YouTube in the Classroom

Yes, we use YouTube in the classroom. Sometimes we reflect on what we've seen - critiquing it for content and meaning. Just last week we watched an old Nike commercial from the 80's during Morning Meeting. The message was powerful...

Other times we use it for a laugh. One day last week we had a couple of minutes before heading off to special areas so I shared a fun video where Jimmy Fallon impersonates Neil Young while singing the popular Willow Smith song "Whip My Hair." If you're a Neil Young fan you'll really like this one. Bruce Springstein makes an appearance at the end...

More and more I'm finding YouTube can be a source of videos demonstrating something we're learning in class. There's a lot out there. Since most of it is not all that helpful (or appropriate) great care has to be taken. If you ever come across something you think will spark a good discussion, inspire someone, or help us to learn about something new please pass it along.

Chris

Homework: April 29 - May 6, 2013

1. Read each night for at least 20 minutes.

2. Complete the math journal pages we began together in class on Monday and Tuesday. This is just a piece of the review we are doing in preparation for next week's PASS test. You should complete at least half of this work in the classroom Monday and Tuesday. Of course, you are always welcome to do it during Exploration time each morning if need be.  The pages you need to complete are:

157....158...160...163...164...165...168...169...170...172...174...178...179 

3. Complete the rough draft of your story. It needs to be at least three solid pages long. If you are someone who likes to leave a lot of white space on the page with extra spacing and illustrations then you might want to make sure you have extra pages (six or seven?). Remember the focus of these pieces is setting, punctuation (quotation marks, commas, periods), and formatting (writing red line to red line and using paragraphs).

This is all due on Monday. Have a great week!

Newsletter April 19, 2013

Dear Families,

We have had a very busy week.  MAP testing this week made our schedule a little more hectic, but I’m sure all the kids are glad to have it behind them.  The weather was beautiful so we ate lunch outside several days this week.

Math – We turned our attention to circumference and diameter.  Mr. Hass challenged the class to find the circumference and diameter of cylinders.  As the class calculated the diameter and circumference it was revealed that the circumference is about 3 times the diameter.  This led us to a conversation of the mathematical number of Pi.  The class was really amazed that Pi goes on forever without repeating.  For now we have decided to figure Pi as about 3 so we can calculate circumferences and diameters.

Once we felt confident we could find the diameter if we knew the circumference, we headed outside to practice on some trees.  There were trees of all sizes so those students who were a little less confident could practice on smaller trees and those who wanted a greater challenge could investigate the bigger trees.

Science – The kids continued to investigate the various landforms at the beginning of the week.  On Thursday each group was able to present to the class what they had learned about their landform.  They all did a really nice job sharing their information with their classmates.  We have posted their landform posters above the whiteboards, so please check them out when you visit the classroom.

In reading and writing we I continued working on synonyms and antonyms.  We also learned about a Thesaurus and how to use one.  Towards the end of the week we began discussing prefixes, suffixes, and contractions.

On a different note this is my last week with the class.  I wanted to thank you all for being so welcoming and helpful throughout the semester.  The kids have been great (although challenging sometimes) to work with.  I feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to work and learn with Mr. Hass and his class.  I know that my experiences at CFI will serve me well as I move on to my own classroom.

The kids were super excited it was my last day of full-time!

Maisy found Trae's coat on the playground.  She was being silly and decided to try it on.  Little did she know I would post this picture to the blog to live on forever :).

Homework: April 15 - 22, 2013

1. Read each night for at least twenty minutes and record on your log.

2. Three worksheets on synonyms and antonyms.

The log and worksheets are due next Monday. However, make sure to have your reading log with you each and every day in the classroom.

Newsletter: April 11, 2013

Dear Families,

It's great to be back. My spring break included a two-day backpacking trip through the snowy Smoky Mountains that resulted in one child, Ty, spraining his ankle, and the other, Muluken, getting sick and feeling as though he was going to pass out. These are not conditions you hope to encounter when in the middle of a snow storm miles and miles from civilization. We obviously survived so all was good. We learned the importance of remaining calm when encountered with adversity. Oh, we also learned that if people listened to Dad more often they wouldn't get hurt and sick. I can only assume that's a lesson that will have to be experienced many more times before it truly sinks in.

I had an opportunity to coach in Ms. Breland's class for a few minutes on Monday. It was silent reading time and her kids were so incredibly invested in their books. Later in the day when we pulled out our own books for silent reading time I noticed our group was equally invested. As much fun as it is to have a week or a summer away from the responsibilities of school I know most of the kids greatly appreciate the opportunity to come back and fall into their comfortable routines - particularly reading and writing workshop.

Speaking of reading and writing, Mr. Chris has spent this past week working with the kids on their magazines as well as guiding a small inquiry into synonyms and antonyms. We'll continue this work next week while also exploring homonyms and contractions.

Here's a sampling of the other things we've been studying...

Math - The kids took a short geometry assessment earlier in the week before turning their attention to a study of slides, flips, and turns. This is one of those math standards I truly do not understand (in terms of why it's important to know) but we made good use of our time. I challenged the kids to find all the ways they could to arrange four crayons given the following rules: (1) they must be placed end-to-end; (2) they must be arranged at straight angles or 90 degree angles; and (3) you cannot have any duplicates, even if they are flipped or turned from the original. This provided a nice spatial challenge. In the end we found there were sixteen different possibilities. Each of the kids used these sixteen solutions to create a small deck of cards we then used to play a game. We will teach this game to you during Curriculum Night (which, I believe, is next week).

Science - We are learning about landforms. The kids are working in pairs to study and teach about mountains, glaciers, islands, valleys, caverns, plateaus, plains, oceans, rivers, lakes, and so on. Next week we'll turn our attention to catastrophic events such as earthquakes.

A few final notes...

1. Sparkleberry Fair is April 27th. Our class will be singing from 10:55-11:15. I hope you can make it out.

2. A book order form is coming home on Friday. If you are interested, you can order books online. I sent out the information about this via e-mail on Thursday afternoon. In case you missed it here it is again:

Scholastic Book Clubs Ordering Information
www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: GY8VG


Ordering online is fast and easy:

•  REGISTER at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
•  ENTER the Class Activation Code at the top of this letter
•  CHOOSE from thousands of print titles, value packs, and Storia eBooks
•  SUBMIT the order to your child's teacher
•  EARN FREE Books for you and the classroom too!

Have a great weekend,
Chris

Transitioning into 4th Grade

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." - John Dewey

If you are unfamiliar with John Dewey he was a very influential philosopher, psychologist, social critic, educational reformer, political activist, and much more. Born in 1859, his ideas are still regularly discussed in universities across the nation and world. Above is one of my favorite quotes of his. It strikes out against the notion that what we do in the classroom is to prepare for some future life rather than to prepare for the ways in which we live right now. I also believe it speaks against the notion that we should be doing things in third grade for the sole purpose of getting ready for fourth grade. Did you ever have a teacher say: "You guys better get this down because when you get to --th grade those teachers are going to expect you to be able to do it." Or..."Next year you're going to be in middle school/high school so you better get used to this now or else you'll ((fail, get beat up, get into trouble, etc))."

I truly believe each and every thing we do in the classroom should be about growing as a learner, friend, and citizen of the world. Not that we don't spend time talking about the upcoming PASS test from time to time or think ahead to what 4th/5th grade will be like, but on the whole we are concerned with much more meaningful work and curiosities.

That said, we did begin a discussion today about what the kids' roles as students in the 4/5 loop should be and the sorts of behaviors and responsibilities they should posses to be best prepared for this status as the older kids in the school. This will be a conversation we will build on over the coming weeks as we really focus on becoming increasingly responsible and mature. While we joked a bit about how cool it would be if driving ourselves to school could be one of these responsibilities we realized we were bound by both the law and common sense. Here are the first few items we discussed today that will begin a list that will grow throughout the remainder of the year. Many, if not all, are probably things your child is already doing. If not, think about ways you can scaffold him or her into taking on these responsibilities for themselves. If you see something we have missed pass it along with your child to share at morning meeting.

"During our final nine weeks together in third grade we will...

1. ...take responsibility for our own homework. This means getting it home, completing it, and getting it back in on time. If we need help we will ask but should not assume this is the responsibility of our parents. We know best what our needs are and should seek out help (and expect it) when need be. Our parents might ask us if we have each assignment packed up and ready to turn in but they should not pack our folders or our bags for us. We can take care of this on our own.

2. ...solve our own problems. If something is bothering us we will talk to the other people involved or find an adult at school to help us with this issue. If we forget an assignment we will let Mr. Hass know ourselves. If we have a tough schedule on a given night that will make it difficult to complete our work we will talk with Mr. Hass about it ahead of time, not the next day. Planning our time wisely is an important skill for now and forever. Should something come up suddenly or a paper get lost we will let Mr. Hass know and present a solution for the problem. There's no need for mom or dad to do this for us. We can take care of it on our own.

3. ...walk into the classroom, unpack our things, and begin our day all by ourselves. Of course, our parents are always welcome to duck in from time to time to check in on things or say hello.

4. ...set a good example for the rest of the school with our behavior in public spaces - no matter what we see others doing.

5. ...help out the kids in K, 1, and 2 when we see they need help. We will also offer hellos and hugs to remind them how welcomed and loved they are in the building.

As I mentioned above, we are very successful with many of these items already. Someone asked today, "Mr. Hass, when we get older does something change to make us act differently?" This question was prompted by earlier discussions throughout the year about how the "older" kids sometimes act as though they are more important or immune to the rules the rest of us are expected to follow. That was a bit tough to answer. I think I finally said something along the lines of: "Well, nothing has to change. You'll still be the same person but maybe some people will begin to get the idea that being older means acting differently. Maybe our job could be to help them reconsider this." This was certainly not the best answer but so much of parenting and teaching is like that...if only we had more time to craft a careful response that might be more meaningful. Ah well, there's always tomorrow.

Spring Weather is Here!

We've been enjoying the nice weather as much as possible. We love eating outside in our garden and even getting out there to do some work. Today I started a rotation that should allow each of the kids a couple of opportunities each week to work at our new picnic table or on the bench next to the pond. Here's hoping we stay out of the 90s for as long as possible!

It's a Grand Day

We enjoyed a visit from many of our grandparents just before break. During their classroom visit we shared our learning around rocks and minerals, sang a few songs, and even recorded a song with the grandparents to include on our class CD this year. Here are some photos from our time together. I did take a photo of each family but it seems some may have been accidentally removed from my camera.

Homework: April 8 - 15th, 2013

1. Read each night and record this on your log. Logs need to come back to school each morning as we will be recording on them at school as well. These will be turned in next Monday.

2. On Monday night you should review the material in the rock and mineral book you created with Mr. Chris. We will have a test on Tuesday. On Wednesday your graded test will come back home where you will need to correct any miscues and write a bit about how you figured out the correct answer. These are due back on Monday as well.

3. There is a math packet coming home this week. We will begin doing more of these sorts of sheets for homework in preparation for the work we'll be asked to do on the PASS test next month. These sheets are due back in next Monday but should not be put off until the last minute. Some will take considerably longer to complete than others. I would recommend doing one sheet each night.

4. Bring in an empty can, bottle, or jar by next Monday. It needs to be perfectly round. We'll use these for our explorations into radius, diameter, and circumference next week.