Viewing: February, 2012
February 29, 2012
Early Dismissal Homework
Good afternoon! We worked very hard today on math patterns and on evaluating and improving short answer responses. So, here are some fun activities for you to do this afternoon and this evening!
Write your own Cloze PARAGRAPH (not longer) with a missing word and five choices. Send your passage to me by using our Article Submission Page. I’ll post some of the paragraphs for everyone to solve! Remember to put in good Cloze clues so we can find what word best fits in the blank space! For example…
It has been a rather dull winter this year. There have been a few cold days, but not many days have been frigid. The weather has been pretty peaceful, and I’ve been waiting for a good snowstorm that will let me build a nice, big snowman! ____ it’s here!
(a) Sadly, (b) Quickly, (c) Importantly, (d) Finally, (e) Later
Play this snowy division game to practice your division skills! (How appropriate for the weather!)
http://www.fun4thebrain.com/Division/snowydiv.html
I know I had you take home your Study Island usernames and passwords today, but you won’t need them. Save the information for next time, however! Enjoy your snowy afternoon!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
February 22, 2012
Help with Humor and Editing & Revising
Good afternoon! Today, we worked on two challenging activities: editing & revising and the use of humor. Here are some resources that you might find helpful.
EDITING AND REVISING
How to Succeed at Editing and Revising is a document we created in class today that gives kids helpful hints when completing an editing and revising activity.
This sample activity shows how we can find the answer to editing and revising questions in a CMT-style packet. (There are more notes on here than we’d normally add. They’re included to try to represent the kinds of conversations we had in class today.
HUMOR
Tomorrow, we’re going to work on an activity looking at how humor is used in texts. I explained to the students that I originally had a tough time with this, because I’d argue that the text didn’t include humor if it wasn’t funny and didn’t make me laugh. But, in fact, humor can take many forms. Today, we looked at what the kids found funny and then made this concept map about humor and its different forms. The kids are challenged, tonight, to find examples of different kinds of humor, particularly the “non-Haha LOL” kinds of humor that we would call “funny” examples.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
February 16, 2012
Helping Kids to “Be a FIREWORK”
Never did I think that I would use Katy Perry’s music as a teaching tool. NEVER. It wasn’t until someone pointed out the similes and metaphors in her song that I even considered using it as a tool to teach descriptive writing. After all, as a popular singer, her song would be a source of motivation for the kids, right? Even the kids who loathe Katy Perry would be actively engaged in the lesson, if only because of their dislike of her music! Then, when I really looked at the lyrics, I saw what the song was all about (since I’d never paid particular attention, previously). Firework is all about helping kids to be who they are, to show their inner spark (spark=ignite=firework), to not be afraid to show everyone what they can do. What a great message!
Your children are right at that age where it potentially starts to be “less cool” to be scholastically-inclined. Sadly, it can be fashionable to be disengaged and to apply less effort to succeeding in school. I am working to prevent that and change that in our classroom. It needs to be “cool” to try hard, even if that means that the student struggles. It needs to be “cool” to push yourself – to go the extra mile. Kids who aspire to achieve great things in class need to be admired, not labeled as brown-nosers. These efforts intensified yesterday, on Day 100.
The kids in our class are now closer (in school days) to the start of fifth grade than the start of fourth grade. (Wow!) We listened to Firework and discussed what it was about. Few students immediately knew, so we looked at the lyrics, word by word, to interpret the creative similes and metaphors. We discussed the meaning of the song and what it taught us about life. This was our spark for our new class approach: Be a firework! There are posters in and outside our classroom, and I am urging all students to take the chance, muster up the courage, and “be a firework”.
Last night, the kids answered questions about the song. Here is what some of them shared:
What is the meaning of the song Firework?
- You have to “get out there.” Don’t be afraid to be you!
- Firework means “don’t feel like you’re alone.” You have talent and [should] believe in yourself.
- Always be yourself and let the real you shine. Believe in yourself and do what you think is right. Don’t hide yourself; let everyone see the real YOU!!!
- Being a firework means “explode what you know!” – Impress people!
- Step [up] and really show people who you really are and if you feel like nobody notices you or thinks you’re just another plain, boring person, then you [have] to stand up for who you are and the potential in you.
- You can show people what you really can do.
- Even after a bad day, week, month, or year, a good thing will happen, and who you are has always been inside of you.
- There’s a spark in you and you just need to let it shine and take a chance. … Who do you want to be?
How will you be a firework in school?
- I can be a “firework” in class by putting all my effort in everything I do. Even if I don’t get an A+, I should be able to go home and tell my parents that I did my best work … [It] takes courage to stand up for yourself.
- I’ll be a “firework” by being honest and by [trying] out new things, being friendly to everyone, and showing my true talent and letting others too.
- I will be a firework by working harder, helping more people, and [by trying] to be the best I can be.
- I will be a firework by … not giving up easily and by raising my hand when I have a question.
- I will be a firework in school by trying my hardest, of course! I will ignite my light and make you go “oh – oh – oh”! I will express what I know I am – a FIREWORK!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
February 13, 2012
Preparing for the CMTs
The CMTs are less than one month away, and we are working hard in room 209 to make sure that the students are well prepared for the eight days of testing. I explained to the kids that we don’t do a lot of “CMT preparation” because all the work we do throughout the year prepares them to be successful on the mastery tests. However, with so little time left before the tests begin, we (as a grade) are changing how we deliver some of our instruction so we can best meet the kids’ needs. This week, we are moving away from our reading anthology and are replacing it with shorter passages that are more similar to the styles of passages that kids will encounter on the CMTs. (We normally expose students to a wide range of texts, long and short, but our goal right now is to focus on the styles that are most common on the CMTs.) Several students will work with these passages with our intervention teachers so that they can get the benefit of small group support. I will work on the same activity with the rest of our class during the same time block, so everyone will receive small group instruction on the same content. We are also continuing our year-long work with various well-regarded texts and are using them to practice different short-answer response tasks.
Our work with writing is also an ongoing process. Last week, the students broke into small groups and conferenced with a teacher about their recent writing prompts. We are working on revising those prompts. The students are currently writing focused, detailed adaptations of Vera B. Williams’s award winning book A Chair for My Mother. This is giving the kids important practice with focusing on key events and on providing meaningful detail to develop their work.
Our new math unit focuses on fractions and will give the kids needed skills for the CMTs. We are also working on a review packet that includes topics from about 10 different skill areas (called “strands”) that were weak areas for the students on the CMTs in recent years. (We revise this packet each year so that it focuses on the skills that were the weakest for students in the prior year’s testing.) We complete this packet together, often in small groups, to make sure that students are able to ask questions about any skills that are challenging for them and so that I (or other group leaders) can notice if a student (or students) seem to be struggling.
Finally, starting this week in the computer lab, students in gr. 4 will work on a program called Putting the Pieces Together: Strategies to “Get Through” the Connecticut Mastery Tests. This is a program I made a few years ago and instead of teaching academic skills, it focuses on good test-taking strategies and behaviors. It has models, videos, and gives us an opportunity for us to discuss some of the concerns or anxieties that students may have leading up to the CMTs.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
February 12, 2012
Valentines Day
I hope you’re enjoying your weekend! A few parents have asked about our class plans for Valentines Day. We will have a small celebration on Tuesday afternoon, and kids are invited to bring in Valentines for their classmates. (Kids are asked to bring in cards for ALL classmates or NO classmates, not selected friends.) Thank you to the parents who are sending in treats for Tuesday afternoon. Remember, it is tradition for PGS citizens to dress formally on Valentines Day. Here is a class list of FIRST names:
Sarah, Chris, Angel, Gage, Kristen, Zoë, Michael, Billy, Amanda, Andrea, Danielle, Hari, Carlyn, Charlie, Neaha, Coleman, Dan, McKenzie, Giovanna, Cole, Sam, Emma, Matthew
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
February 9, 2012
Welcome Ms. Majidy
Please join me in welcoming Ms. Sarah Majidy, a graduate student from the University of Hartford, who will be working in our classroom for the next few weeks as part of a field placement. Ms. Majidy started today and will initially be with us on Thursday afternoons and Friday mornings to observe reading and writing instruction. We’re so lucky to have her involvement, particularly in the busy season leading up to the CMTs!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
February 9, 2012
Introducing Room 209 C.A.R.E.S.
Valentine’s Day is coming up (more on that in an upcoming post) and we’re celebrating by kicking off the fourth year of our Room 209 C.A.R.E.S. campaign. C.A.R.E.S. stands for “Community Action Run by Eager Students” and is the element of our class that focuses on community service. Our class has a long-standing partnership with Gifts of Love and works to support their efforts to help families in the Greater Hartford area with food, clothes, and household goods. In 2011, 13,000 people went to Gifts of Love for help. As a school, we support Gifts of Love throughout the year with collections (such as last week’s soup drive) and special activities (such as the gr. 3 community garden project).
As a class, our C.A.R.E.S. program has two main parts to support Gifts of Love. Each week (normally), on Friday afternoon, I pull names from our Chance Box. Kids earn Chance tickets by taking academic risks in class and by being leaders in our class community. When I draw names, those students typically earn prizes, but they also have the opportunity to donate their prize (meaning I donate $1.00, the cost of a typical prize) to Gifts of Love. This is a great way for kids to help others. The other way our class helps Gifts of Love is through our redeemable can and bottle recycling program. We collect soda cans and soda and water bottles and bring them to the supermarket to redeem for $0.05 each. All proceeds go to Gifts of Love. It sounds like it wouldn’t make much of a difference, but it’s amazing to see how quickly the money adds up! This is a great program because kids and families can help Gifts of Love, but it doesn’t involve families sending in any money.
This morning, Diana Goode, the Executive Director of Gifts of Love visited our class to talk with the kids about her organization and how we can help. The kids are very excited to support Gifts of Love, hence C.A.R.E.S. standing for “Community Action Run by EAGER Students.” But here’s the catch… In the past, I took care of recycling the bottles and cans at the supermarket, but I can’t take that on right now. (Isn’t it amazing how quickly spare time disappears when one becomes a parent? Something you all know!) I’m looking for volunteers to work together to coordinate this charitable effort. I would recommend that we start with just our class, and then extend to all of gr. 4, and then the whole school (if appropriate). The more parents we have helping, the more we can open the program up, and the more we can help Gifts of Love. I’m open to different arrangements: In the past, we have had some arrangements where students sorted the cans and bottles during recess (on a VOLUNTARY basis) with parent volunteers and then parents took the bags to the supermarket. Other parents prefer to take the unsorted cans and bottles themselves and to sort them while putting them in the redemption machines. I’m open to any option and appreciate all offers of help. This can be as frequent or as irregular as you want, but I do ask that we try to establish a regular schedule. If you are willing and able to help, please email me. We cannot do this without parent help! Thanks for considering! (Did you know that Gifts of Love is able to use their funds to purchase food at Foodshare for a tenth of what we pay at the supermarket? When $1.00 buys $10.00 of food, it’s easy to see what a big difference 20 soda bottles can make!)
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
February 8, 2012
Homework: Making Inferences
I’ve gotten such great feedback on the online homework assignments that the kids have had over the past few weeks! They allow the kids to receive immediate feedback – something that doesn’t happen until the next day (or later) when worksheets are assigned. The kids are enjoying the fun games, and tonight’s is my personal favorite!
Rags to Riches is a game that is based on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” This version, which focuses on making inferences, gives the kids several situations and asks them to choose the correct inference. They have three hints (think: lifelines) that they can use during the game, and the goal is to reach $1,000,000! Kids should get as high of a score as they can and should come to school with their best score written in their planners.
http://www.quia.com/rr/332704.html
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
February 8, 2012
Math Profiles of Progress
This afternoon, you will find updated math profile sheets coming home. These sheets share with you information about how your child performs on each unit’s assessment. The standards for each unit are graded as having mastered the skill (no mark) or not yet having mastered the skill (checkmark). I think the strength of these profiles is that you can see, specifically, what skills your child excelled in, and what skills are still challenging. However, a checkmark (showing lack of mastery) does not communicate on its own how your child is progressing toward mastery. In the fall conferences, I had the same discussion with several parents: A checkmark may mean that the student has intermediate skills and that they simply are not yet proficient. Then again, the checkmark may mean that the student has to make a significant amount of growth before reaching proficiency.
Teachers clarify this in several ways. Some teachers mark on the score sheet the percentage correct or the total number of correct problems. I do not do this because, as I said at the fall Curriculum Night, I don’t think seeing a simple percentage provides you with valuable data. For example, does a 75% mean that a student correctly answered an average of three out of four problems throughout the assessment, or did he or she perform flawlessly on the whole assessment, except for one section that was completed entirely incorrectly? To me, giving a percentage lumps together too many diverse skills into a single score. I try to write comments next to standards that need explanation (or at the bottom), but I am also trying a new approach.
Starting in unit 4, a checkmark indicates progression toward proficiency, and an X indicates that the student needs more significant support to reach proficiency. This will accomplish several objectives:
- You, as a parent, can more precisely see how your student performs on the assessments.
- I can be more precise in my scoring and can translate that precision into the report card grades.
- I can be more responsive to student performance and can more immediately provide support to students who are significantly struggling with a skill. If your son or daughter has an X next to a standard, I will (or at this point, may have already) work(ed) with him or her individually, in a small group, or as part of a whole-class reteaching lesson. If your son or daughter has a check, don’t think that I’m ignoring him or her – I may provide the same reteaching, or, if the checkmark is for a skill that we are continuing to work on, I may wait to see how his or her performance improves with continued teaching.
I hope that you find this new scoring method to be helpful for you! Please understand that this is a trial in our classroom, and that I may continue to adjust the approach as time goes on. If there are ongoing changes, I will, of course, let you know!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
February 7, 2012
Long Division Game (Homework)
We have another e-homework assignment this evening! Play “Snork’s Long Division” to help the cartoon character complete some long division problems. On the first page, it will ask you to set the highest number that you want to work with. Here’s my suggestion:
- If you feel “thumbs up” about long division, pick a number between 11 and 20.
- If you feel “thumbs sideways” about long division, pick a number between 7 and 11.
- If you feel “thumbs down” about long division, this activity will walk you through the steps! Pick a number between 6 and 10.
Each student is asked to complete five problems. If you decide that the number you entered on the main screen is too easy or too hard, reload the page to restart the game, and enter a new number.
We’re on the honor system again, since that worked so well last time (you honest kids!) No need to print anything to bring in a note!
Here’s the site:
http://www.kidsnumbers.com/long-division.php
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss