October 19, 2023
Math Notes, Narrative Writing, Blurt Blocks, and more!
Yesterday, students made models of the four layers of the earth using Play Doh. I encouraged them to share them with you, and to teach you a bit about what they learned about the earth’s structure. If your fourth grader is stuck and wants to review the notes from our lesson, remind them that I’ve posted on Schoology the slideshow from class and the video we enjoyed. Throughout this unit, students will learn about the earth, how it has changed over thousands upon thousands of years, and what changes are continuing to happen as we speak.
Last week, we took our first unit math assessment of the year! The kids worked really hard, and I admired their focus. We still have a few students who are finishing this assessment, and once they are done, I will have the assessments ready to return to students. We have kicked off our second math unit, which is all about factors, multiples, and problem solving. Looking at the homework with your fourth grader is a terrific way to stay up to date on what we’re working on in class. If there is a concept on the homework with which your child is struggling, please email me to give me a heads-up so I can work with him or her.
In math, we have also been focusing on taking notes. Students have a math notebook that they use to take notes when I introduce a concept. This helps them because they can refer back to these notes when they have questions, and for many kids, the act of taking notes helps to make concepts more concrete for them and also helps them to be more attentive during lessons. That said, the skill of taking notes is just that: a skill, and for most of these fourth graders, it’s a BRAND NEW skill. So their notes are messy and incomplete, which is fine! They’re still learning! We’ll keep working together to build this important life skill.
We are in the final weeks of our first narrative writing unit! Students should be finishing, tonight, their first draft of their stories so that we can work together on revising, editing, and workshopping their conclusions. (This was actually due today, but many students needed one more day to continue drafting.) Mrs. Dowd and I have been enjoying conferencing with students throughout this unit as their writing takes shape. In reading, we are also learning about narrative stories, and we are focusing, in particular, on characters. During conferencing time, I’ve been giving Benchmark Reading Assessments (often called BAS) to students, which helps me to learn about each student’s own reading needs and how I can best support them in class.
In class, we have started using Blurt Blocks to help students to better control when they’re chatting with friends. (I love that our class is so friendly, but we have been working on finding appropriate times to be social.) Here’s how Blurt Blocks work: If a student is talking when they shouldn’t be, I will give them (or have them get) a blurt block, which is a small plastic block. It’s not meant to embarrass them; rather, it is a tangible reminder that they can hold in their hand to remind them that they need to fix their behavior. If they get one blurt block, it’s just a warning. (We all need reminders, sometimes, right?) If they get a second blurt block within one activity/period, they will complete a blurt report for you to review and sign and return. We start fresh at the start of each period/activity, so kids have plenty of opportunities to fix their choices and start fresh. It’s been very helpful this month as we work to be responsible citizens in class who are staying in-control.
Families should have received from me an email on Tuesday confirming your scheduled parent-teacher conference time. If you haven’t received it, please contact me. Some families still need to schedule a conference time, so please reach out to me at your convenience to make arrangements.
As always, please reach out to me if you have any questions! Have a great rest of your week!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
August 16, 2023
Welcome to Fourth Grade!
Hello! Welcome to the online home of PGS Room 209. During the school year, I will update this website with information about activities happening in Room 209, bulletins and news items, current events related to what we’re studying in class, and much more.
It’s going to be a great year in fourth grade! There are so many new things to learn, and there are some really interesting activities coming up!
About Me
I asked my kids, Charlie (entering grade 8) and Caroline (entering grade 5) what I should tell you about myself. Here’s their report from this summer, as well as some of their ideas from previous summers:
- I have three favorite places to be: Westmoor Park (in West Hartford), Enders Falls (in Granby and Barkhamsted), and Gillette Castle State Park (in East Haddam). Have you ever visited any of these places? I call these my “happy places”.
- I also love to visit Atlantic City, New York City, Boston, southern Rhode Island, and Northampton, MA.
- I love to wear fun ties and have over 100 in my collection.
- I like to watch my kids play baseball and soccer.
- I love to kayak!
- I love to play Rummy 500, a fun card game, with my family (and, well, just about anyone else)!
- We enjoy the 1998 Disney movie “The Parent Trap”. (Yup, I admit it. I really do like it more than an adult should! :-D)
- I love to cook all kinds of things, and especially to grill.
- I collect typewriters and try to repair them. I have at least 20 at home.
- I love Del’s Lemonade! If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a famous drink in Rhode Island. It’s like a lemonade slushy, but trust me – it’s unique!
- I enjoy Star Trek – a lot!
- I love math.
- I like visiting historical places, like Philadelphia.
- I enjoy listening to lots of different kinds of music, but I especially like Billy Joel, Alanis Morisette, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, and more! We have a record player which we like to use a lot. I still collect albums.
- I played the trombone for one year when I was in fourth grade, but then I switched to singing for the next decade.
- My favorite multiplication fact is 7×6=42. (I don’t know why, but it is!)
- I always prefer having recess duty to lunch duty. Even on the coldest days of winter!
- My favorite “extra” part of my job is seeing my former students graduate from Avon High School each spring.
- I love to teach math and science! (But I also really enjoy teaching reading too. Ok, also writing! That’s why I like teaching elementary – so I get to teach all the subjects!)
I live locally with my wife, my son (Charlie), and our daughter (Caroline). In my spare time, I like working on home improvement projects, making things in my woodworking shop (especially using my lathe), kayaking with my family, finding “good eats” at local farmers’ markets, or just relaxing by cooking, reading, listening to old time radio shows from the 1940s and 50s, or watching the news. I collect old reel to-reel tapes of music, all sorts of vintage technology, typewriters, antique or unusual telephones, funky ties and tie clips, and all things related to Star Trek. I enjoy trying to play different instruments, and while my guitar hasn’t gotten much use lately, I’m learning to play the ukulele and I enjoy playing my harmonica. Of course, I also love cheering on my favorite sports teams: the Boston Red Sox (Don’t worry Yankees fans, I promise not to be mean!), the New Britain Bees, and the University of Hartford Hawks basketball teams.
I enjoy coming up with interesting ways in which I can use technology in the classroom. (You can definitely expect to use your Chromebooks a lot in Room 209, as well as other technology tools!) I love to teach all subjects, but I especially enjoy teaching math and science.
Click “more” to learn more about me and fourth grade!
(more…)Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 18, 2022
Launching Science
Today, room 209 students were treated to a DOUBLE science day! Our new science unit is all about how the earth changes, and in the course of the unit, students will learn about plate movement, earthquakes, tsunamis, erosion and weathering, and so much more! To start off the unit, we learned about the four layers of the earth: the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core. We used Play-Doh to model the four different layers, and students are bringing home their big blue model of the earth today. I would LOVE for them to be able to cut open their models at home with a grown-up tonight, if your schedule permits. Kids know to share with their “Aunt Petunias” (their grown-ups at home) what they learned about the four layers of the earth. Here are some good questions you can ask them:
- What layer is this?
- What is the layer made out of?
- How thick/thin is it compared to other layers?
- How hot/not hot is it compared to other layers?
- Is it made of solid material or liquid material?
- Why is the inner core solid, even though it’s so hot?
If you are willing, I’d love for you to share photos of your students as they open their models! (They know to let you handle the knives, unless you give them permission to cut them open themselves.)
This afternoon, we were able to participate in a special live program from the Smithsonian Zoo in Washington, D.C. Students learned about different adaptations that animals have to survive. While we don’t start our animal and plant adaptation unit until later this year, this was too perfect of an opportunity to pass up! The kids loved getting to see seals and learn about different physical features that allow them to survive! You can ask your kids about Gunther the seal, why they trim his finger nails, and why he needs eye drops to see! (Hint: Ask how old he is.)
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 14, 2022
Crafting Narrative Stories, Learning about Place Value
October has been a busy month in Room 209! Today, we wrapped up our first math unit, and students worked very hard on their math assessment. (I don’t return graded assessments until all students complete the test, so you won’t see them coming home for at least another week, as we have students who were absent today and who didn’t get to begin the assessment. We have been learning about place value, addition, and subtraction (as you’ve seen on homework).
Next week, we will kick off our second unit, which focuses on factors and multiples. You can best support your student by helping him or her to practice multiplication facts. My math department colleagues over at Avon Middle School and Avon High School continue to tell me that math fact mastery is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT skill kids need in order to be prepared for upper grades, and it’s SO critical that they practice at home. While this was a focus of in-class time in third grade, in fourth grade, the expectation is that kids practice at home (if the skills aren’t yet mastered).
Over the past few weeks, we’ve started having math groups, which will ensure that all students receive the support and small-group instruction that’s right for them. These will continue to phase in over the next few weeks. Many students have worked in small groups with me already, but this will grow in coming weeks.
In reading, we are learning all about characters. This week, we have been focusing on developing higher-level thoughts about characters, in turn, how to interpret complicated characters. As kids mature as readers, the books they read tend to evolve from having characters that are all-good or wholly-evil (Think: Cinderella vs. her step-mother) and instead have flawed protagonists who are imperfect but still the hero of the story, and complicated antagonists who may be “the bad guy” in the story, while still having some redeeming qualities. Students are also working on developing detailed written responses about these characters, which will be a bigger focus next week.
In writing, students are working on drafting their narrative pieces. We’re learning how and when to add storytelling details to better develop a key part, and when to fast-forward (summarize) a part that’s less important. Students need to finish their drafts next week so that we can begin to revise. This will be a homework assignment next week for students who aren’t yet finished with their drafts. I asked all students to bring home their writing and their story arcs (see photo) today because I know week nights can be busy for families, and I wanted to give you/them the OPTION to continue working this weekend if that is preferable for your family’s schedule. Please understand that it is certainly not required to work on this over the weekend; I just wanted to give the option to students (and they know it’s really up to their families to decide how to best schedule in the work time). I do ask that if your student works on his/her writing at home, please resist the urge to work with him/her to put your grown-up finesse on the draft. We’re working together in class, and I enjoy getting to conference with many, many students each week, so everyone will get one-on-one time to work with me. I’d ask that you allow me to be the one to work with your kids on THIS piece, and that you take on the role of being your fourth grader’s best cheerleader and supporter, because your kids’ writing DEFINITELY is worthy of cheer! They are doing great work!
Science will be starting up soon, so you can expect to hear more from your kids! Lastly, in the middle of dismissal today, a kind student reminded me that I had a pile of school photos that I hadn’t yet passed out to students. Many students brought them home today, but if your child didn’t, don’t worry! They’re in your student’s mailbox to be brought home on Monday. I apologize for the delay! Your kids’ photos are terrific! 🙂
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
September 30, 2022
Outdoor Classroom
We got to visit the newly renovated outdoor classroom for some independent reading!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
September 6, 2022
Class Library, Book Bags, Math Mindset, and more!
In class today, after much anticipation, our class library opened for business! We spent a lot of time discussing how the library is organized, our routines for checking out and returning books, and much more! Students each received a black and yellow bag for bringing home (and returning to school) one or two books each night. This should come home nightly and should be returned the next day. In the next week or two, I will start sending home reading logs for kids to use to track their reading. (More on this in the coming weeks.) The kids were VERY excited to begin using our massive class library (which, I’m proud to say, offers well over 1,000 books)!
One of the students’ homework assignments this week is to build a list of between four and eight of their current favorite books. Families are welcome to help their kids, as I know it can help the fourth graders to have someone to remind them of books they’ve enjoyed. But students are welcome to complete this independently if they prefer. This is due Friday morning and will help us to kick off our efforts to build life-long readers.
Today, we launched our year of math by discussing the challenges I had with math as a child and by talking about the importance of a growth mindset. We watched an amazing video by Jo Boaler, a researcher and professor of math education, all about building sound and sustainable habits when working on math. The kids’ math homework is to share this video with a grown-up at home and to discuss it. The link is in their Google Classroom page, and as you watch the video, it will periodically pause to present a question/topic for you and your fourth grader to discuss. I know your schedules are very busy, so I’ve asked kids to finish it by Friday. If you would like the weekend to get it done, that’s no problem. Just send me a quick email.
One of the ideas presented in the video is about the relevance of grades. You’ll find that math assessments are one of the only worksamples that will come home with a percentage grade on it. I don’t like relying on percentages, because I think they give you an incomplete understanding of your child’s progress. Consider this scenario:
Imagine a class takes a 16 item assessment that is divided into four sections, each with four items. “Mary” gave one incorrect answer in each section, so she has a score of 12/16, or 75%. Because Mary correctly solved most of the problems in each section, I would consider her to be making “good progress,” despite 75% being seen by SOME as lack-luster score. Another student, “Bobby” also scored 12/16 (75%), but in his case, he had all four of his incorrect answers in a single section. This indicates that there was one area in which he needed more intensive review and support. Both kids received the same score of 75%, but their assessments yielded very different results.
This is just one example of the dangers of over-emphasizing the total score. When I review student work, I look at what they DO know, not what they DON’T know, and I ask you to do the same. I’ll write more about this before the first math assessment comes home, but here are a few highlights to consider as you talk about grades with your child while watching the video:
- Kids are more than test scores. So often, they base their self-image of how they’re doing on measurable metrics. They think that a good math grade means that they’re smart and good at math, and that a poor grade means they’re dumb and bad at the skill. This couldn’t be more wrong! I’ve seen outstanding students who struggle with test-taking or get overwhelmed by long assessments. (We work on these challenges together.)
- PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not set percentage goals for assessments. When students learn that 80% is the minimum acceptable grade, for example, it means that a 78% is a disaster. Surely two percentage points doesn’t make or break a child’s success in fourth grade. Instead, set behavioral goals, like “Answer each question fully, without skipping steps.” or “Check your work over to make sure your calculations are accurate.” or “Reread problems to make sure you correctly understood the question.” or “Draw the problem out to better understand it.” Grades are just one indicator of progress. They don’t solely indicate success or failure.
- When your child brings home work, start by looking for strengths. So often, we parents begin by quickly looking for the ink from a teacher’s pen to see where there were mistakes. But wouldn’t we rather see our kids’ successes? Reinforce the successes, rather than dwelling on the mistakes.
- When you do see mistakes or lost points, talk with your child about why it happened. Don’t blame, just reflect. Consider a math assessment in which your child got a 66%. I think we can all agree that we’d like our kids to do better. But think back to that example I offered above. This is a similar situation. Ask yourself: Was it a 66% because your student really struggled with one part of a concept, or was the challenge spread out more consistently? Even if the lost points were distributed throughout the assessment, think about what a 66% means. A student CORRECTLY answered 2/3 of the assessment to earn those points. Clearly he or she knows a lot about a concept to do that well to begin with, even if a 66% feels disappointing to us. Start with that mindset, and then work from there.
I hope this was helpful for you, and I look forward to talking more as the year continues! As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
August 17, 2022
Welcome to Fourth Grade
Hello! Welcome to the online home of PGS Room 209. During the school year, I will update this website with information about activities happening in Room 209, bulletins and news items, current events related to what we’re studying in class, and much more.
It’s going to be a great year in fourth grade! There are so many new things to learn, and there are some really interesting activities coming up!
About Me
I asked my kids, Charlie (entering grade 7) and Caroline (entering grade 4) what I should tell you about myself. Here’s their report from this summer, as well as some of their ideas from previous summers:
- I love to wear fun ties and have over 100 in my collection.
- I like to watch my kids play baseball and soccer.
- I love to kayak! This summer, I kayaked 14 miles down the Delaware River with my cousin.
- I enjoy photography. I even got an honorable mention in a contest once!
- My kids and I like to play Rummy 500 with each other, and lately, we’ve been playing a lot of Clue.
- I like to go on bike rides with my family.
- We enjoy the 1998 Disney movie “The Parent Trap”. (Yup, I admit it. I really do like it more than an adult should! :-D)
- I love to cook all kinds of things, and especially to grill.
- I collect typewriters and try to repair them.
- We have a vegetable and herb garden in our backyard.
- My favorite places are Gillette Castle and Enders Falls. But I also love to visit Atlantic City, New York City, Boston, southern Rhode Island, and Northampton, MA.
- I love Del’s Lemonade! If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a famous drink in Rhode Island. It’s like a lemonade slushy, but trust me – it’s unique!
- I enjoy Star Trek – a lot!
- I love math.
- I like visiting historical places, like Philadelphia.
- I enjoy listening to lots of different kinds of music, but I especially like Billy Joel, Alanis Morisette, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, and more! We have a record player which we like to use a lot. I still collect albums.
- I played the trombone for one year when I was in fourth grade, but then I switched to singing for the next decade.
- My favorite multiplication fact is 7×6=42. (I don’t know why, but it is!)
- I always prefer having recess duty to lunch duty. Even on the coldest days of winter!
- My favorite “extra” part of my job is seeing my former students graduate from Avon High School each spring.
- I love to teach math and science! (But I also really enjoy teaching reading too. That’s why I like teaching elementary – so I get to teach all the subjects!)
I live locally with my wife, my son (Charlie), and our daughter (Caroline). In my spare time, I like working on home improvement projects, making things in my woodworking shop (especially using my lathe), kayaking with my family, finding “good eats” at local farmers’ markets, or just relaxing by cooking, reading, listening to old time radio shows from the 1940s and 50s, or watching the news. I collect old reel to-reel tapes of music, all sorts of vintage technology, typewriters, antique or unusual telephones, funky ties and tie clips, and all things related to Star Trek. I enjoy trying to play different instruments, and while my guitar hasn’t gotten much use lately, I’m learning to play the ukulele and I enjoy playing my harmonica. Of course, I also love cheering on my favorite sports teams: the Boston Red Sox (Don’t worry Yankees fans, I promise not to be mean!), the New Britain Bees, and the University of Hartford Hawks basketball teams.
I enjoy coming up with interesting ways in which I can use technology in the classroom. (You can definitely expect to use your Chromebooks a lot in Room 209, as well as other technology tools!) I love to teach all subjects, but I especially enjoy teaching math and science.
Click “more” to learn more about me and fourth grade!
(more…)Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
July 17, 2022
Where’s everything after October?
Unfortunately, I didn’t keep our website current. It was easier for me to send information to families directly in emails. I hope to go back to using our website more consistently this coming year.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 26, 2021
Homework: A chance to build responsibility!
In fourth grade, homework serves two important purposes: It’s an opportunity to practice skills learned in class or to set the stage for new learning, and it also gives students an opportunity to develop the skills of being responsible for managing their assignments. In this post, I’ll review homework expectations in case you weren’t able to join us for curriculum night in September. (I think it’s relevant now that we’re “in the swing” of homework in class.)
What does a typical homework assignment look like?
As you’ve probably seen, most homework assignments are assigned toward the beginning of the week and are due later in the week. Typically there are up to two written assignments per week. One is usually a math assignment and gives students the opportunity to review different skills they learned the prior week. The second assignment could be a reading activity, a writing task, or even an assignment tied to social studies, science, social-emotional learning, etc. Additionally, students should dedicate about 30 minutes to independent reading each night, as well as nightly time to practice their basic math facts. (More on these last two items in a future post.)
How does my child know what’s for homework? (And how do I know?)
Whenever I assign a homework task (again, usually on a Monday or Tuesday, though there are exceptions), students copy the assignment from the board into their planners. (It’s important that they bring their planners each day.) They should be copying down the name of the assignment AND the due date in their planners. I try to make it around the room to check to make sure that students are accurately copying down the assignments. I do not have students write down the assignments of the 30(ish) minutes of nightly reading and the nightly math fact practice, as these are ALWAYS homework assignments. But I remind them that, just because it’s not written, they shouldn’t think it’s not expected.
Families sometimes ask me if I can post the homework assignments online. This is something that I purposefully don’t do. As students get older, their teachers will most likely post the homework assignments online for them, particularly as more and more assignments are completed online. But in elementary school, we see this as an opportunity to help kids develop the skills to responsibility copy their homework assignments into their planner, make sure they take home needed worksheets from their mailboxes, etc.
What if my fourth grader doesn’t have his or her homework on-time?
It happens! Who among us hasn’t missed a deadline on occasion? If your child doesn’t have his or her homework assignment ready on the due date, he or she will complete a homework alert, which is a letter home outlining what assignments were missing, why they weren’t ready, and what his or her plan is to get homework done in the future. Please sign it and send it back to school. We started using these in class last week, so several of you may have seen these come home. Please know that if one of these comes home, it’s NOT time to panic! As I said, this is a NORMAL part of being a developing student. Mistakes happen. If it becomes a habit, I’ll reach out to you to discuss how to best support your fourth grader. (Please note that homework is due in the morning, when they arrive at school. There’s no need to drive in and drop off worksheets left at home. It’s not because I’m looking to be extra tough on the kids, but rather, because it takes away a valuable opportunity for your fourth grader to have an experience that might help them to develop their personal organization skills or time management skills. I’m eager to work with your child to improve these areas, and my goal is never to simply penalize or embarrass a student.)
How can I help my fourth grader with homework?
I welcome your involvement when it comes to supporting your child with homework. If your child is struggling with their work, ESPECIALLY math homework, please encourage him or her to email me. (Again, I want students to learn to be good self-advocates when it comes to seeking out help.) I often have instructional videos and guides that I can send out to help with homework, so please ask! (Even if I don’t have a resource for you, I’m happy to work with your child in class. Plus, Google can be a good resource! :-D) If you’re finding that your child is regularly struggling with work, please let me know! I want to work with you to make homework a VALUABLE part of the learning process.
If you ever have questions about homework, please don’t hesitate to ask me!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 19, 2021
What have we been working on in writing?
Writing is a key part of our daily instruction. My goal is to give the students time to practice their writing skills each day, even if only for a few minutes. Today, we’re wrapping up our first unit, which was about realistic fiction writing. Each writing lesson is broken up into two main parts: We start with a minilesson in which I introduce a skill to the class, and we end writing writing time, during which time I conference with individual or small groups of students. This conferencing time helps me to support students with applying the skills that I introduced in the lessons, and it also allows me to work with them on skills that either I or they feel that we need to tackle. In doing so, everyone gets instruction that’s right for their needs.
In our realistic writing unit, students worked to brainstorm ideas for stories, using their own experiences and interests as inspiration. We worked on how to plan stories and how to decide where they should elaborate and where they can speed ahead in their story. Students worked on developing their characters, learned how to develop a problem throughout a story, and took time to revise and edit their writing. Throughout this unit, we worked together on a shared writing story that allowed me to model certain techniques. (Ask your student about our story about Luz and her sleepover!) They are typing up their stories now, but it’s important to understand that we’re routinely starting and working on different pieces of writing, and we emphasize that writing doesn’t need to lead to a “finished” or published piece in order to be valuable. Today, students are completing an “on-demand prompt”, which serves as a summative assessment for the end of the unit.
Later this week, we will kick off our next unit, in which students will learn how to write personal and persuasive essays about an issue that is important to them.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss