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