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
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
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:
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:
- It gave them practice with a calculator
- It gave us a chance to review and use PMDAS. (Parenthesis first, then multiplication or division, then addition or subtraction)
- 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, September 28, 2015
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
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
Thursday, September 24, 2015
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
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
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
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
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
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
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
Monday, September 21, 2015
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
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
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
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:
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:
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
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
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
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
Monday, September 14, 2015
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
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
Thursday, September 10, 2015
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
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
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
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
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
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
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
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
Thursday, September 3, 2015
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
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
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
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
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.
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
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)