showdown election to eliminate one of the choices.  The kids are encouraged to stand up and speak on behalf of the animal they wish to win.  I only ask that the speeches contain factual information.  I don't want to hear any, "Vote for the __________ because it is soooooo cute!"  On the last day of school before vacation we will be down to our final two and the class adoption animal will be decided.  Ask your child what animal they chose.  Every student got the chance to choose a nominee.  Some wanted animals already nominated and declined to pick a second choice.

Lego club was a success, although I need to set aside more time for cleanup.  Those pesky small pieces have a way of getting lost.  We need to be very careful not to bust up some of these educational sets.  They aren't much good with even a piece or two missing.

Okay, I've got to get to correcting.  Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Lego club tomorrow

Hello,

Okay, I admit it.  I didn't get the Lego Club permission slip out in time.  We are definitely going to start tomorrow.  It will run until 5:00.  We'll get homework done first.  You just need to write a quick note letting me know that they have your permission.  In my defense, there was no time to run out and make copies today because of my recess duty and lunchtime team meeting.  Okay, that just made me sound like a kid trying to explain why they don't have their homework.  I'm guilty.

We tried a little descriptive writing this afternoon.  Students were supposed to describe a character in their book.  Most finished the assignment, and now have to draw the character as best they can.  It was funny how half the class cheered this assignment and the other half moaned.  In general, the half that liked doing the writing portion is less enthused about the drawing.  I told them not to worry.  I'm not expecting them to be Michaelangelo. 

We filled in a blank map of the world this afternoon with the correct oceans and continents.  The class definitely knows the continent song.  I'm sure your child will sing you a version if you request it.  You may not want to.  I'm going to have that song in my head until Christmas.  Students are responsible for knowing the continents, oceans, equator, and the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.  They will need to place them on a blank map.  I'm currently blending geography with our geology unit.  We've been talking about plate tectonics and about how the surface of the planet moves.  Most tectonic plates move at about the same speed that our fingernails grow.  Unfortunately they move in jerks, which we feel as earthquakes. We also talked more about the tilt of the Earth today.  These subjects really lead into one another.  It was hard to discuss the Tropics without getting into the seasons and our relation to the sun.  Good stuff really.

I've got to run to dinner.  I'm going out to eat with my wife, which is a bit of an occasion on a school night.  I can't be late, so good night.

Mr. Shea

Lego Club is coming.

Hello,

Here is the deal for Lego club.  It will be just like homework club except instead of playing games for the last forty five minutes, we'll build with Legos.  If you are interested in having your child stay after school to do home work for forty-five minutes and then play with Legos for an hour, just send in a note. 

I was a little dismayed with the amount of math homework that I needed to help on tonight.  I always hope to have a little one on one time for reading or writing with some of the kids, but tonight it was all math.  I'll speak to my colleagues about our forty minute guideline.  I had the kids stop after forty minutes of math, with my help, and we hadn't even got to the reading.  I know I give too much from time to time, but I want the kids to understand that if they put in a solid forty minute effort, they have my permission to close the book and let me know the next day that they didn't finish because it took too long.  I'll find out from there, whether it was my mistake or just a misunderstanding. 

I'm now writing the homework for my math class in the homework calendar, but be aware that that may not apply to your child if they do not have me for math anymore.  I will know label it Shea Math to remind you of that. 

Our new class read aloud is The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.  I think it contains one of the best story starters ever.  The two page prologue, which is all I read to the class today, really makes the reader curious and ask all sorts of questions.  I picked it for several other reasons as well, a major one being that the main character is a girl and I was well aware of my current streak of two boys in a row.  Let me know if you would like a copy to read with us.  It also hits on some major themes that I love to get fourth graders engaged in: geography, geology, energy, government, and CURIOUSITY.

The class put on some little skits today for reading class.  The principal, Mrs. Skorapa, happened to drop by to give us a special audience.  The class did very well performing some very humorous skits that I got from an old drama book.  Ask your child if they played the role of rock star, teacher, waiter, little child, manager or diner.  I was happy with their performance on stage and as an audience.

All for now.  Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Back on Track

Hello,

I hope you all had a nice mini break.  It was great getting to touch base with all of you during conference times.  The more we talk, the better I'm able to do my job.  So please, make your questions and comments known to me.  We've got a solid four weeks before our next break and I was anxious to regain traction today. 

The majority of our class switched for math for the first time today.  We have a large number of students going to Mrs. Viola or Mrs. Smith.  I hope you will ask them how it went.  I think switching for math is a good stepping stone for all the switches that they will be doing in Jr. high.  These first few days are going to be a bit of a get to know you period.  We've never grouped this late in the year, where different classes are on somewhat different pages. 

We finished The Cay by Theodore Taylor this afternoon.  What a great book.  I kept it together in the end and didn't choke up.  I'm getting tougher in my old age.  Please ask your child why they think I chose that book to read to the class.  I asked and heard some good and varied answers.

Anyone interested in ordering the Andre the Seal picture book by visiting author Fran Hodgkins should look to see if your child brought home an order form.  Fran is offering to sign all of the books that we order, and she'll write whatever you want.  It could make for a good gift.  I'm going to have mine signed, "To the best teacher I ever met..."  I figure if I'm shelling out fifteen bucks I may as well go for it.  I'm going to place the order on Friday for anyone interested. 

Speaking of book orders, the Scholastic Book Club order is in.  I haven't given them out, because most parents had mentioned that part of the order may be a gift.  Come on in or let me know if I can trust your child not to peek if I wrap them in a bag and send them home in their backpack.

Our latest sing along in class was the Continent Song.  I am offering up as optional homework to all my musically talented kids to come up with a better one.  They also could try to write a new rock song or even an oceans song.  I still have some bad ones stuck in my head from years past.  They may be able to sing a little of the current continent or rock songs to you, although we haven't spent too much time with either. 

I have a lot to write about tonight, but we had another late meeting.  I've got to put together a note for the parents of my new math students and a note for the introduction of Lego Club.  I'll write more tomorrow after Homework Club.

Have a great night,

Mr. Shea

Conference night

Hello,

Tonight was the first night for conferences.  I really enjoy sitting down and getting to talk to all of you about your sons and daughters.  I'm sure you understand, but I won't be posting anymore blogs until after Thanksgiving. 

I wish you all a happy Turkey break. 

Thanks,

Mr. Shea

PS. Ask about the rock slide.

I'm coming down with something

Hello,

Sorry no blog post last night.  I got out of Bowdoin a lot later than I expected. 

I had a runny nose this afternoon.  I don't get sick very often and will try to do everything I can to nip this in the bud.  The timing is tough with all the extra work surrounding report cards, but what can I do?  Conference time confirmations went home today.  If you don't like the time, let me know a better one.  I gave everyone a time during their first choice time slot.  Some didn't specify a priority time, so I just fit them in at a time that they liked. 

We've had an eventful two days.  In math we are going into learn multiplication fact mode.  We have been making flash cards.  Some children already have them at home.  This set can be their school cards.

We have been learning about erosion.  I have been dumping water on trays of earth and we have been watching the water carve its path down toward the "sea."  Tomorrow we will set up the trays so we have a giant water fall from one tray to the next.  This came from one of the student suggestions. 

Tomorrow will be a geology filled day as we will begin the day at the feldspar quarries of CREA and end with chorus and science.  Speaking of chorus and science, we will be learning the following song in the coming weeks.  I introduced the first two stanzas this afternoon.

Rock Cycle Song
(Sing to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

SEDIMENTARY rock
Has been formed in layers
Often found near water sources
With fossils from decayers

Then there's IGNEOUS rock
Here since Earth was born
Molten Lava, cooled and hardened
That's how it is formed

These two types of rocks
Can also be transformed
With pressure, heat and chemicals
METAMORPHIC they'll become.

 
The class did a great job writing today.  I gave them a writing prompt, (a story starter), and they were off and writing.  The entire class wrote for a half hour with barely a peep.  Their writing stamina has improved greatly from the beginning of the year.  You will see this writing sample at the conference.  (Maybe that was some motivation for them.)  I didn't even hear, "How many sentences do we have to do?"  I was very happy about that. 

Sorry no lego club tonight.  I didn't get a permission/info sheet made up on Wednesday, so it didn't happen.  I meant to do it during our lunch time but a grand Harry Potter Sorting Lunch got in the way.  That went very well.  We put a walkie-talkee into the hat and I yelled things like "You belong in...  Slytherin!" loudly from the special ed room next door.  Pretty funny.  It looks like a good club.  I think we have some enthusiastic members joining our crew.

Okay.  All for now.  I'm going home, having soup, and going to bed.  My eyes want to close right now. 

Thanks for reading.  I look forward to next week's conferences.

Mr. Shea

We went on a field trip

Hello,

We finally went on a scheduled field trip.  The State House was very good.  We got to visit the House of Representatives, the Hall of Flags, the Senate and Rotunda.  Although, judging by the amount of talk it generated, I think going through security might of been the highlight for many students.  My pocket knife keychain was confiscated.  I forgot to take that off my keys this morning.  It went a lot better than when I forgot about it while attempting to enter the Pentagon in D.C. 

We also went to the Maine State Museum.  Our time was too short there.  We suffered from spending too much time leaving HBS.  Part of that was our underestimation of how many can fit on a special education bus.  Thank you so much to our chaperones.  I'm sorry that most of you had to drive.  Know that I really appreciate it. 

You should have got a conference sign up sheet by now.  Those of you who sent one back will get your conference times tomorrow.  I will sign people up for half hour blocks.  Twenty minutes is too short and I tend to gab.  Please feel free to stop me at twenty minutes, if you prefer. 

I showed the class what the presidential electoral map would have looked like if we had to follow the 1789 version of the Constitution.  If only white males had the right to vote in our country, Romney would have won by a landslide.  If the voting age hadn't been lowered to 18 in the early seventies, Obama would have squeaked out a win.  I thought they were interesting graphics and good topics for discussion.

In The Cay, our read aloud, poor Timothy didn't survive the horrible tempest.  We had recess right after the death of our brave hero, so I didn't get much feedback.  It is a tough thing to read without crying though.  I barely made it through.  Timothy is a great man in that book.  His positive attitude, eye for the future and ability to teach tough lessons to Philip, make him one of my favorite book characters. 

It will be a late blog tomorrow.  I have a staff meeting and I'm attending a Bowdoin basketball practice.  Basketball is one of my passions, so if it goes late, well then so will the blog.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Another field trip slip

Hello,

The Augusta State House visit is scheduled for Tuesday at 9:00am.  A slip went home tonight.  We are trying to get the CREA field trip rescheduled for later in the week.

We took a little math test this morning to help give us a final point to look at as we gather data to group students according to their math skills.  These groups will be flexible and will be based on current skills, processing speed, and teacher recommendations.  My "grouping team" includes Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Viola.  We have been meeting and discussing possible groupings and hope to finalize our decisions next week before conferences.  Oh crap, I didn't give out the conference slips again.  Auuugghh!  My apologies.  Again.

The spelling test today was the big thirty word Sitton test which they will see two more times this year.  These are the words that the program deems the most important to learn and know during the fourth grade year.  The words, like special, until, several, thought and important, are very common  and your child will be see them over and over again this year. 

Ask your child if he/she brought home their Crayola "igneous rock."  We started learning about erosion and sediment today as we make our way toward creating Crayola "sedimentary rocks."  I showed them some of my travel slides of some of our country's most spectacular examples of erosion like the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Arches National Park, Yosemite, Death Valley, etc.  I hope I didn't put them to sleep.

Channeling last night's author talk with Paul Tough, I talked a bit with them about overcoming adversity.  Mr. Tough has found that wealthy kids often don't face enough adversity and that our poorer population faces too much.  I think the class as a whole has a good attitude about this.  It may be my way in to get them to dare to be wrong a little more.

Reminder: No school on Monday, Veteran's Day. 

It is going too fast.  Slow down this crazy ride!

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Picture book election day

Hello,

Great day today.  The class did very well running an election.  Thank you so much to author Fran Hodgkins for being absolutely fantastic.  She spoke to the entire school.  She shook hands at the polls.  She ate lunch with many in our class.  She donated a bunch of her books to our class.  She gave signed copies of Andre to three of her biggest supporters in the school.  I can't say enough about what she did to make this a special day.  And her book crushed If I Built a Car 432-175. 

I just got out of a team meeting and now am running to see Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed, in Portland. 

The field trip in cancelled again.  Sorry.  I'll let you know the new date when I know. 

I forgot to give out parent/teacher conference sign up slips.  Long day.  You'll get one tomorrow.

I've got to run.  The whole fourth grade team is attending!  I think that's great.

Good night,

Mr. Shea

Please Vote

Hello,

No school tomorrow.  Please vote.  Please take your child with you so they can see the process.

I'm giving another teacher a ride home, so I have to go. 

NO homework club tomorrow because there is no school.

Please sign the new field trip permission slips.  We are scheduled to go on Thursday.

thanks,

Mr. Shea

November

Hello,

I just got back from an interactive white board meeting.  I learned a couple of things that I can bring to future math classes.

The big news today was the election results.  Andre the Seal and If I Built a Car were the big winners.  Those two picture books will face off against each other in a schoolwide election next week.  I'm sure I'll be seeing Andre was a fish killer commercials later on tonight.  Ask your child whom they are going to support. 

We did some cooking in science.  We cooked up some crayons to make igneous "rocks."  We'll take a look at our hardened specimens tomorrow.  They look great. 

We talked about persuasive writing this afternoon.  Mr. Levy, the vice principal, said that he may let a couple of students speak on behalf of the picture book that they are supporting.  Students worked on writing up "radio ads" in support of their book candidate. 

I hope everyone had a great Halloween.  We got some candy brought in for the troops.  Thank you.  We will be collecting all next week as well.  UNICEF, the United Nations Children Fund did great in our class as well.  Thank you for your generosity.  We will have to have a money count. 

Spelling test tomorrow.  No homework on Halloween gave them a one day reprieve. 

The school is going to have our first lunch buddy day tomorrow.  Our class is paired up with Mrs. Collins' 2nd grade class.  Students will meet their "buddies" in the morning and have lunch with them in the afternoon.  The plan is to have one lunch buddy day a month.

Quick reminder: No school next Tuesday on election day. 

Gotta go.  Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

Happy Halloween

Hello,

No blog tonight.  Happy Halloween.  No homework tonight, although they are still responsible for their reading logs (5 of 7 nights of the week).

Thanks,

Mr. Shea

Really short one

Hello,

I am going to make this really short.  Topics of discussion: Intro to rocks and minerals, lava and magma, earth's plates, the forming of the islands of Hawaii, compound words, factors, products, taking responsibility, not pretending that you know something you don't, (Twice in math today I got the "OOHHHHHHHHH!" that you would expect to hear when someone just realized something that they didn't know before.  Each time I heard it, the person was 100% pretending that they knew something, just so I wouldn't ask them.  I called on each person that said it.  Neither had a clue what they were doing, but were doing their best to mask it.  Sad that it is this late in the year and they don't feel safe.  Also sad that they don't think I'll sniff it out.  I must admit though that they must get away with it more than I know.)

Alright.  Here's hoping I have power at home.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Good luck

Hello,

Our field trip for tomorrow is cancelled.  I just realized that I never put it on the calendar in the first place.  With high winds, lots of rain, and many power outages expected, we decided to reschedule for early November.  More details to follow.

I'm sure you have heard, but there is quite a storm blowing in.  Make sure you have some water stocked up.  Charge your phone.  Keep flashlights on hand.  I lost power for six days just two years ago.  At least now I work in a school that has showers in the locker room.

We extended our Friday talk about atoms and molecules today.  Friday's discussion wasn't planned, but came out of questions from the class.  I decided to build off of that discussion to jumpstart our rocks and minerals unit.  I started from the solid/liquid/gas perspective.  We talked about vibrating molecules, temperature, temperature scales, etc.  The kids bounced around the room as nine and ten year old molecules.  When some our fourth grade molecules didn't follow the laws of physics, (like retaliatory bumping) they found themselves sitting on the sidelines.  This is one of my favorite units with a lot of hands on learning.  We will be alternating between geology and geography since they are so closely related. 

Our government unit is by no means over, because we will run our class government all year long, but I don't give them a big test or anything until later in the year.  I will wait until we implement the executive and judicial branches into our class government before I will expect them to understand it too deeply. 

I've been trying very hard to make sure kids that are pulled for GT, special education, RTI, etc don't miss too much.  That is going to be near impossible as we start overlapping units.  I need to cover social studies and science content within our writing and reading times.  I can't guarantee that some things won't be missed.  I'll do my best to keep the most important content area activities at times when we have most everyone.  (We have no time of more than 20 minutes during the day when we do have everyone.)  Pull-outs are a reality of today's education.  With each pull out, there are positives and negatives.  Missing stuff is also a reality. 

Gotta run.  We will have homework club tomorrow.  I figure if you don't have power, you probably would rather have your kids at school.

Lego club is going to start on Thursday nights.  I'll write more on that tomorrow.

Have a good night.  Stay warm, safe and dry.

Mr. Shea

Interesting logic

Hello,

I read The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens to the class this morning.  We had a very interesting, but quite shocking discussion afterwards.  The book is about a bunch of prairie dogs who discover a tennis ball that has fallen into their burrow.  They have a great time peeling off the fuzz and dancing around until they realize that all of the fuzz is off the tennis ball.  Then it becomes a free-for-all as they fight one another to get more fuzz for themselves.  At some point, they become exhausted and fall asleep.  The big bully of the group goes around and steals all the fuzz.  In the morning, while the bully is gloating over his new found fuzzy riches, he is scooped up by an eagle.  The prairie dogs first celebrate the loss of the bully, but then come to the realization that he is one of their own, and help save him. 

It is a very entertaining story with great illustrations.  The kids definitely enjoyed it.  So my first question afterwards was about the prairie dog that took the fuzz.  There wasn't the negative response that I expected, so I broadened the question to put themselves in the dog's position.  I said, "Let's pretend it is Christmas day.  All the gifts have been opened.  If you had a button that would make all of the gifts that everyone in this class received, immediately disappear, but appear in your house, would you press it?"  The answer was yes, by about a two to one margin!  Some wanted to know if the others in the class would know where the presents went.  When I said "no," more hands went up to say they would press the button.  A boy said they wouldn't do it because they wouldn't want the "girl gifts."  Someone pointed out that they could sell the girly stuff.  Two more hands went up.  I was in shock. 

I explored deeper with this...  "Are you telling me that if you found a five dollar bill under your foot, right now, (they were sitting on the floor/rug) that you would quietly slip it into your pocket?  Yes by a 3-1 margin!  The greater the value of the bill the greater the number of kids who would discreetly pocket the bill.  One child said proudly, to show that he was honorable, "If it was a dime, I'd ask who lost it." 

I explained that "it could be lost lunch money, a classmate could end up getting in deep trouble for losing it, your own friend might be sulking all day, all because of you," but to no avail.  The kids were adamant about one thing:  If the other kids knew they took it, they would think differently.  As long as it was anonymous, they had no problem with it. 

At this point, we had to break for lunch.  Wow.  I was flabbergasted.  These are good kids.  Great kids.  I cannot believe the "if you don't get caught, what's wrong with it?" philosophy.  It certainly explains why so many students (from other classes, of course) still run in the halls. 

We will be talking a lot about perspective in writing this year.  It will be an easy tie-in to try to get them to see other people's perspectives on some of these behavioral issues as well.  Fourth grade is a big year for many kids to come to appreciate things from a perspective other than their own.  Until then, I hope they keep their valuables locked up tight.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

PS. Please return CREA field trip slips before our trip on Tuesday.  You may check off if you want to chaperone, but we don't really need any.  CREA has their own staff of adults.  I can have one or two, but we will have greater need during later field trips.

Favorite books

Hello,

The fourth grade was put in charge of putting together a school wide election in conjunction with this year's national presidential election.  We decided to make it about books instead of Obama vs. Romney.  We decided that we would have the school vote on favorite picture books, since many of the younger students aren't into chapter books yet.  We split non-fiction and fiction books into their own political parties (the Chickadees and the Pinecones).  Each class had up until today to make a nomination for favorite picture book in each category.  Our class nominees were: The Giving Tree, If I Built a Car, Dooby Dooby Moo, Bad Day at Riverbend, Calvin and Hobbes, The Gardener, The Dumb Bunnies, The Polar Express, Gleam and Glow, Betty Doll, and Tsunami!  The Dumb Bunnies won the Chickadee nomination from our class.  Tsunami! won the Pinecone nomination.  We will find out the candidates from the other classes, and then later next week have primary elections.  Once we have narrowed it down to two candidates, we will have our school-wide elections.  Ask your child which "candidates" they supported today.

This blog is going to be very short tonight.  I just finished a fourth grade team meeting, and now I am overdue for a retirement party. 

Our class will be putting together a class newspaper.  Either your child is on the newspaper staff or they were elected to our new congress.  Either way, they have new important jobs. 

I've really got to run.  Drop me a line if you have a question.

Mr. Shea

Hello again

Hello,

We had homework club tonight.  I could see that the math took much longer than I expected.  They were supposed to find out the cost of a page of books from the book order.  I wanted them to do seven pages.  I showed them quick ways to handle adding up multiple .99s, but seeing the students in the homework club constantly writing 99 over and over again was tough to bear.  It illustrates the need for more problem solving education.  The effort was there, but the efficiency was not good.  I repeated what I have said earlier in the year: If math homework is taking you more than 20 minutes, you have my permission to stop.  You are either doing the wrong assignment, doing something the wrong way, or you need more instruction.  Stop and live to fight another day. 

I did appreciate the effort.

Thank you for ordering books.  I have already seen some online book orders go through.  I have also been seeing when your child has gotten online to do IXL math.  I plan on setting some class goals.  I like IXL for practice, but there are some limitations to it.  I saw today that one boy spent a half an hour on odd and even problems.  They give sample math problems and then ask if the answer is odd or even.  The boy had got half of them right.  That is an example of one of the limitations. 

Our read aloud is going to lead to some serious discussion.  We will surely get into some talks on racism in the next few days.  Philip, the narrator and main character in The Cay, makes some pretty brutal assumptions about his fellow castaway.  Timothy is a big, old man with dark skin.  Philip is a twelve year old boy.  I'll keep you posted.  You might want to inquire about the story up until now.  Yesterday, well over half the class said that they thought Timothy was "mean." 

It's late.  I'm going home.

Thanks for reading,

Mr. Shea

Rough math class

Hello, 

Math was rough today.  I had many heads nodding up and down that they understood, but when I would give them the dry-erase marker to come to the board, I saw immediate panic in many eyes.  Auugghhh!  I implored them to STOP PRETENDING!  It is impossible to teach someone when they think that they already know.  I am really thankful that we had a Bowdoin College volunteer who was able to take some of the kids who are already comfortable with regrouping.

Okay, a bit about the new math program...  I like it.  It was my top choice out of all the programs we looked at.  It is conceptual.  It emphasizes thinking and problem solving.  Another great thing that I like about it is the pace.  It is supposed to be slow.  It is supposed to go deep.  We are not supposed to move on to the next topic unless the kids understand the prior one.  That is how I've always tried to teach math.  At each grade level, more is expected of our children than we have expected in the past.  These first couple years are going to be tougher because we need to allow ourselves to go at a pace that allows time for understanding of steps 1, 2 and 3, before rushing to step 4.  The old program was criticized for going a mile wide and an inch deep.  This program is about conceptual understanding.  You can't rush that.

New topic: descriptive writing.  Ask your child how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Some key details were left out of the descriptions today and left me smearing jelly all over my table, putting a whole jar between two slices of bread, and a bunch of other things you wouldn't want to see done with your sandwich supplies.  The major lessons were: reread your work carefully before passing it in, and pay attention to details. 

The first book orders of the year went home tonight.  Don't worry about due dates.  I'll order every two weeks.  If you order online, scholastic will give you a five dollar credit for your next order.  The online ordering has many more options than the flyers.  Let me know if you want access to older or younger grade level books.  The books usually take about a week to arrive, once I put in the order.  I pass out the books to the kids when they arrive.  I can hold back any books and give them to you personally if you want them to be a surprise. 

Homework club tomorrow until 5:00.  I'm hoping they can wrap up the big Risk game so I can introduce them to some new games. 

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea



 

No lectures today

Hello,

It's 6:00 and time for our fourth grade potluck dinner, so this is going to be very quick.  We worked more on descriptive writing this afternoon using Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.  We will use that book later in the year to write creative stories.

We discussed the electoral college system and figured out that a candidate could win 39 states and the District of Columbia and still lose the election for president.

We made yellow hats at the end of the day so we have something to wear that is yellow tomorrow.  It is a school spirit day and fourth grade has been deemed the yellow grade.  Twelve students in the class said that they don't own any yellow clothing.  I don't either.  Problem solved.

In math today, I was very impressed with all the different ways that students in the class could write or draw 3x4.  We had arrays, number lines, repeated addition, commutative property representations, 3-D drawings.  It was great.  I attempted to show the relationship between multiplication and division tonight.  The homework deals with fact families.  (3x4 = 12, 4x3 = 12, 12 / 4 = 3, and 12 / 3 = 4)  Look familiar. 

Alright.  I hope to see some of you right now at the dinner.

Thanks,

Mr. Shea

an earthquake free day

Hello,

The kids were very excited to give their "I was there" account of the great earthquake of 2012.  I was driving home and didn't feel it.  We talked quite a bit about earthquakes and their causes.  I'll show them a short video clip tomorrow to give them some better visual information.  I hope everyone made it through the excitement okay.

I was excited about the presidential debate last night.  It was quite a showdown.  They stood toe to toe for quite awhile.  I thought the moderator did a much better job of keeping control.  Although that proved an impossible task, I felt that, at the very least, she made them look bad for disobeying her directions.  I told the kids that it can't be easy to tell the President of the United States to sit down. 

I did a poor job of clock management this afternoon.  The class senate and house of representatives were working on passing laws on the consequences for breaking their class laws, and I let the time get away from me.  It is my fault if they didn't get their homework written down.  I didn't even get to hand out the math.  Sorry.  I will do better. 

Our first chapter book theme of the year is animal books.  Students got to choose from five books: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Stuart Little by E. B. White, Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamilla, Ace, The Very Important Pig by Dick King-Smith, or Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe.  Students were also given little booklets to write chapter summaries.  We'll talk more tomorrow about how long and detailed those need to be.  We will be building off of our one sentence summaries that we made with picture books.  I also gave them post-it notes for bookmarks so that they can jot down questions or difficult words. 

Our fourth grade potluck dinner is tomorrow night.  Come join the camaraderie from 6:00 to 7:00 in the dining hall.  As of tonight's team meeting, at least half of the fourth grade teachers plan on attending. 

Harry Potter book club met today.  We decided to hold a sorting ceremony next week, and then allow members of the other classes to join the following week.  We also decided to keep our numbers around twenty.  We have quite of few classmates who are now scrambling to read the first Harry Potter book now that they got a glimpse of the fun.  Sorting quizzes were taken today, but if members of our class don't like the results they can take their chances with my sorting hat app.  I've got a real looking sorting hat for them to wear this year too.  We thought about putting a walkie-talkee in it for the "first-years" from other classes in a couple weeks.  We'll have to iron that out.  I have many copies of the HP books and most of them on audio as well, if any parents are interested in reading along.  The same can be said for the animal books that we started today.  If you want to read any of the same books as your child, I will be sure to get another copy in your hands.  It makes for some very enriching conversation.

On that note, I just realized that I haven't given you my reading lecture this year.  Here's a bit of it:
Reading is the most important thing that your child can do to help themselves be successful in school.  One of my jobs is to try to get kids to see the importance of reading and to get them to learn to love to read.  I can see that I have some of those kids already this year.  (Thank you.)  A big part of getting them to see that reading is a lifelong endeavor, is for them to have role models.  Parents who read have kids who read.  Some of you may not realize the effect that you have on your child, but just carrying  a book around, and reading it from time to time, has a tremendous effect.  Kids want to be like grown ups.  They like to do grown up things.  Seeing a parent read for pleasure, sends a message loud and clear:  Reading is not something you do because you have to.  Reading is something that I will do when I grow up.  Please, please, please, show your children that reading is important to you.  The added step of reading the books with them, or reading the same books that they are reading at school, shows children that their reading is also important to you.  I'd love to see a request or two for Shiloh or Stuart Little tonight.  You might not have read these books in years.  You may have never read those books.  You couldn't pick a better time to acquaint yourself with one. 

This is the end of this part of the lecture.  To hear the rest of this lecture...

All for now.  Thanks for "reading." 

Mr. Shea

Good Evening

Hello,

And so it begins.  The sun is going down earlier and my drives home will be in the dark for the next few months.  I shouldn't complain on such a gorgeous day.  This is definitely my favorite time of year.  Cool nights, brisk days, lots of color.

The author of the book that I'm reading and mentioned the other night is coming to Portland to speak.  Tickets are free, but you do need to reserve them.  Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed will speak at USM on November 7th.  Go to portlandschools.org for more info. 

We talked about the electoral college voting system today.  Kind of a strange system for them to wrap their heads around.  I gave a little math homework that involved state's electoral votes.  Tomorrow we'll talk more about how few states a presidential candidate actually has to win, to win an election.  I don't think it sat well with too many kids that a candidate could get more votes in the country and yet still lose.  Feel free to tell your child your point of view on this. 

We worked on some descriptive writing today.  We went out and gathered leaves.  Each child picked up three similar looking leaves and taped them to their paper.  We went inside and everyone had to choose just one of their leaves to describe in detail.  I saw some great descriptive word choices.  We later projected the leaves onto the IWB board and the kids read their descriptions.  The class tried to choose which leaf was being described.  We have some natural writers.  I surely need to do more of this type of thing, rather than so much narrative writing. 

Children interested in Harry Potter club will meet tomorrow at lunch.  We will discuss how we want to go about inviting children from other classes.  Demand for the club is low in our class, but high in others.  Unfortunately, we can't take them all. 

I have been asked how far do we go in the series.  Most years, the club only gets through the first three books.  We did start the fourth book one year, but I am highly sensitive to the more mature material in the books as Harry gets older.  The fourth through seventh movies are also PG-13, mainly due to violence.  I don't intend to go further than the third this year, but when trying to decide who gets in from other classes, how many books read goes a long way to getting selected.  I am also going to show bias toward kids excited to join, those who are reading solely to join, and those whose older siblings were in the club so they will be more disappointed if they don't get in.  Again, I can't take everyone from the other classes, but anyone in our class is welcome to join.

I hope that helps clear things up.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Finally, no testing

Hello,

It was an odd day.  I was looking forward to getting back into our routines, but I was called out for a conference call right after lunch.  A few fourth and fifth grade teachers attended a conference call with one of the higher ups at Math in Focus.  The main topic was grouping.  Unfortunately, I was out of the classroom for over an hour.  I left some reading and writing work for the kids to do.  Apparently, the class saw a revolving door of teachers coming in to cover for me.  I am thankful that so many chipped in with their time to make it possible for me to attend the meeting. 

Homework is unusually light tonight.  I apologize.  I didn't get to what I had planned, so I scrapped it for another day.  They need a day to get back into the swing of things anyway.  Heh heh. 

We did get to talk about our "tribes" that we formed on Friday.  Each tribe was given their own series of gestures and sounds to use for their language.  They were also given a goal.  For example, in one tribe clicking their tongue meant "no", holding their nose meant "yes", and shaking their butt at someone was a sign of great respect.  Their goal was to try to make as many friends as possible.  In their culture, friendship was symbolized by visiting each other's homes, so they needed get as many people as they could to come into their "home" (a marked area on the rug). 

Some tribes had more devious goals like trying to see how many people would touch their shoe, which was an obvious sign of their superiority. (Meaning that those who would bend and touch the shoe were inferior.)  Each tribe was also given different trinkets.  Each was given a different instruction on what their specific trinkets meant. 

In the end, the lesson was all about assumptions.  The tribes with innocent goals tended to do what other tribes asked.  The tribes with more devious goals played it much closer to the vest, being very suspicious of other tribes' goals.  Two tribes tried to get a lot of trinkets, thinking that they were all some sort of cash. 

Overall, it went well.  I think most grasped the point.  Some just thought it was fun.  We had a good discussion afterwards about how it is very natural to make assumptions, but we need to be careful of them just the same.  Ask your child about their tribe's goals and what they thought during and after the activity.   

We started multiplication math facts today.  I have been going back and forth on this.  Many don't have the addition skills down, but it is generally accepted that multiplication should be learned by the end of fourth grade.  Some may take three or four months to get a firm grasp of the concept and the facts.  The new math program expects that they are already learned, so we need to get going on them.  We'll be using a program called Rocket Math.  I will spend a lot of time in class getting them to understand the concept, but the memorization (automaticity) will have to come from some time at home as well as in school.  Old fashioned flash cards and some online learning websites are great ways to practice. 

We went to the computer lab on Friday to get the kids reacquainted with IXL Math.  All kids should now have their IXL math login and password for work at home.  The website is www.IXL.com/signin/hbse and your child's username is their first initial and last name @hbse.  For example my username would be sshea@hbse.  Your child's password is their first and last initial.  (Mine would be ss.)  I get an email every week telling me how much time is spent by your child on the site and what questions they worked on.  We had two student put some time in this weekend.  Very nice.  Pay it a visit.  It's a pretty good site for math practice.

All for now.  Hopefully, we'll get back to normal tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,

Mr. Shea

Testing is over (for now)

Hello,

We finished our NECAP testing today.  We have a couple of people who need to do a make-up or three, but most of us can breathe a sigh of relief.  I think all of the kids learned something about taking a test these past few days.  I learned a lot about them.  They all have it in them to strive to do their best.  We're not going to settle for "okay" or "kinda good."  I know we will be building off these lessons. 

I just got a book this weekend called How Children Succeed by Paul Tough.  In a nutshell, it argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character than intelligence: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism and self-control.  Here are some reviews that I copied from Amazon:

"Drop the flashcards - grit, character, and curiosity matter even more than cognitive skills. A persuasive wake-up call."
—People Magazine


"In this absorbing and important book, Tough explains why American children from both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum are missing out on these essential experiences. … The book illuminates the extremes of American childhood: for rich kids, a safety net drawn so tight it’s a harness; for poor kids, almost nothing to break their fall."
—Annie Murphy Paul,　The New York Times Book Review
 

"Mr. Tough’s new book,　How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character, combines compelling findings in brain research with his own first-hand observations on the front lines of school reform. He argues that the qualities that matter most to children’s success have more to do with character – and that parents and schools can play a powerful role in nurturing the character traits that foster success. His book is an inspiration. It has made me less of a determinist, and more of an optimist."
—Margaret Wente,　The Globe and Mail

"How Children Succeed　is a must-read for all educators. It’s a fascinating book that makes it very clear that the conventional wisdom about child development is flat-out wrong."
—School Leadership Briefing

I'm thoroughly enjoying the book.  I just finished the "data" part of the book and now I'm getting into the how-tos.  I'll be sure to let you know if I find any great nuggets of info that I need to incorporate into my classroom or need to share with you.

The class continued our Columbus discussion today.  Like a historian, I read from quite a few sources, including two different translations of Columbus's diary.  It might be worth a question to your child.  I tried to present the history from many different sides.  I'd be anxious to hear their take away.  Tomorrow, we'll do an activity where the class will get split up into different tribes.  The tribes won't be allowed to speak, but I will give each tribe their own set of gestures with unique meanings for them to learn.  Tribes will also show respect and be dishonored in different ways.  I have done this in the past and it is fascinating to see how their interactions will be totally biased, based solely on their assumptions.

Thanks for reading,

Back to teaching tomorrow!  YEE-HAW!

Mr. Shea

One more day of testing

Hello,

I just got out of our staff meeting and need to run home.  Real quick:

We talked a little bit about the assumptions that the Taino made upon seeing Columbus and the Europeans arrive in 1492.  More on this to come.

The kids did really well on the reading portion of the test this morning.  I saw some very solid essays.  Fantastic job attacking the test and doing their best.

The math test in the afternoon was definitely tougher.  They have to learn to read the questions carefully.  I don't mind when they miss one that they don't know, but to miss because of misreading or careless error is another story.  I'd give them a B on their math effort. 

Our read aloud, The Cay by Theodore Taylor, has been on hold these past few days.  I hope we get a spare moment tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Testing Proctor,

Mr. Shea

NECAP Testing

Hello,

We are one third through our NECAP testing.  Tomorrow will be reading test number three in the morning and math test one in the afternoon.  The kids are learning how to take a test.  I was able talk to all of them individually today about how to do a better job at checking their work.  Most of the reading questions on this test aren't so much measuring comprehension, but whether or not the student has the will and patience to go back into the reading to find the correct answer.  In my opinion, a child cannot say they did their best, if they finish with a lot of time on the clock yet they haven't gone back into the texts to check their answers. 

I felt like most of them tried hard on the first test, but learned how to try even harder (and smarter) on the afternoon test.  Even though I played the role of proctor instead of teacher today, I was proud of their efforts. 

I have a meeting right after homework club tonight, so I'm getting this down while the kids are silent reading (at Homework Club).  There will be no homework (besides regular reading) tomorrow night either due to the testing.  Please make sure your child gets plenty of rest tonight and a breakfast in the morning.

Thanks and good night.

Mr. Shea

Short blog, long weekend.

Hello,

We had an interactive white board meeting tonight after school and the Math in Focus informational meeting starts in half an hour so this will be brief.

We started the whats, hows and whys of multiplication today.  We made groups of chips and learned about arrays.  Please ask your child what shape an array always takes.  You may even ask them to draw you a four by five array if you want to really see if they understand it.  Math in Focus assumes understanding of multiplication and a knowledge of multiplication facts by the end of third grade.  We have some back tracking to do before getting too far into chapter two.  This could be a very slow chapter. 

We discussed the Bill of Rights this afternoon, but it was a shorter discussion than I had planned.  It is always tough on an indoor recess day.  They need more frequent energy breaks.  Homework tonight is to write about the right that they think is most important in the Bill of Rights. 

I hope to see some of you at the math meeting tonight. 

Remember that tomorrow is a 1:00 early release.

Enjoy the long weekend.

Mr. Shea

Team meeting

Hello,

We just had a team meeting in my room.  Sometimes I feel like there isn't a whole lot of common sense in education, but I must say, we have a very good fourth grade team.  I know that I'm biased, but it sure is nice to hear other adults in the building share the same thoughts that I have.  We were able to discuss a lot of the issues of the day in a very relaxed and professional manner.  We meet every Wednesday after school and it usually goes until five or so.   This year, we also have smaller PLCs (Professional Learning Committees), that meet after school every Monday.  Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Viola  and I make up our PLC.

I can see with my schedule this year that this blog won't often get done until sixish at best.  I promise to have it done by seven or I won't bother.  I appreciate the number of parents reading it.  I was happy to see eight students at the homework club yesterday, and I know that the blog was the major reason.

The next club to begin will be the Harry Potter Club.  You must have read the first book to join.  As the year goes on, you must read successive books to continue to be a part of the club.  We generally don't go further than the fourth book.  The club will meet once a week at lunch time, I'm currently thinking Wednesdays.  We will occasionally meet after school, but that will be for special events like making wands, making house banners, playing quidditch, or watching movies.  We will only watch the first three movies, however.  Those are the only PG movies in the series.  Number four is PG-13.  I think we will start with 12-15 members and then hold sorting ceremonies during the year to add new members.  My goal is to end the year near 20-25 so that we can have proper quidditch teams.  We currently only have five students from our class signed up.  I am going to open it up to students from other classes, but only after our class has first choice.  Kids from other classes will be invited to join, but it will be invitation only.  I will be getting names from the other teachers of kids either highly interested in HP, or ones who would be motivated to read because of the club.

Our government unit continued today with an interesting talk about the flexibility of rules at different houses.   Most kids had rules that will change as they get older and can handle more responsibility.  I compared those rules to the rules set forth in our constitution, and how they have changed over the years.  The Bill of Rights is on deck.

Our class Senate and House of Representatives discussed which class jobs were underpaid and which were overpaid.  As president, I let them know that I think we may need to hire an extra librarian and an extra postmaster.  This will be the last week of the full class legislature.  We will be electing a three person senate and a five person house of representatives shortly.  Those will be paid positions, but will be more of a part-time job, kind of like our state senators and representatives.  Maybe we'll have a class governor this year instead of a president.  Just thinking out loud.

Quick reminders: Friday is an early 1:00 release and then there is no school on Monday due to Columbus day.  Tomorrow night at 6:30 is the informational meeting for the new math program.  October 30 will be our first field trip.  The class will be going to CREA as part of our study of geology. 

 Have a good night,

Mr. Shea

Homework club is a success

Hello,

It was the first night for the homework club.  Despite not passing out an information sheet, I was pleased with the turnout of eight kids.  They spent the first ten minutes getting out some of their energy.  Some ate their extra snack.  From 3:30 to 4:15, we hit the books.  With our homework complete we played a little nerf dodgeball outside.  At 4:30, the indoor game of the day became Risk.  We didn't get far, but I took a picture of the board and we'll have to reconvene at an indoor recess or later homework club.  It went very well.  Great kids.  I heard a lot more questions during the homework time than I usually do.  I hope these meetings get them to be a little braver and ask more questions during the day as well.

We talked quite a bit about our constitution today.  We will be spending some time on the preamble over the next few days.  This first paragraph really outlines the goals of our federal government.  We will be getting to the Bill of Rights very soon.

The math test didn't go as well as I had hoped.  Many questions were missed due to not reading directions or rushing through something.  I told them that teachers learn what we did well and not so well from tests.  This test showed me that I've got to teach them how to take a test.  It is about being patient.  I learned that they don't know what it means to check their work.  I learned that if they don't know the answer instantly, they tended to guess and move on.  We'll be working on all of those things. 

Lots of great picture books read today.  I loved seeing Madeleine, Ping, The Lorax, Blueberries For Sal, Where the Wild Things Grow...  It was fantastic!  Some great discoveries were going on.  Their plot summaries will get better as I have more one on one conversations with them.  Good stuff.

I've got to run.  My wife is under the weather.  Lots of sickness going around.  Please remember that we don't have a sink.  Individual hand sanitizers are allowed if you have a child who doesn't want to be bothered with going all the way to the bathroom before lunch or snack. 

Have a great night.  P.E. tomorrow.

Mr. Shea

Jam packed day

Hello,

Before I forget.  I meant to send a note home tonight about homework club.  It starts tomorrow night.  Here is a copy of the note:

Hello Parents,

            Homework Club begins tomorrow!  Every Tuesday, from now until the end of the school year, we will be staying after school and doing our homework.  Homework time will be from 3:30 to 4:15.  From 4:15 until 5:00 we will be playing a variety of games.  

The purpose of this is for your child to get their homework done in a timely manner, for me to get some more one on one time with students, and for us to have some fun as a reward for getting our jobs done.  I think you would be surprised to know how little instructional time that there is in an average day.  The homework club gives me a little more time with your kids to make sure they get everything that they need. 

This club is completely optional.  If your child doesn’t want to attend, that is his/her right.  They are welcome to come some Tuesdays and skip others.  I had as little as five last year and as many as fifteen.  Last year I did fun science, but because of the amount of set up time and clean up time, I’m going to go with games this year. 

Games help kids with their social skills, sportsmanship, rule following, and logical thinking.  We will play board games, card games, outdoor games and make our own games. 

            Any Tuesday that your child has permission to stay after school, please jot it down on a note.  You can give a blanket permission slip if you think your child might want to come every Tuesday.  Again, this starts tomorrow, Oct. 2, and will continue on the 9^th, 16^th, etc.  Any questions, just let me know.

            I almost forgot, but you may want to send in an extra snack.  For them, not me.

            Thanks,

            Mr. Shea

So please send a note in with your child if you would like them to stay after tomorrow with the homework club.  Don't worry if you can't pick them up at five.  I'm here until at least six if you need the extra time. 

We watched "Caine's Arcade" this afternoon because I thought it might inspire some of the kids to do some building on these rainy days.  (Check it out on youtube.)  I also thought our homework club might be interested in doing some building games instead of just playing games.  I could get all the cardboard we need from my wife's store. 

Ask your child about the 1858 wall map that they got to see first hand today.  I found some old maps in my attic.  This is a little picture I took of part of it.  It is huge, but very fragile. 

It is picture book week.  Everyone is going to keep track of all of the picture books that they read.  Maybe I'll make a chain across the room with each link representing one book read.  The message I want to send is "YOU NEVER OUTGROW PICTURE BOOKS!"  I don't want them to make it through fourth grade without reading most of the classic picture books, so dig out your oldies or make your suggestions.  If I don't have a particular title, I'll get it here. 

We took the chapter  one test in math this morning.  A preliminary perusal tells me that they did pretty well, but #7 Write 100 hundreds in standard form, threw them.  It isn't that they don't know it mathematically, it is that they don't know it instantly, so they give an answer and move on.  They need more strategies for what to do when they don't know.  If they stopped long enough to think about what 1 hundred looks like, and 2 hundreds, and 3 hundreds, that would have led them to 10 hundreds and an obvious pattern.  We'll go over a couple more strategies on this tomorrow.  It is a common NECAP test question to add something like 22 tens and 14 hundreds.  With answers like 1422 or 162 staring them in the face, they need to slow down and figure it out and not choose the first one that looks good. 

I had planned on more homework tonight, but the time flew by and we didn't have any time to get our assignment books out, let alone write anything in.  My fault.  I'll do better tomorrow.  

We finished our read aloud, Among the Hidden. Luke is venturing out on his own away from the safety of his parents and his attic.  In this next book, Among the Imposters, his life gets pretty exciting.  I'm wondering how many takers I'll have on this sequel.    

I feel like I have a lot of news for you, but it is almost 7:00 and if it is important enough, I'll remember it tomorrow night.

Thank for reading,

Mr. Shea