Viewing: June, 2017
June 20, 2017
Congratulations FIFTH GRADERS!
The last day of school is always bittersweet for me. I’ve fortunate to be able to say that I’ve always LOVED my classes, and this year’s class was no different. You have some AMAZING children, and I want you all to know how much I’ve enjoyed being your child’s teacher this year. Terrific students make my job easy! Have a wonderful summer!
Mrs. Rafferty, Miss O, and I also wanted to thank you all for the kind and generous gifts that you shared with us at the end of the year. You’ve been so thoughtful to us this year, and we’ve appreciated it each and every day!
We took these photos during our graduation celebration today. Enjoy! To save a photo, right click on it when it appears during the slideshow!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
June 15, 2017
Before you speak…
Hello, families! We are in our home stretch with only 2.5 days left. Today, we enjoyed a wonderful town meeting in which the fourth graders performed their song 50 Nifty United States, and a terrific pizza party and summer birthday celebration. We ended the day with a series of water balloon games. All in all, it was a terrific day!
Yesterday, we had a small issue of gossiping in our class. Students felt that other classmates were talking about who they supposedly “liked” (yes, that kind of “liked”) and were embarrassed. We had a great conversation about stopping to think before sharing information (whether it’s real or not) about another person. I wanted to take a moment and share with you one resource you can use:
What I like about this graphic is that it outlines specific questions kids can ask themselves before starting to talk about their classmates. As your students get older and older, this will end up being a bigger and bigger issue they face, so I wanted to start the conversation now. We discussed how gossip about others is particularly hard to control, because it can feel fun. It’s fun to share “news” with others, and people love hearing the scoop on others they know. There are plenty of reinforcements to perpetuate gossip among kids: people like talking with you, people laugh or get excited by your “news”, etc. So our conversation focused more on identifying those obvious positives to gossiping, and especially on finding the often unseen negatives (it’s hurtful to others, it’s not your business, and it’s often untrue.) We all agreed that the negatives outweigh the positives. Feel free to refer to this THINK tool when speaking with your kids. It’s particularly good for discussing what should be written online.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
June 1, 2017
Thank you, Open House, and TUSS!
First, allow me to thank you for the multitude of treats I received for Teacher Appreciation Day! You all turned it into Teacher Appreciation WEEK, and Mrs. Rafferty, Miss O, and I greatly appreciated the extra lunch you generously gave us, along with the other unexpected treats throughout the week. We feel so lucky to have such a terrific class!
Tonight is the spring concert and open house for grade 4. Students are asked to arrive at 6:30pm. The concert begins at 7:00 and should run for about 30 minutes. You’ll have a 10 minute buffer (more or less) to make your way through the art show (remember to pick up clay pieces tonight in the art studio!) before coming upstairs at around 7:40.
Our classroom is being transformed into the Teach Us Something, Somehow Student Research Colloquium! I’ve LOVED seeing the kids’ presentations this week, and they’re excited to share their work with all the families in class! While you’re here, be sure to check out your student’s other work that we’re showcasing:
- Timeline posters (partner-created, self-researched, 100% awesome!)
- Daffodil dissections (the final activity from our cool new science unit about plants and animals!)
- Photo Stories (showing us what characters in a situation SAY and what they THINK – The kids worked hard to pull off this sophisticated bit of technology work!)
- Room designs (hot off the presses! We’re learning about area and perimeter and had some fun designing new rooms in the process.)
Then, at 8:00pm, families are invited to the cafeteria for a popsicle social! I look forward to seeing you this evening!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss