Wednesday, January 30th

ELA -- Mr. Zimbardo taught another Shakespeare lesson while I taught the geometric standards to his students.

P.E. / Music -- The Brainiacs received praise from Mr. Brooks and Coach Hallman for how well they did today during their rehearsal during P.E. and Music.  They did an excellent job staying focused and giving their performance their all.

Math -- Mrs. Washington reviewed coordinate planes with small groups of students and they worked on Compass Learning.

Social Studies -- Students who earned 3's on both sections of the Social Studies assessments were able to begin their extension projects.   Students who earned 1s and 2s reviewed with me and they will have the opportunity to take a portion of the text again next Monday.  

Due to the weather, we had indoor recess*

(*the students who finished their homework had indoor recess....)

Tuesday, January 29th

Social Studies -- Students took their Great Depression assessments while I attended a planning meeting.

Math -- I continued teaching about graphing coordinate planes.  Students created data points based on given equations and they plotted those lines in quadrant I on their graphs.

ELA -- Students had a final peer conference about their personal choice essays after we discussed the importance of including details.  

Homework:  Students need to create a final draft of their "_____________ is the best..." opinion pieces.  The minimum length is 1 paragraph and the maximum length is 1 page.  They're due tomorrow (Wednesday, January 30th).

Monday, January 28th

ELA - Students had another Shakespeare lesson from Mr. Zimbardo.

Math - I introduced the students to coordinate planes and they learned about the x and y axes, the origin, the four quadrants, and how to plot points.

Social Studies - My student teacher, Mrs. Whelchel, did a PowerPoint jeopardy review of the Great Depression.  At the end of the review I read a personal account of the Dust Bowl and gave students a handout that had additional facts.  The Great Depression/Dust Bowl assessment is tomorrow.  

Homework:  The majority of students received Reading homework packets today.  They are due by next Monday and they need to have another student check it before turning it in.  Students will have the early morning time to work on their packets and they can work on it at home.

Note about parent visits:  Please feel free to visit the class during the day to sit in on a lesson.  Just text or email me when you're coming (I've added our class schedule to the document list on the right).

Friday, January 25th

Social Studies & Science -- Students took assessments in both subjects and Ms. Karably introduced their science project.  Students will analyze recipes and say what changes (physical and chemical) take place at which points in the recipe.

ELA - Students had another Shakespeare lesson with Mr. Zimbardo.

Math Mania is tonight!  

Homework Update

Because of the Reading MAP and Fluency Reading assessment scores, a select group of students are going to have weekly reading homework packets.  Some students are close to their goals and they just need a few weeks of extra help; however, some students will be completing the packets until I see a significant improvement in their fluency scores and reading comprehension.  

Wednesday, January 23rd

ELA - Mr. Zimbardo continued his Shakespeare lessons.

Math - Mrs. Washington conducted a small group review with students who missed specific problems on Tuesday's formative assessment.  The other students worked on Compass Learning.  The math assessment is tomorrow and it will cover creating line plots, multiplying fractions, and dividing fractions.

Social Studies - This week we are focused on the Great Depression and the New Deal.  Students will have an assessment on WWI and the 1920s on Friday.  Students were given their study guides on Tuesday and they are expected to study at home.  

Term 4 Assessment Comments

This term I've structured the lessons, assessments, and projects a little differently.  I've done this for several reasons, including:

1.  Students didn't do as well on the multi-page, multi-format assessments that I did not write and that all teachers had to give last term.

2.  As a whole class, Reading MAP scores fell below where they needed to be (only 30% of my students met their Reading MAP growth target).  In short, more than half of my students have difficulty comprehending what they've read.

3.   Some students have not used project time wisely and/or their projects don't show the required depth of knowledge.

I've focused more on direct instruction and reading comprehension during the first part of the term and assessments will begin this week.  The assessments will be shorter with fewer formats.  I will not have students taking 6 page assessments with multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and essay questions.  

Students who earn 3's on these assessments will be given projects where they can explore the applicable standards in depth and earn 4's. Students who earn 1s and 2s will receive more direct instruction, time to comprehend this term's material and the opportunity to retake the assessments.

Vocabulary Words

Here's the vocabulary list; the assessment will be on Tuesday, January 29th.

Root Word:  STRUCT = build
Word	Definition
Construction (n)	What is built
Destruction (n)	Destroying something that was built
Infrastructure (n)	What a city is built upon; things that support a city (roads, communication, transportation, schools)
Instruct (v)	To BUILD knowledge
Instructor (n)	Teacher; a person who helps someone BUILD knowledge
Misconstrue (v)	To BUILD the wrong meaning, to misunderstand
Obstruction (n)	Something in the way
Reconstruct (v)	To BUILD again
Substructure (n)	Foundation of a building; the base
Superstructure (n)	Part of a building that was BUILT on top of the foundation

Friday, January 18th

We had an excellent time at Renfroe for the Ice Cream Lab.  Additionally, Ms. Karably conducted a lab where students were able to observe chemical changes.  Lastly, we had our vocabulary test and reviewed Math (CRCT prep).

Mittens says, "Have a good 3-day weekend!"

Thursday, January 17th

ELA - We discussed the theme of The Giver and Gathering Blue and students visited the library today.

Math - Students continued to work on line plots and their fraction review.

Science - Students completed textbook work about the changes in states of matter in preparation for our field trip tomorrow.

We still need the following for our field trip:

Ice

chaperones

(If it comes down to it, I can get the ice; however, I can't turn myself into more people... so parents, please join us!)

Lastly, please remember to dress your child warmly.  We are walking there and unless it is torrentially raining, we are going!

(p.s. I've seen a modest improvement in behavior so hopefully students will continue on this upward trajectory.)

Wednesday, January 16th

I am at a Compass training at the Central Office today and students had a Shakespeare lesson with Mr. Zimbardo and did a fraction review during math.   During Social Studies, they used a short biography of Babe Ruth and the Social Studies textbook to finish their 1920s notes.

Renfroe Field Trip (supply update)

We still need the following items:

1.  4 bags of ice (if these could be dropped off at Renfroe in the morning that would be great - perhaps via an older middle school sibling)

2.  small bowls (for holding ingredients and the ice cream - at least 36)

3.  parent chaperones (at least 3 - the more the merrier)

Tuesday, January 15th

I was disappointed with student behavior today.  So much so that I'm beginning to question whether they can even handle the field trip on Friday.  Students fell apart during music, struggled to listen during lessons, and needed constant reminders to stay on task.  I expect a 100% turnaround tomorrow and as a reminder I expect students to:

1.  Listen

2.  Follow Directions

3.  Focus on the task at hand

Tomorrow I will provide an update about student behavior.  

Monday, January 14th

ELA - Students had a Shakespeare lesson with Mr. Zimbardo.   They discussed the plot and characters of A Midsummer's Night Dream.  During that time, I taught his students math (line plots).

Math - Mrs. Washington and I divided up the class using the formative assessment we gave on Thursday.  We both discussed and reviewed modeling fraction division.

Social Studies - We watched a short video on the 1920s and listened for our Social Studies vocabulary words.

Friday, January 11th

Ms. Karably taught a lesson on physical changes and pH

She asked students if a gas could have a pH.  To find out, students breathed through a straw into water that had a blue pH indicator.  If the water turned yellow that meant the gas (CO2) was acidic.

Construction began promptly at 3pm on Friday afternoon.  The parking horseshoe will be closed and car traffic will be modified.  Please arrive a little earlier to adjust for the change. 

Science Lab Field Trip to Renfroe

Our Renfroe field trip to do a states of matter experiment in Mrs. Thornton-Webb's 8th grade science class is in a week and we have a few last minute needs.  Please see below for the logistical information and if you can help, please leave a comment and I will update this blog post as parents respond.  Thanks!

Date:  Friday, January 18th

Time: 8:40am - 10:10am

Place:  Renfroe

Transportation:  We are walking from F.AVE to Renfroe (20 min)

Needs:

1. 1 gallon of milk [ I prefer organic ; ) ]

2.  Vanilla

3.  Ice Cream Salt (1 box)

4.  Plastic bags - 1 box gallon, 1 box sandwich (do NOT get freezer or GLAD brand bags - the experiment won't work with those!)

5.  4 bags of ice (if these could be dropped off at Renfroe in the morning that would be great - perhaps via an older middle school sibling)

6.  small bowls (for holding ingredients and the ice cream - at least 36)

7.  spoons (1 box)

8.  parent chaperones (at least 3 - the more the merrier)

 

Thursday, January 10th

ELA - Students spent time revising their writing using the questions their partners wrote for them.  We concluded Language Arts by analyzing the plot in The Giver.  We have our weekly library time on Thursdays and today, Mrs. Dennis taught the first installment of her Cybersafety series.  It was informative and entertaining!

Math - Mrs. Washington lead a lesson in modeling fraction division and students took a formative assessment at the end of class.  It's a difficult concept to understand; however, students are starting to understand how to model fraction division.  Next week students will be placed in small learning groups based on how they performed on the formative assessment.

Science - We watched, discussed, and took notes on the "Atoms" and "Property Changes" BrainPop videos.  Students observed an example of a physical change (ripping paper into smaller pieces) and a chemical change (burning paper).

Comments about work sent home today

I sent home some of the work and assessments that students did during term 3.  Some parents may be a bit alarmed by the grades and students should explain how/why they got the grades they did.  Additionally, please contact me if you would like to set up an appointment to discuss grades and academic behavior.  Please note that students will be required to attend these meetings since they are the ones who are accountable for their academic progress.

Additionally, some students were sent home with a form stapled to the front of their report cards since they did not submit their narratives.  I have only received one signed form back. I need those back immediately.  If you have not seen your child's report card, please let me know and I'll email it to you.

Here are specifics about some of the assessments/assignments.

Social Studies Assessment - I did not write this assignment; however, all 5th grade teachers had to give it.  I provided the exact copy of the assessment to students so they could create their own study guides.  They had 2 days of class time to work on it and 5 days to study it at home.  This assessment accounted for a small portion of their Social Studies grade.

Comma Assessment - I taught a new comma rule every day and saved students' worksheets.  Students then stapled the comma rule packet to the worksheets and had them to study.  Students were able to use the packet on the comma assessment.  Honestly, I was disappointed to see how many students earned 1s.  Needless to say, we will be reviewing commas this term as well.

Economics Assessment - This was an open note assessment.

Term 3 Vocabulary Assessment - Students received the word list a week in advance and were repeatedly reminded to study.


On a final note, I talked with students about how they felt they did and why they got the grades that they did.  Many students admitted to rushing and being confused by certain questions.  For this term I'm going to simplify the assessments and place more emphasis on projects.  I was quite pleased with most students' work on their various projects.

My short, boring story...

Original story
My kids wanted a cat. I agreed.  I got one, his name is Tiger, and he is a unique pet.

Student Question (there were almost 20 and this was the one I chose)
"How did your kids persuade you?"

Revision
Every day, from sunrise to late at night, my whiny children pleaded, begged for a pet.  I mechanically responded, "no."  Eventually, as they probably expected, I wore down.  The constant pleas finally broke me until I too believed I desperately needed an animal in my already crowded apartment.

Tuesday & Wednesday (January 8-9)

Tuesday

ELA - We concentrated on the writing process by focusing on the questions we need to ask ourselves as writers.  Told an extremely short, boring story about how I got my cat Tiger then let the students ask me questions.  I chose the most interesting question and rewrote part of the story in front of them.  Then I paired students up and they had to read another child's writing (it was the "_________ is the best" opinion paragraph they wrote last week) and write down questions.  On Thursday students will look at the questions, select the one that inspires them the most, and revise a piece of their writing.  

Math - We worked on fraction word problems.  

Social Studies - We finished reading the WWI Causes chapter in our Social Studies textbook.

Peer Review

Wednesday

ELA - We discussed setting and how it shapes stories and character actions.  We used The Giver and Gathering Blue to analyze the time, place, and events of each book.

Math - Students did Compass Learning and received an introductory lesson on dividing fractions with Mrs. Washington.

Social Studies - Students watched a WWI video, took notes, and listened to me provide extra historical details.

A note on behavior:  I got a not-so-great report from Mr. Brooks yesterday and students received silent lunch.  Today they turned it around and earned 5 bonus recess minutes.  Hopefully they'll be able to continue the on-task behavior.

Just a friendly reminder.... : )

Students should not bring electronics to school.  If you allow your child to bring an electronic item to school, they need to stay in their lockers.  When I see children's phones, ipods, etc, I will take them and not return them until the end of school.  If your child's electronic item is lost, stolen, or broken, neither I nor the school is responsible.  Lastly, when your child gets to middle school, an administrator will take the electronic item and parents will be called to come to the school to retrieve it.  

(Kindles or other reading devices are the ONLY exception.  Students must use them ONLY for reading and I am not responsible if something happens them.)

Monday, January 7th

ELA - We finished our character analysis of The Giver and Gathering Blue and we discussed this week's vocabulary.

Math - We continued our review of simplifying, adding/subtracting, and multiplying fractions.  Students will begin to learn how to solve and model fraction multiplication on Wednesday.

Social Studies - We started learning about the causes of WWI.  We read the Social Studies textbook and students took notes and summarized the information.

Homework:  Vocabulary worksheet and study note cards (everyone), Math packet (students who didn't finish in class)

Friday, January 4th

Thursday, January 3rd

ELA - We reviewed commas and end punctuation.  We also reviewed opinion writing and students wrote a draft of something that they thought was "the best."  We will use that draft over the next few weeks to work through the revision process.

Math - We reviewed subtracting, multiplying and simplifying fractions.

Science - Students reviewed this term's science standards and investigated the science textbook to find words that they thought were related to what we are going to learn.