Hello,
Homework club just ended. I got a text from my wife saying that we have a leaky roof so I'm going to run home and break up an ice dam.
Some good fairy tale performances today. Final four WWF vote tomorrow. Last day before vacation. Spelling test. Fairy Tale Jeopardy. We'll finish The Princess Bride. Hope to finish our read aloud, Wonder. All good stuff.
Have a great holiday vacation. I'm sure I won't post anything tomorrow. Thank you for all of your support in 2013. We'll get right back at it in a few weeks.
Have a fun, safe and happy new year.
Mr. Shea
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Global Warming?
Hello,
I wanted the kids to understand why we talked about global warming yesterday. I didn't feel the need to espouse my views. It isn't in our curriculum to talk about the temperature of the planet and the pros and cons of that changing. I brought it up because it helps me get my main point across: Think for yourself. There are two sides to the argument. Both will try to convince you of their point of view. Please don't blindly follow.
We talked food stamps today. I know that is the old way of saying governmental assistance or welfare. Again, it wasn't to make sure they knew where I stand on the issue. It was to bring up another topic with opposing sides with staunchly opposing viewpoints. It was timely, considering our governor's latest proposal, but the point remained: Think for yourself. Make up your own mind. Weigh evidence. Consider the source. Form your own opinion. All good lessons, I think. And while real world problems are quite a contrast to the fairy tales that we have been reading, I think the common thread between them is that poorly thought out decisions generally lead to unfortunate consequences. We need to be a nation of thinkers. I hope to help them on this path.
Tonight's homework was about making our world a better place. I asked them to write about something that they plan on doing over the vacation for someone less fortunate than them. Some need to formulate the plan first. You can help with this. I told them that it is easy to look around and see who has more money, who wears nicer stuff, who has cooler toys. It is easy to say "They are lucky." The fact is that everyone in our class this afternoon has many, many things to be thankful for: health, food, clothing, shelter, friends, people who care about them, an education that is there for the taking, etc. With that in mind, I'd like to see them do something generous for someone. And I like that it doesn't necessarily have to be random or spontaneous, although those are great too. I want to see them plan something nice for someone and then carry it out. Not to get a gift or receive praise, but because they can.
Let's see where that takes us.
Three toed sloth and the eagle made the final four today.
I've got a basketball game so I'm off.
Thanks for reading.
Mr. Shea
I wanted the kids to understand why we talked about global warming yesterday. I didn't feel the need to espouse my views. It isn't in our curriculum to talk about the temperature of the planet and the pros and cons of that changing. I brought it up because it helps me get my main point across: Think for yourself. There are two sides to the argument. Both will try to convince you of their point of view. Please don't blindly follow.
We talked food stamps today. I know that is the old way of saying governmental assistance or welfare. Again, it wasn't to make sure they knew where I stand on the issue. It was to bring up another topic with opposing sides with staunchly opposing viewpoints. It was timely, considering our governor's latest proposal, but the point remained: Think for yourself. Make up your own mind. Weigh evidence. Consider the source. Form your own opinion. All good lessons, I think. And while real world problems are quite a contrast to the fairy tales that we have been reading, I think the common thread between them is that poorly thought out decisions generally lead to unfortunate consequences. We need to be a nation of thinkers. I hope to help them on this path.
Tonight's homework was about making our world a better place. I asked them to write about something that they plan on doing over the vacation for someone less fortunate than them. Some need to formulate the plan first. You can help with this. I told them that it is easy to look around and see who has more money, who wears nicer stuff, who has cooler toys. It is easy to say "They are lucky." The fact is that everyone in our class this afternoon has many, many things to be thankful for: health, food, clothing, shelter, friends, people who care about them, an education that is there for the taking, etc. With that in mind, I'd like to see them do something generous for someone. And I like that it doesn't necessarily have to be random or spontaneous, although those are great too. I want to see them plan something nice for someone and then carry it out. Not to get a gift or receive praise, but because they can.
Let's see where that takes us.
Three toed sloth and the eagle made the final four today.
I've got a basketball game so I'm off.
Thanks for reading.
Mr. Shea
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Snow day?
Hello,
I'm getting out of here before the snow hits too hard. Sorry to cancel homework club, but when they cancel ALL afterschool activities, I follow suit. I figure that we have a 50% chance of a snow day tomorrow. They usually have a quick trigger on the first one.
It was an interesting day. In trying to convince people to vote for their animals in our WWF elections, some students have made some exaggerated claims. It led us down the path of "How do we know what to believe when we read or hear things?" Well, you know me... I was off and running. We talked about both sides of the Global Warming issue. I showed them the following website:
http://dhmo.org/facts.html. I had most of the class believing that we should ban dihydrogen monoxide. After we noodled through that dihydrogen monoxide is a fancy way of saying H20, or water, the kids saw how easy it was for me to convince them of something totally bogus. The lesson: be wary. Question. Make your own decisions. Don't let people talk you into something. Think for yourself.
In WWF wrestling, the Saola took down the Blue Finned Tuna and the Black Jaguar beat the Arctic Hare. We are down to our Final Eight. If we have a snow day, all four matches will be decided on Thursday.
We started fractions in math. Lots of hands on stuff. We had a great day.
Thanks for reading.
Mr. Shea
I'm getting out of here before the snow hits too hard. Sorry to cancel homework club, but when they cancel ALL afterschool activities, I follow suit. I figure that we have a 50% chance of a snow day tomorrow. They usually have a quick trigger on the first one.
It was an interesting day. In trying to convince people to vote for their animals in our WWF elections, some students have made some exaggerated claims. It led us down the path of "How do we know what to believe when we read or hear things?" Well, you know me... I was off and running. We talked about both sides of the Global Warming issue. I showed them the following website:
http://dhmo.org/facts.html. I had most of the class believing that we should ban dihydrogen monoxide. After we noodled through that dihydrogen monoxide is a fancy way of saying H20, or water, the kids saw how easy it was for me to convince them of something totally bogus. The lesson: be wary. Question. Make your own decisions. Don't let people talk you into something. Think for yourself.
In WWF wrestling, the Saola took down the Blue Finned Tuna and the Black Jaguar beat the Arctic Hare. We are down to our Final Eight. If we have a snow day, all four matches will be decided on Thursday.
We started fractions in math. Lots of hands on stuff. We had a great day.
Thanks for reading.
Mr. Shea
Monday, December 16, 2013
No math today
Hello,
It was an odd day of no math and no library, so lots of time in the class room. We learned a bit about rhinos and grey wolves, but the African Rhino won the election. In other competitions, the Snowy Owl flew past the Sea Turtle and the Giant Tortoise finally took down the Giant Anteater. Tomorrow will pit the Black Jaguar vs. the Arctic Hare and the Saola vs. the Blue Finned Tuna. Who will your child vote for? Do you remember what a saola is?
We played a math/logic game named SKUNK. My mentor teacher introduced it. It involves some strategy. I think they liked it.
We were back in the computer lab to finish explorer cards. I think two more need to edit before we are ready to print.
Kids took quizzes for bonus points for their teams in the Fairy Tale/Legend/Fable Jeopardy Challenge. They can earn points in advance for the Jeopardy Game that we will have at the end of the week.
The class is also working on putting on mini-skits of a scene or two from a favorite fairy tale. The challenge is to involve music in some way. Teams are altering lyrics of well known tunes to help fit their scripts. Should be fun to see. I'm sure our lunch buddies will be interested in a performance.
Thanks for reading,
Have a good night.
Mr. Shea
It was an odd day of no math and no library, so lots of time in the class room. We learned a bit about rhinos and grey wolves, but the African Rhino won the election. In other competitions, the Snowy Owl flew past the Sea Turtle and the Giant Tortoise finally took down the Giant Anteater. Tomorrow will pit the Black Jaguar vs. the Arctic Hare and the Saola vs. the Blue Finned Tuna. Who will your child vote for? Do you remember what a saola is?
We played a math/logic game named SKUNK. My mentor teacher introduced it. It involves some strategy. I think they liked it.
We were back in the computer lab to finish explorer cards. I think two more need to edit before we are ready to print.
Kids took quizzes for bonus points for their teams in the Fairy Tale/Legend/Fable Jeopardy Challenge. They can earn points in advance for the Jeopardy Game that we will have at the end of the week.
The class is also working on putting on mini-skits of a scene or two from a favorite fairy tale. The challenge is to involve music in some way. Teams are altering lyrics of well known tunes to help fit their scripts. Should be fun to see. I'm sure our lunch buddies will be interested in a performance.
Thanks for reading,
Have a good night.
Mr. Shea
Thursday, December 12, 2013
School Assembly
Hello,
We had a school wide assembly this afternoon to celebrate reaching 250,000 minutes read school-wide over the past five weeks. Many teachers presented a reader's theater on stage. They read Daisy Head Mayzie by Dr. Seuss.
Just before the assembly we met with our third grade lunch buddies. They came to our room to hear some fairy tales. Each student read one of their favorite classics to their buddy. It seemed to go smoothly. It is great seeing our kids as role models. They handle it very well.
In art class, the kids are making ink prints and clay people in the tradition of the far east. You might want to ask them about what they are learning in there. It seems really neat.
My math class is handling bar modeling with simple equations and vice versa. Tonight, they have a little more practice writing the equations of the models. Some were able to write word problems based on the models in class, so they shouldn't have any trouble tonight.
In WWF wrestling, I mean voting, the Three-Toed Sloth clobbered the Arctic Fox and the Emperor Penguin took care of the Amur Leopard. We learned about the sloth and the fox from the students whom had nominated them, but were disappointed not to hear anything about the penguin or leopard. I think the penguin won't make it past the next round without some major research getting done. It was a good time for me to talk about "required" and "optional" work. We all win when students do optional work and come in and share. Students only doing the minimum don't add much to our learning. Last night was an easy homework night to boot.
That said, ask your child when their nominated animal will be voted upon. Will they teach us anything about the animal? We can hope.
Thanks for reading.
Mr. Shea
We had a school wide assembly this afternoon to celebrate reaching 250,000 minutes read school-wide over the past five weeks. Many teachers presented a reader's theater on stage. They read Daisy Head Mayzie by Dr. Seuss.
Just before the assembly we met with our third grade lunch buddies. They came to our room to hear some fairy tales. Each student read one of their favorite classics to their buddy. It seemed to go smoothly. It is great seeing our kids as role models. They handle it very well.
In art class, the kids are making ink prints and clay people in the tradition of the far east. You might want to ask them about what they are learning in there. It seems really neat.
My math class is handling bar modeling with simple equations and vice versa. Tonight, they have a little more practice writing the equations of the models. Some were able to write word problems based on the models in class, so they shouldn't have any trouble tonight.
In WWF wrestling, I mean voting, the Three-Toed Sloth clobbered the Arctic Fox and the Emperor Penguin took care of the Amur Leopard. We learned about the sloth and the fox from the students whom had nominated them, but were disappointed not to hear anything about the penguin or leopard. I think the penguin won't make it past the next round without some major research getting done. It was a good time for me to talk about "required" and "optional" work. We all win when students do optional work and come in and share. Students only doing the minimum don't add much to our learning. Last night was an easy homework night to boot.
That said, ask your child when their nominated animal will be voted upon. Will they teach us anything about the animal? We can hope.
Thanks for reading.
Mr. Shea
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Truck Loaded
Hello,
The school community started the day packing the back of a truck with all of the food collected during our Food Collection Drive. Ms. D'Agostino leads a school-wide program through our physical education classes. It took us a good half hour to stuff the truck. All of the food will be going to a local food bank. Thank you for your donations.
We have started eliminating animals for possible adoption through our Holiday Madness Bracket Challenge. Each student nominated an animal for adoption through World Wildlife Federation's Adopt-An-Animal program. I created a giant single elimination tournament bracket on our back white board. Every day we will hear from a couple of students on why we should adopt their animal choice and then we vote. Two animals will be eliminated a day. Yesterday, in close voting, the Gray Wolf took down the Red Panda and the Sea Turtle took down the Giraffe. Today was a bad day for big cats and had two blowouts: (15-3 in both) Arctic Hare crushed the Cheetah and the Saola outdistanced the Clouded Leopard. We will find out tomorrow who will win between the Three-Toed Sloth and the Arctic Fox, and between the defending champion, Amur Leopard, and the Emperor Penguin.
We got back into the computer room to finish up our explorer cards. I think half of the class finished. We have some more work to do.
The early release day delivered us an early math class. We are focusing on being able to draw a bar model for simple equations and word problems. The Bowdoin volunteers were a huge help today, making it able for students who needed it to get one on one instruction. Give your kids a problem, like 24 divided by 6, or 210 minus 130. They should be able to give you a nice, visual model.
Back to full days tomorrow. I'd much rather be here with a room full of kids than a room full of adults. You can draw your own conclusions.
Thanks for reading,
Mr. Shea
The school community started the day packing the back of a truck with all of the food collected during our Food Collection Drive. Ms. D'Agostino leads a school-wide program through our physical education classes. It took us a good half hour to stuff the truck. All of the food will be going to a local food bank. Thank you for your donations.
We have started eliminating animals for possible adoption through our Holiday Madness Bracket Challenge. Each student nominated an animal for adoption through World Wildlife Federation's Adopt-An-Animal program. I created a giant single elimination tournament bracket on our back white board. Every day we will hear from a couple of students on why we should adopt their animal choice and then we vote. Two animals will be eliminated a day. Yesterday, in close voting, the Gray Wolf took down the Red Panda and the Sea Turtle took down the Giraffe. Today was a bad day for big cats and had two blowouts: (15-3 in both) Arctic Hare crushed the Cheetah and the Saola outdistanced the Clouded Leopard. We will find out tomorrow who will win between the Three-Toed Sloth and the Arctic Fox, and between the defending champion, Amur Leopard, and the Emperor Penguin.
We got back into the computer room to finish up our explorer cards. I think half of the class finished. We have some more work to do.
The early release day delivered us an early math class. We are focusing on being able to draw a bar model for simple equations and word problems. The Bowdoin volunteers were a huge help today, making it able for students who needed it to get one on one instruction. Give your kids a problem, like 24 divided by 6, or 210 minus 130. They should be able to give you a nice, visual model.
Back to full days tomorrow. I'd much rather be here with a room full of kids than a room full of adults. You can draw your own conclusions.
Thanks for reading,
Mr. Shea
Monday, December 9, 2013
Snow, Library and chorus
Hello,
The day went fast. We got into the computer lab for an hour to work on our Explorer Cards. We'll have one more forty minute session (on Wed) to finish that up. Thanks to Pat for coming in and helping in the lab.
We are struggling with the bar modeling in math. If I use big numbers, the kids don't know what to do to solve the problem. If I use small numbers, they figure it out in their heads, but have no idea what they did to solve it. We will back the bus up to the third and fourth grade books for a bit. They need to be able to express what they are doing to solve a word problem, be it by equation, picture or bar model. Right now, I'm still searching for a launching off point for them. In the mean time, keep practicing the facts.
The afternoon consisted of fairy tales, library and chorus. I'm hoping our fairy tale unit will help with some of our creative writing. These stories get right to the problem and then have a rhythm on how they get solved. We talked about what lessons that we can take from these famous tales to incorporate into our own writing.
I'm going to hit the snowy roads.
Homework club tomorrow.
Thanks for reading.
Mr. Shea
The day went fast. We got into the computer lab for an hour to work on our Explorer Cards. We'll have one more forty minute session (on Wed) to finish that up. Thanks to Pat for coming in and helping in the lab.
We are struggling with the bar modeling in math. If I use big numbers, the kids don't know what to do to solve the problem. If I use small numbers, they figure it out in their heads, but have no idea what they did to solve it. We will back the bus up to the third and fourth grade books for a bit. They need to be able to express what they are doing to solve a word problem, be it by equation, picture or bar model. Right now, I'm still searching for a launching off point for them. In the mean time, keep practicing the facts.
The afternoon consisted of fairy tales, library and chorus. I'm hoping our fairy tale unit will help with some of our creative writing. These stories get right to the problem and then have a rhythm on how they get solved. We talked about what lessons that we can take from these famous tales to incorporate into our own writing.
I'm going to hit the snowy roads.
Homework club tomorrow.
Thanks for reading.
Mr. Shea
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Good to be back
Hello,
I got a fantastic report from Mrs. Anderson. Our class performed well. She called it a "well oiled machine." She also wrote that it should be used as "Exhibit A for evidence in support of looping." I'll take that. I was very pleased. She wrote that she talked to the class about the John F. Kennedy anniversary. I didn't ask them about it today, but will be sure to tomorrow.
My conference was a hodgepodge of ideas, mostly about the philosophy of teaching. I got a few ideas, but more than anything, it made me think about my purpose and my priorities in teaching. I definitely didn't like being out of the classroom for two whole days.
It looks like the reading of the classic comics is going along well. I will be interested to see some of our upcoming conversations surrounding the stories.
The chorus concert is tonight. They had a rehearsal this afternoon and they sounded great. My head literally almost hit the keyboard as I practically fell asleep writing that last line. It felt like I hadn't seen the kids in a long time today and I think I used up all of my energy.
We went into the computer lab for research on our explorers. Ask your child who they are focusing on.
In read aloud, the dog died. Always a rough part of a book. Luckily, Max was quite a minor character, but still, it hit home for a couple.
I'm going to get through some correcting before the concert. Thanks for reading.
Mr. Shea
I got a fantastic report from Mrs. Anderson. Our class performed well. She called it a "well oiled machine." She also wrote that it should be used as "Exhibit A for evidence in support of looping." I'll take that. I was very pleased. She wrote that she talked to the class about the John F. Kennedy anniversary. I didn't ask them about it today, but will be sure to tomorrow.
My conference was a hodgepodge of ideas, mostly about the philosophy of teaching. I got a few ideas, but more than anything, it made me think about my purpose and my priorities in teaching. I definitely didn't like being out of the classroom for two whole days.
It looks like the reading of the classic comics is going along well. I will be interested to see some of our upcoming conversations surrounding the stories.
The chorus concert is tonight. They had a rehearsal this afternoon and they sounded great. My head literally almost hit the keyboard as I practically fell asleep writing that last line. It felt like I hadn't seen the kids in a long time today and I think I used up all of my energy.
We went into the computer lab for research on our explorers. Ask your child who they are focusing on.
In read aloud, the dog died. Always a rough part of a book. Luckily, Max was quite a minor character, but still, it hit home for a couple.
I'm going to get through some correcting before the concert. Thanks for reading.
Mr. Shea
Monday, December 2, 2013
Three week stretch begins
Hello,
I will be out on Tuesday and Wednesday for a teacher's conference on differentiated assessment. I'm hoping to come back with some new ideas that I can use. Mrs. Anderson, from Longfellow fame, will take my place. I'll come back to school tomorrow night to check how things went on our first sub day and write plans for Wednesday. The kids know what I expect. I'm confident that they will do well. They are in good hands.
We started a fiction unit today focusing on legends, myths, fairy tales, folk tales and fables. I brought in some of my Classics Illustrated Junior set. Many old favorites from Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm will be read over these next three weeks. I made a little decorated doorway to get them motivated. They jumped right into reading the classic comics. It was a good start. Ask them about some of the differences between legends, myths and fables. I think they picked up a lot in the first day.
We are also going to put a focus on these genres in our writing. I asked them to write a myth for homework on how the Grand Canyon was created. They cannon copy the Paul Bunyan story. He was weary and dragged his axe for a few paces.
Students chose WWF animals for our annual adoption. I saw that some of my favorites were picked. Maybe this will be the year for the Arctic fox or the cheetah. Last year's winner, the Amur leopard was nominated again. As one student put it, "They're still practically extinct." Maybe it will be the year of the first two-time champion.
I enjoyed talking to everyone at conference time. Please don't ever hesitate to call or drop by with a question or concern. We don't need to wait for an official conference time.
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. These next three weeks will fly by.
Good night,
Mr. Shea
I will be out on Tuesday and Wednesday for a teacher's conference on differentiated assessment. I'm hoping to come back with some new ideas that I can use. Mrs. Anderson, from Longfellow fame, will take my place. I'll come back to school tomorrow night to check how things went on our first sub day and write plans for Wednesday. The kids know what I expect. I'm confident that they will do well. They are in good hands.
We started a fiction unit today focusing on legends, myths, fairy tales, folk tales and fables. I brought in some of my Classics Illustrated Junior set. Many old favorites from Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm will be read over these next three weeks. I made a little decorated doorway to get them motivated. They jumped right into reading the classic comics. It was a good start. Ask them about some of the differences between legends, myths and fables. I think they picked up a lot in the first day.
We are also going to put a focus on these genres in our writing. I asked them to write a myth for homework on how the Grand Canyon was created. They cannon copy the Paul Bunyan story. He was weary and dragged his axe for a few paces.
Students chose WWF animals for our annual adoption. I saw that some of my favorites were picked. Maybe this will be the year for the Arctic fox or the cheetah. Last year's winner, the Amur leopard was nominated again. As one student put it, "They're still practically extinct." Maybe it will be the year of the first two-time champion.
I enjoyed talking to everyone at conference time. Please don't ever hesitate to call or drop by with a question or concern. We don't need to wait for an official conference time.
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. These next three weeks will fly by.
Good night,
Mr. Shea
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