Viewing: August, 2019
August 29, 2019
2/180
Today was another great day! I’m excited to have opened our class library, which has been a HUGE project throughout the past year. Each book in our library is leveled, so students will be able to choose books that are in their just-right range. Matching readers to texts is a big focus for me, and I look forward to sharing more with you in the future!
We also went outside to discuss recess expectations with Mrs. Borio. By taking time to be proactive in our discussions, we can avoid some of the usual recess issues that often crop up.
It was rainy yesterday, so the annual bell-ringing ceremony was postponed to today. The weather was perfect, and our antique PGS bell rang loud and proud today!
While we waited for the bell-ringing ceremony to begin, kids enjoyed spending time together in the nice, warm sun!
Last, but not least, here’s a GREAT photo of our whole class!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
August 29, 2019
Help Me Learn About Your Child
Hello, families! I’m excited to get to know your kids better. Would you please take a few moments to complete TWO surveys for me? These help me to better target instruction to meet your child’s needs and to best address your goals. The first survey is a general survey that helps me to learn about your child. The second survey focuses on technology and will help me to understand more about your child’s access to and comfort with different forms of technology. Thank you for completing these at your earliest convenience. (I’d love to have them by next Wednesday, if possible.) If you prefer to complete them on paper, please email me or send in a note, and I’ll print them for you.) The surveys are embedded below this paragraph. You do not need to complete both of them at once, but the surveys will NOT save your responses if you leave this page and come back later. (So, for example, consider completing and submitting ONE survey, then come back and do the other at a later time.) Both parents/guardians, or other individuals responsible for your fourth grader’s care are welcome complete these to share their different insights on their child, if that is helpful to you. Thank you so much. As a parent, I know how much time these can take and how busy the start of school can be.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
August 28, 2019
1/180
Surely I’m not the only person to feel a bit daunted when seeing the fraction 1/180 on the calendar. We just finished day 1 out of 180 school days this year. It seems like such a long period of time to go (and it is), and yet I know that it will pass so quickly!
Our first day was terrific! Everyone was here in class, and we began learning class and school routines, such as how we should behave during lunch, how we greet one another during Morning Meeting, our morning song (which is oh, so cheesy, but is a really special way to launch the day), and more!
(For all the images in this post, right clicking and choosing to open images in a new tab will allow you to see them in full size. On a mobile device, just pinch to zoom in.)
We also covered some of the less enjoyable but still important topics, such as what to do in the event of a lockdown. (A few students seemed a bit anxious when discussing it, but I do my best to make it low-key, by explaining that sometimes we need to stay out of the way in our classrooms to let people come into the school or room to help us to be safe. I leave the possible scenarios out of the discussion, though I did jokingly suggest that a particular third grade teacher’s crazy driving might be one cause for a code red lockdown. :-D)
We had our first Wellness class in the gym. (For new families, Wellness is our district’s term for the combined classes of gym and health.) Mrs. DeSantis had some terrific games to let the kids get out some energy and to get to know one another a bit better.
Upstairs, we started sorting the kids supplies (which was no small task, as you might imagine!) Thank you, once again, for sending in all those materials. We’ll use them well throughout the year! Of course, having a few dozen tissue boxes meant we surely had to make time for a bit of creative fun!
Toward the end of the day, we began working on our first pencil and paper activity, an “all about me” sheet, which we’ll use to get to know one another. I had the opportunity to begin to meet one-on-one with individual students to conference on this very basic writing activity, which offers me the valuable opportunity to get to know your kids as individuals, not just as a class.
It was a great first day! I tend to think that the second day two is better than the first, because we’re done with the administrative stuff (sorting supplies, learning what to do in different situations, etc.) We get to have more fun with team-building activities, beginning to develop our class routines, etc. So if your child came home excited and happy today, I look forward to an even better day tomorrow! As always, feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.
…a few final photos of smiles! Enjoy!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
August 1, 2019
Welcome to Fourth Grade!
Hello! Welcome to the online home of PGS Room 209. During the school year, I will update this web site regularly with information about activities happening in Room 209, bulletins and news items, current events related to what we’re studying in class, online assignments, 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! Remember, I’m hosting a meet & greet on Tuesday, August 27th, between 3:00-3:30pm.
About Me
I asked my kids, Charlie (entering grade 4) and Caroline (entering grade 1) what I should tell you about myself. Here’s their report:
- I love to read, but I usually don’t enjoy fantasy genres (even though I do enjoy science fiction)!
- I love reading with my kids. We are reading The Year of the Dog right now.
- I like visiting historical places, like Philadelphia.
- I enjoy listening to lots of different kinds of music, but I especially like Queen, Billy Joel, The Four Seasons, and more!
- I like to play basketball with Charlie and Caroline.
- We like building Legos together.
- 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 like to build things.
- 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), our daughter (Caroline), and our dog (Rimley). In my spare time, I like working on home improvement projects, making things in my woodworking shop (especially using my lathe), finding “good eats” at local farmers’ markets, or just relaxing by cooking, listening to old time radio shows from the 1940s and 50s, reading comic books, or watching the news. I collect old reel to-reel tapes of music, all sorts of vintage technology, antique or unusual telephones, funky ties and tie clips, and all things related to Star Trek. I have been hoping to learn to play the guitar for a few years, but I haven’t gotten the time to focus on practicing. Maybe this is the year! (I do enjoy playing the harmonica, however!) This summer, I spent a lot of time working at a local summer camp, setting up my classroom, and I had a week to travel with my family. (We go to Atlantic City each year, which is where I was born.)
I enjoy tinkering with my computer and coming up with interesting ways in which I can use technology in the classroom. (You can definitely expect to use computers a lot in Room 209! I enjoy using Chromebooks, our class’ SMART Board, and other technologies while teaching.) 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, the University of Hartford Hawks basketball teams.
Click “more” to learn more about me and fourth grade!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss