Below are a few glimpses into our voyage. We'll have a complete slide show on Friday, September 2nd at 11:30. You're welcome to join us. Information will follow on how you can obtain photos of your own child.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Fall Voyage
Mr. Bill's crew has just finished three adventuresome days! We learned new leadership and teamwork skills, deepened friendships, evicted ourselves from our comfort zones, found new strengths, helped each other through weaknesses, blazed a trail (literally!), nursed wounds, and swapped battle stories around the campfire. Oh yeah, and we were ever vigilant for a sudden call of "TWIZZLE." (Ask your child.)
Below are a few glimpses into our voyage. We'll have a complete slide show on Friday, September 2nd at 11:30. You're welcome to join us. Information will follow on how you can obtain photos of your own child.
Below are a few glimpses into our voyage. We'll have a complete slide show on Friday, September 2nd at 11:30. You're welcome to join us. Information will follow on how you can obtain photos of your own child.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Our First Post Card Has Arrived
Our first post card has arrived! The students won't find out until after we get back from our voyage, and then we'll draw to see who gets to read it and add it to our display. The sender wrote a very nice message.
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| State capitol, city hall, and Elk St. |
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Squaring, Unsquaring, and Crystalizing
We're well into our second full week now: the foundation's been laid (or if you prefer the other metaphor, the rocket's trajectory has stabilized). Our crew is functioning well and learning a lot.
Expedition
We continued "Hunka' Hunka' Burnin' Earth" by beginning to explore the building blocks of the earth's crust, minerals and rocks. We examined a variety of rock and mineral samples and looked for properties by which we can classify them. We then defined the difference between the terms "rock" and "mineral." As we did this, we talked about how minerals are formed with specific shapes called crystals. After that, we grew crystals from a sodium chloride solution (salt water). We'll discover in upcoming learning experiences why the particular shapes of crystals can be important in the way Earth's materials such as magma/lava behave.
Math
We continued our look at number theory concepts, deepening our understanding of prime and composite numbers, and learning what square numbers are (we defined these two ways: numbers based on arrays with an equal number of rows and columns--i.e., squares; numbers that are the product of a number multiplied by itself) We also looked at how we "unsquare" numbers (find their square roots).
Reader's Workshop
In our reader's workshop time we reviewed and practiced two different comprehension skills: 1) making notes of our thinking (e.g., questions, connections, disagreements, etc.) as we read so we can discuss the text with others 2) using the text features of non-fiction text to aid our understanding of the text.
Writer's Workshop
We explored more mentor texts this week to learn about the characteristics of memoir writing. We've now identified seventeen techniques that can be used in this genre. Our mentor texts were from the book Boy by Roald Dahl--a great autobiography filled with richly entertaining vignettes from the writer's years growing up in the 1920's.
Expedition
We continued "Hunka' Hunka' Burnin' Earth" by beginning to explore the building blocks of the earth's crust, minerals and rocks. We examined a variety of rock and mineral samples and looked for properties by which we can classify them. We then defined the difference between the terms "rock" and "mineral." As we did this, we talked about how minerals are formed with specific shapes called crystals. After that, we grew crystals from a sodium chloride solution (salt water). We'll discover in upcoming learning experiences why the particular shapes of crystals can be important in the way Earth's materials such as magma/lava behave.
Math
We continued our look at number theory concepts, deepening our understanding of prime and composite numbers, and learning what square numbers are (we defined these two ways: numbers based on arrays with an equal number of rows and columns--i.e., squares; numbers that are the product of a number multiplied by itself) We also looked at how we "unsquare" numbers (find their square roots).
Reader's Workshop
In our reader's workshop time we reviewed and practiced two different comprehension skills: 1) making notes of our thinking (e.g., questions, connections, disagreements, etc.) as we read so we can discuss the text with others 2) using the text features of non-fiction text to aid our understanding of the text.
Writer's Workshop
We explored more mentor texts this week to learn about the characteristics of memoir writing. We've now identified seventeen techniques that can be used in this genre. Our mentor texts were from the book Boy by Roald Dahl--a great autobiography filled with richly entertaining vignettes from the writer's years growing up in the 1920's.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
The Crew Goes Global!
I'm excited to tell you about a fun project the students and I will be doing this year.
I have signed us up to participate in an international postcard exchange. We will send and receive postcards from all over the world and United States.
It is so fun to get glimpses into the lives and culture of people all over the world. As we display our postcards and connect them to the world map, students develop geographical and cultural awareness. As we take turns writing and reading the cards, students get practice writing for an authentic audience for an interesting reason.
Postcards are sent to my home address only, and all outgoing cards will be previewed to make sure that no personal information is given out.
May I ask for your support in this exciting endeavor? International postage is 98 cents per card, and domestic is 29 cents. Will you consider sending in stamps of any denomination to help cover the cost of postage?
When your family goes somewhere that sells postcards (museums, national parks, downtown Denver etc.) will you consider buying a few to add to the class collection? (Or maybe you already have a few at home from past travels.) Any kind of postcard is welcome, as long as it is appropriate for kids.
In the meantime, we eagerly await our first postcards. I'll post pictures on the blog when they come, so all of you will get to enjoy this snail mail endeavor, as well.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Hunka Hunka Burnin' Earth
Expedition
We kicked off expedition this week with "Hunka Hunka Burnin' Earth" (the name of our first case study). We started with a gallery walk. This is where students take time to examine a wide variety of photos and other documents displayed around the room, recording their thoughts and questions as they do. This case study is part of our earth science expedition titled "Let's Get Down to Earth."
The Big Ideas of "Hunka Hunka Burnin' Earth" are:
1) The Earth's surface constantly changes through a variety of processes and forces
2) The constant changes to the Earth's surface have both dangers and benefits for humans.
Math
We are working in unit 1, which reviews basic whole number concepts and operations. So far, we've looked at factors, products, prime and composite numbers, and divisibility. Ask your child what the word "divisibility" means.
Just a reminder that your child should have given you the "Family Letter" for unit 1.
Reading
In reader's workshop, we've been reviewing basic comprehension skills. The last three days, we've been discussing and practicing our ability to monitor what goes on inside our heads as we try to get meaning from the text we're reading.
One of our acronyms is WITM--a question we should be asking ourselves continually as we read:
What Is The Message of the text?
Writing
In writer's workshop, we've begun our look at memoirs. We're examining examples of this kind of writing to identify characteristics we want to put into our own memoirs. These examples are called "mentor texts." In independent writing time, students have been listing several memories they think would be good material for interesting and engaging memoirs.
Word Study
Students have been placed into groups based on their spelling developmental level. One group will focus on patterns within words (like vowel blends), one group will work with words based on patterns of syllables and affixes, and one group will work with longer words that don't easily fit into patterns. In addition to the groups' specialized words, each week the class will have five words in common. These words are part of a list of words that, when mastered, give students a handle on the majority of all English prefixes and suffixes.
We kicked off expedition this week with "Hunka Hunka Burnin' Earth" (the name of our first case study). We started with a gallery walk. This is where students take time to examine a wide variety of photos and other documents displayed around the room, recording their thoughts and questions as they do. This case study is part of our earth science expedition titled "Let's Get Down to Earth."
The Big Ideas of "Hunka Hunka Burnin' Earth" are:
1) The Earth's surface constantly changes through a variety of processes and forces
2) The constant changes to the Earth's surface have both dangers and benefits for humans.
Math
We are working in unit 1, which reviews basic whole number concepts and operations. So far, we've looked at factors, products, prime and composite numbers, and divisibility. Ask your child what the word "divisibility" means.
Just a reminder that your child should have given you the "Family Letter" for unit 1.
Reading
In reader's workshop, we've been reviewing basic comprehension skills. The last three days, we've been discussing and practicing our ability to monitor what goes on inside our heads as we try to get meaning from the text we're reading.
One of our acronyms is WITM--a question we should be asking ourselves continually as we read:
What Is The Message of the text?
Writing
In writer's workshop, we've begun our look at memoirs. We're examining examples of this kind of writing to identify characteristics we want to put into our own memoirs. These examples are called "mentor texts." In independent writing time, students have been listing several memories they think would be good material for interesting and engaging memoirs.
Word Study
Students have been placed into groups based on their spelling developmental level. One group will focus on patterns within words (like vowel blends), one group will work with words based on patterns of syllables and affixes, and one group will work with longer words that don't easily fit into patterns. In addition to the groups' specialized words, each week the class will have five words in common. These words are part of a list of words that, when mastered, give students a handle on the majority of all English prefixes and suffixes.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Edmodo
www.edmodo.com is an educational website that provides forums for classes to communicate electronically. I opened a "group" for the class as a whole and one for each student.
The whole-class group is for classwork such as posting thoughts on articles, taking polls, etc. The individual accounts are intended for students to do reading responses and similar work in.
The whole-class group is for classwork such as posting thoughts on articles, taking polls, etc. The individual accounts are intended for students to do reading responses and similar work in.
I thought we had adequate discussion on the expectations for using the site, but there were two problems that surfaced quickly:
1) Yesterday as I was busy working with individual students to set up their personal accounts, a few crewmembers posted mildly inappropriate comments to the whole-class board. They apparently forgot that whatever they post is visible to everyone, including me. I addressed this problem with individuals and the class.
2) A few students have used the whole-class group after school hours for communicating socially with crewmates. This is not the intent of Edmodo. It’s not meant to be a social network site or open chat room.
If you see your child using Edmodo at home, please remind them it is only for tasks I have directed them to do. Obviously, I will eventually find out if improper postings are made, but it will make things easier if there is parental intervention stopping misuse up front.
Also, students should not be giving the group code out to anyone outside the crew except you. Your child can show you how to log on to the whole-class board and their personal board. I do ask that you do not post comments to the site—let the site belong to the students. Rather, email me if you have any comments or questions related to the content of the board.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
...5...4...We Have Ignition...3...2...1...Blast Off...
The rocket ship "Mr. Bill's Crew 2011-12" has been launched. We're on a lightning-fast trajectory toward academic and character growth!
Okay, a bit of a hokey metaphor, but it does capture the excitement of a new school year. As a crew we are eagerly anticipating what we'll learn and become while the calendar hurdles on to June 2012.
To switch metaphors, the focus of our first two days together has been building a foundation. We have done some work in each content area (math, reading, writing, etc), but our primary goal has been to learn the procedures and expectations that will allow the crew to be successful this year. As a part of this, students have been learning that Mr. Bill likes acronyms to help remember important ideas. (for example, ask your child if he or she remembers what TIOSAAT means (Take It One Step At A Time)). One of the main things we reviewed is the "Big 3" guidelines for student behavior at Renaissance:
1) You may engage in any behavior that does not create a problem for yourself or anyone else in the world.
2) If you find yourself with a problem, you solve it by any means that does not cause a problem for anyone else in the world.
3) You may engage in any behavior that does not jeopardize the safety or learning of yourself or others. Unkind words and actions will not be tolerated.
Okay, a bit of a hokey metaphor, but it does capture the excitement of a new school year. As a crew we are eagerly anticipating what we'll learn and become while the calendar hurdles on to June 2012.
To switch metaphors, the focus of our first two days together has been building a foundation. We have done some work in each content area (math, reading, writing, etc), but our primary goal has been to learn the procedures and expectations that will allow the crew to be successful this year. As a part of this, students have been learning that Mr. Bill likes acronyms to help remember important ideas. (for example, ask your child if he or she remembers what TIOSAAT means (Take It One Step At A Time)). One of the main things we reviewed is the "Big 3" guidelines for student behavior at Renaissance:
1) You may engage in any behavior that does not create a problem for yourself or anyone else in the world.
2) If you find yourself with a problem, you solve it by any means that does not cause a problem for anyone else in the world.
3) You may engage in any behavior that does not jeopardize the safety or learning of yourself or others. Unkind words and actions will not be tolerated.
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