Posts By: Jon Moss

Apr 22

April 22, 2014

Learning About Timelines through Team Hoyt

Our class has been working to learn about timelines lately as part of a social studies and ELA (English/Language Arts) integrated unit. The Boston Marathon was perfectly timed to be a valuable teaching tool for this study. Each year, I talk to the kids about two remarkable athletes: Dick and Rick Hoyt. Dick Hoyt is a father who, each year, runs in the Boston Marathon and pushes his son, Rick, who has cerebral palsy. They are true inspirations, just like the athletes yesterday who found a fellow marathon runner who had collapsed just shy of of the marathon’s end and carried him across the finish line. The Boston Marathon is full of remarkable athletes who model outstanding character, sportsmanship, and integrity!

I came across an article that taught a bit about Dick and Rick Hoyt’s amazing history, and I immediately saw the potential for it to be used as a learning tool for our study of timelines. We read the article in class today, and for homework, kids are identifying and writing short blurbs about the different events listed in the article. (Just a couple of words per event is fine.) We’ll use the kids’ ideas as a jumping off point for making a timeline tomorrow.

The article does mention (in general terms) the attacks that happened at last year’s Boston Marathon. We discussed in class only that something sad happened and that some people were injured or lost their lives, although some students (on their own) brought up more detail about what had happened when we discussed the marathon yesterday. I didn’t want to go into any significant detail about what had happened, and I refocused the discussion to the message of perseverance and honoring others (since Dick and Rick ran the marathon yesterday as a tribute to those who were affected by the attacks last year.

You can except, over the next few years, to see an ongoing integration of ELA and social studies. The two fit together very well since the Common Core places an increased emphasis on non-fiction reading and writing, and articles such as this give teachers a wonderful opportunity to bridge social studies work with literacy work. Our next step in our timelines study will have the kids partner up to read articles about a famous figure from history and to develop a timeline based upon the information they pull from the article. Stay tuned!

Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss

Apr 21

April 21, 2014

SBAC Practice

We’ve been working a lot on practicing for the upcoming SBAC tests! Our new computer lab is open for business, and it’s a wonderful environment for working on a variety of activities, despite the fact that most (but not all) of our work there has been SBAC-related. Because this is a pilot test year, please remember that neither families nor schools will receive score reports for individual students. Our goal this year has been to help students develop the skills to complete this computer-based testing, which kids have never had to do before. When we’re in the computer lab practicing, our focus has been on technical skills like logging in with Session IDs, marking questions for review, and how to select answers, less on the academic skills being assessed on the tests. (Of course, our IN-CLASS time is intensely focusing on these academic skills, since the skills being assessed on the rigorous SBAC tests are aligned with the Common Core, which guides our classroom work.) My message to the kids has been one encouraging them to relax, not stress, and just to do the best they can.

Looking to practice for the SBAC tests? Visit: http://sbac.portal.airast.org/

Need a video to walk you through the process? Click here! (I’m not sure if it will work on tablets. You might need a computer running Flash to watch this video.)

As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you have questions about the SBAC tests or our preparation!

Posted in Class Updates, Learning Resources|By Jon Moss

Apr 10

April 10, 2014

Welcome to our new online home!

Welcome to the new online home of Room 209! I appreciate everyone’s patience as I worked to get this new site up and running, and I hope it’s worth the effort. For the most part, you’ll find most of the same features as our old site had, although things are arranged differently. In addition to the new address and the new look and feel of the site (Thanks #15 for the inspiration!), there are some new features you might find useful:

Mobile optimization – MossTeaches has a responsive design, meaning that it will look as clear on a small phone as it will on a large desktop monitor!
Twitter feed – On the right sidebar of the main page of our class website, you’ll find a new Twitter feed for our classroom. I find that most of my website posts cover larger topics. My plan for the Twitter feed is to most mini-updates about what we’re doing at different times during the school day. This is a pilot test, and I may or may not continue to offer this feature, depending on how things go.
Dear Humphrey – Think of it as a “Dear Abby” option for our classroom. Kids are welcome to write to me (anonymously, if they choose) about challenges that they’re having in school that I can help with. Often, one student is not alone in having a problem, and it’s something that be discussed during Morning Meeting.
Virtual Classroom – This is still very much a work-in-progress. Eventually, this page will be a launchpad for many of our class eLearning activities.
Student News – As the name implies, students will have the opportunity to take on the role of reporter and blog about some of what we do in class. Thanks, #13, for writing our first article!

Thanks to the feedback I received on the class website survey many of you completed for me, I have more planned for our new site in the coming weeks and months. As you use the new website, please message me if you find any bugs or errors, or if you want to share feedback with me! I hope you enjoy MossTeaches: the new online home for Room 209!

Posted in Site Updates|By Jon Moss

Apr 9

April 9, 2014