We're Jumping!

Once again, we had a wonderful theater class with Mr. Pratt. He was really impressed with how smart and creative our room nineteen students are. Of course, I was hardly surprised….

The students worked quite a bit on group pantomime today. These require pretty intense concentration. For example, in the jump rope pantomime, the two students holding the “rope” had to be working completely in tandem, and the person jumping had to know where the imaginary rope was at all times. Not easy! But our students did it beautifully. 

Fifth graders explored more with mixtures and solutions. They knew that a solution is a special kind of mixture and that the the material in a solution cannot be separated from water by any kind of normal filtration. They knew that that when a material - like kosher salt - is dissolved in water it seems to simply disappear. But what impact does this have on mass? Is the mass of a solution any greater than the mass of the liquid? Since the salt seems to completely disappear, it might seem like the mass of the solution would be the same as the mass of the water. The students were checking this out today.

In the afternoon, we also worked on rhythm activities, particularly doing some fun stuff with meter!

Homework:  (1) Write sentences for spelling words 11-15. (2) Do the spelling word search. (3) Fourth grade math: Do pages 34-35 and Bird Houses on the back of the answer sheet. Note that for Bird Houses some of the answers may be algebraic expressions like “s + 56”. Fifth grade math: Do pages 40-41 and "Find Those Numbers" on the back of the answer sheet. (4) Do Subtraction with Zeros. (5) Fourth grade only:  California Bodies of Water study sheet. 

Orchestra

Students will have the opportunity soon to become involved in the orchestra program. It is a great opportunity, but it is a decision that students and parents need to consider carefully. Orchestra is not only a commitment of 30-45 minutes on Tuesdays for class, but also a commitment to practice daily for 15-30 minutes. That may not seem like a lot, but for many students it is just one thing too many. But, for the students who can make that commitment, the ability to play an orchestral instrument and to start playing in an ensemble is just fantastic. 

Our students went to an assembly today where Mr. Mason, our district instrumental music teacher, explained all of this. 

Other than that, a pretty normal Tuesday. Fourth graders continue to be excited by how quickly their plants are growing, and they are getting pretty skilled with metric measurement, too!

 

Homework:  (1) Write sentences for spelling words 6-10. Cursive is optional this week. (2) Do the spelling crossword puzzle. (3) Do the Holes study sheet. (4) Fourth grade math:  Do pages 32-33, odd numbers only, plus “Canyon Trip”. Fifth grade math:  Do pages 35-36, odd numbers only, plus “Find a Rule”. (5) Do the Subtraction with Zeros practice paper. 

Further Science Adventures

First of all, let me again thank you for the great turn out on Thursday. Parental support is key to educational success. And one of the easiest ways you can support our program is by joining the PTA. Right now room 19 has one of the highest numbers of PTA signups in the school. But if we are number one we can get a cupcake party. I think it’s doable. Look at how far we’ve come. 

Today we continued our Science adventures. Fifth graders are starting on chemistry, particularly looking at mixtures and solutions. Today we mixed various things with water, and then used both a mesh filter and a paper filter to try to separate them. 

Fourth graders measured the growth of the plants in their terrariums. It was not all that much today, but in a couple days you’ll see a lot!

Homework:  (1) Write sentences for spelling words 1-5. Cursive is optional this week. (2) Do the spelling jumble. (3) Do the Holes study questions for chapters 17-19. (4) Do the “Making Inferences” study sheet. (5) Subtraction worksheet. (6) Fourth grade math:  Do pages 29-31. Just find the exact answer and do not worry about the different and often incomprehensible strategies. Also do “Mental Puzzles” on the back of the answer sheet. Fifth grade math:  Do pages 30-32 and “A Good Cause”. (7) Fifth graders also need to do the questions on page 7 of the Science book. They should copy the questions as well as answering them. This should be done in their Science notebook. 

Science and More

Today we had a number of new things. Our fifth graders went to Physical Education with Mrs. Skagg’s class this morning, and apparently Coach Angel gave them a really good workout! Way to go, Coach! While they were doing that, I was working with the fourth graders to help them get ready for their Science class later in the morning. 

We also had our first music class today. Our new music teacher is Mrs. Ashley Phiri. The “h” in her last name is silently, so it sounds like “PEER-ee.” She hails originally from Louisiana, and she taught the students a Cajun song this morning. This helped them learn the Curwen hand signs for “doh”, “me”, and “soh”. I have a feeling this song may also turn into a round or canon later on, too. 

She worked with the students to help them hear and reproduce some pretty complicated rhythmic patterns. I have a feeling that our 12 weeks of music this year are going to be kind of amazing. 

We also started Science today with both grade levels. Fifth grade students are going to be studying mixtures and solutions first. They started today by observing gravel, sand, a diatomaceous earth. Monday we will be adding water to it and straining these substances.

In fourth grade science, we started on our Environments unit. As part of this, the students will be making terrariums. In a couple weeks, they will be adding isopods and beetles to these environments. 

We also checked, corrected, and discussed all our homework. We took the math quiz and the spelling test. In fact, we were so busy we actually ran out of time to do math.

Homework:  Fifth grade has nothing. Fourth graders have a few Science study questions that we did not quite finish in class. 

Theater

Today we had our first theater class with Mr. Pratt. It was a lot of fun, and the students who were here last year remembered the concepts and vocabulary well!

They worked on pantomime skills today. They told stories through movement. First, they decided what gesture and other movements would convey the story. 

They then “told” their story to a partner, and selected students performed for the whole class.

Other than that, a pretty normal day. We checked, corrected, and discuss homework. We talked about how to round numbers, and why rounding is such an important skill. I am astonished right now at how closely the fifth and fourth grade math work together! Fourth graders learned about latitude and longitude, and fifth graders explored the ideas of customs and traditions in societies. 

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 11-15. (2) Do the spelling crossword. (3) Do "Sequencing Events" and "Matching Antonyms” skill sheets.  (4) Fourth grade math:  Do pages 24-25 and “Animal Speeds.” Fifth grade math:  Do page 25-27 and “Puzzle Squares.” (5) Do Addition with Regrouping practice Sheets. (6) Fourth grade social studies:  Finish “Regions of California” and "Latitude and Longitude.” Fifth grade social studies:  Finish two paragraph essay on modern American and Native American Customs. 

Quick Post

Today was the first day for teacher meetings, so it was a short day. We started on a poem writing project, read a couple chapters in Holes, and took math tests. Tomorrow we have theater class!

Homework:  Write spelling words 1-5 either five (fourth grade) or ten (fifth grade) times each in cursive. Write a sentence for each word. (2) Do the spelling jumble. (3) Do the Holes study guide for chapters 11-13. (4) Do “Classifying Word Groups” and “Syllables” work sheets. (5) Do the final draft of the “I Used To” poem. This should be in cursive. (6) Do Subtraction without Regrouping practice sheet.

First Monday

It’s still hard getting up on these summer mornings, isn’t it? But our first Monday back in school went nicely. We checked and corrected homework and we read and discussed three chapters of Holes. Fourth graders worked on the four areas of California in History, and fifth graders worked on how native peoples adapted to the resources readily available in their regions. Both grades worked on patterns and problem solving in math. And we finished our line art project. 

Homework:  Write spelling words 1-5 either five (fourth grade) or ten (fifth grade) times each in cursive. Write a sentence for each word. (2) Do the Holes study guide for chapters 8-10. (3) Do “Using Long Vowels” and “Finding Base Words” work sheets. (4) Fourth grade math:  Do pages 16-19 and “Separate the Dots.” Fifth grade math:  Do page 15-16, 18-19 and “Gridlock.” (5) Do Addition with Regrouping practice sheet. 

Quick Post

As our first week comes to an end, let me just say that I think this may be my best class ever. 

We’re doing some work with different types of lines in art. Some of the student work is fabulous. We’ll have more to post on Monday.

I hope to see all of you on Thursday for our orientation. Have a great weekend!

Homework: (1) Do Holes chapter 7 study guide. (2) Fourth grade math:  do pages 14-15 and "The Number Game.” Fifth grade math:  Do pages 12-13 and "Digit Detection."

Talking About Math

There are some good things about the new Common Core State State Standards. One of them is the emphasis on having students not only reason mathematically, but also be able to articulate and defend their mathematical reasoning. Here in room 19 we’re working hard on this. Every day, the students begin math with a reasonably challenging problem designed to help them learn a new concept or skill. They work on the problem with their groups, and then I choose a group at random to come up and explain the problem and how they solved it. Fourth graders, of course, work on fourth grade problem, and fifth graders on fifth grade problem, but  they all find exposure to the other’s grade’s work interesting. Here are some fifth graders explaining different ways of representing rational numbers - as decimals, fractions, and visually.

Homework:  (1) Do Holes study guide for chapters 5 and 6. (2) Do the two skills sheets for Holes. (3) Finish the final draft of the descriptive paragraph. (4) Do the Addition with Regrouping practice sheet. (5) In the fourth grade math book, do pages 11-13 and “Follow the Leader”; in the fifth grade math book, do pages 10-11 and “Relay Races”.

First Day, Part II

I think that the second day of school is really the first day of school. It’s the day that the introductions and the pretesting and the discussion about rules and procedures are done … and we really start teaching and learning. It’s one of my favorite days of the year. 

We started in earnest on our language arts activities. When I volunteered to take the split class this year, one of my conditions was that I could skip the Treasures anthologies and work with both grade levels at the same time on challenging and interesting literature. We will be doing both independent reading, or Reader’s Workshop, and whole-class reading, or Core Literature, as part of our balanced literacy program. Our first selection for the latter is Louis Sacher’s Holes. It is a not only a good story, but it offers a great way to explore what the Common Core Standards called “text structures.” 

We continued our work in number theory with both grade levels. In history, fourth graders explored California geography while fifth graders did the same with U.S. geography. We finished off yesterday’s portraits, and most of them were absolutely splendid!

Teaching two grade levels is not as easy as teaching one, but it sometimes forces a teacher to actually teach better. This year we will be doing a great deal of group work. This is often, I have to admit, a bit noisier than I like, but the student-to-student interaction can make for a much richer learning experience. It allows me to also be the “guide on the side” rather than the “sage on the stage” as the popular saying has it. 

 

Homework: (1) Finish the descriptive paragraph. (2) Do the Holes study guide for chapter 1-4. (3) Fourth grade math:  pages 8-9 and “Puzzling Place Values”. (4) Fifth grade math:  pages 7-8 and “Competing Corporations”. (4) Addition with regrouping practice sheet. 

Welcome

Welcome students and families to the 2014-2015 school year. I am delighted to have such a wonderful class this year, and I can tell that this will be both fun and productive. 

As you know, this is a combination class. Working with Dr. Oh and the other fourth and fifth grade teachers, we are making sure that students in both grade levels have the full opportunities to work on grade-level work. My colleagues have made it possible for me to adjust the schedule so that I can have blocks of time to work with only fourth or only fifth grades. We will make sure that fifth graders attend all fifth grade field trips, and I will be coming with them to Astrocamp. 

We worked on a bunch of different things today. We took reading and math pretests. They told me about themselves and their interests. They interviewed each other. We began work on numeration in math. We learned A LOT about class procedures. They had PE. We started doing portraits. 

Please remember that we are having a special class orientation on Thursday, August 21 at 5:00 pm. Older students will be supervised on the yard during that time; feel free to bring the youngest ones to the meeting with you.

Homework:  (1) Finish the letter of introduction. This should be neat and preferably in cursive. (2) Do the Addition without Regrouping worksheet. (3) Fourth grade math:  pages 5-7 and “Changing Places”. (4) Fifth grade math:  do pages 4-5 and “Find the Number”. (5) Please fill out the emergency card and get it in right away. This is essential for ensuring student safety. 

The Last Lap

I’ve heard from friends who have run marathons that the last couple miles are the hardest. It certainly feels that way in school. In the last couple weeks summer vacation seems so close you can almost taste it. But we still keep on doing our best to try to not waste on second of school time.

Today we started out the day in Tech Center. We had not been there for at least a month because of the play and the Tech Center. Mr. Riko had the students finish and publish a few projects and reminded them of all the neat things they can do over the summer on the Computerwise Kids website. Returning to the classroom, we read and discussed the final story in the Treasures anthology about Benjamin Franklin. 

After recess, we turned out attention to Science. The students were given the challenge of creating a circuit, including a switch, the could both light a bulb and run a motor. The groups tried hard, and most figured out that they needed an extra d-cell to make this happen. 

One hyper achieving group even figured out a way to light two bulbs as well as run a motor. Of course, this required an additional d-cell. 

After lunch we reviewed a bit about ratio and dividing decimals. These are late fifth grade skills, but most of our students have them down cold already. After a bit of physical education, we had our final session with our reading buddies from room 2. 

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 1-7 ten times each and do a sentence for each one. (2) Do the spelling jumble. (3) Make a chart of ten problems and Franklin’s solutions for them. (4) Do the milage and map activity sheet. (5) Do the Connect Main Ideas section only on page 352 of the Social Studies book. (6) Do the Ratio paper. (7) Do the Dividing Decimals worksheet. 

Two and a Half Days

Sigh. Once again your intrepid blogger has to make up for some lost time. First of all, I was happy to see that rooms 18 and 19 had the biggest and baddest bouncy at our 90th birthday party celebration last Saturday. Thanks for all your contributions!

Yesterday was a blur of three performances. Our students did an amazing job at their dress rehearsal. Mr. Pratt helped get them all psyched up and ready!

Our leads were wonderful.

Today we had another performance. Room 18 provided the leads today and they were absolutely fabulous. We worked on switches in electrical circuits - not sure why I forgot to take pictures of this - and also we took a math quiz and worked to peer revise our compositions on water conservation from last week. We finished the day today with our reading buddies. They were sharing their animal reports and other projects with us.

Homework: (1) Finish final drafts of the conservation paper. (2) Do the science questions and study sheet. 

Static

We’re pretty close to melting after four insanely hot days. Once again, we did try to get a little outdoor time early in the morning, but the rest of the day we stayed inside being grateful for air-conditioning. We didn’t have that when I first came to Third Street School, many years before these students were born.

Most of the day was pretty productive but not all that thrilling. We checked, corrected, and discussed homework. We read the last chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon!  The romantic ending - the butler Praiseworthy marries the semi-impoverished aristocrat Miss Arabella in California - had the students pretending to be appalled, but, of course, they really liked it. We discussed the causes of World War II and its effect on California. 

The most fun thing we did was to start exploring electricity by talking about static electricity. The hot dry weather was pretty good for showing how electrons can transfer from hair to a balloon and create a negative-to-positive attraction. 

Homework:  Students had a lot of time this afternoon to finish a bunch of assignments. Many are finished, but a few are still doing one or two. 

Two Hot Days

Yesterday was about nothing except play practice. We’re almost doing dress rehearsals right now, and we’re using props for all the performances. The backdrop is scrumptious and we can hardly wait to do our full performances next week.

Today, on the other hand, was mostly about orchestra. Tonight is the performance and we had a sort of dress rehearsal with Mr. Mason this afternoon.

We did some early morning PE as it is so brutally hot today, and we read another chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! We did a Science activity with magnetism, and we read about the Great Depression in social studies. Along the way I tried to give them as much time as possible to get a good head start on homework. 

Homework: (1) Write spelling words 11-15 ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each word. (2) Do Great Horn Spoon 17 chapter 17 study sheet. (3) Do “Women’s Suffrage” activity paper. (4) Do “Great Depression” study questions. (5) Do the decimal division worksheet. (6) Do the problem solving worksheet. 

On Stage

Other than a trip to the library this morning, we spent most of the day today in the auditorium practicing the play. It’s getting pretty good, but there are a lot of rough edges to smooth out. That’s what we worked on today. I was generally pretty proud of the work our room nineteen students did - they’ve come a long way since we started this in January.

We finished the day in Dermoudy Court with a pep rally for our upcoming 90th Anniversary Party for the school. A big thanks to all the families who have contributed to our booth. I am confident we will have one of the very best there. We had some special guests for today. Fred - a famous YouTube guy - and Debby Ryan, one of the stars of Jessie, a Disney channel show. You should have heard the screaming. My ears are still ringing!

Homework:  Have a great weekend!

Autry Trip

It seemed for a while this morning that our field trip to the Autry Museum might not happen this morning. Our bus was supposed to be here before nine o’clock. When we called a little after that, the Transportation Branch admitted that they had neglected to schedule us for today. We were lucky that they managed to arrange something at the last moment, and we made it to the museum just in the nick of time. Once we were there the classes were divided into groups. Some went off to work on the Gold Rush and develop gold panning skills, while other classes - including the one I shadowed - explored the museum first. 

We had some really great docents. Here on of the docents is showing the students a Plains Native American dress and explaining how it was made. 

This resulted in a great discussion about the buffalo. Our guide called the bison the “Super Wal-Mart” of the prairie peoples. 

Students also learned more about the role of the stagecoach in the development of the west.

Of course, that mode of transportation depended on a good supply of horses and riders. The students were able to get a bit of the feeling of riding on a horse.

They saw exhibits that went over some of the key parts of a western town such as the saloon and the jail. They enjoyed their time in jail!

The other part of the trip was learning about the Gold Rush and learning to pan for gold. We had one of the museum’s resident teachers to guide us through this part and she was great! So were our students who answered every question correctly! They rocked and I was so proud of them. 

At our “sluice” we were joined by Ruben, another one of the teachers. He explained the finer points of panning as if he were old Quartz Jackson himself!

Our students picked it up pretty quickly and were finding nuggets of “gold" in no time. 

Of course parents, before you decide you can retire early, it was really only pyrite. But it was still fun to find those nice glittering chunks. they got to keep the two biggest pieces. 

After this we had lunch and then boarded the bus for home.

Homework:  Some students may need to finish the essay they wrote when we returned to school. Most are already finished with it. 

Breaking the Force

It’s been just crazy with all our preparations for Annie in the last couple weeks (not to mention testing and other nonsense like that), so it’s been hard to keep up with poor old blog. I’ll try to do better….

Today we did one of my favorite Science demonstrations. It’s called “Break the Force”. The students were given a balance with a pole magnet on one side. On that side they put a magnet in the cup. On the other side they slowly put in big steel washers. They wanted to find out how many washers it would take before the two magnets separated, before the could “break the force” of magnetism.

After they did this the first time, they put in small plastic spacers between the two magnets to see how distance could weaken the force of magnetic attraction. They experimented by placing more and more spacers between the magnets and recording the results. 

After they had done the activity six times, they graphed their results.

The students concluded - quite correctly - that distance significantly weakens the force of magnetism. 

The rest of the day was spent doing a bit of this and a bit of that. We went over homework, we read and discussed another chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! and we started reading about the Progressive Era in California history. We also learned about how to calculate balance in rectangular prisms. 

Homework:  (1) Do By the Great Horn Spoon chapter 16 study sheet. (2) Do the Hetch Hetchy response sheet. (3) Do Changing Times study guide. (4) Do Magnetism review paper. This will be a kind of “take home” test activity for them. (5) Do the Volume math papers.