Happy Birthday, Dr Seuss!

We started out today with a mid-year math assessment. This was a pretty easy test, and students generally did quite well on it. I sent it home to be signed; it is a pretty good indication of whether or not your child is on track in math at this time. A score of 20 or better (80 percent) is a good sign.

I then gave the students some time to work on their song writing assignment for Mr. Lawton. I gave them some help correctly annotating the note and rhythm for this task, but I gave them the responsibility to add the lyrics. They had a surprising amount of trouble with this even though the basic requirement – have an equal number of syllables as notes in the measure – seemed pretty simple to me.

We went over to room 33 and Mr. Lawton worked with them a bit on their songs. He saw the same problems I did, though he noted that many of the fourth grade classes had encountered this difficulty. We will be working on it later this week. Music class ran over a bit, so I let the students have second recess instead of first.

After recess we corrected our math homework. After lunch, we got ready to celebrate “Read  Across America” Day. This is the annual celebration of the birthday of Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. I had always felt a special affinity for Dr. Seuss since we are both native sons of Springfield, Massachusetts. Mrs. Mark and I have always done things together to celebrate Read Across American Day, and this year I figured we could include room 2 since it was taking place on the day we usually have buddy reading. The plan was to divide the fourth graders, first graders, and kindergartners into three groups and have them rotate from room to room with special activities in each. Mr. Rios, subbing for Mr. Ricker who is off for the birth of his daughter, had the older kids share Dr. Seuss books with the younger ones. Mrs. Mark had the students complete Dr. Seuss puzzles and word searches.

I had the students make Cat in the Hat hats. I first taught the skill to the fourth graders, and they in turn taught the project to their young charges.

Not every had came out, but the students were thrilled when they did.

Meanwhile, in room 5, the students were busy coloring and solving puzzles. Again, the older students ably helped the younger ones.

Homework: Light tonight since we were so busy with other things today. (1) Complete the “Capitalization of Titles” worksheet. (2) Do pages 273-274 in the math book. We did not have much time to go over this, so the students will need to pay careful attention to the information at the top of the page. They will also do the “Quick Review” and “Problem of the Day” which we usually do together in class.