Wrapping up 2015

Hello,

We won't be having a big party to end the week. We will do some fun activities at the end of the day, however. Please don't bring any sweets in for these activities. Our class policy on sweets and snacks hasn't changed. I'm asking you to get permission before showing up with a couple dozen cupcakes or treats. I felt badly that I had to send a little one home with a box of cookies to bring back home last week, but I need to put my foot down. We have varying diets in the class, and I don't think that it is fair to put them on the spot, every time someone brings in some homemade goodies.

We're working on a little review and a little symmetry this week in math. Just a little break from fractions before we jump back into them in January.

We shared writing topics today. Quite a change from this time last year. What is your child writing about?

Tiger beat Arctic Hare today by one vote. Every vote counts! The Tiger made the finals for the second year in a row. We'll see if it can top the winner of tomorrow's Sumatran Rhino - Fennec Fox match up. Some took today's loss hard. It is nice to see them put their heart into their work, just sad when it doesn't pay off.

Thanks for reading,

Mr. Shea

Long time, no blog

Hello,

No basketball tonight, so I'm here welcoming any blog readers back. Sorry for the disappearance. It is a tough time from mid November to mid December.

We have been approved to go on a March field trip to the Challenger Center in Bangor. They have a great website, if you'd like to google it and check it out. I think the kids can tell that I am really psyched up to go. We have some prep work to do for it and we've already started with some communication activities. Ask your child what we have done so far to work on clear, concise directions, both written and oral. Part of the communication puzzle is also listening and reading carefully. That has also been part of our work.

We have been conducting daily elections on this year's class World Wildlife symbolic adoption. Tomorrow we will decide between the Fennec Fox and the Narwhal. That winner will join the Tiger, the Arctic Hare and the Sumatran Rhino in the the final four. We learned a lot about the Crocodile and the Emerald Hummingbird today, so it was sad to see them go.

We've been learning cribbage in class these past three weeks. I hope you've played either cribbage or 99 recently. These games are the ticket to faster and more accurate addition. We could use another cribbage board or two in the classroom if you have an old one lying around that doesn't get much use. I thought we might do a little tourney at some point this year.

I have pleased with the adding and subtracting of fractions lately. We're getting the hang of it. I'm not really looking forward to fraction multiplication and division coming up so soon. We may need a fraction break first. I'll see what I can do.

Homework club and Guitar club are both a green light this week. No hoop for me until the 26th.

Thanks for reading. I'll try again tomorrow!

Mr. Shea

No Guitar Club

Hello,

Our Superintendent has called for a full staff meeting tomorrow after school meaning that guitar club will have to cancelled. Next Tuesday is an early release, bringing our cancellations to three in a row. Please keep practicing. We will get back on track as soon as we can.

There will be no homework club on Thursday this week either due to Bowdoin basketball.

Next week is Thanksgiving. We will be having an early (1:00) release day on Tuesday. Wednesday is a no school day for kids and is set aside for conferences. I've written in about 40 possible time slots for meetings over the next two and a half weeks. Let me know if none of those work for you and we can figure something out.

I've cut and paste the directions for signing up for conferences. You can also circle times on the sheet that went home today, but the online sign up is easier and quicker for me.

Thank you.

I'm sorry for the brief or nonexistent posts lately. These November weeks of report cards, conferences, basketball, meetings and regular classes are the busiest of the year.

I look forward to meeting with you all soon.

Dear Parent,

You are invited to sign up for Parent / Teacher Conference with Mr. Shea.

            DATE:  November 23, November 24, November 25, November 30, December 1 and December 2.
            PLACE:  Room 120.
            REGISTRATION DEADLINE:  End of day 2 days before each conference day

To pick a time slot, enter this link in your internet browser:

             www.ptcfast.com/reg1

At that link, you will be asked for your Entry Code, where you should
enter P6L182450

If you do not have internet access, please send me a note with requested times .

Please let me know if none of the open times work for you. I look forward to our meeting. Thank you.

Best Regards,


Mr. Shea

Conference sign up

Dear Parent,

You are invited to sign up for Parent / Teacher Conference with Mr. Shea.

            DATE:  November 23, November 24, November 25, November 30, December 1 and December 2.
            PLACE:  Room 120. 
            REGISTRATION DEADLINE:  End of day 2 days before each conference day

To pick a time slot, enter this link in your internet browser:

             www.ptcfast.com/reg1

At that link, you will be asked for your Entry Code, where you should
enter P6L182450

If you do not have internet access, please send me a note with requested times .

Please let me know if none of the open times work for you. I look forward to our meeting. Thank you.

Best Regards,


Mr. Shea

Homework club tomorrow

Hello,

My apologies for last night's math homework. I assigned questions 1-5 the night before and they were a lot easier than the next four questions. This morning, I quickly went over how the program wants them to be solved, but I didn't dwell on them too much because those are not questions that match our current math abilities. I'm sorry that I hadn't done them before hand. I thought that they would be similar to the first half of that extra practice section of the book. Thank you to the parents who emailed me. Thank you to all of you who tried to work with your kids to solve them.

Late practice tomorrow, so homework club is still on. I hope to see most of the class after school.

Most of the class finished our Lewis and Clark hallway maps today. Some have some extra work to do at home. You'll get to see those during conferences. I need to write up that sign up schedule soon.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

Late practices

Hello,

We will have homework club this Thursday due to a basketball practice schedule change.

We just finished up with guitar club, but this has to be quick for me to make it to Bowdoin by 6:00.

Ask your child about their mapping of the HBS River, just like Lewis and Clark. They took notes yesterday, but are back in the capital of the classroom today where they have to covert their notes to a map of the hallway river. We may have a few scale issues, but overall their notes looked sound.

We are entering the fraction zone in math. We have started in class, but the homeworks will remain word problem centered for a while.

I hope everyone gets a chance to go vote. Our class voted yes on one, campaign reform. We voted no on two and three. Three was the only decisive outcome at 19-2. I gave the argument on both sides of each issue, but I think seeing how much I pay in taxes, (I projected my paystub on the white board), might have been the swaying argument for no new spending.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Math test today, Field trip tomorrow

Hello,

The math test went okay. We struggled with the word problems, which were very difficult. I don't think anyone should panic. Math In Focus tests are scored on a 25 point scale. The last two problems on each test are considered "stretch" questions. The point is to give kids a chance to show if they can stretch what they have learned and apply it in a unique situation. Most of these type questions have not been practiced. Essentially, that means anyone scoring a 20 has learned everything that we have taught. You shouldn't take your child's score and convert it to a score out of 100. For example, someone scoring a 21 out of 25, shouldn't be a seen as a 84 out of 100. A 21 should not be equated to what we used to think of as a "C" grade.

These tests will come home tomorrow. They were graded and passed back so we could go over them this afternoon. I didn't have time to input the scores in my grade book so I needed to collect them at the end of the day. Make sure to take a look at how your child did and please contact me with any questions or concerns.

We started a light-hearted read aloud today. I thought I would go back to an old favorite of mine: Soup by Robert Newton Peck. It is a funny story of a farm boy and his best friend growing up in rural Vermont. We had finished Because of Mr. Terupt last week, and then I read the first few chapters of Chains by Laurie Halse Andersen. I wanted to get them started on that great book to see if I could get a few takers. It is one of my favorite historical fictions. My goal is always to get them to grab that reading baton.

Field trip tomorrow at 10:30. I hope many of you can make it. I can already smell Danny's from here.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Field trip on Friday

Hello,

While not nearly as costly or dramatic as our Plimoth Plantation trip, we do have a walking field trip on Friday. We'll be going to the Pine Grove Cemetery. Chaperones are welcome to come. We'll leave the school at 10:30am. Groups of four or five will be responsible for filling out packets that include science, history, math and writing activities. We plan to be back at school by 2:00.

I was pleased to have a parent join us for the entire morning today. Morgan's mother is a high school science teacher and she watched us do our morning thing and then treated us to some juice and snacks as well. I think many of our kids like an audience just as much as they like snacks, so it worked out well.

We have our math test tomorrow. Multiple digit multiplication and division is the focus. The estimation questions will probably give us the most trouble, but I wouldn't give the test if I wasn't confident.

More drawing of atoms, and discussing physical and chemical changes in chemistry. That test is coming soon.

Conference sign ups will also be appearing soon. I did an online sign up last year that worked pretty well. You will be able to sign up the old fashioned way as well, so be on the look out for that next week.

Thanks to everyone who went to the 5th grade potluck dinner. The numbers were a little low, but we had a good showing from our class. It was definitely a success with many food offerings to choose from. Strong communities don't just happen. They take some work. So thanks to everyone who pitched in last night.

Thanks for reading,

Mr. Shea

Happy Monday

Hello,

We read about the Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 this morning. We also watched a short video on the subject. Most of the class said that they learned more from the article than the video.  I'll be doing some more of this type thing to try and reach all of our learners.

We took a chemistry "test" this afternoon. It was just a dry run with most of the stuff that we covered on it. We went over it and made sure everyone had the right answers to use it as a study guide. I didn't do a great job of making the test. My cutting and pasting wasn't as good as it should have been. I told them that it was my practice test too.

We went out for a class recess, separate from the rest of the grade. I'll offer that up from time to time. Everyone in the class went, even though they had the option of going with the others. I liked that.

Our double digit division is looking great. We have a math test coming up. I didn't think I'd give it this week, but these last two math classes have been very promising.

All for now,

Mr. Shea

Easy Day

Hello,

I just got out of a tech meeting and am off to a meeting at Bowdoin.

We had an easy day today. We discussed our Plimoth trip. Thank you again to all of you for contributing. Everyone was here on time. Many parents joined us for the long drive. I can't see doing that trip again without adding at least an hour or two to the time we spend at Plimoth. My vote would be for a return time around seven or eight, preferably on a Friday.

We had a big 99 tournament in math. Congrats to our champion, Vanessa. Chelsea, our runner up, also did very well. Our final four was all girls, which someone was quick to point out. Nice job girls!

We played a whole class Apples to Apples game in the afternoon. Congrats to Elijah and Sid who came out on top. Everyone seemed to have fun.

I gave them a day to unwind. We'll have a more normal day tomorrow.

Gotta run.

Mr.Shea

Bright and Early tomorrow

Hello,

I can't wait for tomorrow morning!

I just wanted to drop you a brief line about our visit from SASSMM (Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine) this afternoon. They came in the class with one of our school counselors for an hour. The major theme of the presentation was internet safety. Five short video clips were shown and then discussed. A note went home today that you may want to take a look at.

I thought the videos and discussions that followed were topical and important. The class asked good questions, but may have more for you at home. Let me know if your child forgot the note that was supposed to go home. There was lots of excitement at the end of the day with our Plimoth trip just hours away.

I've been tying up loose ends for much of the day and am going to get back to that. Please call or text with any last minute questions 841 2599.

Thanks,

See you at 5:15ish.

Mr. Shea

Plimoth countdown

Hello,

I hope everyone knows about the Plimoth trip on Wednesday and your role in it. Chaperones should know if they are on the bus, driving a vehicle, or riding in a vehicle. Please let me know if you are unsure about that. (841-2599)

I know that the list below suggests two bag lunches. I think the most normal eating schedule for most kids will be to bring something for breakfast on the way there. We will eat lunch on the way to the Mayflower II from the Plantation at 11:45. We should be back by 5:00, which would be before most dinner times, but I would recommend some snacks for the way home. It is a long day and I know from homework clubs that kids need some more fuel after 3:00.

As far as the return time, I've heard from a few that you don't want to be waiting in the parking lot at HBS for very long. Give me your cell and I'll call you when we hit Portland. You can ask other chaperones to call you instead if that is easier for you. We have four chaperones on the bus and another five or six driving down. That is a pretty nice ratio. Thank you for taking an active role in this.

Finally, thank you for all of the financial help. Through fund raising, car washes, and extra donations, we are in good financial standing and should have a bit to role over to next year's trip.  Thank you so much.

I'm going to cut and paste some info. Please call me if you want to know more.

PLIMOTH PLANTATION TRIP

Please be at HBS at 5:20 a.m. on Wednesday, October 21^st

with the following:

·        Notebook & Student Packet (given to you by your teacher)

·        Pencils                      

·        Comfortable walking shoes

·        Warm, layered clothing

·        2 bag lunches, a snack, and drinks (no glass) – think healthy!

·        Rain jacket (watch the weather)

·        Camera (optional)

·        Quiet games or music with earphones for bus ride (optional)

Please remember, you are representing Brunswick so please use your best manners.

* Please be at HBS to pick up your child promptly at 5:00 p.m.

Thanks,

Mr. Shea

Picture Day

Hello,

We made it to our picture time at 2:00 with hair brushed and ties tied.  I completely forgot about picture day when I dressed myself this morning. With no shirts steamed, I grabbed Ol' Faithful, my grandfather's polyester shirt from the early seventies that never needs ironing. I don't like the shirt, but keep it in the closet for mornings when I have nothing else. Now it will be immortalized in our class picture. I'll steam some shirts tonight.

We made lots of words using the symbols from the elements of the periodic table.We had done a homework similar to this, but today we did the cutting and pasting of the symbols. We have some pretty impressive totals from the groups.

We stepped up to multiple digit division estimation. That is a mouthful. We had some trouble earlier this year on the single digit estimation, so this won't be a walk in the park, but I'm glad we get to this when the former is still fresh in their minds.

We are nearing the end of Because of Mr. Terupt, our read aloud. Tonight's writing assignment is to predict the ending.

Thanks for getting the Plimoth permission slips in. I was very thankful to hear that Chelsea's mom has volunteered to drive an SUV which will fit a bunch of adults. Let me know if that is a possibility. I have a lot of you clamoring for space on the bus, and I can understand that you would like to ride down with your child. I will be as fair and as transparent as I can. We will draw sticks if we have to, but I want to let you know as soon as I can if you have a spot on the bus. Telling me that you would be willing to ride down by car won't take you out of the bus seat drawing. If your first preference is the bus, I don't want to take away your chance for that just because you are being more flexible.

More to come.

Thanks,

Mr. Shea

Picture Day on Wednesday

Hello,

Picture day tomorrow! Our class time isn't until 2:00 though, so realize that a perfect hairdo or well pressed shirt, may not be so nice after a recess, lunch and learning.

No homework club on Thursday for this week or next. Meetings have been scheduled for both days. I apologize for any inconvenience. I know that the kids aren't going to be happy. I knew about the 22nd, but the meeting on the 15th was just announced today. I can't help the late notice on that one.

We watched a video today. It was part of National Geographic's three part series titled Guns, Germs and Steel. The videos are based on Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize winning book of the same name. Professor Diamond narrates the series which attempts to answer the question of why were the European explorers able to dominate and obliterate the American natives during the Age of Exploration?

The portion of the series that I showed the class focused on Spain's annihilation of the Incas despite being vastly outnumbered. Diamond is able to show how guns (superior weapons), germs (susceptibility to disease), and steel (advanced technology), made the outcomes inevitable. He also does a good job to show how geography played a major role in the differences in the inhabitants of these continents. Technology, ideas and diseases are much more easily spread across continents that lay along similar latitudes. These things did not spread very well along the north to south lines that connect the Americas. Good video, great book.

We got into multiple digit division in math. Lots of zeroes in the numbers should make it easy. We want them to see that 420 divided by 30 is the same as 42 divided by 3. They did well with this in class. Homework could be another story.

The class finished acting out idioms this morning. Some groups acted idioms out in literal ways after using them in their traditional figurative forms. Pretty funny stuff.

Already Wednesday tomorrow. Time flies when you're having fun.

Thanks,

Mr. Shea

Progress

Hello,

We did a little pass the story game in writing: Write a sentence and pass it to the next person. There was very impressive progress from our last try during the first week of school. Our biggest issues were changing narration and occasionally getting too far away from the original premise of the story. A majority of the stories, however, were well done and near impossible to tell that they had been written by many different authors. Ahh... growth.

Back to long division in math. Lots of rust, but it was coming back pretty quickly. We have at least five different methods in the classroom, which are all good as long as they work and are understood. You'll see the four problems tonight. Feel free to take a peek.


The Plimoth info sheet didn't come home today as I was hoping. Our fifth grade team proofread and tweaked it today at our team meeting after school. You will see it tomorrow, as well as a permission slip. I've had seven parents show interest in chaperoning. We may need some of you to carpool. I won't be surprised if that number goes up, but we only have room for five parents per classroom on the bus. Let me know if you are willing to drive or ride with another driver. Exciting. 5:30 am. Sharp! We may need some help getting some kids here by 5:30 who can't depend on the bus for this.

Chemical and physical changes in science tomorrow. Always fun.

Off to the sea!

Mr. Shea

My Indian Point week in Georgetown

Hello,

Sorry for no blog post yesterday. It got late and I'm staying down in Georgetown for the week. My wife's family has a log cabin overlooking the crashing waves of the Atlantic. It is pretty great, but it is tough to get there before it gets dark. I'm not making it tonight.

We've had a couple solid days. Multiple digit multiplication and games of 99 have highlighted our math classes. Please ask your child to show you 99. It is a great game to work on addition skills.

We have been making atoms out of colored pins that we are sticking into cardboard squares. Your child should definitely be able to tell you what the atomic number stands for and what the atomic mass means. Make sure they ask me if they are still unsure.

We went outside for fifteen minutes of our silent reading today. It was so nice out, we couldn't pass it up.

I let them in on a poorly kept secret. The plan is to go to Plimoth Plantation on Wed, Oct. 21. I passed in the plan to admin today and should have the final costs approved by tomorrow. If so, an information and sign up sheet will go home tomorrow. We will be leaving at 5:30 in the morning, but should be back by 5:30 in the afternoon. Each class will have room for five chaperones on the bus. We will allow more chaperones, but we would need you to drive. The buses hold 56 people. That is 28 per class. Let me know if you are interested. Financial help will be provided if costs are tough for you to come up with. I am so thankful that our car washes were successful. Those really helped with our final tallies.

No school on Friday for teacher meetings. Always more fun with kids, but I hope to learn a few things.  No school on Monday either. Enjoy the long weekend.

I'll write tomorrow, but probably won't on Thursday after homework club. I'll be jetting off to Georgetown.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

car wash sat

Hello,

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Car Wash Fundraiser for the Plimoth Plantation Field Trip

Saturday, October 3rd ~ 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

HBS bus circle (McKeen Street side of the building)

Cars washed by donation ~ Volunteers needed!

To help with the cost of the upcoming 5th grade field trip to Plimoth Plantation (more info coming soon), HBS teachers and parents are holding a car wash. 

Not able to wash cars with us on October 3rd? You can still help by getting your car washed or spreading the word to friends and neighbors!

CHANS Home Health Services and the Brunswick School Department are offering a free flu vaccination clinic in the HBS gymnasium on October 3rd from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Come get your car washed while your family gets flu shots! :)

Thank you in advance for your support!

There's that. I'll be there until 11 or 12. Still trying to nail down a date for the Plimoth trip. Details when I do.

We had a nice discussion about exploration this afternoon. Lots of great questions.

More work on PMDAS in math. We'll keep at that.

We used Chris Van Allsburg books for our identifying setting work. That's getting better. I'm hoping to see this pay off in their writing.

Sorry so short, but this is another late night.

Mr. Shea

Rain day

Hello,

Our first indoor recess. Also our first lockdown drill. Lots of questions there. Lots of reassurances.

It was also the first day for our Bowdoin College student volunteer. Jason will be coming in for math class every Wednesday. Jason is an econ/math major from Connecticut. I love seeing these college kids getting involved in public education. We need Bowdoin caliber kids to join the ranks of the teaching profession. Ahhhh... I can dream.

We worked on PMDAS in math. Still some work to do there.

We drew some atoms in science class. Not bad at all. They are piecing all of these lessons together to gain some understanding of a very tough subject to wrap our heads around. Great question of the week: "If atoms are mostly space, how come we can't put our hand through, like a wall?"

I'm trying to nail down the Plimoth Plantation date. It is tough because it takes time to get possible dates from Plimoth, and then those dates disappear before I can get bus confirmation. I'm hoping to hear from Concord Trailways today before our latest date fills up. Costs change depending on driving times and days of the week, so it isn't simple for the buses to just give me a quick yea or nay. I will give you the date and rates as soon as I know.

Guitar club is going strong. I hope you aren't tired of hearing some of the same songs over and over. We will start changing over some of the numbers to notes pretty soon. We wanted the kids to get going quickly, but the more I see and hear, the more I realize that we can switch over how we refer to the strings and notes that we are playing in a way that will benefit them in the future. Either way, my fingers are sore.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Late blog

Hello,

It is almost seven so I'm going to make this quick.

One topic: Math.

We have a little section on calculator use at the beginning of Chapter 2. I gave the kids a calculator crossword. The puzzle gave them math problems to solve, and then required them to flip the calculator around and read the word that the solution spelled when viewed upside down. This word was to be entered in the crossword puzzle.

I liked this puzzle for several reasons:

1. It gave them practice with a calculator
2. It gave us a chance to review and use PMDAS. (Parenthesis first, then multiplication or division, then addition or subtraction)
3. It gave the kids several red flags that would alert them to a problem with their work, so they could go back and try to figure out what they might have done wrong.

This last reason was my favorite part of the puzzle. The biggest problem, however, was how fast our kids wanted to give up. Time after time. 

"Number Four doesn't spell a word!"

"Number Two doesn't have enough letters to fill the boxes!"

"This doesn't make any sense."

"I can't read this."

Students immediately assumed the questions were wrong, that their calculators weren't working, or that they were impossible questions. 

I went around trying to help, but that isn't what students wanted. They wanted answers.

"What have you tried so far? Did you multiply before you added? Did you write the letters down to see if it spelled something?" 

They didn't want to hear these questions. They wanted the solutions.

We talked about it after lunch. My job is prepare them for Jr. High and the world after that. My job is not to save them every time that they struggle. I want them to struggle. I want them to think about what they have done. I want them to figure things out on their own. 

They had problems in front of them that gave them immediate feedback on whether or not they were correct: Not a word: Wrong.  Wrong number of letters: Wrong.   Didn't fit with other letters from other answers: Something wrong.

In my mind that is a beautiful scenario to get people to go back and check their work. For too many in the class those signs were reasons to wave the white flag. 

My help was turned away by several students today. They knew that I was going to question their strategies. They just wanted the answers. 

I didn't collect the page. I don't care about the right answers. I care about them believing in themselves to get out of tough situations. I care about them trying more than once before crying for help. I care about them figuring things out on their own.  

The activity was another eye opener on how tough it is to get kids to check their work. They didn't need a teacher to tell them which problems were definitely wrong, but they still didn't feel like they should try again. I was upset with that effort.

We can't have a generation that backs down from adversity.  What if Edison gave up on his first try? The Wright Brothers? We don't read about the people who gave up. Well, not usually. Tonight you are.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Monday, monday

Hello,

I just practiced my guitar for about 45 minutes. My after school meeting was cancelled and I decided to get some time in. I can't feel a couple finger tips now, so please excuse all typos.

We are continuing to work with setting. We spent a few days with Crow Call by Lois Lowry. She is a fantastic author who describes her settings beautifully. I'm hoping to see some transfer over to our class writing, and decided to give it a few more days of study. We're now going to use some Chris Van Allsburg books. We read a bit of Queen of the Falls, but tomorrow, each student will grab their own Allsburg book and look for setting descriptions.

I started my one on one writing discussions. This will go on all year. My first impressions are what I expected. Many kids really don't do one bit of editing as they write. They shouldn't have to wait for "revision time" to capitalize and punctuate. I know this is partly on me. I don't think major editing and revising should happen during first drafts, but I'm seeing how many kids have interpreted this to the extreme. Periods and capital letters isn't major editing and needs to be done as they write.

In read aloud, our main character, Mr. Terupt, is in a coma. His students were fooling around on the playground and he got hit by an iceball. It will be interesting to see how his class deals with it and see how much blamed is dished all around.

We're getting more and more familiar with atoms, elements and the periodic table. Tonight's assignment is to make words using only the letters from the symbols of the elements. For example:
Rain could be made from Ra and In (Radium and Indium).

All fifth graders in the Willy Wonka musical that is being put on by Ms. Brown and Ms. Hodgdon, our music teachers, will get a chance to watch the original movie that the show is based on in our room at lunch times.  We're starting with our class, Mrs. Greene's class and Mrs. El Ghazouani's class. We'll meet every lunch on Mondays and Fridays until it is done, and then we'll rotate classes. Tuesday lunches are our new skit club. Wednesday's are for Harry Potter Club and I have duty on Thursday.

I do realize that the play is based on the book, but the songs of this musical are based on the old movie. The new movie version is not something I recommend.

All for now. Guitar club tomorrow until five. Get practicing: kidsguitarzone.com. It works for adults too!

Thanks,

Steve

Molecules

Hello,

We struggled a bit making molecules. Not from the kid's perspective. I kept hearing over and over that they understood, but most of the models that I looked at were not correct.

A few issues here:

They like having fun. Building models is fun. More fun if you can keep moving on to bigger and better ones.

Being the first to finish is also fun. Making sure others know that you are first, a sure feather in your cap.

Asking for help or admitting confusion: not cool.

These things added up to a frustrated teacher. I explained to them that I wasn't frustrated by their lack of understanding, without that I don't have a job. I was frustrated with the pretending. Over and over I kept hearing the same excuses. Oh, that was just a careless mistake.

And the guessing! Oh my word! Here's a sample conversation:

Me: How many more electrons does an oxygen atom want to be able to fill up it's outer shell?

Student: (emphatically) One.

Me: One?

Student: yes.

Me: Can you explain why it wants one?

Student: Oh, oh, oh, no. I meant two.

Me: Can you explain why it wants two.

Student: What?

Me: Can you explain why oxygen wants two more electrons?

Student: Three. It wants three.

Me: You know that you can tell me that you don't know, right?

Student: It's three.

Me: How do we know that it needs three?

Student: Because of it's electrons.

Me: What about it's electrons?

Student: Oh no. I messed up. It's one.

Me: Can you please stop guessing?

Student: I'm not guessing.


This type conversation was repeated several times. Even after stopping everyone and talking about there being no shame in saying "I don't know."

We also talked about the problem of guessing while at the same time acting like you understand. If the guess is right, I might move on to the next student, while in fact, you remain clueless. Unfortunately, that seems to be the safer route for many of them.

We'll get back at it tomorrow.  We did this activity today, because students were "bored" with atom building. "They got it."

No, they didn't. We'll take a step back so we can move forward again.

Tomorrow.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Many topics introduced because of Because of Mr Terrupt

Our read aloud, Because of Mr. Terupt, is bringing up many topics for discussion, which is exactly why I chose to start the year with it. Our class is definitely identifying with Mr. Terupt's fifth grade class. Different students are identifying with different characters in the story as well. It is well layed out, and the different narrators give us glimpses into several different character's points of view. There are signs that many of our kids are thinking about this story well after I close the book each day. A student told the class today that she wondered what the bully in the story might be experiencing at home to be so mean at school. Great stuff.

One of the characters in the story, whose parents are getting a divorced, directly confronts her mother on why they had to separate. Most kids in our class were shocked at how she would talk to her mom like that. 

A boy in the story shares the secret that he lost his older brother to leukemia. Sadly, most kids have something to share when death, funerals or cancer is brought up. This time was no different, but the topic of secrets also grabbed the kids' thoughts. A student said that she thought of making up "fake" secrets to see if she could trust certain people.  

I thought that might be an interesting topic to investigate further. I'm not sure what we'll do, but be sure I'll do it in a safe way. I asked the kids to come up with some interesting rumors or secrets, that weren't harmful in any way, and we would figure out something to do with them.  They were excited about it, but I don't have a fully formed activity in my head yet. You can believe that my goal is NOT to test people's trustworthiness.

Math test tomorrow. I think the only thing that could stump us is the multiplication or division word problems. We've practiced. They are only supposed to estimate the answers. Some kids insist on doing it out, although that isn't what is being measured.  Other obstacles are poor multiplication facts or poor attention to the words in the problem. I'll give you an example problem.

If a mechanic changed all four tires on 272 cars during the month, about how many tires did he change in all during the month?

The two strategies that we have used are rounding and front end estimation. Front end estimation is faster, and therefore, usually not as good an estimate: 200 x 4 = 800.

Rounding 272 to 300 is more accurate and gives you 300 x 4 = 1200.  

Doing the multiplication of 272 x 4 and then rounding that answer is not acceptable.

The point is to quickly come up with an answer that is in the ballpark of the actual answer. We're not requiring a particular strategy, as long as it is quicker than doing the entire problem, and is some type of strategy.

Not too hard, huh? You should see this test come back to you on Friday.

Ask your child about writing. We're getting some good quantity. Always important in the beginning. Weekly one-on-one conferences start next week. Along with our mini-lessons, higher quality will follow.

Thanks for reading.

MR. Shea 

Eau De Fifth Grade

Hello,

It is better now that we haven't had the heat of last week, but I got my first good whiffs of the joys of looping to fifth grade. In the spring as more and more start puberty, it can be a bit overwhelming as we come in from a capture the flag game. I meant to write this last week, but here is a reminder to everyone. It is coming. A little soap and water, possibly some deodorant, will go a long way to keep this room from smelling like a high school football team's locker room. Please and thank you.

We had some odd discussions today. Germs. Sleep. Rattlebacks. Ask your child about whether they contributed or learned about any of those things.

I tried to let the class know that I wouldn't be doing Harry Potter Club this year. They weren't having it. We have two after school clubs and a lunch time performance skit club. It is a lot already. I finally relented to agreeing to giving them time for a HP club if they take on more of the responsibility. They have to plan it. They have to run it. I just don't have time. I also felt very motivated to do it last year since I had taken a year off. They grudgingly said okay, but we'll see on Thursday if they can take the reins.

Guitar Club went well tonight, but we need to find a new room. One of our group members from Mr. L's class has a peanut allergy, so we need a place that doesn't allow peanut snacks. We had 14 kids stay after between the two classes. Pretty neat. We'll be splitting up a bit next week, as it was obvious who had put in practice time, and who hadn't touched a string since last Tuesday. Like many subjects, kids can point and wonder why they aren't better, when the answer can be found by taking an inventory of their practice time. No pressure here, just no sympathy either.

Thanks for reading. As always, email or call with any questions or concerns.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Like oil and water

Hello,

Please ask son or daughter if they know what the saying, "Like oil and water" means. If they were paying attention in science today, they should have a very good idea.

We did a better overall job of following directions and focusing on the learning rather than just trying to do cool stuff, but I still had to cut a table short. You can't be too grabby and excited with oil and food coloring. It can make a mess quickly. Chemistry is not a great subject when you can't trust everyone to follow explicit instructions. It is holding back some of the experiments that we can do. At least it was a minority today. We are making strides.

We discussed our writing territories this morning. Writing territories are any areas in which we can write about, write to, or write from. They can include genres, topics, places, people and potential audiences. It is a lot like our idea books from last year, but since that didn't work that well for everyone, I thought I'd give it the Nancie Atwell spin. She is the local teacher who won the international Teacher of the Year award this past year. Writing territories is a term that comes straight from one of her many books on writing instruction. Your child should be able to show you a list of their own territories tomorrow. You should get a good sense of what is important to someone if you get a glimpse of their territories.

As you may have noticed, I don't write blogs on Fridays. It is usually all I can do to make it home without falling asleep. I crash pretty fast at the end of the week.

I didn't write on open house night last week either for the same reason. It got late. I was tired. I had seen most of you already.

Thanks to everyone who made the time to come to open house. I saw twelve families picking up at homework club and another seven at the open house. I was very happy to see so many families from my last looping class. Wow, they grow quickly.

Guitar club tomorrow night. We have a loaner guitar in the class now for kids to take home. Thank you to the Dolley's for that contribution.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Open House tomorrow

Hello,

Open house is tomorrow night at HBS from 6 to 7. Now, for everyone else this is a great time to meet their new teacher and get a good look at the room. For most of us, that is old hat, but I still hope to see a bunch of you tomorrow night. It is a good way to show your child that you value their education and would like to know more about how they spend a major portion of their day.

Our class won't have any major show pieces on display, although I might bring my guitar and show you the second song that I learned last night: Smoke on the Water. It is more like a portion of a song. For those in guitar club, a great link is:

http://www.kidsguitarzone.com/

It is the site where Mr. Larrabee learned Mary Had a Little Lamb. Pretty cool that I'm up to two songs. 

We had an school wide assembly this afternoon about playground rules. I'm sure your child can give you the exciting details on that.

We spent quite a bit of time on our claims and evidence on what water striders eat and how they walk on water. Our kids live in a strange world where they can google answers to every question that passes their mind. They need to learn to observe and gather evidence to figure things out, because if we only learn from google, where will our next great ideas and new answers come from? I felt a little kick back on this, because some kids just couldn't understand why I didn't just tell them the answers or at least let them look it up. I wanted their ideas to be supported by their observations. In many cases, I saw made up observations and assumptions that made their claims more believable. It is a process to get them to realize that it is the process that is important. We'll continue tomorrow.

We did some number line work in math. We went outside. They drew lines on the sidewalk and labeled the ends and then I had then put other numbers on the line. For example, I'd asked the ends to be 10 and 50 and then ask them to put 44 on the line where they thought it should be. There was lots of work using mid points, and also using the knowledge that equal differences should be equal distances.

Homework club tomorrow. 

I hope to see some of you tomorrow night, but don't worry if you can't make it. I'm available most nights after school.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

Quick post

Hello,

It's tough to do some of these posts when it gets so late in the day and I have a bunch more to do. I'm going to be quick.

Highlights:

Guitar club was great. Mr. Larrabee and Mrs. Wilson joined us. We all learned Mary had a little lamb. Even me. I'm going to practice to clean it up and do it without looking at the guitar, but I'm pretty happy about it.

We discussed 9/11. The kids asked about it yesterday and I shelved it until today. Lots of questions. Why? being one of the main ones.

Lots of rounding in math. Review for most. We were taking a number and rounding it to the nearest ten, hundred and thousand. For example: 46,791 would round to 46,790, 46,800 and 47,000 respectively.

Math weekly challenges will start next week. More on those later.

We are going to be keeping track of all the books that we read this year in two ways. Pictures of each finished book will be put up on the wall with the name(s) of the child(ren) that finished it. I'm hoping to circle the classroom a couple of times. We also will have book logs in our notebooks where we will rate the book according to difficulty as well as how much we liked it. We will be keeping track of the book genres on that log as well.

I'm trying to put together all the details of our Plimoth Plantation trip in October. Cost estimates for buses are really high. I think we need another car wash.

One last thing: I hope we can be more aware of diet restrictions in the classroom before bringing in sweets. Healthy snacks are welcome. Please give me a heads up of at least a few days on anything else that you would like to bring in. Thank you so much.

All for now.

Thanks,

Mr. Shea

Guitar club

Hello,

We'll be starting up our guitar club tomorrow (Tuesday). We'll meet every Tuesday after school. Mr. Larrabee, Mrs. Palopoli, and possibly Mrs. Wilson (3rd grade) will be involved as well. None of us are guitar players and at least one of us has no musical talent to speak of. We will learn along with our students.

Not all the other teachers and students can make it tomorrow, so we'll have an informal first session. We have some guitars being loaned to us, so not everyone will need their own guitar to take part. Once we get a few weeks in, I would think at home practice will become more and more necessary to keep up with, well, me anyway. (Read that last part sarcastically) Dube's Music in Freeport is offering 3/4 sized guitars at a very reasonable 90 dollars for any students joining our program. I know that isn't chump change, but in comparison to some other instruments, I think that is a pretty good deal. At the very least, I'm sure you could get a lot of your money back if one day you had to sell it used.

Today we took our first spelling test of the year. We'll be working with the Words Your Way program.

We also had a bit of introduction to our explorers unit. I'm just giving them a heads up on the fact that each student will be focusing on an individual explorer. They can choose their explorer on a first come, first serve basis. Each student will be making up explorer cards in the computer lab. The idea is that, by the end of the unit, everyone will have a collection of 24 explorer cards. The card design will be much like baseball cards: picture and basics on front, important stats and interesting information on the back. No gum.

I'd like to give a plug to card and/or dice games. Watching many students struggle with basic addition, makes me think back to the ways that I learned to add quickly. Any games that require multiple dice, like Monopoly or Yahtzee are great for adding. 99 and cribbage were also major contributors to my heralded speed test career as a child. So there's my homework recommendation: play some games!

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Double Field Trip

Hello,

We went to BJH to investigate the habitat of water striders. The first assignment was to write down observations of the environment. We had trouble with that. There were lots of claims instead of observations. (ie. I think they like to eat moss. Water striders like to eat mosquitos. Water striders like to go upstream.) Once I got them writing observations, they tended to be about the water striders and not the environment.

Quite often I asked groups to look around and tell me what color that they saw the most. "Green!" was the immediate answer each time.

"And yet," I would reply, "None of you have written one observation regarding anything that is green. Hmmm."

We will get much better with this. I think that most kids were so excited about catching the striders, that they felt the other "boring" stuff that they had to do before they were given nets was too much of a bother to worry about.

We went straight to Art class upon our return from the stream. Ms. Moll has them making fruits and vegetables out of clay. We are glad that Calvin is now joining us for art time.
The afternoon didn't go as I planned at all. We were going to do the second half of the water strider lab. In this part we were going to make close observations of our captured "guests."

Instead, I took Ms. El's class to the stream, while she stayed back at HBS with our class. Mrs. El is pregnant and due next month. I agreed that walking to the Jr. high and trudging around a muddy stream probably wasn't the best thing for someone in her condition.

The class did a bit more of the strider study with her, but I'll get more details about their afternoon tomorrow.

I got back around 3pm. We did Rocket Math, (I can't say we're going to do it every day and then take the very next day off!) and then quickly got ready for buses and homework club.

Fast day. Very tiring. I might need a nap before the Pats game.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Hard to get far in chemistry

Hello,

We have a curious bunch. When the conversation goes from atoms to the speed of light to the Big Bang to aliens... well, I found myself saying, "I don't know," quite a bit. Too many hands to get to in just a day. I made the homework tonight to write down their questions and comments so we can share them in a timely manner and I can try to answer as many as possible. Chemistry is a dangerous topic for me start the year out with. We may never leave the subject. There are no limits to what we can cover.

Field trip to the Jr. High stream tomorrow. I haven't got into too much detail on the purpose of the trip. I don't want kids googling topics that I want them to try to learn through observation. We are also going to have the kids make some claims and then look for evidence that may or may not support those claims. Please sign the field trip slip if you have not already. We will be walking over at 9:30am and expect to be back by 11:15.

Rocket Math addition started today. Ask your child what letter they started out on. You should be seeing those tests come home on a daily basis. Two new problems a day for everyone passing their daily tests. These tests are all about automaticity (memorization), not figuring out. We want all students to look at any pair of one digit numbers and be able to tell us their sum, difference or product instantly. This program should help get them there. All but three in the class were better in multiplication than addition, so we started with addition.

We are going to have our first Thursday homework club tomorrow. The Tuesday homework club is going to change into a guitar club. I've got to find some guitar pics. I know where my guitar is: right where I left it over two years ago. Time for some larnin'.

I'll be helping out with the women's basketball program at Bowdoin again this year. Our first meeting is tonight, but we don't really get into it until November. I'm looking forward to seeing all the girls again. That's kind of like a four year multi-age looping class.

Have a great night,

Mr. Shea

Welcome week two

Hello,

Now we're picking up the pace. We were in the computer lab for math. The IXL website is a good place to go for extra practice on things. That was reintroduced and passwords reassigned. We also took our Rocket Math Prep quizzes. I'll correct those tonight and get everyone started where I think they can be successful and build. Rocket Math is a program to learn basic mathematical computations. We used it last year for multiplication and division. Unfortunately, our addition and subtraction skills aren't where they need to be. This year we will start with addition and move from there. This takes up the first five minutes of each math class. Each new test adds a mere two more facts to memorize. The pressure is on now. We have to get these down for Jr. High.

In read aloud we have moved on to Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea. It is a story of a fifth grade class, told with alternating narration from seven of the students. We'll hear from Jessica, the new girl not fitting in; Alexia, a bully, your friend one minute, your enemy the next; Peter, class prankster and troublemaker; Luke, the brain; Danielle, who never stands up for herself; Anna, a shy outcast with a tough homelife; and Jeffrey, who hates school. Much like Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, the different narrators give the readers some unique points of view, which really works well. I'm excited to get into this book with our group.


Pat was back today! The kids were excited to see her. Pat is our class volunteer from last year. She was my mentor teacher eleven years ago. Pat taught in the Portland school system for many years and recently retired. We were lucky to have her spend most of her class time last year in literacy. The schedule is different this year, so the plan is for her to be here for three math classes a week. This should help with breaking up into smaller groups on those days.

We have a science field trip to the Jr. High on Thursday. I got the permission slips in the mailboxes, but forgot to remind kids to clean them out at the end of the day. I actually have a postmaster general who also forgot to remind kids to clean them out. (I have these back ups for a reason.) The field trip is actually closely tied to writing, as we will be making observations around the stream behind the school and gathering evidence for our claims. No chaperones are needed, but parents are welcome to walk to BJH with us and observe scientists in the field.

Book orders went out on Thursday. Thank you for helping to get books into your child's hands. Our class code is J36TM if you order online. The traditional methods of cash or check with the order form still work too. Every order helps the class earn points for free books as well, so thank you. Let me know if you'd like a new form or two.

I'll make the first order on Sunday. I generally order every Sunday, as long as someone is waiting.

Some of you have asked if we need anything for the class. Extra snacks for the homework clubs would be really nice. I say clubs with an s because I think I'm going to team up with Mr. Larrabee and start a guitar club. We both have guitars, but we never learned how to play. Our classes seemed to have an interest in learning along with us. I'd like to start next week. More details to follow. As for the snacks, we have no peanut allergies.

All for now. I know some of you are waiting on the Motivation Quiz results. I had to rescore all of the quizzes. I think I accidentally threw away my initial tallies. I wasn't sure until I went through all of my papers on Sunday. My apologies.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

Blue angels were nice at recess

Hello,

It was ridiculously hot during our lunch recess. I was appreciative of the Blue Angels soaring overhead. They were enough to stop kickball games, slide runs, and games of tag for seconds at a time. It is hard not to be impressed, at any age.

We got some free writing time in today. Ask your child about their time writing. We are bringing in more skills than last year at this time and I look forward to seeing some more progress. This will be a focus for us, since the jr. high has been suggesting this be more of a priority for us over the past couple of years. Proper sentences, paragraphs, and showing evidence for our claims or our opinions will be important ongoing lessons.

We got into our math workbook. Place value is the focus of chapter one, just as it has been the past two years. This chapter should be a breeze. We'll be starting Rocket Math on a daily basis starting next week. I have one more day to figure out exactly where each student should begin. Most students will be starting with addition, albeit at different starting points. The past three days have shown me that their multiplication skills, on the whole, are more advanced than their addition skills. The goal is to pass all of the basic four functions this year. We'll fill that addition gap first, then move to subtraction.

Unless students go to a special education teacher for math, the whole class will be staying with me for the math block. Some of the other classes are grouping according to current skills to help with services, but we are not one of those. Students who received RTI in-class support last year, will receive pull-out support this year. This will  not come during our math block, but at another time of the day. I am happy that I get to keep more of "my" kids this year. I should be able to be more helpful in homework club and during our small group times. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns about this.

Quite a few of you have asked about more details on the motivation test that I gave. I think I'll write up one big summary and just add the specific info about your child. I apologize that it is taking longer than I thought. I've corrected them all, but am still analyzing the results on a few kids. You can expect that to come home on Monday.

The class had their first session of Art today. We are with Ms. Moll this year, after a year with Mrs. Crosby. I think that it is great that the kids get to experience both very talented and capable art teachers in this school. We all know that they didn't such a change in their math, reading, writing, science or ss teacher.

Have a great night. I'm going home to sit on my couch and watch the news on Tom Brady. I'll probably be asleep by eight.

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Day Three

Hello,

We started the day with some giant balloons. We're reviewing states of matter to kick off our chemistry unit. Mrs. Palopoli and I combined forces to show our classes what will happen to heated gas.

I just spent a good thirty minutes trying to download a picture to this blog. It isn't going to happen. Is anyone up for a class facebook or instagram account? I don't want to write much on those, but posting photos would be a snap, rather than emailing myself the photos, downloading them to my computer, and then trying to format them to this blog. Sometimes that process works, sometimes not. Auughh!

Anyway, picture a 50 foot long black hot dog. Now picture another one. Now picture them floating in the air. It was pretty cool.

In math, the RTI folks came in to do the September testing. These Aimsweb math tests take the place of the NWEA MAP math tests that we used to do in the computer lab. I like them because they are quicker. I think some students would rather go back to the lab tests since they were multiple choice tests. Fifth graders took two eight minute (timed) tests, then a couple quick computation tests in multiplication and division. It is a pretty big assumption to assume they can do their addition and subtraction facts by now. My guess is that many of them can multiply better than they can add. I'll find out soon. Rocket math gets going right off.

We talked a little protons, neutrons, and electrons this afternoon. I had to show them the WKRP atom lesson from WKRP to get it to sink in a little better. Most everyone thought that Venus Flytrap taught it better than I did.

I love all the questions that this unit generates. We got into what is a rainbow today. When you are talking about the chemistry of our universe, there aren't many questions that are off-topic.

Homework club will start next Tuesday. Kids can stay after school. It goes until five. I stay until at least six, if pick up is an issue. We goof off after dismissal until 3:30. Get our homework done by 4:15 and then play until five. I hope to see your child here.

This took awhile writing tonight due to my picture debacle. I'll stop here.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Day Two

Hello,

First of all, I feel the need to thank your children for the best night's sleep that I have had in a long time. Total exhaustion after day one, that I never fully appreciate until I make it home and realize that my brain is mush.

Thank you to everyone who got their medical info turned in. The kids enjoy it when you have homework instead of them.

We started playing Thinkfun! games this morning. These were generously purchased through a BCEF grant, so I appreciate everyone who supports that group. We are "playing" these games, to learn not to give up, to realize that we get better as we work at something, and to learn from our mistakes. We have six games: Tipover, Rush Hour, Hoppers, Pirate Treasure, River Crossing and Chocolate Fix. They are one player games that get more and more difficult as you advance in the games. Each game has 40 levels. We spent two half hour sessions on these today.

During the first session, I heard lots of: "This is impossible!" "I can't do this!" "Level 12 can't be done." etc. There was less of this during session two, even though they were hitting even harder challenges. I would expect to hear even less in the upcoming days. This will be a focus of ours over the next four days.

I'm hoping this will help change their mindsets when they are confronted with difficult challenges. We sometimes need to look at things in a different way. Sometimes we need more focus. Sometimes we need to walk away and come back later. We don't need to give up so quickly. It is like the saying, "It doesn't matter whether you think you can or you can't, either way you are right."

It was nice to see a few kids do the "impossible" today. Ask your child how they felt they did.

The class voted to finish our read aloud from the end of last year. We only have a couple chapters left in The Power of Un by Nancy Etchemendy. I was hoping more would finish it on their own, but we'll be done soon. I do love some of the discussions that this books churns up.

Our Reading RTI team came in and did some testing today.  The Aimsweb is taking the place of the NWEA computer testing. The class all took a quick test together and then individually were called away to read with a specialist. Ask your child how it went. I'll find out very soon.

Tuesday is PE day.  That reminds me that I need to send home our weekly schedule. It is a lot better than last year. We start the day with time for a morning meeting, then get an hour of literacy and an hour of math in before our usual specials time. The afternoons are much shorter than before, which is good for elementary school kids.

I'm feeling good about this loop. Teaching takes a lot of time and energy and it makes it easier when you start right out feeling so good about your kids. This is a really friendly group and I have high hopes.

Please email me with any questions or concerns. I have a lot more to say, but I'll dole it out in smaller chunks this year.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

Day One

Hello,

We had a pretty easy day. It probably wasn't as exciting as some of them hoped, but we set up the playbook. It was really great to see everyone again. I'm confident that we will have a great year.

We completed an assignment notebook scavenger hunt to get them acclimated to the new version. We also figured out the classroom jobs which will get filled tomorrow. We are going to take a page from The City of Ember (a read aloud last year) and have an assignment day. Students will draw for their jobs. Each job will be written on a sliver of paper. Trades will be allowed.

Our silent reading time was great, just like last year. I'm happy with the number of kids who kept up their reading over the summer.

I gave them a little motivation quiz this afternoon. This will confirm my thoughts on most of the kids, but I may learn something new. The quiz is supposed to let me know what motivates each student - praise, power, projects, prestige, prizes or people.  Each category has an explanation that I'll gladly explain if you are interested. I'll let you know where your child fell as well.

One of my favorite moments of the day came when our new secretary delivered part of my budget order in the middle of class. "Excuse me," she asked. "Did you order a bunch of metals?"

I did. I ordered some elemental metals for our first unit, chemistry. I like that she had the same reaction to my budget orders as our recently retired secretary, Mary.

We'll get going strong tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

supply list

Hello,

I should have written this earlier, but this might save a few of you some cash.  Here is the 5th grade supply list from the HBS website:

4) boxes #2 pencils (as needed)
(1) small pencil box
(3) spiral notebooks
(4) folders, with pockets, 3-holed punched (no fasteners)
(1) basic calculator
(1) pair of scissors
(1) package – pencil cap erasers
(1) box of colored pencils
(1) set of fine point markers
(4) glue sticks
(1) highlighter
(1) set of four EXPO markers
(1) box of tissues
(1) container of Clorox wipes

Here is my two cents on the list.  The first four items are important. I also want everyone to have a binder for their homework folder and their assignment book (provided). Everything else on the list will be available in the classroom. It is just a matter of whether or not your child wants to have their own scissors, markers, colored pencils, etc.

I start the year with tissues with lotion in the classroom.  The school tissues are thin and scratchy. I don't recommend depending on those. That said, I'd appreciate any lotion tissues as the year goes on.

I hope this helps your budget.  Sorry if I didn't get this out soon enough for you, but everything will get used, so thank you in advance.

I can't wait to get going.  If anyone wants to help in the class you can join me to stamp some new books tomorrow, Sunday the 23rd, it probably will take an hour or so.  Just call 841-2599 when you get here and I'll let you in. I know that some of the kids like doing that too so it can be a parent or student volunteer, but I must warn you, easily 300+ books to process. I'll be here by ten am, probably until 6. You might want to call before you leave your house as well, just in case someone beat you to the punch.

Thanks!

Mr. Shea

Let's get on the water

Hello!

Well, I've made a decision on our next excursion.





We will visit the museum in Bath for a couple hours and then go on one of their River Boat Cruises.

 Summer Cruise 

Maine Maritime Museum conducts a variety of regularly scheduled river cruises that focus on viewing lighthouses in the area or experiencing the natural setting along the Kennebec River and connecting waterways.  

Shipyards & Lighthouses cruise (1 hour)

Daily at 12 pm & 2 pm 

See Bath Iron Works, two lighthouses and abundant wildlife. 

Our Tuesday,  August 11th schedule will be as follows:

9:00 AM         Meet at HBS

9:15ish            Leave HBS

9:30ish            Arrive at Maine Maritime Museum

                        Tour the museum.  We will have a docent lead us around some of the outdoor sites for about 40 minutes, then we will have free time to explore on our own. There will be a working blacksmith on site for us to watch and ask questions.

11:15ish          Snack

11:45               Meet on dock

12:00               River Cruise

1:00                 Go back to cars and drive down the road to....

                        Maine’s First Ship
                                                                         Virginia


The original ship was made at the Popham Colony back in 1607, and they are building a full size replica in Bath. We will go onsite and get a first hand look at their progress.

1;45ish                  Drive back to HBS

2:10ish                  Arrive back at HBS. This may be an awkward time for many to pick up your little ones.  Kids are welcome to stay at HBS and play (capture the flag, whatever...) until 4:00 or until their ride comes.

Now for the part that I'm a little wary of... The cost is 15 bucks per child ($6 for children under 6), and 20 dollars for adults. This includes museum admission and the cruise. They are offering us member prices on the adult tickets, which I appreciate. Please don't let money be the reason that your child can't go. I will gladly pay for any child with limited funds.  I was trying to figure out a way that would cheaply get us on the water, and while this isn't the least expensive option, it comes with the least amount of possible issues. Boothbay and New Harbor both had tempting cruises at reasonable prices, but longer drives, including getting through Wiscasset, and parking issues, led me to my choice of MMM.

So let me know what you think and if you can go. I'm hoping for another good turn out. Please let me know if you might be able to drive as well. I would expect that we will need two or three others beside myself.

I think this trip fits well with our upcoming study of exploration and colonization. It is also a great opportunity for kids to get on a big boat and see two lighthouses and BIW from the water.

Feel free to text me at 841-2599 or send an email.

Thanks,

Mr. Shea

Morse Mountain

Hello,

I hope you all are having a great summer.  Our Morse Mountain gathering was a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone who came along, especially our drivers. It was really nice to see so many (we had 15 of 24 classmates) back together. We also got to see a couple of our new classmates, Kaelin and Calvin, mixing well with the group.

Calvin's mom, Christy, writes a blog about her son. She is an impressive writer and I think many of you would be interested in reading a few of her posts. She gives a very honest glimpse into life with a child with epilepsy. If you read a few, I guarantee you will go through a range of emotions.  Here is a link to her write-up on our trip:

http://www.calvinsstory.com/2015/07/morse-mountain.html 

Thanks to Christy for her permission to put the link on here. I think Calvin is a great fit for our class and I let his mom know how happy I was that he was added to our roster. I hope we can give to him as much as I know he will give to us.

I need to decide on the next gathering really soon, so stay tuned. It will be on a Tues or Thurs this time, probably the week of the 10th -16th.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me a letter or a postcard so far.  I look forward to reading more of those. Pat is very happy as well. She has received five cards so far. She says that it brightens her day, every time she gets to read one, so keep them coming!

IXL reminder.  Your username is your first initial and last name added to @brunswick. Your password is your initials.  I would be sshea@brunswick and ss.

Okay, I think that is all the reminders. You would be surprised how many books that I've bought this summer for next year. Well, maybe you wouldn't. I've been booksaling it up. (booksailing?) I'm excited to get them into your hands.

All for now. Thanks for checking in and reading now and then.

Mr. Shea

Weather looks dicey

Hello,

Right now, our Wednesday trip is on. The weather report says overcast with periodic showers. Yesterday they were calling for possible thunder storms. I'm not worried about whether or not it rains, we can handle that. I just don't want to be a mile from our cars during a thunder shower. Those would get me to cancel.

My number is 841-2599 if anyone want to discuss.  Thursday weather is supposed to be perfect if we need to postpone.

Thanks,

Mr. Shea