Viewing: Class Updates
November 5, 2012
Decathlon Wednesday
The annual PGS decathlon will be held on Wednesday. Kids are asked to wear BLUE shirts (our school color) and sneakers. (Sorry, I just got word of this and wanted to make sure you knew about it for Wednesday!) Enjoy your day off tomorrow, and remember to VOTE!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 29, 2012
Hurricane Sandy
I hope everyone stays safe during this storm. I just heard that parts of Avon may have lost power. (Update: Just got an update that that family’s power is back on. Must have been a false alarm.) For your most local weather updates (including wind speed), you can check the PGS weather station (located on the roof above the gr. 4 hallway) by going to Weatherbug Achieve and entering our Avon zipcode. Or, scroll down our home page to the Weatherbug widget on the left sidebar. Stay safe, everyone!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 12, 2012
Preparing for Veterans’ Day Assembly
I am trying to collect a list of what students have family members who (a) are veterans and may possibly attend our school’s town meeting on November 12th, or (b) are veterans and live locally (even if they are not attending the town meeting). I am thinking of organizing a special (optional) project to pay tribute to our brave veterans, and I am trying to figure out how feasible my idea is. If your son or daughter has a relative who can fall into either of the above categories, would you please email me? Thank you! This year in particular, we have a diverse class that has students from many different nations; veterans need not be from the American armed forces for this (possible) project!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 12, 2012
Mastering Math Facts
One of the biggest factors to affect a student’s math performance is his or her mastery of basic math facts – addition, subtraction, multiplication, and (later on) division. When you hear/read me talking/writing about “mastering math facts,” I’m not referring to an ability to calculate what 7×6 equals (for example). Rather, I’m looking for students to know their facts so that they can recall that seven times six equals 42 (without having to calculate the answer). Teachers call that fact-recall skill “automaticity.”
As we focus on higher-level skills in school, the idea of memorizing things (whether math facts, spelling words, capitals, or anything else) can seem like needless busy work that fails to develop critical thinking skills. However, these basic skills are of tremendous importance in creating the foundation for the higher level skills. For example, when students learn to multiply larger numbers, an ongoing difficulty with the basic facts can pose a significant challenge and lead to ongoing frustration for a fourth grader. (I speak from first hand experience. I always tell students about my experience moving from New Jersey (where we were learning the x3 facts when I left) to Connecticut (where they were already on the x8 facts) and how that gap caused me to have an ongoing difficulty with math because I always felt like I was playing a perpetual game of catch up.)
In third grade, students were assessed on their multiplication facts and were given individualized, timed fact quizzes so that each student could proceed at his or her own pace. We are taking the same approach in fourth grade this year. (All classes are measuring automaticity in the same way.) Students all started with addition and subtraction quizzes. To proceed to the next level (in this case, multiplying by 2), students need to score 90% or better on the three minute timed test. Fact quizzes will go home regularly (you can expect to see the older ones coming home early next week) so that you can monitor your student’s progress. Some parents may be surprised when they see that your son or daughter scored, perhaps, only a 60% on simple addition and subtraction. Remember, this isn’t just a measure of a student’s ability to compute math problems but also their ability to do it rapidly. Math facts are one of the few times where speed really is key.
Looking for some fun ways to have your fourth grader practice his or her math facts at home? Look for the Math Fact Practice link on the left-hand sidebar. Please email me if you stumble on some other resources that you think I should add!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 9, 2012
Final Reminder: Picture Day Tomorrow
Remember, we are taking individual photos and our class picture tomorrow morning! Be sure to dress for the event! (Our picture time is 11:30-11:50, so please try to avoid any early pick-ups before that time.)
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 9, 2012
Math Instruction: Chicago and Singapore
Chicago, IL
If you had to guess where your kids’ math instruction originated, I bet you wouldn’t guess Chicago or Singapore. Sure enough, both locations can claim credit for a lot of your fourth grader’s math instruction this year. Chicago is home to the University of Chicago, which is the organization responsible for developing the Everyday Mathematics program used in Avon at the K through (I believe) grade 5 levels. The trademark piece of this program is its spiraling organization that introduces a skill in one unit, returns to it later in the year to further develop it, and may do so to again even later in the year to teach the most advanced skills for the grade. We just finished the first math unit of the year, which focused on geometry – specifically, two dimensional figures. A later unit will introduce three dimensional figures.
With the implementation of the Common Core (see my curriculum night presentation for details) we are recognizing the need to edit what skills we cover as we use the Everyday Math program. This year, we are omitting lessons that do not directly address core competencies, adding in additional instruction about skills that Everyday Math may not address to our satisfaction, and we are routinely editing lessons to ensure that our instruction is focused and relevant to skills that students need to master in fourth grade. As a result, you will typically see unusual orders of lessons. Today, for example, we worked on lesson 2.3. Tomorrow we will work on lesson 2.4 and may go back to lesson 2.2 afterwards.
Singapore
Explaining where Singapore factors into math instruction is a bit more complicated. Several years ago, some of our teachers began to learn of a method of math instruction called, simply, Singapore Math. As the name implies, it’s the way math is taught in Singapore. It places a tremendous focus on a mastery of number sense and how smaller numbers fit together to make larger numbers. This mastery paves the way for better computation skills down the road. Moreover, Singapore Math introduces a unique (compared to what we’re used to in the US) way of solving story problems by drawing specific kinds of diagrams. I know what you’re thinking! “Great, Moss, another wacky way of math that I don’t understand!” To be absolutely honest – this is not a “talking point” – I think Singapore Math is outstanding. Yes, it is a significant departure from how math has been traditionally taught. And yes, when being used to work on basic skills that kids already have mastered using traditional methods, it is more time consuming (more because it’s NEW to the kids, not because of a fundamental trait that is unique to Singapore Math). But as kids get more confortable with the strategies, particularly when we move to more complicated skills, Singapore Math will be a spectacular resource for fourth graders. Consider this math problem:
Estes goes to the farmers’ market and buys 3/7 of the heirloom tomatoes that
Fezel farm is selling. He walks home with 24 tomatoes to make a delicious
salad. How many tomatoes does Fezel Farm have left to sell?
I confess, as a math teacher, I’d have to take a moment to figure out how to attack a problem like this one! That’s the weakness for our students; it’s not knowing the MATH involved in solving the problem, but figuring out WHAT KIND of math they need to use. In this problem, do we need to multiply 24 x 7 to find the total? Divide 3 by 24? 24 by 3? It’s easy to teach kids HOW to solve those three problems, but none of those problems will yield the right answer. This kind of skill application has typically been a weak area for our students on the Connecticut Mastery Tests. By drawing a Singapore Math style model, I can solve this much more easily. I won’t show you how right now, but we’ll definitely address this skill as the year goes on. Right now, we’re still working on basic skills. As the opportunity presents itself, I will post assorted videos that will help you to help your fourth grader with these skills.
As you can see, we’re placing significant emphasis on choosing purposeful math instruction this year (and every year). Not all units will look the same or will be the same length, but all units will focus on the same final goal: helping students to develop core competencies that they will need to be successful in their future schooling and in their post-academic life.
Click the link (below this line) to see the answer to the math problem, if you’re interested.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
September 28, 2012
What did your child learn in the month of September?
With the first month of school now in the history books, you may be wondering “What did my child learn in fourth grade so far?” That’s a great question (of course) and is one that I hope you’ll ask your son or daughter. Some kids will list off new things they have learned, but I have no doubt that many students would reply “Nothing” or “I just don’t know.” Your first reaction might be to pick up the phone, call Ms. D-H, and ask what in the world we’re doing in fourth grade! Before you do, consider this:
“NOT my style.” -Moss
I think we all (myself included) have a tendency to look at “learning” as fact-based: What new KNOWLEDGE do we (or our kids) have? What do we know that we didn’t know before? I think it’s important to remember that lots of learning happens entirely without the person realizing that they are, in fact, learning something new. I asked my (nearly) 3 year old son today what he learned in school, and he responded (in true toddler form) “Nothing.” Given that a toddler cannot reflect on their own learning the way a fourth grader can, it was a pretty useless question to begin with. Still, he doesn’t realize all the learning that he’s doing at pre-school. In his toddler class, he learned lots of social skills that are (appropriately) his primary curriculum. Now that he’s in the preschool class, he comes home knowing more letters, more ideas, and able to do more things. Yet if asked, he reports that he has learned nothing.
Now, you may be considering picking up the phone to call Ms. D-H to ask if I’m running a pre-school. Don’t worry, I’m not. (I never could have the patience to work with toddlers and have tremendous respect for anyone who can!) But I think the idea is the same: In the first month of school, my priorities (and those of my colleagues and administrators at PGS) are to enter our curricular work while also working to build a positive classroom community. In order for really successful learning to happen, kids need to be comfortable in class. They need to feel like they’re in a safe environment where they can share their ideas without fear of judgment, mockery, or penalty – where academic risk-taking is something that’s ok and even encouraged, and where everyone can learn from everyone else.
We visited the outdoor classroom (thank you PTO!) and the kids partnered up with random classmates to learn more about how everyone spent the summer. I learned that my summer was rather dull, apparently.
Here’s an example: As the year goes on, we’ll focus on writing detailed short-answer responses to higher-level reading questions. (Such as “How did [character] change throughout the story? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.”) One of my favorite ways to teach is to have kids share their answers using our document camera. The kids will learn that when volunteering to share their answer, they’re willing to accept whatever CONSTRUCTIVE, kind feedback I or their peers may choose to share. (I have whole lessons about how to provide helpful, polite feedback.) When these responses are on the SMART Board for all to see, we look at what is good about the response and what the student could do to improve the response. (Notice that I didn’t mention what’s bad about the response. Focusing on improvement gives that positive spin.) For any student to volunteer to share their responses under these circumstances, they need to know that it’s “safe” to do so. That’s why class climate is such a KEY issue for me in the first month of school. (By the way – it’s great to see that many different kids enjoy sharing their work with the class; both those who are confident in their strong responses and those who recognize that their responses may need significant improvement. We learn by doing!)
So, in coming back to the first question, “What did my child learn in fourth grade so far?”, I can tell you that your son or daughter has learned about me, my expectations, our class routines, how we handle different situations around the school, and (hopefully) how to have a comfortable day in room 209 (and a successful year). He or she has learned about his/her peers, who they are, what different talents and interests some of them may have, and (hopefully) he or she has formed some strong connections with some of the kids in our class. And yes, we’re also wrapping up our first math unit and are in the thick of Readers’ Workshop. More on those two in a future message. Have a great weekend!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
September 27, 2012
Hexxagon Game
We learned in class that a hexagon is a 6-sided, closed shape. But with an extra “x” added in, Hexxagon becomes a fun puzzle game online. Feel like trying it? Go here:
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
September 18, 2012
Curriculum Night
I enjoyed meeting/seeing so many families at curriculum night earlier this month. If you were not able to attend, or if you want to review the presentation, I’ve made it available online. I hope this helps you!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
September 10, 2012
Math Fact Practice
Looking for games to practice multiplication facts? There’s a page for that! Look on the left sidebar, under Student Resources. I will update it throughout the year!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss