Wednesday

Hello, 

Harry Potter club let welcomed seven more members today.  We are now over thirty.  I said I wouldn't do it, but it is very hard to say no.  I left out twelve kids who have shown interest and I immediately got an email from a fellow teacher asking me to add "just one more."  I have to say "no" now.  Our next meeting on Wednesday will include a Butterbeer tasting.  We'll see how my recipe goes this year.  I think I have a good one.  I'll have to test it this weekend.  Don't worry, no alcohol.

I showed the second half of my "national park erosion" slides this afternoon.  I like to split them up so that the students can get a reminder and reinforcement of their previous learning.  I was happy with what they were able to remember.  The pictures sure make me long for a trip out west and maybe you'll hear some requests from your children as well.  Some of the sites: Balanced Rock, Landscape and Delicate Arches, the Windows (at Bryce), may not make it through our lifetimes, so I was quick to point out that they should go and see these before they get too old.  Geologic time moves very slow, but you never know.

The class started a mini-mystery about the case of the missing Babe Ruth baseball.  Much like yesterday's mystery, this one required writing down clues.  This group doesn't like to write what they feel they can say out loud.  (That's why I often hear the response, "I did it in my head," when I ask where a homework assignment is.  This mystery may not take us another day to crack, but it will to write down the necessary clues.

No math homework for my math class tonight.  I usually give some type of review if they haven't quite figured out the new material.  I overestimated how far we would get with the long division today, so I chose not to give my planned homework.  They completely understand using manipulatives to do long division, but they are having a little trouble writing it out in the way that the Math In Focus program requires.  I like that many kids have different methods, but they will need to understand the Singapore way as well if they want to do well next year. 

I watched the gymnastic performances in P.E. class this morning.  We have some tumblers, acrobats, and dancers in the class.  I saw some good choreography too. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a good night. 

Question for you all:  I always put two spaces after my end of sentence punctuation.  See?  One space would look like this. See?  Are my old school ways out of date?  I heard that they are, but I'm currently not convinced.  Your thoughts?

Mr. Shea