Short teaching day

Hello,

It was a strange day.  I had two afterschool meetings so there was no Lego Club.  We had our last session with Arts are Elementary instructor Judy Segal.  (www.judysegal.com)  That was one hour of writing and sharing our works on birds.  I think you will be impressed with some of the work.  The poems will be displayed around the school shortly.  Thank you to Judy for working with our kids and giving them an additional art experience. 

This afternoon we gathered in the gym for the school variety show.  I was pleasantly surprised with the varied abilities of the performers.  It was fun and a great showcase for our performers.  You may want to check it out tomorrow night (Friday) at 6:30.  I had it incorrectly listed on my calendar so I hope you didn't come by tonight. 

These activities cut into our day, but we still had time for math, reading and writing.  Our math class is hard at work on word problems.  Our regular Bowdoin volunteer is as surprised as I am at the level of word problem that they are trying to solve.  I wrote one on the board today, and took a second to let the kids know that I never thought that I'd be making up a problem so hard for fourth graders.  It is such a step up from what they have ever had before.  I'll make sure I make up more of my own word problems in future homeworks to try to build this gap between where we are and where they want them to go.  Know that it is okay for your child to struggle and come in and say I could get past this point. 

My hoop team went down last night, ending my season.  Probably a good thing for my hip.  I was very gimpy today.  No one challenged me to a race though.  (hint)

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea