Have a great summer!

Thank you to all of you for a great year.  It takes a commitment from all sides to make it work.  Let's try for a better year next year.

You'll be hearing from me.

Thanks again,

Mr. Shea

Field day tomorrow

Hello,

We have a field day tomorrow.  We'll set up a few activities in the far field in the morning.  In the afternoon we'll teach each other about our countries.  I feel badly about the rush job on this mini-unit, but these things happen sometimes.

I'm getting back to report cards.  Please give me your summer contact info if you haven't already.  (I'm still waiting on six.)

Thanks,

Mr. Shea

Exhausted

Hello,

Quidditch in the gym went very well, but I'm exhausted.  I got a sore throat some time Sunday night.  I can't believe that I made it through the whole year healthy and now I'm limping in.  Anyway, I was very proud of the Harry Potter Club and the sportsmanship they displayed.  Kids were switching positions, no one was whining, no one complained to the referee, it was great.  It was a pleasurable game to watch with a lot of fantastic kids.

Special thanks go out to my golden snitches: one, a fellow Bates Bobcat, the other, a current HBS Bobcat and future Batesie.  They were tough to catch.  Thank you to Ms. Thayer as well, who kept things going smoothly on the sidelines.  She may have to take over the fourth grade Harry Potter Club next year. 

The class got into the computer lab for some country research and to look for background or poster pictures.  It's going to be a whirlwind around the world day on Thursday as we get to see what the kids were able to muster up these last couple of days.

I've got more correcting to do.  So good night to you all.

Mr. Shea

Last week

Hello,

I noticed that my summer vacation travel plans that I put in my phone also appear on the homework calendar.  I didn't mean to do that, but guess I'm okay with it.  I'm going out west and plan on sending a postcard to each student.  Maybe I'll ask them if they have a preference from where the card comes from. 

A note went home tonight asking for your contact info for the summer.  I'm hoping that we can have a couple of get-togethers.  They would be completely optional, but I thought it would be nice to touch base and keep our classroom community together.

We are quickly running out of time around here.  I saw some nice presentations in Mrs. Smith's room, but she still needs some more of our time.  We'll see what we can find.

Our class is doing some whirlwind research on a foreign country and then can present that any way that they choose.  It can be a newscast, a tourism commercial, a poster, a brochure, a powerpoint, a diorama, a gameshow, or any combination.  Those are just some of the possibilities.  Time is limited, however.  We will donate most of tomorrow to this project.  I'm hoping we'll be ready by Thursday.

The Quidditch match is tomorrow from 4-5.  Inside if necessary.  I hope it isn't.

Ice cream social tonight at 6:00.  Maybe 6:30, I'm not sure.  Either way, I'll be here.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

No Quidditch tomorrow

Hello,

We finished the writing prompt.  We had the last spelling test of fourth grade.  They spent an hour with Mrs. Smith.  We did the DIBELS reading test.  I think they are as ready to be done with these assessments as I am.  One more day of this.

Tomorrow is the parts of speech/language arts test.  (Nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. and synonyms, antonyms, figurative language, etc.)  They should do well.

I'm famished.

No quidditch due to the rain storm that is expected tomorrow.  We're rescheduling for Tuesday the 11th.  If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I'll scream.

Good night.

Mr. Shea
Pitch Car Champion 2013

It's hard not to look at the calendar.

Hello,

We started our end of the year writing prompt today.  The kids had a choice of three topics.  They wrote for a half an hour before I collected their work.  I will pass the pages back out tomorrow and they'll get another half hour.  I hope I see capitalization, punctuation, margins, full sentences, paragraphs and quotation marks.  Ask your child what they are writing about. 

Tomorrow is the last Lego Club of the year. 

The Harry Potter Club voted today that Friday's quidditch match will go rain or shine.  I'm hoping for a cool cloudy day with the temps in the 60s. 

The class went with Mrs. Smith to wrap up their Mainer reports.  I think she wants one more day, but I'll find out tomorrow. 

Commander Metcalf sent me some pictures, but I haven't figured out how to get them on here yet.

Thanks for reading,

Mr. Shea

Fantastic Visit

Hello,

I was very pleased with our guest speakers this afternoon, led by Commander Metcalf of the U.S. Navy.  He brought two lieutenants with him who also work at Bath Iron Works with him.  They are working on a new destroyer there.  They gave a very informative presentation, had a hands on show and tell session, let the kids design and test their own aluminum foil boats, and answered loads of questions. 

I'll post a couple of pictures when I get a chance.  I got permission from many of you to do that, so thank you. 

I learned a lot myself from the naval officers.  I liked how they talked about their ship "not floating," but that it displaces water and it is the push back of all that water that keeps the ship atop the water.  The entire hull of the ship is a giant wedge. 

Kids tried to see how many pennies their aluminum creations would hold and still stay afloat.  I heard one student made it to two hundred pennies. 

Commander Metcalf brought in many samples that we could touch and feel.  I especially liked the heavy electrical cables and the very grippy material that they paint on the deck of ships. 

He also awarded us a medallion from the U.S. Navy that I will proudly display on my desk display case. 

It went very well.  The kids asked great questions.  I was a little disappointed to hear the class say they thought our president was commander of the judicial branch, but we'll review that all over again.  Ask your child what they thought of the visit.

A big thank you to the Commander and the Lieutenants.  It was a great learning experience for the kids. 

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

One more Monday

Hello,

We were visited by a member of the Curtis Memorial Library this morning.  She talked to the class about the summer reading program that they are putting on.  The class asked a lot of very good questions.  I hope you will support your child's reading this summer and take part in the program.

I introduced decimals in my math class today.  I introduce it by talking about our base ten number system.  Today, I showed them what a base five and a binary number system look like.  I think it helps them appreciate our system.  We'll only spend a few days on decimals, but I'm trying to give them a proper start on them so they don't seem so scary next year. 

The weekly challenge in math is a tough one.  You might want to take a look and see if your child can explain it.

I'm trying to cram a lot in as we wind the year down.  It looks like Mrs. Smith needs a couple more classes to finish up with our kids.  That isn't so great for me, but at least I have the luxury of having a majority of the class come back next year.  If they have a gap, I'll know it, take the blame, and fill it. 

The class took the chart and graph test today.  So far, so good, from what I've seen.  Unfortunately, more tests to follow.

I'm giving the kids some choice on the end of the year writing prompt.  They nominated some topics and the class now have three topics to choose from to write about.  Technology, Sports/Games, and Fantasy/Sci Fi are the three topics.  They may write fiction or non-fiction.  I'm giving them a day to mull that over. 

The last homework club will be tomorrow.  The last Lego club will be Thursday.  The Harry Potter Quidditch Match will be Friday at 4:00.  We'd love to have some spectators.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea