Viewing: Class Updates
January 21, 2010
Student News 2 – Holiday Party
A Fun Celebration
By M.B., K.M., and C.F.
Our class had a holiday party on the 23rd of December. In room 209, the party events were making wassail, building a gingerbread house, and enjoying delicious foods. It was so much fun because we made gingerbread houses. We used a lot of candy. I even named my gingerbread house! It was called The Candy Grass Haunted House. We also used frosting. It was very funny because I had it all over my hands, and when we came back from winter vacation I had dry frosting on my desk. I thought it would never come off!
We also had cupcakes, cake, juice pouches, and wassail. “I thought it was fun,” said E.G. Fourth grader T.G. said that the holiday party was fun because he got to unwind from the normal pressure of school. The day before Christmas eve, lots of kids had fun. I had a great time at our holiday party and I hope the kids that have Mr. Moss next year love the holiday just as much I did.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 21, 2010
Student News 1 – Winter Music
A Fun Music Class
By C.C.
On January 4, 2010, Mr. Moss’s fourth grade class had Music. Mrs. Cowdrey was their superb Music teacher. The fourth grade was practicing for their Winter Concert, and Mrs. Cowdrey had them well prepared. When Mr. Moss’s class came in, they quickly sat down and got started.
Pretty soon, they stood and sang “Friends on our Left, and friends on our Right.” Mrs. Cowdrey had the fourth grade do nods, and hand movements with the song. RG says, “I like the moves that go with it.”
Mr. Moss’s class continued to sing. JS tells us his favorite song. “I like Happy Winter because it goes with the season.”
As Mr. Moss’s class sang, they were happy. I hope your holiday season is happy too!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 16, 2010
Student News, Donations, and more!
Although I find this website to be helpful for sharing information with parents, I don’t often get to post general updates about what we’re doing in class. It’s just a time issue – I think my time is better spent on preparing lessons, making new materials, evaluating student work, and corresponding with parents. Nonetheless, I still think it’s important to give periodic updates on what we’re up to, so as part of our new Cross Curricular Learning Stations, students will periodically have the opportunity to write short articles that will appear on this site. It is the job of our class “Cub Reporter” (one of the weekly rotating jobs we have) to keep a notebook of possible article topics for kids to use when writing. Our class photojournalist will take pictures of interesting class moments. Please know that articles will never include student names (only initials), and photos will never be matched with specific students. (If you requested that we not use photos of your child online, I will, of course, respect your choice.) Stay tuned for the start of student news!
Now for some more bulletins:
- I am considering ideas for a student-involved fundraiser to collect money to support the relief efforts in Haiti. When I have something put together, I will let you know. In the meantime, please consider supporting some of the relief efforts that are in serious need of monetary support. On the left side of this page, I have provided a link that will take you to an information page about donating to the American Red Cross or the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund – a nonpartisan fund that puts 99.5% of donations into relief efforts.
- I have extended the deadline for submitting ONLINE book orders until Monday.
- We did not get to the spelling test yesterday. Time ran out because of other important activities. This coming week, we will be testing for the current reading theme, and there will be no new spelling words. So, last week’s spelling words will carry over to this coming week, and we will test on FRIDAY. The kids will have an extra week to prepare, so I look forward to seeing great results!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 14, 2010
Stopping Cattyness
cat⋅ty
–adjective, -ti⋅er, -ti⋅est.
1. catlike; feline.
2. slyly malicious; spiteful: a catty gossip. Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
We had a much needed discussion this morning about the dangers of cattyness. Fourth grade is a big transitional year, and in addition to kids’ learning more advanced academic skills, their social relationships tend to evolve from focusing on shared playing and shared interests to deeper personal friendships and connections. Unfortunately, there is a “dark side” to this social growth: cattyness. In class, we clearly defined catty behavior as being mean, just for the sake of being mean and hurtful. This was an important distinction from being unintentionally hurtful (something that we all do, on occasion) or from lashing out in our own anger (which is unkind, but not without cause). Cattyness is overt. Cattyness is intentional. Cattyness has the specific goal of hurting another person. It took me while to explain to the kids (in ways that made sence to them) what cattyness is, until it occured to me to connect cattyness to the behavior shown in the movie Mean Girls. Then they got the point.
Cattyness can take many forms. It can be as simple as passing a note about another person or saying something unkind to another individual, or as elaborate as a coordinated effort to exclude or harass someone. It can take the form of bullying – which carries legal implications under Connecticut state law. As a school, we take bullying very, very serously.
I want you know what my policy is on cattyness. There is zero tolorance for catty behavior (among ANY gender). Students who show that they’re intentionally engaging in catty behavior will go straight to the office and I will schedule a face-to-face meeting where student, parent(s), and I can sit down and discuss the problem. There will be no tolorance for intentional, hurtful behavior in my class. The good note is that I don’t think there’s a single student in our class who fits the profile of a “mean girl” (or for that matter, the profile of a “mean boy”). Nobody has shown themselves to be “going down that road,” and I reminded the students that there’s no reason why they CAN’T choose to avoid becoming that sort of a person. Put simply, I truly expect no problems in this area, and I fully expect the kids’ to live up to my expectations.
If you have any questions about this, or if you think your child may be having a significant problem with another student (in my class or even in another class), I’m always happy to speak with you and help however I can.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 13, 2010
Gray Wolf Homework
The link for the article kids need for tonight’s homework is:
http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=MA0158
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 13, 2010
Book Orders Due
Just a reminder – book orders to be submitted on paper (with an order form and personal check) are due TOMORROW (Thursday). If you are ordering online (via the Scholastic website), the last day is Friday. Thank you!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 12, 2010
Look to the North – Vocab Homework
For tonight’s vocabulary homework, visit the following website:
http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/4th/ela/old/trophy_inter/4-vocquizzes/book3/pup_voc.htm
Complete the vocabulary definition quiz. Choose the word that matches each definition. There is a MISTAKE in the page’s directions! You will see that it says this in the directions:
Use the “Hint” button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the “[?]” button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!
You will notice that there ARE NO HINT OR [?] BUTTONS! When you’re all finished, press CHECK. Correct any mistakes until you get them all correct. (If you make mistakes, you won’t be able to get a perfect 100% score. See how close you can get to 100%.)
You don’t need to print this page or bring in a note. We’ll work on the honor system today!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 7, 2010
Online Book Ordering
I am now giving parents the option of ordering books from the monthly Scholastic book catalogs though the Scholastic website. This saves the hassle of sending in a check, and you can now pay with a major credit card. Your child will still get his or her books with the usual shipment with the rest of the class. Here are the steps:
Browse all the great monthly Book Club selections at low prices and order online. Plus, our class earns a FREE book every time a parent orders online.
Here’s how it works:
- Use the information below to access the Scholastic Book Clubs Web site.
- Browse the titles with your child and place your order with your credit card.
- Your order will come to me, and your credit card payment will go directly to Scholastic’s secure server. There’s no need to send money to school.
- After I submit the entire class order to Scholastic, your order will be delivered to our classroom for your child to take home.
To get started, go to the Web address below and enter our class’s personalized user name and password in the sign-in fields on the right side of the page. Note: You do not need to create your own user name and password.
www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
User Name: MossPGS
Password: scoville
Ordering online is the most convenient way to use Scholastic Book Clubs. You can order anytime, right up until the online order due date. You’ll also get instant access to over 500 additional titles plus online-only specials and discounts.
And don’t forget: Every time a parent places an order online, we earn a FREE book for our classroom library!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 7, 2010
Book Orders, Wet Papers, Containers
Good morning! A few items of news today!
- Book order forms are going home today. I’m sending home five different catalogs, instead of the usual two. In addition to two specialty catalogs, I am including Click (technology), Arrow (Gr. 4 and advanced books), and Lucky (easier to read). As always, no pressure to buy from these! Book orders will be due NEXT THURSDAY, January 14th. I have activated Online Ordering for those who want to place their orders on the Scholastic website with a major credit card. See next post.
- Corrected work is coming home today or tomorrow. I apologize for the wrinkles. A student spilled water on the pile of work, and we had to let it dry off.
- Your child should be returning any remaining containers that you sent cookies in. There is still one unclaimed container – a wide, shallow, red plastic container with Christmas decorations. If it’s your container, please ask your child to bring it home.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
January 3, 2010
My Professional Resolutions
Greetings and felicitations! I hope you had a wonderful school vacation week (more like week and a half) and that you got to relax and have some fun! I think we’re all in denial of school resuming tomorrow, but it’s going to happen one way or another.
I like to take some time each winter vacation to look at where we are as a class and to make adjustments to how I run the class or how I teach certain concepts. Sometimes I change classroom management techniques, and other times I refine my appoach to teaching various skills. This year, I’ve given a lot of thought to reading and language arts instruction. One of the big changes from third to fourth grade is a shift in focus from teacher led instruction to more student-led learning. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I expect students to take out a book and teach themselves how to properly diagram a sentence while I nap in the corner (although with Charlie’s recent sleep habits, I must admit to liking that prospect!) Rather, it means that students take more responsibility for their learning, whether that’s by choosing what skills THEY think they need to practice more, or working with a partner to solidify a concept, or practicing skills independently while I work with a group of students on a specific activity. That’s an important transition from grade 3 to grade 4, and as someone who taught third grade last year, it’s a transition that I am working hard to continue to implement.
With all that in mind, my two big “Professional New Years Resolutions” are to implement Cross Curricular Learning Stations (CCLS) and to begin to use differentiated spelling programs. I know, this is a bit of a cop-out because I discussed both of these goals at the very beginning of the year. My transition from third to fourth grade came with a lot of new challenges, and my priority has been to properly address the major instructional tasks, such as reading comprehension, narrative writing, problem solving, higher order thinking, etc. As a result, differentiated spelling and CCLS both went on the back burner. For more information on both goals, click the link right below this message to continue reading!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss