What a day!

Hello,

It was a day of building.  It was a day of solving problems.  Your child should be able to tell you at least five things that wouldn't work that they were able to figure out.  That is something to celebrate.  Some clung to the hope that I would swoop down and save the day, and they struggled the most, but that was few and far between.  Everyone who was able to make a contraption with at least six simple machines and could correctly point those out was given an A.  A couple kids met the challenge to have all seven, they scored an instant A+. 

It was a great day, but an exhausting day.  The homework club did the bulk of the clean up.  Thank you to them.  I would have been here until midnight. 

There was no math today due to Mrs. Viola's class going to Growstown School.  That gave our kids some extra building time, which they made great use of.

Good night.  Have a great Memorial Day weekend too.  I know we have another day, but I don't blog on Friday. 

Mr. Shea

Let the building begin

Hello,

We were able to start our Rube Goldberg machines this afternoon.  The goal is to have everyone build a contraption that contains at least six of the following: a pulley, lever, screw, wedge, inclined plane, gear, and wheel and axle.  Once completed, (and the parts are pointed out and explained) students will then attempt to connect contraptions.  Based on some of the plans and early building that I've seen, I think we are going to have a lot of success tomorrow.  The unit is all about problem solving, so tomorrow I hope to see a lot of problems and then many, many solutions. 

Students may work on this at home and bring in anything that may help them.  You may help them with anything that takes an adult's steady hand, but please let them make this their idea. 

We had a lot of red faces coming back from P.E. this morning.  The annual long run is now a back and forth run in the gym.  Ask your child how they did and if they reached their goal.

I was a little red faced this afternoon when a teacher came in to our class exclaiming that some of our kids were completely disruptive in the hallway.  I was NOT happy to say the least.  I talked to the students and they missed out on some building time as they wrote three separate apologies each to the three surrounding classrooms.  It wasn't our proudest moment.

The Harry Potter Quidditch Teams will practice next Friday.  I may need a little sewing done for our robes, if anyone knows of someone with that particular talent and the will to help refurbish our robes.  They are more like capes, but we had a few rips last year.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Shea

Tuesday

Hello,

Here's another short post for you.  My wife is in NYC finding merchandise for her shop.  I need to pick up my dog each night from my parents.  (Not the grandchild they were hoping for.)

Here is a list of the day's activities:

cursive
fractions
algebra (Dragon Box App)
music
sharing: Baby chicks and Where did Blaze go last weekend?
indoor recess
lunch
mad lib
free reading
partner poetry
read aloud
indoor recess
Maine studies
dismissal
homework club  (Apples to Apples Jr. was a big hit) 

I wish I could write sub plans as fast as I typed that list.  Not so easy. 

Have a great night.

Mr. Shea

Simple Machine Week

Hello,

I just got out of my team meeting and need to run to see my nephew's last track meet of the year, so I'm going to be quick. 

We have gone through the different simple machines: wheel & axle, inclined plane, wedge, screw, lever, pulley and gear.  Now we are going to be putting them together and trying to make something work.  I'm rushing this a bit, but we're going to shoot for Thursday afternoon as our day to put everything together.  Students are welcome to work at home and bring things in, but at some point on Thursday they need to show me a mechanism that has at least six of the simple machines in it.  Once they have done that, they will be free to try to connect it with someone else's invention.  The goal is to connect each invention to at least one other.  Our goal differs a bit from some of the classes that held the invention fair a couple weeks ago.  They focused on making a useful machine that included some simple machines.  I don't care about usefulness, but I do care that kids use most or all of the simple machines and can show me how they make work easier (or faster). 

Tonight's homework is to do a little sketch of what you might be able to put together this week.  Simple machines must be labeled.  We tested some different ideas today, and we will have two more days of testing time before we'll jump into the ultimate creations. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Feels like summer

Hello,

We went outside for silent reading time to enjoy the sunshine.  The class has proven that they can handle this, so I look forward to getting them some fresh air in the middle of the day.

The book fair is here.  Tomorrow will be our class preview day.  Students will get to browse the selection.  Next week they will have an opportunity to buy.  The parent group is generously donating a five dollar voucher to each child in the school.  The only stipulation is that it must be used on books.

The class was up to the elevator challenge this morning.  They had to construct an elevator using at least one pulley.  Next week we will start combining simple machines. 

We reviewed the proper times to use there, they're, their, two, to, too, it's, its, and then or than.  I'd say the then and than is still the biggest stumper.

I don't know if it's the weather or what, but I am once again bailing without writing too much. 

Spelling test tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,

Mr. Shea

Early release day

Hello,

I hope the early release day went well for all of you.  Teachers met to talk about the new Common Core Standards for writing.  I spent half of my time with the fifth grade team.

All of the looping slips that I expect to receive have been returned.  We will have eighteen students returning to room 120.  I should find out relatively soon about any new students joining our group.  I proposed to the principal this morning that we have more students placed in our room than any other class to insure that we won't get any more new students in the middle of next year.  It looks like our current numbers place the totals at nineteen per class.  I asked for 21.  I believe that students that will be joining our classroom should know ASAP so we can start building a relationship.  I'm hoping that the students will come from a pool of students that I am already familiar with, but I don't know if that will be the case.  Either way, I'm excited about the possibilities.

The class did really well on the NWEA MAP reading test.  I'm still waiting for one student score, but the average gain is currently at fifteen points.  The expected yearly gain is 6-7 points.  It is not my favorite test, but I'd rather see high scores than low ones.  I think some of the gains are based on the fact that some of our kids are learning how to take a test.  It is an important skill and I am pleased.  I'll get more detailed scoring next week and have individual talks with students about their results.  The results will also go home with the final report card.

My wife is summoning me.  Have a good night.

Mr. Shea

Too late for blogging

Hello,

More testing in reading.  Fractions in math (and a bit of a lecture on taking tests).  Intro to trombone in music.  Wrote up an ice cream commercial in writing.  Maine studies to end the day. 

Sorry, but it is past seven.  I need to leave.  I wanted to get to the 5th grade band concert, but missed that. 

Good night.

Mr. Shea