Movie club starts Thursday

Hello,

We had our first library class of the year and about a half an hour later we went to our first Chorus gathering.  In between the two specials, we placed drops of water on coins.  Our initial predictions for how many drops would stay on a penny varied between two and ten.  Our results showed anywhere from 20 to 40 would stay on before spilling over.  We discussed surface tension and how the water molecules "stick" together.  We will try another experiment tomorrow and then we should have a better idea of how the water strider "skates" on the water.

Our first homework club will start on Thursday.  The class voted to make it a movie club.  The idea is to make and watch movies.  It seems like a great subject to study.  We can make use of our abilities in art, writing, acting and teamwork.  I also thought I would show some classics like The Wizard of Oz.  Ultimately, it is their club, so they will decide what direction that it takes.  It will work like last year's clubs, in that we will do homework for forty five minutes and then use the remaining time for the serious fun.  It is scheduled to go until five, but I am flexible on pick up times.  I am generally here until six anyway. 

Homework clubs give me a little extra one on one time with kids.  There isn't nearly enough instructional time in a school day, in my opinion, and even less time to connect with a student with where they are at.  These clubs help me do that.  I've got to see if I can get my apple laptop running.  I'd like to be able to keep our work off of school computers so I can download any movie software that I'd like. 

We switched for math for the first time today, too.  I'm keeping fourteen members of our homeroom and picking up four others from Mrs. Palopoli's classroom.  Four students from our homeroom go to her, and four go to other teachers.  I'll be writing the math homework that I give out onto our homework calendar (at the top of the blog).  I'm sorry that it won't apply to everyone.  I'll label it as Shea Math.  I didn't give math homework tonight though.  I generally only give homework on what they know, and I still need to find that out.  We are halfway through the chapter one pre-test.  This first chapter should be pretty easy, but like last year, it's going to get tougher very quickly.

Open House this Thursday from six to seven.  Hope to see you there.  I guess you've all met me at this point, but you can check out the new set up. 

Fundraiser at Orange Leaf tonight until 8:00.  15% of proceeds are going to HBS.  I've never been there, but I've heard that it serves up great frozen yogurt.  I'm on my way now.

Have a good night.

Mr. Shea