October 13, 2021
What have we been working on in reading?
In fourth grade, we kick off the year with a mini-unit focusing on the habits of reading. This includes how to choose a just-right book, why readers abandon books, how to discuss books, activities to build students’ reading stamina, and so much more. I want students to develop a life-long love of reading and to look at reading as an enjoyable hobby, not just as a requirement tied to school. We launched the year with these activities in order to provide students with a foundation for all of our other reading activities throughout the year. You’ll hear more from me, in the coming weeks, about your child’s “just right” reading level and how you can use that information to support his/her continued growth as a reader.
One of the best ways to grow as a reader is to discuss what you read. Throughout the year, this will be a focus. I want students to learn how to have conversations about what they read, beyond sharing factual information about the book and telling whether they like it or not. Over the years, I have kept track of the different kinds of thoughts readers have about their texts, and I narrowed them down to eight different categories. Listed in the graphic to the left, these ideas help us to make the idea of “Reading is Thinking” more concrete, and less of a nebulous “Gee… I’m supposed to think about… stuff… while I read!” Kids can focus their thinking in different categories, which can help to build these habits so the ideas come naturally as they grow and mature. Students are often encouraged to “stop and jot” while reading and to record some of their ideas on sticky notes, which then get placed in the book. (This is why we may go through sticky notes to quickly in class!) This can facilitate engaging discussions about books. Wondering how you can help your child? Use these eight types of thoughts to guide some of your reading discussions with your child. Rather than asking an open-ended question like “What did you think about _________?”, you can ask a more specific question using one of these eight types of thoughts. It can lead to a great conversation, especially when discussing connections.
With a lot of these foundational skills established, we’re now in the midst of our first core literacy unit. Students are learning about narrative elements (characters, settings, problems, main events, and solutions), and while these are hardly new concepts, they’re learning more sophisticated applications of these ideas. For example, where stories for younger kids have characters who are clearly “good” or “bad”, stories for upper elementary students tend to have more nuanced characters, with flawed protagonists or antagonists who still have redeeming qualities. Likewise, where stories for younger kids have a clearly defined problem and solution, stories for older children will start to have multiple problems and endings that may not solve problems as much as resolve challenges. As you read with your child, or as he or she reads independently, ask him/her questions about these different elements. (We’ve finished learning about the setting, and we’re now learning about characters. Next week, we will begin to work on identifying the problem in a story!
The start of the school year wouldn’t be complete without some reading assessments. This year, we’ve continued to use an assessment tool called aimswebPlus. aimswebPlus is an online tool that allows us to administer and score an oral reading assessment as well as reading comprehension tools. Starting this year, instead of giving students DRA assessments, we will use Benmark Assessments to help me to identify your child’s independent reading level, which will allow me to work with you to help your child to find just-right texts. Like DRAs, the Benchmark Assessments (often abbreviated as BAS) is giving individually to each student. It’s time consuming, but it’s well worth the time, as I’m getting to know your kids very well as readers.
In the next post, I’ll fill you in all about what we’re doing in writing! Enjoy your weekend!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
August 17, 2021
Welcome to Fourth Grade!
Hello! Welcome to the online home of PGS Room 209. During the school year, I will update this website 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!
About Me
I asked my kids, Charlie (entering grade 6) and Caroline (entering grade 3) what I should tell you about myself. Here’s their report from this summer, as well as some of their ideas from previous summers:
- I have a dog named Rimley who is 14 years old.
- I enjoy tiramisu (a kind of dessert).
- I like to hike.
- I enjoy photography. I even got an honorable mention in a contest once!
- I like to go on bike rides with Charlie and Caroline and my wife.
- We enjoy the 1998 Disney movie “The Parent Trap”. (Yup, I admit it. I really do like it more than an adult should! :-D)
- I love to cook all kinds of things, and especially to grill.
- I collect typewriters and try to repair them.
- We have a vegetable and herb garden in our backyard.
- My favorite places are Gillette Castle and Enders Falls. But I also love to visit New York City, Boston, southern Rhode Island, and Northampton, MA.
- I love Del’s Lemonade! If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a famous drink in Rhode Island. It’s like a lemonade slushy, but trust me – it’s unique!
- I enjoy Star Trek – a lot!
- I love math.
- 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! We have a record player which we like to use a lot. I still collect albums.
- 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), kayaking with my family, finding “good eats” at local farmers’ markets, or just relaxing by cooking, reading, listening to old time radio shows from the 1940s and 50s, or watching the news. I collect old reel to-reel tapes of music, all sorts of vintage technology, typewriters, antique or unusual telephones, funky ties and tie clips, and all things related to Star Trek. I enjoy trying to play different instruments, and while my guitar hasn’t gotten much use lately, I’m learning to play the ukulele and I enjoy playing my harmonica. 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, and the University of Hartford Hawks basketball teams.
I enjoy coming up with interesting ways in which I can use technology in the classroom. (You can definitely expect to use your Chromebooks a lot in Room 209, as well as other technology tools!) I love to teach all subjects, but I especially enjoy teaching math and science.
Click “more” to learn more about me and fourth grade!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
August 16, 2021
Where is everything since November?
Last year was such an unusual year as we worked to have an awesome school year during such challenging times in our world. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep our website current. It was easier for me to send information directly in emails. I hope to go back to using our website more consistently this coming year.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
November 10, 2020
What are the Mossematician Mathematicians up to?
In class, we talk a lot about the idea of having a “growth mindset”. Scientific research studies have debunked the myth that some people are “math people” and some aren’t, leading to our “secret” way to be a math person: Step 1 – Do math. Step 2 – Be a person. 🙂 In fact, I struggled a lot with math as a child, starting back in third grade, and it took me until adulthood to feel comfortable with math and to even enjoy it. My goal is to help kids to reach that point a bit sooner than I did.
Our first math unit focused on place value, addition, and subtraction. Students worked hard to learn about different number forms, renaming numbers, finding the value of different places, how to round numbers, etc. We also worked on multidigit addition and subtraction. The first unit math assessment was administered as an online assessment as a pilot. It went well, but we (along with teachers across the country) found that Google’s system for calculating the results was glitchy and needed to be fixed. It took some time to make sure the results were accurate, so those results are just coming home to you now. (You’ll receive an email with more information about how to review your fourth grader’s scores.) Please know that this is not a self-grading setup where I just see the outcome and never lay eyes on your child’s own work. Rather, this is a system in which I absolutely review each and every student response, just as I always would. The hiccups were in how the system adds up the points. I wouldn’t want you to think that we were automating the grading of your child’s unit assessments.
We’re now wrapping up our second unit, which has focused on factors, multiples, and problem solving. Throughout the unit, we worked on applying these concepts in different ways, such as common factors and multiples, prime and composite numbers, and how we can visualize basic multiplication word problems using bar models. We’ll assess this unit later this week, and this assessment will be done on paper.
It’s important that each learner receive the small group, differentiated instruction to meet his or her own, individual needs. In this most recent unit, we kicked off math rotations. In this model, the class works together during a mini-lesson that introduces a particular concept or skill, and then they break up into small groups to continue working. In the small, leveled groups, the students rotate between four stations: a teacher station (in which they continue learning with me), a practice station (where they apply that same skill), a fluency station (in which they review an old skill to keep up their habits), and a hands-on station (in which they play a game or work on another activity that ties into our math unit). These groups allow me to dive in a bit more deeply to provide reteaching to kids who need a bit more support, extension activities to students needing a challenge, and extra discussion opportunities to everyone. (A big focus is TALKING about math and explaining our processes, and this is a core part of math groups.)
Often times, we’ll avail ourselves of teachable moments in class. This year, as we were launching our math unit, we did an estimation activity about the number of eraser caps I had in a large container. We counted how many eraser caps filled a cup, and from there, we counted how many cupfuls were needed to move all the eraser caps. Little did we know that this activity would help us so much with our Halloween fun! Thank you to the PTO for organizing a fun estimation project in which we had to estimate how many candy corns filled a sizeable glass jar. We were able to use our previous estimation work to identify multiple strategies for estimating the number of candy corns. We tried using weight, volume, layers, and other strategies. While our class didn’t win, we did have a close estimation, and I think we all enjoyed diving deeper into estimation strategies!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
November 1, 2020
Halloween Fun!
It was a snowy, but fun Halloween for our class! I hope you enjoyed it as well!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 23, 2020
Building Strong Reading Habits and Skills
In fourth grade, we kick off the year with a mini-unit focusing on the habits of reading. This includes how to choose a just-right book, why readers abandon books, how to discuss books, activities to build students’ reading stamina, and so much more. I want students to develop a life-long love of reading and to look at reading as an enjoyable hobby, not just as a requirement tied to school. We launched the year with these activities in order to provide students with a foundation for all of our other reading activities throughout the year. You’ll hear more from me, in the coming weeks, about your child’s “just right” reading level and how you can use that information to support his/her continued growth as a reader.
One of the best ways to grow as a reader is to discuss what you read. Throughout the year, this will be a focus. I want students to learn how to have conversations about what they read, beyond sharing factual information about the book and telling whether they like it or not. Over the years, I have kept track of the different kinds of thoughts readers have about their texts, and I narrowed them down to eight different categories. Listed in the graphic to the left, these ideas help us to make the idea of “Reading is Thinking” more concrete, and less of a nebulous “Gee… I’m supposed to think about… stuff… while I read!” Kids can focus their thinking in different categories, which can help to build these habits so the ideas come naturally as they grow and mature. Students are often encouraged to “stop and jot” while reading and to record some of their ideas on sticky notes, which then get placed in the book. (This is why we go through sticky notes to quickly in class!) This can facilitate engaging discussions about books. Wondering how you can help your child? Use these eight types of thoughts to guide some of your reading discussions with your child. Rather than asking an open-ended question like “What did you think about _________?”, you can ask a more specific question using one of these eight types of thoughts. It can lead to a great conversation, especially when discussing connections.
With a lot of these foundational skills established, we’re now in the midst of our first core literacy unit. Students are learning about narrative elements (characters, settings, problems, main events, and solutions), and while these are hardly new concepts, they’re learning more sophisticated applications of these ideas. For example, where stories for younger kids have characters who are clearly “good” or “bad”, stories for upper elementary students tend to have more nuanced characters, with flawed protagonists or antagonists who still have redeeming qualities. Likewise, where stories for younger kids have a clearly defined problem and solution, stories for older children will start to have multiple problems and endings that may not solve problems as much as resolve challenges. As you read with your child, or as he or she reads independently, ask him/her questions about these different elements. (We’ve finished learning about the setting, and we’re now learning about characters. Next week, we will begin to work on identifying the problem in a story!
The start of the school year wouldn’t be complete without some reading assessments. This year, we’ve started to use an assessment tool called aimswebPlus. aimswebPlus is an online tool that allows us to administer and score an oral reading assessment as well as reading comprehension tools. We are also continuing to give your students DRAs. DRAs (Developmental Reading Assessment) help me to identify your child’s independent reading level, which will allow me to work with you to help your child to find just-right texts. The process of giving DRAs (which are always given individually to students) is taking a bit longer than normal, because we (of course) couldn’t give these assessments in the springtime, so we’re doing some extra catch up. But it’s well worth the time, as I’m getting to know your kids very well as readers.
As valuable as the DRAs are, I also value getting information from reading conferences. In a reading conference, I sit with a student, invite them to read to me for a bit, and we discuss the story they’re reading. We always use whatever book they’re currently reading, so it’s a great opportunity to discuss reading interests, habits, and much more!
In the next post, I’ll fill you in all about what we’re doing in writing! Enjoy your weekend!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
October 8, 2020
Off to a good start in October!
I can’t believe that tomorrow marks the 15% way through the school year! Your children are such bright and hard working students, and it’s great to see the kids coming together as a group, despite all the distancing protocols we have in place. (They may be physically distant, but there’s nothing distant about their social instincts! I mean that in an entirely good way.) At recess, it’s not at all unusual for me to see many of our students opting to stick together by choice. I’m really happy to see the connections forming.
I have lots of updates to share with you about our academic work, and I’m going to touch on some of these in an upcoming post. For now, I want to fill you in on some miscellaneous topics, as some of these are most time-sensitive.
Nightly Homework
With all the changes we’re all working with, we’re focusing on academics in class and are not sending home worksheets for homework right now. But as I keep reminding the kids, this doesn’t mean that there’s no homework. Each night, students should be reading for around 30 minutes. As I shared at curriculum night, I want this to be enjoyable for kids, and I’d rather students read for 25 minutes and find it pleasant, rather than force them to read five more minutes as an obligation. Kids who CHOOSE to read will develop the habits to be life-long readers, whereas kids who see it as a chore are less likely to have the same success. (No judgement here! My son is an avid reader, and my daughter is very much a reluctant reader. I get it!) I leave it up to families to schedule reading time each night, and while I don’t have a reading log for families to sign (as I’m a firm believer that it just promotes us fudging the truth when we have a busy night – I’ve been there too as a parent), I will have ways for students to share what they’re reading at home. We might share about our books during Morning Meeting or write book recommendations for one another. I might ask them about their free-choice book when we have a reading conference, or I might have a Google Classroom question for them to respond to as morning work. (Or something else!) So while they’re not filling out a log, they certainly are accountable.
Students also should be practicing math facts each night. I don’t do timed math fact quizzes in class, as I’ve found that the stress of the timer often results in worse performance (an observation supported by multiple academic research studies in the education profession). Instead, I have periodic math conferences with students in which we work on different skills and work on flash cards together. From these, I’ll make individual fact practice goals for each student. I’ve worked with each student on their addition and subtraction facts, and we’re midway through multiplication facts. I met with two more students today and hope to have these goals ready in the coming week.
Lunch Orders
Just a friendly reminder that if your son or daughter is ordering lunch from the caf, please place the order online from home. Students no longer order in the classroom when they come each day. Let me know if you’re having trouble placing your orders.
Preparing for… ANYTHING!
We are certainly living in uncertain times, and the reality is that we could be shifted to remote or hybrid if the situation warranted. To be ready for that eventuality, students are bringing their whiteboards and their word study workbooks back and forth each day. They should keep them in their black and yellow book bags. They don’t ever need to use these at home, but if we end up remote or hybrid, they might need them. So we want them to stay with the kids. I also sent a hard copy of multiplication charts and place value charts home with each student. Please keep these stashed away somewhere safe for the same reason.
Books and Black and Yellow Bookbags
Please help your son or daughter to remember to bring his or her independent reading books back and forth each day, along with the black and yellow bookbags. They can check out three books at a time from my library, and they also have books from the school library. These all can travel in those black and yellow bookbags (if they can fit). Kids are always welcome to bring in books from home or the public library. As we get further into the year, we’ll be talking more about reading levels so we can match kids with books in their “just right” range. More to come in October and November.
Water Bottles
Please help your son or daughter to remember to bring his or her water bottle each morning to refill. All water fountains are closed for safety reasons, but we have some beautiful, new water bottle filling stations around the building (ask your child about how we collect data about how they’re used), so kids can refill as-needed.
Art Supplies
Huge thanks from Mrs. O’Brien for sending in all the art supplies! They’re going to be put to good use! Your fourth grader should be bringing back home their sketchbooks. Those are to use if/when we end up going remote, so they can stay at home. If your child doesn’t yet have crayons and colored pencils in school, please consider sending some of each in if possible. That way, we don’t have to share materials. (Please know that when we DO share, I always quarantine the supplies afterwards, so we do so safely.) If you need the school to provide any of these materials, please let me know.
Jackets
It’s getting brisk, especially when we go out at around 10:45 every day for snack and our mask break. We’re going to go out for our mask breaks whenever the weather will cooperate, so please make sure your child has a jacket or sweatshirt here at school. (It’s not just about the weather at 1:45 when kids go out for recess. Use 10:30 as a good reference time if you’re looking at the temperature forecast.) Kids are absolutely welcome to keep a spare sweatshirt at school. (I might even remember to remind them to bring them home every month or two so they don’t start to ferment in their lockers. :-D)
Parent-Teacher Conferences
Last but not least, YES, we will have parent-teacher conferences this year (online, I believe) accompanying report cards in November and March. Please look for a link in my email to complete a quick survey to indicate your preferred times.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
September 15, 2020
Off to a Good Start
We’re two-and-a-half weeks into the school year, and things are going well in room 209! Our first week of half-days was spent learning school routines and getting to know one another. (Having half of the class at a time has really helped me to get to the kids a bit more!)
Last week, we began our academic work by launching our class library (which we’re using very carefully: one person at a time, sanitizing hands before “shopping”, and books stay quarantined before being reshelved). We also discussed how independent reading should look. On our off-cohort calls, we had initial reading conferences, in which students shared what they are reading at home, explained what’s been happening in their book, and read a bit of their book aloud to me. It’s a great way for me to get to know the kids as readers!
In math, last week, we reviewed place value to the hundreds, and I introduced the concept of expanded form on our off-cohort calls. I also met with each student for a math fact fluency conference in which we worked on basic addition facts. I’ll continue to work with students to determine what skills are appropriate for them to practice at home.
This week, both cohorts are working on place value into the millions, converting between standard form, word form, and expanded form, and using hundreds charts in math. In ELA, we’re brainstorming ways in which we choose books and are beginning our first writing project of the year. We’re holding reading groups to focus on non-fiction text features during our off-cohort calls.
In an upcoming post, I’ll explain more about how I’m structuring the week, given the unique scheduling constraints we’re facing right now.
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss
August 21, 2020
Welcome to Fourth Grade
Hello! Welcome to the online home of PGS Room 209. During the school year, I will update this website 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!
About Me
I asked my kids, Charlie (entering grade 5) and Caroline (entering grade 2) what I should tell you about myself. Here’s their report:
- I collect typewriters and try to repair them.
- I have a wonderful dog named Rimley.
- We have a vegetable and herb garden in our backyard.
- We had fun going to the batting cages this summer for some socially-distant baseball. Even I got a few hits!
- I love Del’s Lemonade! If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a famous drink in Rhode Island. It’s like a lemonade slushy, but trust me – it’s unique!
- I enjoy Star Trek – a lot!
- I love math.
- I play the harmonica for fun.
- I enjoy photography. I even got an honorable mention in a contest once!
- 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! We have a record player which we like to use a lot. I still collect albums.
- 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, typewriters, 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!)
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
August 21, 2020
Updates coming soon!
The information on this website, such as our class schedule, will be updated in the coming weeks. Thanks for for flexibility while we finalize plans for this unique school year! Trust me – It’s going to be worth the wait. We have a great year coming up!
Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss