Music of Dolphins

Today we started a new novel, Music of Dolphins. This piece of fiction tells the story of a young feral girl, Mila, found swimming with her dolphin family in the ocean near Cuba. Once "rescued," she is brought back to the states and placed in a university hospital ward where researchers use her to study the part that language acquisition plays in socialization. While Mila begins very eager to please she slowly becomes more and more depressed as she longs to return to the sea to her family.

We will use this book for a character study. We will begin by working to figure out who is telling this story, who the characters are, and what we learn about each of them. From there we will pay close attention to how the author reveals these characters (description, actions, dialogue) and the changes that occur within each of them over the course of the story.

As with all class novels, we share responsibility for the reading. I will read many of the chapters aloud as the kids follow along in their own books. Other chapters will be read independently in the classroom. All chapters will be discussed in partnerships, small groups, and as a whole group. We will use what we learn about characters in this book to support book club discussions in the coming weeks. These book clubs will present an opportunity for each of the kids to select a book that really appeals to them and read and discuss it with friends.

Homework: January 31 - February 4

1. Read each night.

2. Interview someone to find out what they know about the American Revolution so that we can share this information out. The kids will begin with the question: What can you tell me about the American Revolution? From there they'll ask a few follow-up questions that occur to them as they listen. They are to take notes that, while not complete sentences, provide enough that they are able to recount the highlights of what they learned. (Due this Thursday)

3. Multiplication packet. (Due next Monday)

The Best Laid Plans: Multiplying 2-Digit Numbers by 1-Digit Numbers

We started this week by revisiting our multiplication time tables. The kids worked in partnerships to take a closer look at one particular table and find patterns and strategies that might benefit the rest of the class when solving these problems. For instance...

The tens always have an answer that ends with 0.
The fives always have a answer that ends with either 5 or 0.
The sevens are like touchdowns in football - 7, 14, 21, 28....
To multiply by 8 you can multiply by 4 and then double it.

There were many, many patterns and strategies to be found. Following this study I attempted to teach the kids a strategy for multiplying a two-digit number by a one-digit number. As always I had carefully thought about what I would say and how I would lead them into "discovering" how this type of problem works. The plan was to begin by teaching them to solve a problem such as 48 x 5 by multiplying 8x5, then 40x5, and then adding these two together. However, exactly three minutes in everything fell apart. I looked around and noticed wrinkled foreheads and blank faces. It was clear that it was not going well.

Working the crowd I quickly found out that I hadn't given them all they needed to be successful. They were really good when multiplying by 10 but didn't know how to multiply by 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, or 90. Oops! We quickly backed up and addressed this. So Wednesday and Thursday were spent learning how all we know about multiplying by ten works with other multiples of ten as well. After some time working these problems the vast majority of the kids were far more comfortable and ready to tackle those problems from the beginning of the week.

We're now working on these problems and will continue to do so into next week. Once we feel comfortable enough to move on Mrs. Mayer will be launching us into an exploration of Geometry. There will be lots of fun "hands-on" activities designed to help the kids construct new knowledge and understanding of lines, shapes, and angles. We can't wait!

Homework: January 24 - 28

1. Read each night.

There is no reading log again this week. In fact, we won't have any more logs this year. We will, however, have a few reading reflection sheets from time to time.

Motion Experiment Presentations

Thanks to everyone for helping the kids with their experiments at home. The presentations were amazing. Mrs. Mayer and I had a great time listening to the kids explain how they worked to control as many variables as they could, record their results, and explain their findings. We heard all sorts of great scientific vocabulary coming back from home- hypothesis, force, thrust, variable, gravity, and on and on. Some were new to us. That's one of the great parts of teaching - learning!

It occurred to me as I listened to their results that with all the work we've been doing around graphs that we should we should have created graphs to share the results of our experiments - whether in terms of linear measurements or time measurements. Ah, something to consider next time.

Our study of motion will continue into next week and then we will transition into an exploration of sound.

Hi! I'm Mrs. Mayer

Greetings:

My name is Mrs. Mayer and I am the M. A. T. this semester. I had a great experience in Mrs. Pender's second grade classroom last semester and I feel right at home at CFI. I got a chance to meet most of the students in Mr. Hass' class before the break and was honored to be at their song recording session. This class has a lot of talent and a lot of great things happening. This week I am getting to know each student as a reader, writer, mathematician, and scientist. I have really enjoyed hearing about their motion experiments and I look forward to learning and growing with them for the rest of the school year.

I am a Columbia native who graduated from USC with a B.A. in Media Arts (photography) in 2002. I have had a passion for teaching since being a Teacher Cadet in high school and before. However, I knew I wanted to travel and have some life experience before entering a career. I have visited some cool places, seen some neat stuff, found a great husband, and picked up four dogs and a cat on the way. I am now ready to embark on the greatest professional path I believe there is and become a teacher. Mr. Hass and his students have already made me feel welcome, and I know that I will learn great things and that they will keep my on my toes! I am ready for the challenge and I can't wait to see how much they will teach me.

I look forward to meeting everyone in our extended classroom community and hope to work with the students every day so that we can generate innovative ideas together!

Homework: January 18 - 21

1. Read each night.

2. A small graph packet will be coming home on Wednesday. It is due back on Monday, 1/24.

Homework: January 10 - 13

1. Read each night. There is no log again this week.

2. The math quiz is due back today. This is the quiz on reading graphs. You should correct any problems you missed and have it signed by a parent. Be sure to show your work on the problems you correct. This could be done on the back if you'd like. Just be sure to label it in some way so that I know what it is.

3. Motion experiments are due on Wednesday. You can find all the instructions you need in our last homework post (January 3 - 7).

A Heated Debate

We spent the weeks before Winter Break reading a number of news articles dealing with competition and sportsmanship. During each reading we worked to make connections to the text from our own experiences and understandings of sports. At the heart of each of these stories was the question: "Is it okay to win by a whole, whole lot?"

We found out that in some states high school coaches are punished for winning by "too much." Some stories told of undermanned teams losing a basketball game 100 - 0 where the winning team was throwing up three pointers to the very end while their fans cheared them on to triple digits. Other articles told of coaches who had put in their back-up players but still found that the margin of victory climbed and climbed. One article in particular told of a coach who is viewed as a jerk in many circles because his football teams don't just win - they embarrass other squads. However, he argued that he had asked repeatedly to keep the playclock running throughout the game so that it would end sooner and the score might be more reasonable but that his requests were always refused. There were definitely many issues to consider in each of these articles.

Today the kids held a debate about this. The debate question was: Should high school coaches be punished for winning by too much? Our last debate, on zoos, was very formal in that the kids were paired up and argued to gain team points. This debate was much more informal. The kids sat around a table and had a discussion much like what you'd find around a dinnertable. Or, at least, a dinnertable with heated discussion. They started off shy and quiet but eventually became passionate to win.

Important Dates

Friday, 1/7/11
We are hosting Gathering at 2:20. We will be sharing our work over the past few weeks with fractions, motion, songwriting, graphs, and reading. We will also be performing our newest song, "Reading is Thinking (It's Good for You)."

Wednesday, 1/12/11
Motion experiments are due. We will begin presenting them this afternoon.

Friday, 1/14/11 and Monday, 1/17/11
No school. Friday is a teacher workday and Monday is a holiday.

Homework: Week of January 3 - 7, 2011

1. Homework this week is to read each night. There is no reading log.


2. On Wednesday the kids are bringing home the plans for an experiment they have designed to test a hypothesis or question of interest to them. These experiments are a part of our exploration into motion. Some finished up these plans, others did not. Those that did not can complete it at home. They are now to conduct their experiment and create some type of log (graph, data sheet, etc) that shares the results of their experiment. There is also a spot on their experiment sheet for them to reflect on what happened. Some of the kids expressed an interest in taking photos to share with us. That is fine but not a requirement.

These are due next Wednesday. On Wednesday they need to be ready to share with us:

1. Their completed plan sheet.
2. A log of some type that shows the data they collected.
3. A brief demonstration to show us how the experiment was conducted and how data was taken

These will be presented over two days at the end of next week. Other than reading, this will be the only assignment between now and the end of next week to make sure they have plenty of time to do a great job. I would estimate that this assignment will take anywhere from forty-five minutes to an hour-and-a-half depending on how they choose to record their data and share it with us.

"How do you learn about motion?"

"How do you learn about motion?"

That was the question a couple of the kids asked me today after seeing motion listed among our things to discuss and explore.

"We already know that stuff," Reese assured me. He then began jogging across the room. "See! I can make motion."

It's a fair question and one that I batted around a bit over the break. The State of South Carolina has some very specific things they want the kids to know. I see these in the form of State Curriculum Standards. We don't use textbooks much here at CFI but we do reference this set of specific skills and topics the state mandates. In this case the standards said I should teach the kids to:

1. Identify the position of an object relative to a reference point by using position terms such as "above," "below," "inside of," "underneath," or "on top of" and a distance scale or measurement.

2. Compare the motion of common objects in terms of speed and direction.

3. Explain how the motion of an object is affected by the strength of a push or pull and the mass of the object.

4. Explain the relationship of the motion of an object and the pull of gravity.

So how DO you teach or learn about motion?

We started by throwing some things through the air and listing what we noticed. I threw a round ball, a football, a piece of paper, a paper scrap, a marker, and an eraser. "What'd you notice?" I asked.

"The scrap of paper is a lot worse at going places than like a ball," Jillian offered.
"The football and round ball rolled and bounced after they hit the ground," Madison said.
"The paper had to be rolled into a ball to move much," Jenna shared.
"The ball went the furthest because it's a sphere," Daniel guessed.
"Mr. Hass kept trying to put force into the scrap of paper but it was too light to go very far," Madison hypothesized.

The kids moved out into groups where they started lists of the observations they can make about the motion of objects ("Cars need gas and a motor to give them force or power to move and we need food," one group wrote). They also made another list of hypotheses about motion ("Things need power to make them move - either from gas or food or something," the same group said).

A little while later we packed up our sheets so that we could continue this work tomorrow. I then gave each of the kids a piece of computer paper and a challenge: Design something that will allow your piece of paper to travel further than anyone else's. The kids had already figured out that objects need force to make them move. They also were thinking that an object's shape, material, and weight might have some effect on motion. For this challenge we were keeping material (paper) and weight the same for everyone. However, we were each changing the shape based on our own designs.

We took these outside and practiced throwing them. Many of the kids decided to make changes. A lot of paper airplanes were quickly crumpled up into balls. Others fashioned gliders, paper footballs, or straws. The balls seemed to travel the furthest. However, Kayla was quick to point out that it wasn't really fair because some people threw better than others. Someone else pointed out that people were throwing with different motions as well (underarmed, overhanded, sidearmed). Yet another person guessed that the wind might have helped some people but not others since we didn't all throw them at the exact same time or from the same spot.

So in the end we decided this wouldn't be a reliable experiment of the effects of shape design on motion. However, we learned all kinds of things about carefully crafting an experiment so that it is reliable. This was where I was hoping our discussion would wind up so I was very pleased to see the kids get there. The kids will begin working on Tuesday to design their own experiments around a hypothesis their group made today. They will take these home and have one week to conduct the experiment and come back prepared to talk about it. We'll discuss as a class what this might look and sound like. It won't be a huge project at all. However, I want to make sure they are prepared to really explain what they did and what they learned from it - either about motion or about designing and conducting experiments.