Words to Live By

I'm reading my way through yet another book by John Wooden right now. I love books that force you to take a look at yourself and see what needs fixing.

I came across this, and plan on sharing it with the kids this afternoon:

Nine Promises That Can Bring Happiness by John Wooden

1. Promise yourself that you will talk health, happiness, and prosperity as often as possible.
2. Promise yourself to make all your friends know there is something in them that is special and that you value.
   
3. Promise to think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best in yourself and others.
4. Promise to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
5. Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
   
6. Promise to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements in the future.
7. Promise to wear a cheerful appearance at all times and give every person you meet a smile.
8. Promise to give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
   
9. Promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit trouble to press on you.

Let There Be Lightning

Heads up, folks! In Math this week, we're going to be learning about positive and negative numbers and adding and subtracting them. This can be kind of tricky, but I will tell the kids that they really need to do their part and

1. listen in class.
2. pay attention while they're listening in class.
3. not put up the mental "I can't do this" wall, which keeps them from any conceptual understanding whatsoever.
   

If they agree to do all three of these things, they will understand integers. Maybe not the first day, maybe not the second day, but soon. We will be also reviewing PEMDAS heavily this week. The homework over that one was atrocious, so we will be once again hammering PEMDAS into them as though I am playing a game of whack-a-mole.

Also, we will be reading up on the westward expansion in Reading, MORE reviewing of re- and pre- (this seems to be the Rigby reading series' favorite learning point, as though it was difficult or something), more prepositional phrases (a sticking point for this class, but understandably so), and a review of dependent/independent clauses, just because I don't want them to forget those things. I tell ya, I'm making the middle school proud.

As though this wasn't enough, we will also be having a spelling list this week. Yes, even though Friday is Colonial Days (more on that later), we're having a spelling test. This is because our spelling list for this week (once again, brought to you by Rigby) is embarrassingly easy. Tomorrow I'll go over what I want due from the kids and when, but it probably won't be the same thing as normal. I will also be giving the kids a Caesar's English list this week as well, but I'm not sure when that quiz will be just yet.

The kids should be bringing in their notecards (actually, there's no reason for them to have them at home) this week, along with all of their research materials. We will be taking notes on them this week. Expect this to go all of this week, which will only be four days because of Colonial Days on Friday.

Colonial Days is this Friday! Yes, I realize that Colonial Days is a plural proper noun, but it's treated as though it is singular. This confused me at first too, but someone explained it to me as being the day when we "live as they did during the Colonial Days", so that's where the name came from.

Here is a reprint from this very blog on January 4:

February 1 , from 8:00-10:00am: This is for help with the Broombinder. The Broombinder is exactly what it sounds like; a guy who comes in to show the chillens how to make old-timey brooms.

February 4, from 8:30 to noon: As I said before, we need more volunteers always for the big event.

We also need donations! We need: empty small soup cans, brown paper grocery bags, and cereal boxes. Send them in and I'll give them to Kate to take home with her.

Clothing: Please plan on sending your child to school on February 4 dressed in Colonial clothing. You don't need to get fancy or go out and buy an elaborate hoop skirt or anything like that.

• Ladies: skirts, aprons, bonnets, blouses, calico, anything Little House on the Prairie-ish or Conner Prairie-ish. And let's not forget those old-timey hairstyles: braids, buns, whatever. I hear they sell bonnets at the Conner Prairie store.
  
• Gentlemen: tuck your pants into a pair of soccer socks (hopefully white ones), white shirts, vests, hats like coonskin caps and tri-corner hats (I know they have coonskin caps at the Conner Prairie store). Suspenders! Denim wasn't invented yet, by the way. And for the shoes, make sure to wear dark ones, and you can just make a buckle for the shoes out of paper and attach it to the front. It's fun!

For your Colonial Lunch: No plastic bags or aluminum cans! Nothing they wouldn't have had back in ye olde colonial times. Here are a few ideas: fried chicken, biscuits, jam, whole carrots and apples, boiled potatoes, beef jerky, lemonade or water in jars. Make sure you wrap your lunch in paper or with a cloth. You're free to even tie it up in a handkerchief and put it on the end of a branch and carry it in. Why not?

Add to that visits from a broom-squire (broom-making never seemed so possible!) on Tuesday, a visit from a lawyer on Thursday, and this week is going to be anything but ordinary.

Oh, and if you want a break from cooking and feel like helping out the Woodbrook PTO on Wednesday night, come on out to Cool River Pizza (in the same strip as Mudsocks, across from the Mega-Kroger at 146th and Hazel Dell). I'll be the "celebrity server" along with Mrs. Fadel and someone else (can't remember!) from 5:30 until 6:30, at least as of right now. Some things have happened lately that may change that, and I'll make sure and post it here with the assumption that everyone and their brother will be flocking to Cool River that night, not for their heavenly pizza (which it truly is), but for the possibility of being served by me. I have to say, though (because someone actually asked me this), that no, I will not be slicing the pizza using karate chops. That would be unsanitary.

Universe Man

I was VERY happy to see that, even though no sub picked up my job for today, that we got Mrs. Somers in the class for the day. I got a (mostly) complimentary behavior report from her.

As for me, I had a full day of reviewing Science materials for next year, which is even less exciting than it sounds, but it's important that we end up with good lesson matter for the future years. I have to admit it's always fun to visit with teacher-friends from other schools and talk with the junior high people about what's coming next for your kids.

I talked to Mrs. K in the library and she said that the kids did some research for their reports, which is exactly what I wanted to hear. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get to the public library some time in the next few days if possible to get some more materials for this project. All work will be done in the classroom up until the end, and then I'll let you know what needs to be done at home if anything. At most it should be some typing.

Ready to Research

I won't be at school tomorrow, but the kids should bring in at least a couple of their resources and have their notecards ready to go tomorrow. Their biggest task tomorrow will be working on this research project.

We are STILL in the lead today for the specials awards!

In Math today, we kind of got into an easier area, even if it is admittedly a bit incongruous with the rest of the chapter. It's all about graphs and the like, so hopefully there are no problems with tonight's homework.

By the way, next Wednesday night, February 2nd, is another Woodbrook Pizza Night at Cool River Pizza. I am going to be one of the "celebrity" servers from 5:30-6:30.

You'll Have to Excuse Her

Here is the link to sign up for Woodbrook's Relay for Life team this year. I've had a couple people ask me for it already, which is a great thing. I think our team this year is going to be something pretty special.

Notecards for tomorrow!

We started Order of Operations today in Math. That can be really tricky, so if they don't get it right now, do NOT FREAK OUT! It's an oft-painful and tedious thing to learn, but repetition repetition repetition is the best way to make this one pay off. PEMDAS, or Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, if that helps jog your memory.

Above is a picture of "Aunt Sally", according to an image search.

Upstairs Overlooking

Hey, everybody! Hope your week is off to a good start. A few bits of business:

1. NEXT Friday, February 4th (not this Friday), is Colonial Days! They still need volunteers! We still also need cereal boxes and juice can lids!
   
2. The kids need notecards by WEDNESDAY! Most of them already have them. The only reason kids should be asking you for notecards is if they made rainbow colored stripes on them and gave them to friends. I don't know why kids do this, really I don't. It's harmless, though...until you need them for research projects.
3. I am really really impressed with how well the kids have taken to this new Math chapter! They seem to be getting it very nicely! This isn't the easiest chapter, and they're really taking to it. It's an awesome thing!
4. Just bragging a little bit here, but my class has earned by far the most awards this quarter so far in their behavior in specials classes. This is an incredibly gratifying thing to a teacher. I'm so proud of them!
5. This Friday is Everybody Counts! Pretty cool time because the kids learn tolerance and understanding of different disabilities in people. This year: learning disabilities. Should be a good one!
   

Persnickety

GOOD NEWS! I found the Math tests! Whew! Look for the rest of them tomorrow, along with some of their other homework that I graded this weekend.

Research project: I was very happy with the topics that the kids had ready for me on Friday! Especially when the teachers got together after school on Friday and compared our topics. I was SO glad that I'm not going to have to read papers on the topics from the other classes. Even though I didn't have a kid want to do Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys AGAIN (my favorite, still unexplored topic after all these years...), it's all cool, because they came up with really interesting topics. One teacher (and a fellow lover of history) said that she wanted to trade me classes for the research project. I told her, after listening to her topics report, that I didn't blame her but that I would just keep my class, thank you very much. Also, the kids will need to have notecards by Wednesday. At least 50, but hopefully more. Most of the kids had these from their first day of school kits, but many of them have squandered them by covering them with lines made my markers. Kids love to cover notecards with lines of marker for some reason. Okay, not all kids, but I can think of four in my class individually that I know of, so you may need to get some before Wednesday.

FYI: I won't be around on Thursday, because I will be at a meeting trying to get our Science curriculum straightened out (ugh, THAT will get sticky for sure...), but I will do my best to get a good sub for the kids. I'm kind of picky with who I get.

A Few Words About Colonial Days, February 4

(1) Student should come to school dressed in Colonial attire. (Be creative! Goodwill... their own closets, etc.).

(2) The activities run from 8:30 am. to noon, followed by lunch (brought by students... preferably time-period appropriate brought in a cloth sack or basket with things like apple, carrots, biscuits, potatoes). Lunch is followed by square dancing, and parents are welcome to stay for that as well. Fun!

(3) **We still are in need of volunteers to help run the activities on February 4th.** Encourage parents to please volunteer their time for this worthwhile event, if possible. If Feb. 4th isn't convenient, we also need a few parents for the Broombinder sessions on Tuesday February 1 and Wednesday February 2, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. in the Cafeteria. Please have them contact Melissa Clark at candmclark@att.net OR 706-0957.

One Hundred Days

Today was the 100th day of school. Normally we will do something on this day to commemorate, but for the most part, it was just business as usual around here, which is okay. We may have to try to squeeze something in for either the 101st day, or maybe even the 111th day.

Remember, kids, your topics are due tomorrow! Ten of them! We will select at that time which one you will research. This should be a lot of fun!

American Homecoming

I inundated the kids today with ideas for the research project. Some of them had some great ideas of their own. I always love the "info-dump" that is this brainstorming session. The kids get excited to research some of these things, and I particularly enjoy getting to see the lights come on in their eyes when they get a one-sentence blurb about (for instance) the Red Scare or the samurai or Rosie the Riveter. By Friday, they're supposed to have ten ideas written down! Then the selection process will take place...

*********

We studied up also on negative exponents today. The consensus was that they don't make sense, but at least they're easy to understand!

We also had the honor today of looking at a slide show guided by our own C.J. Patterson. The pictures were from Norfolk, where he went to see his big brother come home from serving overseas in the U.S. Navy. We would all like to thank C.J.'s brother for his service to our country. We know C.J. has been waiting for him to come home for a long time, and now we're excited too. C.J. answered a lot of questions, and could have gone on much longer, but Math class called!

Thanks for sharing this with us, C.J! Hope it's okay that I posted these pictures here...I didn't exactly ask permission. Let me know if you want them taken down.

Pajama Party

Thank you to Mrs. Ackerman and Mrs. Smith for putting on a very fun party this afternoon! (Sorry they were a bit noisy, ladies...Friday afternoon, three-day weekend, PJ's all day, party...it's going to happen.)

Today was really packed to the gills. We had a spelling test and a math test, graded DOLs, went to Mrs. Haberfield's room, and went and listened as Mrs. Jackson filled the kids in on their Colonial Days outfits and lunch.

On TUESDAY, the kids need to once again be prepared to launch into a lot more stuff--more reading, more Caesar's English, and the big bad RESEARCH PROJECT! New Math books, getting caught up in Social Studies and Science--packed to the gills doesn't even begin to describe what we're going to be next week...okay, and pretty much for the rest of the school year as well.

Have a great extended weekend and rest the kids up, because it's going to be quite a ride!

In All Its Grandeur and Monstrosity

You'll notice I've modified the look of this blog a bit, to allow the whole of a video to be shown instead of, for some reason, only half of it.

1. Tomorrow is pajama day!
2. Tomorrow is a Spelling Test!
3. Tomorrow, also, there is also a Math Test!
4. Tomorrow we will lastly have our Winter Pajama Parties.
   

Oh, the madness of January!

Again With the Fractions!

You'll notice the kids brought home some papers graded over the last couple days for Math. I told them that from this day forward they would be allowed to make corrections on a separate sheet of paper, staple it to the back, and earn back half credit for those papers.

The Youtube page above (username: northstar15) is a great one for helping the kids learn how to do fractions!

They have the Study Guide with them right now, and their homework is to come in with it completed and to write down any questions for the good of the class. Tomorrow we will go over them and review for the test. I think the kids are going to be alright!

Friday is Pajama Day!

Neither Rain Nor Sleet Nor Heat Nor Gloom of Night

Apologies first that we did not start our big research project today. That will now happen next week instead. The other fifth grade classes would like to stay on approximately the same schedule as each other, which makes perfect sense as far as the research and all that stuff goes. We don't want to have deadlines all over the place, so we're going to stick together.

We have the normal schedule for Spelling this week, and there will be a Caesar's English test as well as a Math test on Friday. Even though it looks like we could get some snow before tomorrow, we're going to do our best to stay on schedule this week, no matter what happens.

Circular Event

I got a little overly excited about Relay for Life today, because just yesterday we got the starter packet for a Mini-Relay for Life. We were talking about doing a mini-relay at the Health Fair to help raise money for the big Relay for Life this summer. You can see other posts about it here and here.



Come on out and join Team Woodbrook at the high school track from June 4-5 this summer!

Okay, that's all about Relay for now.

Have a great weekend!

Wave of the Wand

I was a mean old tyrant today and piled on the homework. I'm going to have to do this for awhile, at least in Math. I think part of the problem we had with learning fractions is that I didn't do that enough to reinforce at home what we had been doing in class. So at least for Math, this is really the new status quo.

I also just typed up my sub-plans for the beginning of tomorrow. As it turns out, I'm only gone until 10:40! Shouldn't be too bad.

UPDATE: One more thing! Starting on Friday, my class will be doing the morning announcements. I've already pulled from the sticks of destiny to decide the order and it's all written down and ready to go. Tomorrow I will reveal the list to the class, and then we'll know who will be doing the Pledge of Allegiance on what day. Pretty exciting stuff! We will practice doing the pledge together slowly, so they don't hurry through it.

The Townspeople

First, a word from Mrs. Melchi, computer teacher:

Parents,

I started the FBI safety program in the computer lab today. It should take about 3 class periods to finish.

The program we are doing is called FBI-SOS, Taking Action to Prevent Crimes Against Children. It is an internet safety program that consists of a pre-quiz, scavenger hunt and post quiz. It is meant to teach students to “recognize and react to online dangers and become responsible cyber citizens.”

Vicki Melchi

Next, a word on behalf of Mrs. Clark and 5-1's own Mrs. Adaniya:

The fifth grade will be having Colonial Days on Friday, February 4! This is a wonderful day filled with things like basket-weaving, quilting, candle making, square dancing (in which we get to see just how "square" some of these kids--and teachers--are), applesauce making, butter churning, and marble playing. It really is a very cool day--too cool for parents to miss! But don't think you're going to stand around and look at other people do all the work. Oh, no. You step in the door and we'll put you to work! Luckily for you, the work is fun! And not in a Tom Sawyer white washing the fence kind of way, this is real fun.

If you would like to volunteer and haven't already signed up, there is plenty of space available.
We could use your help on:

February 1 , from 8:00-10:00am: This is for help with the Broombinder. The Broombinder is exactly what it sounds like; a guy who comes in to show the chillens how to make old-timey brooms.

February 4, from 8:30 to noon: As I said before, we need more volunteers always for the big event.

We also need donations! We need: empty small soup cans, brown paper grocery bags, and cereal boxes. Send them in and I'll give them to Kate to take home with her.

Clothing: Please plan on sending your child to school on February 4 dressed in Colonial clothing. You don't need to get fancy or go out and buy an elaborate hoop skirt or anything like that.

• Ladies: skirts, aprons, bonnets, blouses, calico, anything Little House on the Prairie-ish or Conner Prairie-ish. And let's not forget those old-timey hairstyles: braids, buns, whatever. I hear they sell bonnets at the Conner Prairie store.
  
• Gentlemen: tuck your pants into a pair of soccer socks (hopefully white ones), white shirts, vests, hats like coonskin caps and tri-corner hats (I know they have coonskin caps at the Conner Prairie store). Suspenders! Denim wasn't invented yet, by the way. And for the shoes, make sure to wear dark ones, and you can just make a buckle for the shoes out of paper and attach it to the front. It's fun!

For your Colonial Lunch: No plastic bags or aluminum cans! Nothing they wouldn't have had back in ye olde colonial times. Here are a few ideas: fried chicken, biscuits, jam, whole carrots and apples, boiled potatoes, beef jerky, lemonade or water in jars. Make sure you wrap your lunch in paper or with a cloth. You're free to even tie it up in a handkerchief and put it on the end of a branch and carry it in. Why not?

The kids all know about their Social Studies test on Friday, and how it's an open notes (but not open-book) test. They also have a Spelling test on Friday. If they're not done taking notes up to 7.5, then that's due tomorrow.

Oh, and one little FYI: I won't be in class on Thursday because I have some kind of reading training (yeah, they're finally going to teach me to read). I will be in the building (I think...should probably check into that...), but not in the classroom.

Next week we will begin working on our big research paper that is due right before Spring Break. This will be done almost entirely in school, and I will be setting various deadlines for different parts of the speech and the different steps. I look forward to you all seeing what they produce by the end of that time.

That's the news for now, folks! Tune in tomorrow for more updates from 5-1!

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Well, we certainly hit the ground running today, and we started with Social Studies. We left off right at the end of the chapter, and I had originally planned to have a test on that last day. Because of the snow days and all that stuff, though, it didn't happen. So here we are, and on Friday, the kids will be taking an open-note test (which will include their white pages). I warned the kids against writing every word down in their notes, because they are going to have a limited (however generous) amount of time to do the test. I modeled for them a good way to make their notes, showing them how to "edit out" the unneeded information and distill it down to what they will need. They will finish up the chapter on their own in class tomorrow.

In Math, we're working on scatter plots, stem and leaf plots, and those kinds of data landmarks. I'm going to kind of shake up the way we do Math, if only just a little bit. My plan is to have the Math Boxes due for homework the next day, and then we'll check them in class. At least that's the plan--what happens in actuality will most likely differ. This will be in addition to their study links or whichever other homework the child will have that night.

I'm trying to change what I want the kids to do during school hours and altering what I send home, because I want to get a good read on what they can do on their own.

Take care, and have a great first week back!