Viewing: January, 2010
January 31, 2010
Last U.S. vet of WWI turns 109!
What a nice article! It’s so important that we continue to learn the stories that our aging veterans have to share with us!
Washington (CNN) — The last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, former Cpl. Frank Buckles, turns 109 on Monday and is still hoping for a national memorial in Washington for his comrades.
Buckles is expected to deliver remarks during a quiet celebration Monday afternoon at his home in Charles Town, West Virginia.
Article continues here at CNN.com
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 29, 2010
Concert News
The concert has been rescheduled for this coming Tuesday evening. A letter is going home with details. Please note the following message from Ms. D-H:
Please let your parents know that children who are not in school on Tuesday will not be able to preform that evening.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 26, 2010
Division, Science, more!
- We have started working on LONG DIVISION! Some kids met this new challenge with excitement, others with dread. (I fell into the “dread” category when I was in fourth grade.) I reminded the kids that we will be working on these skills for quite some time, so there’s no expectation that they master the concepts on the first day. I hope you can reinforce this attitude at home.
- Long division can be a challenge for kids, so we have a mnemonic to help them memorize the steps: Does McDonald’s sell cheese burgers? The first letter of each word represents a step: Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Check (to make sure that the difference cannot itself be divided by the divisor, Bring down the numbers on the right, ? (Ask yourself if your answer makes sense.) I know this is confusing when you read it – I will try to come up with an easier way of explaining the process to you.
- We are in our second science unit of the year. Miss Colbert gave the kids a homework assignment that is due on Thursday!
- Remember, the winter concert is THIS THURSDAY NIGHT!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 21, 2010
Student News 3 – Town Meeting
PGS Celebrates Martin Luther King Day
By R.G.
Two weeks ago, our school had a town meeting. In our town meeting, some of our grades performed some songs. All of their songs were about Martin Luther King Jr. Plus, in our meeting, Mrs. Gransky (our assistant principal) announced the winners of the reading rally, who got to the Uconn pep rally. We had M.K. from our class who won and this is how she felt: “I felt proud.” C.F.`s little sister, P.F., won also. This is how C.F. felt when he heard his little sister won: “I felt very happy for her and I hope she has fun at the pep rally too!”
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 21, 2010
Student News 2 – Holiday Party
A Fun Celebration
By M.B., K.M., and C.F.
Our class had a holiday party on the 23rd of December. In room 209, the party events were making wassail, building a gingerbread house, and enjoying delicious foods. It was so much fun because we made gingerbread houses. We used a lot of candy. I even named my gingerbread house! It was called The Candy Grass Haunted House. We also used frosting. It was very funny because I had it all over my hands, and when we came back from winter vacation I had dry frosting on my desk. I thought it would never come off!
We also had cupcakes, cake, juice pouches, and wassail. “I thought it was fun,” said E.G. Fourth grader T.G. said that the holiday party was fun because he got to unwind from the normal pressure of school. The day before Christmas eve, lots of kids had fun. I had a great time at our holiday party and I hope the kids that have Mr. Moss next year love the holiday just as much I did.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 21, 2010
Student News 1 – Winter Music
A Fun Music Class
By C.C.
On January 4, 2010, Mr. Moss’s fourth grade class had Music. Mrs. Cowdrey was their superb Music teacher. The fourth grade was practicing for their Winter Concert, and Mrs. Cowdrey had them well prepared. When Mr. Moss’s class came in, they quickly sat down and got started.
Pretty soon, they stood and sang “Friends on our Left, and friends on our Right.” Mrs. Cowdrey had the fourth grade do nods, and hand movements with the song. RG says, “I like the moves that go with it.”
Mr. Moss’s class continued to sing. JS tells us his favorite song. “I like Happy Winter because it goes with the season.”
As Mr. Moss’s class sang, they were happy. I hope your holiday season is happy too!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 16, 2010
Student News, Donations, and more!
Although I find this website to be helpful for sharing information with parents, I don’t often get to post general updates about what we’re doing in class. It’s just a time issue – I think my time is better spent on preparing lessons, making new materials, evaluating student work, and corresponding with parents. Nonetheless, I still think it’s important to give periodic updates on what we’re up to, so as part of our new Cross Curricular Learning Stations, students will periodically have the opportunity to write short articles that will appear on this site. It is the job of our class “Cub Reporter” (one of the weekly rotating jobs we have) to keep a notebook of possible article topics for kids to use when writing. Our class photojournalist will take pictures of interesting class moments. Please know that articles will never include student names (only initials), and photos will never be matched with specific students. (If you requested that we not use photos of your child online, I will, of course, respect your choice.) Stay tuned for the start of student news!
Now for some more bulletins:
- I am considering ideas for a student-involved fundraiser to collect money to support the relief efforts in Haiti. When I have something put together, I will let you know. In the meantime, please consider supporting some of the relief efforts that are in serious need of monetary support. On the left side of this page, I have provided a link that will take you to an information page about donating to the American Red Cross or the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund – a nonpartisan fund that puts 99.5% of donations into relief efforts.
- I have extended the deadline for submitting ONLINE book orders until Monday.
- We did not get to the spelling test yesterday. Time ran out because of other important activities. This coming week, we will be testing for the current reading theme, and there will be no new spelling words. So, last week’s spelling words will carry over to this coming week, and we will test on FRIDAY. The kids will have an extra week to prepare, so I look forward to seeing great results!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 14, 2010
Stopping Cattyness
cat⋅ty
–adjective, -ti⋅er, -ti⋅est.
1. catlike; feline.
2. slyly malicious; spiteful: a catty gossip. Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
We had a much needed discussion this morning about the dangers of cattyness. Fourth grade is a big transitional year, and in addition to kids’ learning more advanced academic skills, their social relationships tend to evolve from focusing on shared playing and shared interests to deeper personal friendships and connections. Unfortunately, there is a “dark side” to this social growth: cattyness. In class, we clearly defined catty behavior as being mean, just for the sake of being mean and hurtful. This was an important distinction from being unintentionally hurtful (something that we all do, on occasion) or from lashing out in our own anger (which is unkind, but not without cause). Cattyness is overt. Cattyness is intentional. Cattyness has the specific goal of hurting another person. It took me while to explain to the kids (in ways that made sence to them) what cattyness is, until it occured to me to connect cattyness to the behavior shown in the movie Mean Girls. Then they got the point.
Cattyness can take many forms. It can be as simple as passing a note about another person or saying something unkind to another individual, or as elaborate as a coordinated effort to exclude or harass someone. It can take the form of bullying – which carries legal implications under Connecticut state law. As a school, we take bullying very, very serously.
I want you know what my policy is on cattyness. There is zero tolorance for catty behavior (among ANY gender). Students who show that they’re intentionally engaging in catty behavior will go straight to the office and I will schedule a face-to-face meeting where student, parent(s), and I can sit down and discuss the problem. There will be no tolorance for intentional, hurtful behavior in my class. The good note is that I don’t think there’s a single student in our class who fits the profile of a “mean girl” (or for that matter, the profile of a “mean boy”). Nobody has shown themselves to be “going down that road,” and I reminded the students that there’s no reason why they CAN’T choose to avoid becoming that sort of a person. Put simply, I truly expect no problems in this area, and I fully expect the kids’ to live up to my expectations.
If you have any questions about this, or if you think your child may be having a significant problem with another student (in my class or even in another class), I’m always happy to speak with you and help however I can.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 13, 2010
Gray Wolf Homework
The link for the article kids need for tonight’s homework is:
http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=MA0158
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 13, 2010
Book Orders Due
Just a reminder – book orders to be submitted on paper (with an order form and personal check) are due TOMORROW (Thursday). If you are ordering online (via the Scholastic website), the last day is Friday. Thank you!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss