Your children are right at that age where it potentially starts to be “less cool” to be scholastically-inclined.  Sadly, it can be fashionable to be disengaged and to apply less effort to succeeding in school.  I am working to prevent that and change that in our classroom.  It needs to be “cool” to try hard, even if that means that the student struggles.  It needs to be “cool” to push yourself – to go the extra mile.  Kids who aspire to achieve great things in class need to be admired, not labeled as brown-nosers.  These efforts intensified yesterday, on Day 100.

The kids in our class are now closer (in school days) to the start of fifth grade than the start of fourth grade.  (Wow!)  We listened to Firework and discussed what it was about.  Few students immediately knew, so we looked at the lyrics, word by word, to interpret the creative similes and metaphors.  We discussed the meaning of the song and what it taught us about life.  This was our spark for our new class approach: Be a firework!  There are posters in and outside our classroom, and I am urging all students to take the chance, muster up the courage, and “be a firework”.

Last night, the kids answered questions about the song.  Here is what some of them shared:

What is the meaning of the song Firework?

• You have to “get out there.” Don’t be afraid to be you!
• Firework means “don’t feel like you’re alone.”  You have talent and [should] believe in yourself.
• Always be yourself and let the real you shine.  Believe in yourself and do what you think is right.  Don’t hide yourself; let everyone see the real YOU!!!
• Being a firework means “explode what you know!” – Impress people!
• Step [up] and really show people who you really are and if you feel like nobody notices you or thinks you’re just another plain, boring person, then you [have] to stand up for who you are and the potential in you.
• You can show people what you really can do.
• Even after a bad day, week, month, or year, a good thing will happen, and who you are has always been inside of you.
• There’s a spark in you and you just need to let it shine and take a chance.  … Who do you want to be?

How will you be a firework in school?

• I can be a “firework” in class by putting all my effort in everything I do.  Even if I don’t get an A+, I should be able to go home and tell my parents that I did my best work … [It] takes courage to stand up for yourself.
• I’ll be a “firework” by being honest and by [trying] out new things, being friendly to everyone, and showing my true talent and letting others too.
• I will be a firework by working harder, helping more people, and [by trying] to be the best I can be.
• I will be a firework by … not giving up easily and by raising my hand when I have a question.
• I will be a firework in school by trying my hardest, of course!  I will ignite my light and make you go “oh – oh – oh”!  I will express what I know I am – a FIREWORK!

Our work with writing is also an ongoing process.  Last week, the students broke into small groups and conferenced with a teacher about their recent writing prompts.  We are working on revising those prompts.  The students are currently writing focused, detailed adaptations of Vera B. Williams’s award winning book A Chair for My Mother.  This is giving the kids important practice with focusing on key events and on providing meaningful detail to develop their work.

Our new math unit focuses on fractions and will give the kids needed skills for the CMTs.  We are also working on a review packet that includes topics from about 10 different skill areas (called “strands”) that were weak areas for the students on the CMTs in recent years.  (We revise this packet each year so that it focuses on the skills that were the weakest for students in the prior year’s testing.)  We complete this packet together, often in small groups, to make sure that students are able to ask questions about any skills that are challenging for them and so that I (or other group leaders) can notice if a student (or students) seem to be struggling.

Finally, starting this week in the computer lab, students in gr. 4 will work on a program called Putting the Pieces Together: Strategies to “Get Through” the Connecticut Mastery Tests.  This is a program I made a few years ago and instead of teaching academic skills, it focuses on good test-taking strategies and behaviors.  It has models, videos, and gives us an opportunity for us to discuss some of the concerns or anxieties that students may have leading up to the CMTs.

Sarah, Chris, Angel, Gage, Kristen, Zoë, Michael, Billy, Amanda, Andrea, Danielle, Hari, Carlyn, Charlie, Neaha, Coleman, Dan, McKenzie, Giovanna, Cole, Sam, Emma, Matthew

As a class, our C.A.R.E.S. program has two main parts to support Gifts of Love.  Each week (normally), on Friday afternoon, I pull names from our Chance Box.  Kids earn Chance tickets by taking academic risks in class and by being leaders in our class community.  When I draw names, those students typically earn prizes, but they also have the opportunity to donate their prize (meaning I donate $1.00, the cost of a typical prize) to Gifts of Love.  This is a great way for kids to help others.  The other way our class helps Gifts of Love is through our redeemable can and bottle recycling program.  We collect soda cans and soda and water bottles and bring them to the supermarket to redeem for $0.05 each.  All proceeds go to Gifts of Love.  It sounds like it wouldn’t make much of a difference, but it’s amazing to see how quickly the money adds up!  This is a great program because kids and families can help Gifts of Love, but it doesn’t involve families sending in any money.

This morning, Diana Goode, the Executive Director of Gifts of Love visited our class to talk with the kids about her organization and how we can help.  The kids are very excited to support Gifts of Love, hence C.A.R.E.S. standing for “Community Action Run by EAGER Students.”  But here’s the catch… In the past, I took care of recycling the bottles and cans at the supermarket, but I can’t take that on right now.  (Isn’t it amazing how quickly spare time disappears when one becomes a parent?  Something you all know!)  I’m looking for volunteers to work together to coordinate this charitable effort.  I would recommend that we start with just our class, and then extend to all of gr. 4, and then the whole school (if appropriate).  The more parents we have helping, the more we can open the program up, and the more we can help Gifts of Love.  I’m open to different arrangements: In the past, we have had some arrangements where students sorted the cans and bottles during recess (on a VOLUNTARY basis) with parent volunteers and then parents took the bags to the supermarket.  Other parents prefer to take the unsorted cans and bottles themselves and to sort them while putting them in the redemption machines.  I’m open to any option and appreciate all offers of help.  This can be as frequent or as irregular as you want, but I do ask that we try to establish a regular schedule.  If you are willing and able to help, please email me.  We cannot do this without parent help!  Thanks for considering!  (Did you know that Gifts of Love is able to use their funds to purchase food at Foodshare for a tenth of what we pay at the supermarket?  When $1.00 buys $10.00 of food, it’s easy to see what a big difference 20 soda bottles can make!)

Rags to Riches is a game that is based on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”  This version, which focuses on making inferences, gives the kids several situations and asks them to choose the correct inference.  They have three hints (think: lifelines) that they can use during the game, and the goal is to reach $1,000,000!  Kids should get as high of a score as they can and should come to school with their best score written in their planners.

http://www.quia.com/rr/332704.html

Teachers clarify this in several ways.  Some teachers mark on the score sheet the percentage correct or the total number of correct problems.  I do not do this because, as I said at the fall Curriculum Night, I don’t think seeing a simple percentage provides you with valuable data.  For example, does a 75% mean that a student correctly answered an average of three out of four problems throughout the assessment, or did he or she perform flawlessly on the whole assessment, except for one section that was completed entirely incorrectly?  To me, giving a percentage lumps together too many diverse skills into a single score.  I try to write comments next to standards that need explanation (or at the bottom), but I am also trying a new approach.

Starting in unit 4, a checkmark indicates progression toward proficiency, and an X indicates that the student needs more significant support to reach proficiency.  This will accomplish several objectives:

• You, as a parent, can more precisely see how your student performs on the assessments.
• I can be more precise in my scoring and can translate that precision into the report card grades.
• I can be more responsive to student performance and can more immediately provide support to students who are significantly struggling with a skill.  If your son or daughter has an X next to a standard, I will (or at this point, may have already) work(ed) with him or her individually, in a small group, or as part of a whole-class reteaching lesson.  If your son or daughter has a check, don’t think that I’m ignoring him or her – I may provide the same reteaching, or, if the checkmark is for a skill that we are continuing to work on, I may wait to see how his or her performance improves with continued teaching.

I hope that you find this new scoring method to be helpful for you!  Please understand that this is a trial in our classroom, and that I may continue to adjust the approach as time goes on.  If there are ongoing changes, I will, of course, let you know!

• If you feel “thumbs up” about long division, pick a number between 11 and 20.
• If you feel “thumbs sideways” about long division, pick a number between 7 and 11.
• If you feel “thumbs down” about long division, this activity will walk you through the steps!  Pick a number between 6 and 10.

Each student is asked to complete five problems.  If you decide that the number you entered on the main screen is too easy or too hard, reload the page to restart the game, and enter a new number.

We’re on the honor system again, since that worked so well last time (you honest kids!)  No need to print anything to bring in a note!

Here’s the site:

http://www.kidsnumbers.com/long-division.php