A castle is coming?

Hello,

The homework club worked on various projects including K'nex and Lego compositions, but the biggest group worked on a castle for our front entryway. We have two towers, plans for a styrofoam arch, and the makings of a giant drawbridge. This fits in perfectly with our fairy tales, fables, and legends unit.  I look forward to a finished product.  For want of a glue gun, it might be finished already.

Our planned mini unit on erosion and weathering started with a fizzle today. My slide projector blew a bulb, the replacement didn't quite fit, my slide carousel didn't fit the library projector, once I transferred my slides into the library carousel, the mechanism to advance the slides stopped working. It was a debacle. I've been using that word too much lately. Does anyone know where I should go to find a bulb for a 15 year old slide projector? A bit of a dinosaur, they probably stopped making the projectors as soon as I bought this one. I had planned on showing some of my pictures of many of our country's greatest national parks. Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, White Sands, Death Valley etc. are a result of some extraordinary erosion. We'll try again another day.

Our rounding estimation pretests went very well.  Most everyone bombed. "Why am I so happy about that?" I asked the class with a huge grin."

"Because we're all going to learn something," someone answered.

"That's right!" I replied. "Isn't that great?"

They weren't so excited about it.

We'll be getting into when and why we estimate as well as some estimation strategies. Rounding will be one of the strategies.

It was picture day today. Everyone looked nice. No one got too sweaty at lunch recess.  Teachers always hope for morning pictures. No such luck for us this year.

I forgot to write that our school counselors, Mrs. Farrand and Mrs. Rubio joined us last week. They introduced themselves to our new students, explained their jobs and what they will be doing with our classroom this year. We have four planned visits covering a variety of topics.

My eyes are getting heavy.  Homework club days are long day. Fun, but exhausting. I'm going to go eat and sleep.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

School pictures tomorrow

Hello,

It is spirit week at HBS.  Today was hat day. We made hats this morning out of construction paper. Tomorrow is dress up day (due to picture day).  Wednesday is school color day (blue and green). Thursday is stripes and polka dots day. Friday is Black and Orange day to help celebrate BHS Homecoming Weekend.

We had our first school assembly of the year this afternoon. Safety, respect and responsibility were talked about. Bobcat awards were explained and handed out. Students were also reminded of the daily themes of our spirit week.

We made islands of paper and then dripped water on them.  The water was dyed with some blue food coloring so we could see it better. The goal was for us to learn where water runs (downhill), and where streams, rivers and lakes would form. Our droppers were the "rain clouds".  We will be making play dough islands in the near future and inaccurate placement of rivers and lakes is a common mistake.  Water erosion experiments start tomorrow.  These are some of my favorite lessons. Light bulbs will come on tomorrow.

We're going to jump into some fairy tales, legends, myths, fables and tall tales in reading class.  Ask your child what a genre is. I'll be bringing in many of my fifty year old Illustrated Classic Juniors for the unit. I will trust everyone to keep my collection intact. I think the kids are going to be very excited about our reading and science the next few days couple of weeks.  More info to follow.

We took the chap 2 pretest in math.  I'll correct that tonight and see where we need to begin in rounding and estimation. Less fun than the science, but I've got some unique ways to teach it.

Homework club tomorrow.  I wonder if our K'nex machines will grow another foot.  Should be fun.

I've still got a tickle in my throat and some watery eyes.  It is definitely allergy related.  Just in time for school pics. I'll wear my best bags under my eyes tomorrow.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Friday

Hello,

There will be no more Friday blogs.  I'm exhausted.  I can't think straight.  I type poorly.  I go home quickly.  I fall asleep early.

Thank you for understanding.

Mr. Shea

Cornhuskers

Hello,

You never know what you might do at this job. Our class got the opportunity to husk some corn for tomorrow's lunch. Each child husked 2-4 ears. Many first-timers, so thank you to the HBS cafeteria to putting it out there.

We took the first math test of the year.  19 of 21 met the standard, which makes me confident that we can move forward as a math class without grouping. Most mistakes were based on a lack of test-taking skills. We need to learn to check our work, read carefully, answer all questions and make sure our answers make sense.

We made some three dimensional land features using clay this afternoon. This was another step toward our island creations, which we will do next week.

We practiced our spelling words.  Test tomorrow. I noticed how many students wrote words incorrectly to study. Next week, I'll recheck words and sign off on the assignment book.

I developed a sore throat during the day. I'm going home early and sleeping. I need to nip this quickly.

Thanks for reading,

Mr. Shea

Math test tomorrow

Hello,

We had a good day. We ended with a challenge to get my thousands of cuisinaire rods into five bins with equal numbers of each size in each bin. Every student in the class had to participate. After a little debating about strategies, the class started sorting and counting, and occasionally complaining. While not completely finished, I saw a lot of great communication, teamwork, and problem solving. They should finish the challenge tomorrow morning, but I felt like some major lessons were being learned. There were many possible ways to go about solving the problem. Did the loudest get their way? Was there two way communication? Was everyone's input heard? Good stuff.

Our heroine in The City of Ember heard from the mayor about possible "slushuns." It is just like me to pick a book about corrupt leaders. I'm a sucker for the dystopian novels. This one keeps getting better. Ask your child about the box that was found.

We spent some time writing the alphabet four ways this afternoon. You would have thought I was torturing them. I asked for alphabets printed and in cursive, in both lower case and capitals. For the majority, writing cursive was a huge struggle. Well, now we have a starting point.

Math test tomorrow. Ms. Hill put together a Jeopardy! game for us today to review the chapter. It was a spirited contest that came right down to final jeopardy.

The fourth grade team met after school. I decided that our class will not be grouping for math. Tomorrow's test results may make me want to go back on that decision, but I feel like I can challenge everyone who currently stays in our class for math. We have twenty students from our homeroom of twenty-three. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns about that decision.

I just got a text from my wife with a picture of my usually white dog covered in raccoon crap. Wonderful. That's when it becomes my dog.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

First Lego club of the year was a success

Hello,

We had eleven of twenty three stay.  Everyone got their written homework finished.  Many also finished their 20 minutes of reading.  We only spent 30 minutes (of the usual 45) on homework so I could set a few ground rules on how the "fun" part of the club would go. The kids really wanted to do their own thing, so there was very little structure. Four kids worked with Knex, a roller coaster and five foot big ball machine should be finished in a few weeks.  Many kids built with Legos, opting for free building rather than sets. One child worked with the Master Builder Set.

All in all it was successful. It is helping to build our classroom community. The kids are interacting with each other and problem solving at the same time. There was a great vibe in the room, and even the homework time held no tension. I offered pretzels up for an extra snack and eight kids partook. Any parent willing to occasionally donate a bag of pretzels, a jug of fruit juice, or anything along those lines, is welcome to contribute.  Thank you so much.

We had an interesting discussion during school today. What started out as a "Why we pledge allegiance to the flag and what that means talk," turned into much more. HBS no longer announces the pledge over the intercom in the morning. I thought that we should talk about that as a class and discuss whether we should keep the tradition. I personally think we should.  I read a picture book titled I Pledge Allegiance by Bill Martin Jr. It led to a multi-faceted discussion about our freedoms, our military, ISIS, September 11th, veterans, why we go to war, etc. The interest was very high. At one point, half of the class had their hands up for comments or questions. Your child may ask you some questions tonight and it would be nice for you to give them your perspective. Heavy topics, but ones they are highly interested in, and I handled as straight forward, but as delicately as I could. Feel free to ask me about it as well.

I'll be instituting a current events reporter job soon, which goes to a different child every night. They will get a bonus on their next paycheck for bringing in a news item that can be local, national, global, or special interest.  I can see that this class will be highly interested in this.

Tuesday was already my favorite day of the school week, because we get a full two hours of instruction in the morning. Homework club makes it even better. I need to build up strong relationships to get them to buy into the hard work that is coming down the pike. I enjoy that process immensely. (It's easier than getting them to do the hard work.)

Math jeopardy tomorrow, with the Chapter 1 test on Thursday.

Spelling test on Friday.  Your child should have eight words in their assignment book that will be on their individualized test. The words came from words that they have missed earlier this year, or words from our geography unit.

I got a huge box at the very end of the day that was getting recycled. Now I just need to figure out how to incorporate that into a lesson tomorrow.  It is refrigerator sized if anyone has any ideas.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

First bonuses paid

Hello,

Students meeting the reading log required minimums of five days, twenty minutes a day, with parent signature, got their bonus pay today.  When the banks open later in the week, they only need to deposit their reading log like a check.  Hard work pays, just like in the real world.

We are reviewing the first chapter of the math book in preparation for the test later this week. Review days tend to be boring so we kept switching off between 10-15 minutes of review and two minutes of dance music.  Most kids didn't dance, but enjoyed the mind breaks and stretch out times.

We took the NWEA Map test for reading this afternoon. It once again seemed very heavy on the poetry questions. Most students finished in an hour, but five went back at the end of the day to finish.

We are working hard on our geography picture dictionaries. Ask your child what an archipelago, atoll or butte is. They should know, but if not, it will be a good thing for them to check back up on tomorrow.

Information slips for the homework club went home today.  It starts tomorrow, Tuesday the 23rd. I need a note if you would like your child to stay. Here is the note that went home:

Hello Parents,

            Our Homework/Lego/Building 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 building, creating and having fun.  While I appreciate 5:00 pick-ups, I realize that not all parent schedules allow for that.  I will be at school at least until 6:00, so as long as you are here by then, I’m good with that.

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 six last year and as many as eighteen.  While past homework club themes have varied, I’ve decided on a Lego Club this year due to the overwhelming response from the class. 

Interactive play helps kids with their social skills, sportsmanship, rule following, and logical thinking.  We will be building using a variety of materials including Legos, K’nex, Erector sets, Tinker Toys, blocks, straws etc.    

            Any Tuesday that your child has permission to stay after school, please jot it down on a note for them to bring in.  You can give a blanket permission slip if you think your child might want to come every Tuesday.  Again, this starts tomorrow, Sept. 23, and will continue on the 30^th, Oct 7^th, 14^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

I hope a lot of kids can make it. I have found that it helps build our classroom community better than anything else that I have done.

Thanks for reading,

Mr. Shea

Have a good weekend

Hello,

Four digit playing card war was the highlight of math. Lina is lost in the dark in The City of Ember. We did our usual writing and sharing in literacy. First paychecks were handed out in our classroom economy. Bankers finally had something to do. Our geography picture dictionaries were begun. Have a great weekend. Thank you so much to all of you attending open house. Showing our kids that their educational lives are important to us is essential for them to see.

Friday blogs are brief. My Friday afternoon mind is mush.

Mr. Shea

No blog tonight due to open house.

Hello,

If you needed to know about the day, you needed to come to open house.

Sorry,

Mr. Shea

Open House tomorrow night

Hello,

We played a game called "200" in math class today. It involved dice and adding. The kids liked it and it gave me a chance to peruse their addition skills in a non-testing way.  Some will need to stay with some manipulatives to fully understand regrouping. Most are ready to roll on.

The homework tonight is a little more number identification, but we should be moving out of chapter one by next week.

I think a few students were motivated to get more of their Little Miss or Mr. stories completed when faced with the question of, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a finished writing piece on your desk for open house tomorrow night?" I now have some story covers to laminate. We haven't done any big projects with big trophy pieces to show for it, so you may be disappointed in that regard. Our class will look like it usually does. Your child should be able to show you around and talk about what we do.  I'm looking forward to meeting all of you, so I hope you can find the time.

Our class had our second library class of the year today. We are lucky to have library mid-week. With our every other week schedule for library, the Monday and Friday library goers tend to lose many more opportunities than us midweekers.

I read Me On the Map by Joan Sweeney this afternoon. It is an easy picture book about a girl in her room drawing a map of her room, then a map of her house, then of her street, her town, her state, her country, and finally, her world. We'll do a little activity tomorrow where everyone will place themselves in a series of concentric circles representing many of the geographical areas they live in.

Our crystals are growing nicely. Not as much excitement about them today, but I'm sure that will change when it is time to give them away.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Bit late again

Hello,

I'm noticing a pattern. Despite my best efforts to get this out by 6pm, I seem to be starting it after that time.  Part of the problem is that I feel completely brain dead at the end of the school day, so I put off a bunch of tasks. I will try to do better. The single space after punctuation attempt is more difficult than I imagined as well. I'll keep trying.

I've decided that our first homework club will be a Lego club, based on overwhelming support. We will start next Tuesday.  It will run every Tuesday after school, unless I have an IEP or some other immovable meeting.  I will send an information and permission slip home. The regular Tuesday dismissal is at 3:20. Lego club members will get free time to chill out or play until 3:30.  Then we will get our homework done, including our twenty minutes of reading.  The plan is to start our Lego activities no later than 4:15. We'll go until 5:00. This schedule has been successful in the past. If your child can only stay for part of it, that is fine. It is a completely optional club, on a week to week basis. They can choose to stay any Tuesday they wish. For anyone with 5:00 ride trouble, I stay at the school until at least 6:00, and as long as you can get there by then, I have no problem with it. I will start my own work at 5:00, but I have no issue with continued work or play in the classroom for those waiting for rides. As I said, a note will go home soon. You may also ask questions at open house on Thursday at 6:00.

We grouped up for our Math pre-test review this morning. Anyone scoring between 20 and 25 was in one group, 11-19 in another, and ten or less in a third.  The idea is always to meet them where they are at. The groups were solely for the review and next activity. I'll be doing more and more of this in the class to keep everyone challenged. There is quite an array of skill levels, and it doesn't make much sense for much whole class instruction with such a disparity. Feel free to question your child and myself on how things are going.

We enjoyed School House Rock during our in class lunch. I'll be offering those up a minimum of once a week. It is a break from the lunch room and a good way to learn some grammar (among other things).

We played our first rounds of showdown this afternoon. It is one of my favorite off their feet activities. I've got a few others we'll be introducing soon. It's all about getting them out of their chairs and thinking on their feet.

I need to run.  Thanks for reading. Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Half way through Sept already?

Hello,

Week three has started.  The first book orders are coming home.  The easiest way to order is by going to scholastic.com/readingclub and entering our class activation code: J36TM.  The code is on one of the book orders and I gave all students a sticker of the code to put in their assignment notebooks for future reference.  You can also order the old fashion way with a check or cash in an envelope with the order form.  Any orders help the class earn free books.  Thank you for supporting your child's reading interests and our class library.  Students wrote down their top choices for me so I could get a sense of what they would like to see more of in the classroom.

We drew number lines outside on the sidewalk in math today.  I had them draw line segments with definite endings, then announced what numbers were on those endings.  For example, I would yell out, "Start with a ten and end with a fifteen."  Then they would have to place the other numbers in their proper place.  Keeping the numbers equidistant apart was the hardest part.  We talked about midpoints and differences.  I was most impressed with how many of them would mess up, but immediately try something new.  We are trying hard to instill perseverance in our learners.  It is essential to learn from our mistakes to be successful, and that is easy for them to see in many areas of math.

In physical education class they got to run around a bit more, but also found time to review proper use of playground equipment.

We once again worked on short and long vowel sounds.  Still more difficult than I would have anticipated, but much better than earlier.  It's coming back.

I started the process of growing crystals in science.  We discussed solids dissolving in liquids, what happens when water boils, and how and why our sugar powder should grow back into larger crystals. It will be much neater if they work.  Some years, these kits don't do as they're told.

I put up the Harry Potter Club sign up sheet.  Only five names thus far.  Oh, if they only knew the clamoring to get in that usually happens after our first couple of sessions!  And all males so far. Usually the numbers sway the other way.  Well, if we have low numbers, I'll be able to take more from other classes.  Not my first choice, but... oh well. I'll sell it a bit in the morning, but I really hope we can get more from our class.  

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

Have a great weekend

Hello,

Our first full week is behind us. We need work on our full day stamina, but I'm not seeing a huge dip just because it is Friday.

We worked on human number lines in math.  I gave them a pre-test afterwards.  It covers most of the place value stuff that we have reviewed over the past few days.

While the class was in music, I met with Ms. Hill's professor about Stephanie's student teaching.  She is going to be lead teaching for five consecutive days in about a month.  We will have to work her up to that quickly.  Four weeks will go fast.

Lina, the main character in The City of Ember, worked her first day as a messenger.  We will read about Doon's first day of work on Monday.  

Friday is sharing day for writing.  Six students took advantage and shared something that they have been working on with the class.  I hope to see that number grow in the coming weeks.

We started our study of crystals.  I hope to start growing some on Monday.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

Left early

Hello,

I left shortly after lunch today for a funeral of a family friend.  The class was in the capable hands of our substitute, Mrs. Doring, and our student teacher, Miss Hill.  I'll find out all the details of how that went tomorrow.

During our morning we continued with place value work.  We have quite a range of student skill levels in the class.  We are still trying to iron out the levels of support needed.  The fourth grade team also voted to put off any grouping until we can get a handle on what our new inclusion model will look like. Let me know if you have any concerns.

We are almost ready to start our classroom economy.  Jobs placements were announced today.  Our job training has begun, and as soon as everyone is up to speed, work will commence.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Staff meeting

Hello,

We had our first after school staff meeting of the year.  It sure leads to lots of discussions afterwards. Once again, I apologize for getting this out late.

Our class had a pretty good day. We used place value chips in math.  I asked questions like, "What does 23 tens equal?"  We have quite a span of skills in the class, but I'm confident that we'll all be improving.

It was our off library day, so we only had a quick book exchange.

In our read aloud, The City of Ember, (extra copies available if parents want to read along) we met Lina's grandmother and sister.  This book gets good fast.

We read an article on volcanoes in our National Geographic Explorers.  The Explorers come in different reading levels, so students could choose where they felt comfortable.  We wrote a few vocabulary words in our notebooks, including geology.  Does your child know what that means?

We have a class continent song champion.  I'll play it as we arrive in class every day for a couple of weeks and that will be all it takes.  Continents taught. Thank you to all contenders.

I told a little story about chucking food behind the refrigerator when I was a kid. I don't remember how it came up, but I thought I should give you a heads up in case your child finishes dinner quicker than usual.

I'm going to be out tomorrow afternoon. I will be going to a funeral, but won't be leaving until 1:00. It will give our class an opportunity to be responsible for a substitute.  I hope they rise to the challenge.  I worked on the lesson plans with Ms. Hill, our student teacher.  Ms. Hill will be here to assist during the afternoon as well.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

Sorry for the late post

Hello,

The day went pretty well.  Lots of volcano talk. Classroom job talk.

You'll see the math workbook come home for the first time tonight.  The assignment is to do problems 1 - 10 starting on page 3.  I couldn't get that on the homework calendar without google rewriting it as taking place between one and ten pm.

A little job application went home as well. This is more informal than I have done in past years, but hopefully easier for them to do. You may give some suggestions for references.

We had our first official Rocket Math tests.  Good to get them going.  Everyone is starting with addition.  The idea is to get our addition facts down cold. The tests go from A to Z.  Everyone started between A and J, depending on their pretests.

Art class seemed to go well again.  I don't know Mrs. Crosby very well, but I have been nothing but impressed with our music and art programs here at HBS.  I'm sure that she is continuing the excellent instruction that seems to be the norm in their departments.

I am running late and when I start dishing out compliments, I figure I'm getting light-headed.

Thanks for reading this brief blog. I figure with the fifty four pounds of student mail, you've read enough tonight. (That sounds more like me.)

Mr. Shea

First Monday

Hello,

We started the week off with the NWEA MAP Math test.  It is not a timed test, so four students went back in the afternoon to finish.  The test is designed to get harder and harder if you are doing well, so finishing later than others is usually a good sign.

We had our first physical education class.  100% of the class brought sneakers which is fantastic. Unfortunately for everyone interested in running around for a good forty minutes, the first p.e. class involves a lot of procedure learning, including fire alarm and lockdown what ifs.  I saw some disappointed faces after the class, instead of the usual exhilarated, but exhausted faces.

We mixed some corn starch and water this afternoon in our study of solids and liquids.  We made a mess and I am very glad that we have a floor instead of a rug.  Some kids brought some home, some will probably request that you buy some.

We are going to be starting our class government soon.  I outlined where we will go: a president, a congress, and judges.  We will start slow with the whole class experiencing what it is like to be a senator or representative in the class.  Bills will be discussed. Compromises may be reached.  We'll add one branch at a time as we go.

I read the first two pages of The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.  It has an excellent hook to start the story. That will be our first read aloud novel of the year.

I am trying to get in the habit of only putting one space at the end of a sentence after the punctuation, but I realize that I am still failing many times. I promise to get better. I was taught to put the two spaces, but lately was told that this is an outdated practice. I'm sorry for the inconsistency.

I still haven't written any of my preachy posts, but fear not, they are coming.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

Fantastic Friday

Hello,

We had a great day.  I can see that science will be a key component to our class.  The enthusiasm during the last hour of the day, despite being interrupted by a fire drill, was infectious. We didn't get to a planned experiment, mainly because of all the questions along the way, and they were very good questions.

Students watched an animation of our continents being formed out of Pangaea.  I explained how the plates move due to the convection currents of the magma under the crust of the earth and how the Himalayas are still growing.  I'll get into more of the specifics next week.

We got into a discussion of solids, liquids and gases.  I explained this in several different ways, including making the kids act like molecules of a solid being heated into a liquid and then a gas.  The hands were up and the curiosity was bubbling.  My favorite question of the day was, "How come wood doesn't turn into a liquid?"  It was like a dream.

This looks to be a class that will access a lot of reading and writing skills through science.  I'm all for it.  Whatever gets the boat moving in the right direction, is what I'll do.

Monday will be our first physical education class. Please remind your child to bring sneakers.  We also have our first NWEA MAP testing on Monday at 9:10 - 10:00.  Not a great way to start the week, but it will get better and better from there.

Have a good weekend.

Mr. Shea

Bounce back day

Hello,

Sorry that this is late. I had a tutoring session in the gym. I've tutored kids in math for years, but the past three years I've been tutoring in basketball as well. Lots of fun. This might be a good time to tell you that I will be helping out with the Bowdoin women's basketball team this winter.  I love the sport and am really looking forward to it.

Our class had a good day today.  We started off by reading My Mouth is a Volcano! by Julia Cook. This was in direct response to yesterday.  I was very pleased to see kids catching themselves before erupting with whatever thought just crossed their mind.  It was a nice step along our journey.

I gave the kids the Spaghetti Marshmallow Challenge.  Each team of two had eighteen minutes to build a marshmallow topped structure out of dry spaghetti, string and masking tape.  The object is to get the marshmallow as high as possible.  I saw great communication, teamwork, learning from mistakes, risk taking, and very little fear of failure.  I read that kindergartners were more successful at this challenge than many adults.  Part of this was attributed to young peoples' growth mindset.  They haven't learned a fear of failure yet.  I will blog more about mindset when it isn't so late in the day. Ask your child about their structure.

Thank you for doing all of the parent homework last night.  All but four came back.

We got going on our Little Miss and Mr. stories this afternoon.  I'm looking forward to writing with this group.  Second drafts are always an adventure.

We wrote out long numbers in words in our math session.  I would write a number on the board like 4,527,030.  The kids would write four million, five hundred twenty seven thousand, thirty on their dry erase boards. It went well.  I gave one for homework.

We had our first Sitton spelling test.  I'll explain how our spelling program works next week, when kids will have to put in a little time with their words.  Today just gave me a baseline to work with.

Our student teacher, Ms. Hill, gave everyone a get to know her quiz today. I only got five out of nine, but in the end, we all knew a lot more about her.  Ask your child to tell you a couple facts about her.

Thanks for reading.  Again, sorry so late.

Mr. Shea

Day Two

Hello,

We got a little more academic today.  I may pull back the reigns a little bit tomorrow, though. Behaviors, not necessarily the best ones, starting popping up. We have to get the blurting out under control, before everyone is going to feel like they can comfortably speak up. Lots of kids trying to control the class, doesn't work very well. We'll get a handle on it.

We reviewed some place value in math today. We used place value cubes, rods and flats to demonstrate large numbers. We built a giant flat and a giant cube out of pvc pipe to represent 100,000 and 1,000,000 respectively. Most of them need more work on the bigger numbers to get a firm grasp of the big patterns.

The class met the new librarian, Ms. Sherrill this morning. Library will be bi-weekly this year. Our next library session will be September 17th. The kids will get a chance to exchange books before that, however.

One of the big schedule changes this year is that chorus will be held during lunch recess. Sensing a loss in numbers due to the pull of the outdoors, our music teachers have decided to put on a musical. Musical rehearsals and role tryouts will start next Wednesday at lunch recess. I think it is a good decision to attract students, especially for future years.

In literacy, I introduced the kids to the Roger Hargreaves books. I've tried this in the past, and thought I'd go with it again since we have such a wide range of abilities. After reading a few of the books, students will be creating their own Little Miss or Mr. characters. Tomorrow they will start developing their own stories.  The idea is to give them an easy run through of the writing process. Writing simple stories will make the drafting process easier for them.  Most nine and ten year olds want their first draft to be their last draft. This will give them a glimpse into the future of their writing: write a draft and then make it better.

Students will be learning the seven continents (if they don't know them already).  At least one of the continent songs will be heard in your house over the next couple of weeks.  Students will be expected to identify the continents, oceans, major lines of latitude, our home country and state on a world map or globe.

The homework in a bag is going well.  We got through about half of the bags and are getting to know about our classmates.  More tomorrow.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea  

Oops. Mistakes were made.

Hello,

I felt like we got off to a great start.  It was only at the end of the day that I realized that I didn't give the class the information packet (the parent homework) and the note from me (sending you to this blog).  AUGH!

Well, besides my slip ups, the day went pretty well.  I'll give you a write up of each day by 6:00 every night.  The idea is for you to get a sense of what went on and to discuss part of the day with your child.

Today was all about setting expectations for how we go about things in fourth grade.  While I'm not overly pleased with our walking in line, it was a minor hiccup in the day.  We successfully held doors open for each other, learned from each other in group work, and did really well in our first silent reading of the year.  I'm so pleased to have some motivated readers from the get go.  Not everyone, but a good chunk.

Our special of the day was art.  I heard that it went well, but I don't know what they did exactly. Tomorrow we'll have library (every other Wednesday), Friday is music, and Monday we have phys. ed. I sent a schedule home with your child.  (I didn't forget everything.)

We did a little group building activity this afternoon with large foam blocks that I noticed that the tech dept. was throwing away last week.  Our emphasis was working together, problem solving, and learning from each other.  It was great to see kids learning from what didn't work at first.  While not perfect, I saw a lot that we can build upon.  I also will be able to reference this experience later, as we get better at listening to all points of view.  My guess is that your child will have a comment or two about the experience.

We will be starting Rocket Math this week.  Your child took a preliminary test on writing speed today.  Their one minute testing goals will be based on the speed that they are able to write.  We'll revisit this later in the year, since most students get quicker as the year goes on.  Tomorrow we will take short tests in addition, subtraction, multiplication and possibly division.  These tests will tell me how much they have mastered thus far and what level they should begin at this year.  I'm a big fan of Rocket Math because each child works on the exact level where they need to be and then can advance at their own pace.

For read aloud today, I ventured off road and just told a story.  I've had a few adventures in my time and I decided to share one of them with the class.  Part of the motivation is wanting the kids to get to know me.  The stronger that we feel we know each other, the easier it will be to have tough conversations.  I told them a story about my experience in a cave that I hope shows them my sense of adventure.  My wife would say it shows my level of foolishness.  See what your child thinks of my cave story and see if they would have made the same decisions.

Outside of the rules and regulations, that was basically our day.  I'll write more tomorrow when the proper notice home ensures more of an audience.

I do want you to know how seriously I take my job.  I know that each one of these kids is the apple in your eye.  I do everything I can to get to know them, make sure that they see that I care about them, and work as hard as possible to help them see how bright their future can be.  I am always open to your feedback: sshea@brunswick.k12.me.us or 841-2599.  My door is always open.

Thanks for reading.  This is the start of something good.

Mr. Shea