Full Blue Blood

Okay, I nearly got through this whole day having forgotten that today was the day of the Full Blue Blood Moon--plus an eclipse!

This explains...so much about today. Whether they realize it or not, all teachers dread a full moon. Something about it actually makes the kids go nuts.

Anyway, let's speak literally for a minute. According to Space.com, a Full Blue Blood Moon (even without the eclipse) is:

The moon is full, and it's the second full moon of the calendar month, which has been termed a blue moon. The moon is on a 28-day cycle, so that happens only once in a while – or, as you might say, once in a blue moon.

 Add in an eclipse? Well, you get a literally astronomical phenomenon.

What a year it's been for astronomy fans (and a teacher who teaches astronomy to his class)!

Rough Sketches

We were extremely fortunate today to have author Troy Cummings come to Woodbrook to talk to all of the kids about writing, creativity, and where ideas come from.

It was a good, unusual day today, but I am happy to say that the kids are pretty good at just rolling with the punches.

I hope everyone had a great Wednesday. More tomorrow--especially about the Colonial Days awesomeness that Friday will bring!

Gutman's Readers of the Week

Okay, not to pound this into the ground, but it's not every day the class's favorite author (collectively) posts two kids from Area 51.

In the five or six years that I've read the Genius Files series to my class, it's awesome to finally have our own Coke and Pep. Love it!

These Days and These Walls

I apologize, but I am just handing these out to my students today regarding Friday's Colonial Days. The other teachers had passed this around to each other, but I was not one of the recipients until I went to ask if we ever received one today--and I found out that they had shared this awhile back.

Between this, remembering that I had to have my students listen to the last of the book by Troy Cummings before tomorrow, having to make up a Canvas page for a practice test for ISTEP, NWEA, and about 45,923 papers left to grade (and drawings left to finish too), it feels like the walls are closing in around me sometimes.

Remember: Science Exam tomorrow!

Calculations

Mrs. Haberfield is the Math Bowl coach this year! It's her first year of coaching, and she is excited. I'm hoping we have a good turnout from 5-1. 

The first meeting is tomorrow after school in her classroom. Pickup is at 3:30.

Be there to show off your mathematical know-how, or maybe to learn a thing or two. This meeting might tell you whether it's right for you or not. 

Slowing Down a Little Bit

Well, the good news is that I got some stuff graded that had been sitting in my pile for way too long.

The bad news (or probably the good news, actually) is that I am going to have to go back and re-teach surface area to my math class. Many seventh graders struggle with surface area. I thought the fact that my math class seemed to get it so well seemed too good to be true--and it was! That's perfectly okay. We can do that.

This Thursday, we will have a Caesar's English quiz, what with Colonial Days on Friday.

Oh, and if you can possibly volunteer for Colonial Days, please let me know! We can use all the hands we can get--and as I understand it, we are a bit short this year.

Talk soon. I hope everyone has had a good weekend.

Words in Iron

 

Today, sadly, is Holocaust Memorial Day.

I went to a concentration camp while visiting Berlin a few years ago, and it was a really upsetting--but important--experience. I had to take a picture while I was there (actually, I took a ton of them). This caught my eye. I liked that someone had put roses through these horrifying words.

It was a very dreary and overcast day--much like today.

The 100 Club

Today, according to my "every day is a holiday" calendar, it was "Have Fun at Work Day". I think today certainly fit that bill nicely. 

I'll start at the end. My good friend, Sensei Heather Adamson, came in as our guest reader today. Sensei Heather is a sensei at Adamson's Karate Studios, the mother of seventeen-year-old twin girls, and an eighth grader named Caleb. She and I coached karate together for many, many years. She was my teacher. We have all kinds of connections that have come and gone over the past fourteen years. She is also the wife of Shihan, or as I have known him for all those years, the former "Sensei" John. 

Not only did she read a great book to the kids, she fielded questions for awhile and--unexpectedly--got to participate in our intruder drill. I've always told the kids that they are in the safest room in case of an intruder. This afternoon, though, they were in an even safer room than ever. Two senseis protecting the gates. Had it been a real intruder, the kids would have seen a doubly good show.

We all loved having her in today, and we thank her so much for coming in today. I try to bring some of my favorite people in as guest readers each year, and this year, I think I've done a pretty great job. 

Backing up to this morning a bit, during Math, we were witness to a parade of some very tiny little elderly people walking around Woodbrook. 

You see, today was the 100th day of school. The kindergarten classes have a tradition of dressing up as 100-year-old people on this day of the school year. This caught me off guard, although I knew it had to be coming up soon. It's crazy that we've been together for this long!

We also watched the rest of Cars 3 (after starting it way back on December 22), started the second Qwerty Stevens book, took a Math quiz, did an exit slip for Language Arts, and...well, that's enough for one day. 

More information will be coming soon. For now, have a great weekend!

You Got to Know When to Hold 'Em

It hit me today just how much we have accomplished this week:

• We have studied and talked about the states of matter for science (test next Wednesday!).
• We have learned about slavery, and the colonial Americans' part in it--as well as the part played by Europe and West Africa. It wasn't just a Civil War thing--it took place long before, and all over the world.
• My students had the chance to learn some karate from my good, good friend, Shinan (formerly known--and still known to me--as Sensei John from Adamson's Karate. 
• We have taken time each day to talk our way through analogies.
• We have also taken time each day to discuss predicate adjectives.
• Last but not least, we have discussed character traits--not directly given to the reader, but what we can learn through a character's actions.
• In math, we have learned about finding the area of different polygons and deconstructing different odd polygons into simple shapes to find their areas. All of the kids also passed their fraction-decimal quizzes!
• We learned today about sign language and how it works. 
• I learned a thing or two about Spongebob Squarepants from the students when I thought I was just reading a trivia question.
• Today, we started to learn about aquifers, and how ponds can be formed and water can be channeled from the ground. 
• Finally, we finished reading Qwerty Stevens today, and we are ready to start the second book tomorrow. Plus, we started a dialogue with the writer of this (and The Genius File), Dan Gutman! 

You know what? I'm going to call this week a win. Don't forget, bookmarks are due tomorrow, and we have a spelling test! 19/19ths of the bookmarks being turned in would be a huge bonus.

Try-Ons

This message came from Mr. Frizzi at the middle school today:

Your students were a fantastic audience last night.  Could you please put our website on your canvas pages and in your school’s announcements so that students know where to register?

www.clayperformingarts.org and click on the Try-on Registration tab.

Thanks,
Jeff

Jeff Frizzi

Our Own Coke and Pep

How awesome it was to receive this response to a tweet I sent to Mr. Dan Gutman, author of The Genius Files series. Sam and Evelyn were sporting Sam's Coca-Cola sweatshirt (for Coke) and Evelyn's Pepsi sweatshirt (for Pep).

I think all of 5-1 was a little excited that we have now communicated with Dan Gutman. Hey, Dan! Feel free to swing by Area 51 sometime! We'd love to talk to you!

Hope

Happy Birthday to Hope!

What can I say about Hope? She is a concentrated laser beam of positive energy. When we have a vocabulary word, such as amiable or optimist, everyone thinks of Hope as the example of that word.

One of the best things about Hope is that, as a result of coming from a big family, she has spent so much of her life taking care of other people around her. Because of this, she is one of the few children I've taught who doesn't think they are the center of the universe. They know it's not all about them. If she is ever unhappy about something--homework, someone accidentally bumping into them, or if she can't find her pencil, she doesn't tell me and make it my problem to solve. She knows it's her problem to solve on her own. In fact, she wouldn't even call those things "problems" in the first place.

I can honestly say that the world can use more Hopes.

Happy Birthday, Hope! You definitely, definitely deserve a good one!

Slow-Motion Time

I have to say, at the very least, we did accomplish everything I had hoped to accomplish today. We worked on analogies, predicate adjectives, and characterization. We got through what we need in math, and in science, we did what I thought was a really interesting exploration in science class, but the kids evidently thought it was pretty boring.

It seems like I had a lot more to tell you earlier, before I went through the rest of my day and then sat down to finally type this. I figure those things will pop back into my mind and I will add them to my next post.

For now, this is all you need to know.

Hope you had a great Monday.

The Full Stretch

This week, we have to take advantage of the fact that we actually have a true, full week. Next week (already!) we will have Colonial Days on Friday, so our five day week will actually be closer to a four-day week.

We should be covering predicate adjectives and nominatives, character traits (continued), analogies, the earth's water system, and if we can get those things covered, I will count it as a plus. Of course, there is more I would like to cover, but that would be icing on the cake.

I will be out for part of Wednesday morning, by the way, but I should be able to be reached as normal.

I'm tired!

Spontaneous Symmetry Break

Don't tell Mr. Z, but I caught him showing his artistic side in the art room yesterday.

You see, all week, we have had former Woodbrook student Kate Jones as our Artist in Residence during art class. Each class did a section of several paintings that will be in a gallery somewhere at Woodbrook. The staff was told our last chance was to do our part sometime yesterday. This was just before I headed up there with Mr. Z to paint some leaves.

Can't wait to see the artwork up in the halls.

Good Friends

Today in 5-1, we had the great privilege of being visited by two guests, mother and son. Jill and Michael Pitz came today. Michael was the first of hopefully several guest-readers we are going to have throughout the remainder of this school year.

First, he told the kids about his life going from Carmel High School down to IU this fall. Michael is a former student. I knew him first (I'm pretty sure) through doing karate, and he told the kids about his experience in getting his black belt when he was in fifth grade, getting into student government, running track, playing basketball, and everything else he did--he did a lot of stuff--over the past ten years or so.

He read the book After the Fall, which won the Caldecott Medal, and is about Humpty Dumpty overcoming his fears and learning to climb back up the wall after his fall. 

Then, in case all the kids were wondering exactly where his talent and determination came from, his mom talked to the kids about the harp and its 47 strings, the pedals, and the physics of the harp--much more complicated than I would have guessed, personally...

And then she started to play. I loved watching the faces on the kids when she did. They were transfixed. So was I, and I've heard her play many times before. People from the hallway started coming in to watch and listen too. She played "Beauty and the Beast", and the followed that up with "Eleanor Rigby".

Then, she asked the kids who wanted to come up and strum the strings. I loved how each time a kid went up and did so, it sounded different. 

But the most different was when Gaby, who is a harpist herself, sat down to play. She treated us to a very different sound than when Mrs. Pitz played, but every bit as beautiful and haunting. She played "Scarborough Fair" by Simon and Garfunkle. We were all impressed by hearing Gaby pluck at those strings--and I now have an idea for a future guest back in Area 51.

I have been teaching for a long time now, and it's great to see the layers of my years of teaching stacking up and paying off more than I could have ever expected.

Thanks so much, Michael and Jill. It meant so much to the kids that you were able to come, and even more to me personally. 

By the way, there are three more people in the Pitz family...now I just need to figure out when we can get them in here.

Gaby

Happy Birthday, Gaby!

Gaby is 5-1's resident artist. She always has her pencil out and can fill a page with drawings of people and cats and cartooning that looks like it was done by a professional. She has such an appreciation for artistry and design. Not to mention, she is a big fan of manga and anime and ordinary comic books! I was shocked at the start of the year when she said that her favorite super-hero was Spider-Gwen. Spider-Gwen was only created about two years ago--she knows her stuff. (And Spider-Gwen does have one of the coolest costumes ever created.)

Gaby has such a nice, calm demeanor. It helps create a...balance to so much of the rest of the class. She is the perfect demonstration of what it means to be a mature young woman.

I hope you got to do something awesome today, Gaby, and that your birthday was amazing. You deserve it!

Fast Times At Woodbrook Elementary

We started our NWEA testing today, and what I've seen so far looks pretty darn good!

We studied all about the states of matter, learned all about decomposing shapes in math, and talked about character traits in language arts.

Gaby, don't worry, I will take care of your blog post later tonight--until then, happy birthday! 

Sneaking In Under the Wire

We were pretty much able to get back to normal today. I was out of the room for the end of the day, though, but I'm thankful to Mrs. Karakash for taking over to close us out.

Other than Math, the only homework for tonight was to do the ten questions from the reading today. Hopefully we will get a full 19/19ths of those in tomorrow!

Everyone have a great Thursday. Talk soon!

He's Green and He's Mean

What ever happened to Mr. Yuk stickers?

We used to actually hand out sheets of these to our students and have them take them home so their parents could put them on things like...laundry detergent? Round-Up? Lysol? Formula 409? Oven cleaner?

Bleach?

Um... poison?

Seriously, people. Sorry to pound this home with a hammer, but it is sadly, sadly needed. I don't want your kids to die because of some stupid (yes, STUPID) dare.

The End Times

We had a flyer go home today regarding some "end of fifth grade" items coming up. I hate the first line at the top: "The time has come for our 5th graders to say farewell to Woodbrook Elementary!" What? It's the start of the second half of the year. Don't shove them out too quickly, people! We still have four more Math units to cover, four more Language Arts units, two more writing units, and a butt-load more of Social Studies and some more Science as well. That's half a year's worth. And here I thought the problem was with Clay tugging them out too quickly.

Anyway, if your child didn't bring this home today, here are the biggies:

• Graduation Ceremony: May 30th, 9:00 (!) in the gym.
• Graduation Party: May 30th, Northview Church, 5:30-8:00. 
• Gleaners Food Bank Project: Saturday, March 24th, 8:45-12:00. (I have done this with only my class the past couple years--it's been great!)
• Laser Flash: January 28th, 4p-6p.

There you go! Don't forget, we're only halfway through, guys. Still much more to do, as of right now!

Bad Idea Tuesday

We just had a talk in the classroom about the disturbing and alarming trend among kids of eating laundry detergent pods.

I told them that I've had students show me video of themselves sucking on a lemon for thirty seconds or dumping ice water over their heads. I always say something like, "You idiot!" and then we have a good laugh, because we all know there is nothing inherently dangerous in either of those dares.

But this is different. This is toxic, scary, and deadly. Nurse Barb sent a page about this today, and it seriously frightened me. The joking side of me first thought that maybe we could just let natural selection run its course, but the teacher side of me is far more concerned.

Don't eat laundry detergent. 

Just last week, we did an exploration in science called "What Would Happen If You Drank a Glass of Acid?", which of course showed why it would be a horrible idea--acid was poured on a cheeseburger, an aluminum can, and other such things to show just how horrible it is. We actually used laundry detergent as one of the items in the exploration!

Luckily, the kids in Area 51 are pretty bright, but I'm really hoping they can convince their friends to eat those disgusting jelly beans from Harry Potter, sit in a bathtub full of ice water, or suck a lemon instead. (Although a lemon does have citric acid, so think that one over...)

I can't believe we're having to tell this to kids. 

March

I had wanted to do a lesson on Friday about Martin Luther King, Jr., in particular about the march across the bridge in Selma, Alabama.

One of the best books--graphic novel or otherwise--that I read last year was a three-book graphic novel series called March. It's written by John Lewis, one of the protesters arrested in Selma  on Bloody Sunday back in 1965. For the past many years, he has been in the U.S. House of Representatives for the state of Georgia, continuing Martin Luther King's fight. It's a great book if you've never read it.

Until recently, supporting a book like this wouldn't have been considered a political statement, and that's definitely not what I'm trying to do here. I just wanted to take this moment--unfortunately after MLK Day as it turned out--that we should all allow for peaceful demonstrations no matter what the cause may be. We all need to be good to each other.

Happy Tuesday, everyone. More to come, I'm sure!

Ode To Our Families

Delores O'Riordan may not have a name that everyone knows, but man, she was an incredible singer. Her voice was unique and beautiful.

She is probably best known for the Cranberries song "Linger", but I will always remember her best for a few other songs--"Ode To My Family", "Dreams", "Free To Decide", and last but not least, "Zombie."

The Cranberries, her band, were a group whom I "accidentally" saw for the first time when they opened for Pearl Jam at Purdue's Elliott Hall of Music way back in, what, must have been 1994? No one had ever heard of them, but I thought, Man, these guys are good. And then, luckily, they exploded onto the scene.

Here's a tribute to O'Riordan, another one lost to the great beyond.

We Won't Share the Wish We Made

This week, we are going to have an altered schedule from what was originally planned, but that's cool.

• We're going to forge ahead tomorrow with Math Chapter 5. We had a quick quiz we were going to take last Friday, but I think I will just fold that into this week's Friday quiz. Some of the material overlaps anyway, so it's all good.
• We'll find some time this week to finally watch the long-overdue rest of Cars 3 from the Friday before break. 
• One last thing, on Wednesday, I will be out of the classroom for the last part of the day. Luckily, I will have Mrs. Dawson on hand (according to plan right now--sometimes life throws a monkey wrench at us). 
• Once again, we will have our Caesar's English quiz, originally planned for last Friday, this Friday. Nobody has any excuses not to do well with all that extra study time!
• Last Friday, we missed out on an opportunity to receive a visit from one of my favorite guest readers from last year. He's eager to come, though, so we'll get him back as soon as we can. We should have a couple of special guests this Friday, though. Once again, monkey wrenches are always a possibility, but 5-1's collective fingers are crossed. 

Here's to another shortened week! Let's get as much done as possible. 

Cold-Plated

Well, it turns out that White Out Friday has turned out to literally be White Out Friday.

Three days on, four days off. Don't get used to that, kiddos!

I think what I'm going to do is set our Caesar's English quiz--the same one--for next Friday instead of giving them a new list next week. Does that make sense?

Everybody enjoy your extra break, and I'll see you on the flip side.

Bean Water

Don't forget to wear white tomorrow for the big white-out!

Don't forget to bring in your bookmark tomorrow!

Don't forget to study for Caesar's English!

Ask your child about the science experiments we did in class today. It was regarding the chemical reactions of various acids. When most of us think of acid, we think of sulphuric acid, which is extremely dangerous. But I found out that most of the kids don't think of that (modern era!), but they rightfully had in mind citric acids (and that in Coke) and, even though they didn't think to call it this, acetic acids such as vinegar.

Endings, Beginnings, and Chemical Reactions

This is unusual, but the kids will have some Science homework tonight. We did an experiment in class today, and their only homework for homeroom tonight it to make sure they complete the End of Mystery Assessment. It's three questions, but they should be answered in complete sentences (however many the question calls for).

Also today, we finished The Genius Files series. It all ended today. It was quite the saga and quite the ending!

We did a listening comprehension activity today, and I also took the kids through all the books that made me into a reader, and they're not the kind you'd expect. It all stems from a book that I was introduced to just a few weeks ago, right before break. The introduction is by Dav Pilkey, who is responsible for Captain Underpants. I told the kids that it could say "By Jeff Carter" at the top instead of "By Dav Pilkey." Ask them about it.

I hope everyone has a great evening--two days down, two days to go. They really are easing us in this January, aren't they?

Blame It On Gravity

Okay, folks! Sorry, I had meant to post much earlier today, but I decided to wait until I got home this evening. But when I got home, my internet was down, and I had nearly given up when I checked one last time.

It was good to see the kids today. We all just kind of fell right back in where we left off. We did our best to finish off The Genius Files (we have at least one more day on that one), we did a Caesar's English list (quiz Friday!), we learned some Science, and last but not least, in math, we learned about the infamous box-and-whisker plots. If you don't know what those are, you're not alone. They came about in the time between when I learned math, and when I started teaching math. Have your kid explain it, and if they're in my math class, hopefully they can tell you about it.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone. Hopefully tomorrow's update will be a bit more timely. 

Sam

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Sam is the first person I turn to every day. It didn't take long for him to go from just being the attendance-reader of the week to becoming my permanent attendance man. I'm not sure why, but I just like the way he does it. He knows right where to put the attendance sticks when it's done, and he knows how to make sure the Lifeskills kids get included in the count even if they're not all in the room yet. But that's just the practical reason I like Sam so much.

Sam has a great sense of humor. He's the kind of kid who can look you in the face, give a funny response in a total deadpan, and never crack up at himself. Do you know how rare that is in a kid? I can think of only two other examples from my seventeen years of teaching, and both of those are from when I taught Challenge (this was back before it was called "HA"--ha!).

No day would quite be right without Sam. He's a good friend to everyone, he never has an unkind word to say, and he cracks me up.

Sam, you're one of the good ones, buddy. I hope you had a great birthday. You deserve it!

Evelyn

Happy Birthday to Miss Evelyn!

When I think of Evelyn, I think about how helpful she is--without question. I say that literally, because I can ask her to take care of any task--collecting papers, taking something to another classroom, or go down to the office to get something--and she may be the one person assigned to such jobs who won't ever come and ask me anything more. I know the job will get done.

She is a quiet leader in that way. Everyone likes her, and it's because she has such an easy-going personality. At least part of it is. I know that she also has a more advanced appreciation of music than most of her fifth grade classmates who consider--oh jeez, I don't even know what they think music is anymore. But I know that Evelyn likes Bon Jovi and Soundgarden, and those are both indicators of good taste.

Evelyn, I'm glad that you at least got to have the day off for your birthday, even if it was the last day before having to come back to school.

Happy Birthday, Evelyn! As one of my favorite people, you definitely deserve it.

It's Not a Personal Experience

Growing up in a place that has winter, you learn to avoid self-pity. Winter is not a personal experience, everybody else is just as cold as you, so you shouldn't complain about it too much. You learn this as a kid, coming home crying from the cold, and Mother looks down and says, 'It's only a little frostbite. You're okay.' And thus you learn to be okay. What's done is done. Get over it. Drink your coffee. It's not the best you'll ever get but it's good enough.

--Garrison Keillor

 

Say what you will about Garrison Keillor--sounds like he made some interesting choices during his peak years--but this is no less true.   

 

I had to have a talk with the kids about the proper attire to wear during the winter. They (and we) live in Indiana, which, for many years, has been a state where it gets cold outside. It's no surprise, nor is it unique to anyone here. 

I hope you are all making your kids go outside in this. They need to breathe in the cold air, feel their nostrils stick together, and then come back in after awhile to drink some hot chocolate. You and I all went through it, and we survived, and we're fine. 

Yep, it's warmer in Anchorage, Alaska. I've seen that post too. I don't care. If you took that fact for what it implies, you would think that it's 120 degrees there in the summer. It's not. It's called jet streams and meteorology. 

Endure the winter. It will make springtime all that much better.

Magic Bus

It's so weird to think that within the next calendar year, your kids will be fully ingrained in Clay Middle School.

The teachers at Woodrbook have, for a long time, said that Clay tries to grab their full attention a whole half year before they are officially finished at Woodbrook, making it harder for us to keep their attention here. That said, it is true that they will be fully enveloped--and rightfully so--by this time next year. It's a weird thing to think about. But it is true.

My hope is to keep them tuned in during the second half of their fifth grade year, despite the pull from the other side. There is still much for them to learn. In fact, they still have a half year plus to learn from fifth grade. Despite the tugging at their arms from above, we still have half a year's worth to teach them down here at Woodbrook.

The best I can hope for is to provide a good, solid bridge between Woodbrook and Clay. I have done my best to personally create this bridge for many years through my connections at Clay, and in the past couple years, have been as involved as possible in keeping those connections through committees in math, language arts, and other stuff. This year, I am hoping to keep the connections strong through an outdoor science curriculum that popped up.

Anyway, I just wanted you to know that we are not pushing them out of Woodbrook, even though it will likely seem that way in the upcoming months.

I hope everyone has a great 2018. It's crazy to think about the changes in the year ahead.

Oh yeah, and Happy New Year!