Posts By: Jon Moss
September 17, 2013
Binders and Dividers Needed
This afternoon, I am sending home a note asking families to send in a 1.5 inch binder to be used as a literacy notebook, and a pack of 8-tab page dividers. Here are some of the choices I found at Staples. (Click to see each image larger, along with the price.) I recommend the $2.99 pack that you can write directly onto. (It’s the top-left picture.)
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
September 16, 2013
Take Two: Naming Numbers
One of the most important responsibilities a teacher has is to informally assess, DURING a lesson, how well students are learning material. It is our job to adjust our instruction during a lesson to meet the needs of all learners, so that we can make sure that, like Goldilocks, we aren’t going too fast or too slowly – we want to teach “just right”. Last Thursday, it was very clear to me that our math lesson was NOT going well and that the majority of students were struggling with the material. I assigned only certain problems for homework (skills with which students seemed more comfortable), and today, we took “take two” with the lesson. We went nice and slowly (which, in this case, was “just right”) and I could see that students felt MUCH more comfortable.
Throughout the school year, you will find that I like to post tutorials on the class website that explain different skills we are working on in class. These are helpful for students as they complete their homework, but also helpful for parents who want to help their students (by teaching the same strategies we use in class). I often record these videos after school or during my prep periods, but sometimes I build them into lessons and record them with the students’ help. That’s what we did today. The video you will find below this paragraph is lengthy, but it explains TWO different strategies that students can use to name numbers when you’re given the value of certain places, such as “386 hundreds”. The first few minutes review place value, but starting at 5:45 into the video, I explain the two different strategies. After we used them a bit, I thought most students would REALLY prefer the second strategy. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that several students favored the first strategy. That’s why I often teach two ways: As you’ll hear me say in the video, different people’s minds think about math differently, and what is a winning strategy for one person could be a complete DUD for another person. I hope this video is helpful to you and your children as they work through tonight’s homework. Finally, here is a downloadable worksheet with place value charts included if your fourth grader finds it helpful to use them. (MOST STUDENTS SHOULD USE THIS!) Enjoy the movie:
Posted in Homework Assignments, Learning Resources|By Jon Moss
September 13, 2013
Last Call for Strings Registrations
If you weren’t able to attend the information session for the strings program and are still interested in having your fourth grader play an instrument, please register on the Avon Strings website:
http://avonstrings.weebly.com/
Mr. Strick and Mrs. Johnston are outstanding strings teachers, and kids always enjoy being in their classes. Please understand that strings lessons take place at different times throughout the day, and students who miss class content are responsible for making up work or instruction that they missed.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
September 12, 2013
Practicing Renaming Numbers
Today’s math lesson was TRICKY! That’s why you are only doing CERTAIN problems on your worksheet. As part of your homework, please rewatch the video we saw today in class BEFORE completing tonight’s math problems.
http://learnzillion.com/lessons/515-model-numbers-using-base-ten-blocks
Posted in Homework Assignments, Learning Resources|By Jon Moss
September 11, 2013
Starting Academics, Remembering September 11th
Welcome to week 3, families! This week, we are easing into academics as we finish up some of the “getting to know you” activities that we focused on in the previous weeks. Although we started math today (which I will write about in a separate post), we started our writing and reading lessons even earlier. In Readers’ Workshop, we have focused on fundamental reading habits, including how to read independently and how to use the class library. Tomorrow, we will discuss how to choose books for ourselves (making use of the beloved books that the kids brought to school today), and we will quickly shift into reading skills instead of procedural habits.
I wish this is what my summer vacation looked like! Sadly, it’s just a stock photo I found online.
Our first writing project is the “Summer Snapshot” project. Students will choose one moment from the summer that they will describe in a paragraph. (This is where their summer items come in.) My lessons yesterday and today focused on how to choose one specific topic. So often, students pick a broad topic to write about – such as “My vacation to Cape Cod” – that has so many elements to include that it would inevitably be either too lengthy (for a typical fourth grade activity) or (more likely) would lack in detail and would seem more like a list of activities. By choosing a single moment on which students can “laser-focus” (quoting Apple’s Tim Cook), students can dedicate themselves to throughly describing the experience with detail and eloquence.
Today, we recognized the 12th anniversary of the September 11th attacks in our writing lesson. I described my vivid memories of the specific moment when I first learned of the attacks. Please know that our class discussion only generally covered the events of the day: merely that there were sad events that caused many people to lose their friends and loved ones in New York City. I prefer to allow families to choose the depth of conversation they want to have about the events of September 11th. Our conversation instead focused on being THANKFUL for those we have around us and on not “sweating the small stuff” in our daily lives.
Our year continues to a productive and enjoyable one, and I am eager to see what tomorrow will bring. Families, your kids are TERRIFIC! I am really having a great time with this class of kids! 🙂
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
September 10, 2013
Thinking of our class rules
For homework tonight, please brainstorm possible class rules for Room 209. If you complete this assignment online, you do NOT need to write your answers on the worksheet I gave you. PLEASE try to complete the assignment online. (It will help make the next step of our activity MUCH easier.)
Posted in Class Updates, Homework Assignments|By Jon Moss
September 3, 2013
Parent Surveys
Hello, families! So I can best meet the needs of your fourth grader, I’ve created two private surveys that I would appreciate you completing at your convenience. One is a general information sheet about your fourth grader, and the other is focused on your fourth grader’s access to and comfort with technology. I’ve sent home hard copies, but it may be easier for you to complete these private surveys on the website. If you would like to do so, here are the links:
Technology survey (click here)
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
August 29, 2013
One down, 179 to go!
We snapped this quick photo after the bell-ringing ceremony, just as the rain started to fall
I always feel nervous on the first day of school, up until the very first student walks into the class. But I find that it is the kids themselves who ease my stress and remind me what a fun and rewarding job I have!
Our first day of school was filled with a blend of fun and minutia. After the kids had their first Spanish class of the year, we had our first morning meeting of fourth grade, where I had the chance to practice all the kids’ names. The kids had the opportunity to ask me a variety of questions (school-related and not), and we all got to know each other a bit. In the afternoon, we gathered for our traditional bell-ringing ceremony, and we proudly watched one of our own class members ring the bell as Community Council secretary! Beyond these activities, much of the day was spent sorting supplies and learning classroom routines.
I focus a great deal on pre-teaching routines for kids, so over the next few weeks, you can expect to hear us discussing topics such as what good hallway behavior looks like and sounds like, what paying attention looks like and sounds like, what using the class library should look like and sound like, what a proper Morning Meeting greeting will look like and sound like, etc. (See a pattern?) These behaviors seem intuitive to us, but it is helpful when the kids have have some explicit discussions about how to PROPERLY participate in these kids of activities. Tomorrow, we’ll finish up much of the “room management” stuff and will get to more of the FUN stuff! 🙂 Huzzah! Enjoy your evening!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
July 19, 2013
July 11, 2013
Building Renbrook, Slow Motion Video, Stop Motion Cartooning
The senior campers have done a great job working to build the Renbrook campus within Minecraft. While we won’t complete the whole campus this session, I have enjoyed watching the campers work to create the map with their own creative twists and interpretations. Seeing them figure out how to recreate visual details within the cubic constraints of Minecraft has been interesting, and I’m so pleased with what they’ve developed. (I will figure out how to post the playable file for the campers to use at home at the end of session 2.) The session two campers will continue the work of these session one senior campers.
Challenge campers have focused on high-speed, slow motion video. They have filmed many scenes of video at 240, 480, or 1,000 frames of video per second. (Normal video is 30 frames per second – or FPS – so when played back, one second of video shot at 240 FPS becomes eight seconds long, one second of 480 FPS video becomes 16 seconds, and one second of 1,000 video becomes 33 seconds long.) Rather than uploading individual videos, I am stitching the videos into a single video that you will be able to access here.
https://vimeo.com/70185305
Free Choice campers this week have worked to make their own cartoons using stop motion animation software. By drawing images on dry erase boards and photographing them before making small changes, the campers have created some impressive cartoons. Click on the Camper Creations link to access the campers’ creations.
Posted in Renbrook Summer Adventure|By Jon Moss