Mr. E's Blog

Oct. 29 --

Hello, in class today we took our weekly spelling and word study test, and also read a story from Junior Great Books called "Fresh." This story is excellent -- I love it! It's beautifully written, by Philippa Pearce, set in England, and has some really deep ideas and themes! Surprisingly -- though I think has very sophisticated tones and themes -- and is very "deep" and "adult" in the sense that it brings up complicated issues of life and humanity -- the kids respond very well to it and really seem to get into it! I enjoy teaching "Fresh."

We will have the second reading of "Fresh" tomorrow -- probably in partner reading, or individually. Later in the week, we will have discussions and a writing and probably an art response to the story in their journals.

Last week, we read and considered the short story "Power of Light" by Isaac Singer. This is part of the William and Mary program. This story meshes beautifully with the Holocaust theme that was carried forth in the novel, "Number the Stars." It is a story of two young teenagers who escape the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland and evade Nazi capture to make it all the way to Israel and a new home and life of freedom We are doing some William and Mary activities on this story regarding the Great Idea of "Change," and a literary analysis of the story. These activities will be taped into their classwork journals.

To me, "Fresh," "Power of Light," and "Number the Stars" are examples of very rich texts, and deep ways of analyzing, that are the hallmarks of our Talented and Gifted Program at Heather Hills ES.

In the Reading Street anthology, we have read the short stories, or excerpts, "Because of Winn-Dixie," and "Lewis and Clark and Me." I was sick for a couple of days last week and the substitute handled that.

Last week, in social studies, we did a deep dive into geographical and map and globe vocabulary. The kids made flashcards on these terms, which they can use on the test this week. They also created some map and globe activities in their classroom journals.

Onward to the second quarter! :-)

Oct. 26 --

Hello: It's a chilly Oct. Friday, and we are finishing up some social studies map and globe vocabulary activities, as well as some final follow-up activities on our first-quarter novel, "Number the Stars."

I am very happy with how our "Great Ideas" weekly cycle is going!

As I have mentioned, I developed that homework program from an EXCELLENT workshop I attended on teaching the Talented and Gifted. The purpose is to encourage deep thinking and discussion among the kids, and I think we have succeeded! This morning I saw the great articles the kids brought in that relate to "Judgement," and I circulated to overhear their conversations. They did a great job! They were paraphrasing and summarizing their articles for each other in small groups, and then having interesting conversations!

The workshop I attended was on conducting Socratic seminars, and this type of discussion follows that style.

Earlier this week, we read the short story "The Power of Light." That short story comes from our William and Mary TAG curriculum. The teaching of the story focuses on literary interpretation, and the idea of "change" -- which is our overarching Great Idea for the whole 4th grade.

The great thing about "The Power of Light" is that the short story also has a Holocaust theme, so it meshes very nicely with "Number the Stars." I also have taught the kids quite a bit about the background -- history and geography -- of World War II to go along with these stories, and I think they are absorbing a lot.

I love to see them going to the maps around the classroom on their own, and pointing things out to each other. You can see the excitement of what they are learning in their eyes.

The spelling cycle seems to be going well and I think some kids who initially struggled with this challenging list have "settled in" and their test grades are going up. I think it's worthwhile to study these patterns, and I also try to include other types of word studies such as Latin roots, and some grammar and other vocabulary.

Oct 8 --

Hello all, and happy Columbus Day-Indigenous People's Day, and happy end of summer-beginning of fall? We certainly are having some gorgeous warm weather to go into the fall. Someone did tell me over the weekend that we can expect a cold winter, though.

We are having Career Day today, and that has been fun to see the parents coming and presenting about their careers. I think the kids always enjoy this day and it does plant seeds of inspiration in their minds.

I have been so impressed by the projects on Maryland Counties! We are finishing the presentations this week. I love to see the kids talking about history, government, economics, attractions, landforms, and all.

I think those concepts really are coming to mean something to them, from their own research, reporting, creation of visual aids, and presenting. And the "listening charts" really have kept them on-task and learning from each other. Our hallways are looking like interesting galleries of information on Maryland! Thanks!

Although we are done with reading the novel, "Number the Stars," we are doing some follow-up activities on that novel and will be for some time. Last year the kids would refer to that wonderful novel all year long in their "Great Ideas" homework and other contexts.

They are filling their classwork journals with activities that respond to "Number the Stars."

I also am directing some social studies activities to support learning around that novel.

Notes:

1) . Sorry that I forgot to post the "Latin roots" part of the spelling word studies this past week. I won't include those words on the test.

2) . I believe Interim Progress Reports go home this Friday.

Enjoy your holiday -- especially if you have it off, ha ha! :-) .

Oct 3 --

I am loving the Maryland County projects that are coming in! Every single one of the 50 students that Ms. Jones and I have between us in our sections brought in their project, and the students have done a wonderful job on presenting them. I can see that they are learning a lot!

We are presenting about six a day. The students in the audience have a "listening chart" that they are using to record the counties presented, plus three important and/or fun facts about that county. That chart will be an assessment grade for listening under Oral and Written Communication!

I have been hanging in the hallway the projects that are on paper. The ones on backboards I am displaying in the room (trying to find a place, ha ha).

Thank you so much for a wonderful project.

I think Ms. Pierson has assigned an ICAL project which the kids told me is due Oct. 17. On October 19, I probably will send home the "Number the Stars" choice board project, making that due three weeks later on Nov. 9. On November 9, I probably will send home the Write A Book project, making it due four to five weeks later. (I probably will post on this web site the directions for the Write A Book sooner though, so conceivably you could start that project earlier if you would like to. I am trying to avoid overlap in the projects, and as you know, Science Fair will be entering into that mix at some point also. However, Write A Book and Science Fair are broken up into sub-deadlines that at the beginning are very "doable" so it's not as burdensome as it sounds (I hope, ha ha!). At some point in the spring, we all can relax! :-)

Sept. 28 Blog --

Just to add a note, that we started "Number the Stars" the first day of school, read a chapter a day for 17 days, yesterday read the Afterword, in which the author explained some of the inspiration and research she did for the book, and today read the speech the author gave when she accepted the Newberry Prize for excellence in literature for children. So this is day 19 of school.

What a powerful way to wind up the first "eighth" of our school year! Today I explained to the kids how important it is never to forget terrible things that happen in history, such as the holocaust, slavery, and other evils -- so that we may never repeat them! Remember the quote: "He or she who does not remember history, is condemned to repeat it!"

We also talked about symbolism today (it's a short class because of the half-day). I listed various symbols from the book, and the kids said what they might mean. Some symbols discussed and what they meant in the novel were: cupcake (happy times); the sea (way to freedom); yellow dress (love, old times); Sweden (freedom, promised land); Nazi soldiers' boots (evil, murder, hate, brutality); swasika (death, Nazism, evil, hatred); sun-stars-sky (our own world, end of war, happy times, eternity, hope).

In her speech, the author Lois Lowery focused on why she used the image of the boots so much in the book. Reading that short speech to the students was a great way to teach the significance of symbolism in literature. The kids made notes of all this in their classwork journals.

Sept. 27 Blog --

Well, we have finished the beautiful novel "Number the Stars." We read a chapter a day since the first day of school, and finished on Day 17, this past Wednesday. Today, we read the author's afterword, in which she reflects on the childhood friendship that inspired the novel, and the historical underpinnings of the story.

I also mentioned the story of Oskar Schindler -- he is the subject of the Oscar-winning movie "Schindler's List," and there is a short article about him in the back of six of our copies (not all of them).

Today we are taking a comprehension quiz on the first four chapters of the novel. The students also are writing about the idea of "change" in the novel. Change is the overarching idea that we are focusing on in 4th grade language arts.

We also are studying some maps of Denmark and Europe, and we will be looking at some background information on the history of World War II.

This has been a wonderful way to start our school year!

On another note, we have completed two rounds of the standardized testing that we are required to do at the beginning of the year.

We finished the MAP-R testing on reading achievement, which also gives us a Lexile score, and we finished the Student Learning Objective tests, which teachers use for planning instruction and monitoring student growth throughout the year.

The Interim Progress Reports must be published by the end of the day, next Wednesday. That means we have finished an eighth of our school year already, more or less. Wow!

In this early part of the year, I generally go very easy on the grading, but of course that tightens up as the year goes on. I'm trying to get some assessments and so forth on the books before I publish the Interim Progress Reports next week.

One-eighth of the year down -- seven to go! And it's been a great start!

Sept. 12 Blog --

We have begun our novel study of "Number the Stars" -- a beautiful book by Lois Lowry. The kids are so excited that they beg to continue reading, once we are done with a chapter in class! This always is one of my favorite things to teach. It sets a great tone for the rest of the year.

In the beginning part of the year, I am presenting "Number the Stars" as a teacher read-aloud. However, each student has a copy of the novel in front of them, and they read along with me. I am the primary reader; they are the secondary reader. The kids also are reading the novel silently as part of their warmup on occasion. I do the teacher read-aloud in the beginning of the school year for the following reasons:

• It is a bonding experience between teachers and students.
• The students hear the intonation and inflection of the adult voice as they hear me read the story. It teaches them how to react to the written word and the written word should have a lot of expression.
• I do "think-alouds" as I go, teaching the kids about language conventions and literary devices, as well as -- again -- modeling that it's appropriate for the to question, monitor, and make connections as they read.
• I can bring in historical background and literary references that they do not yet know.
• I try to "bring it to life" -- show them that reading can be fun and emotional!

"Number the Stars" does have a Holocaust theme -- but it is designed for a youth audience. It actually is a great way to introduce kids to some of the darker events of history and the human condition -- as the Jewish experience in Denmark was so much different in World War II than in the rest of Europe. Denmark was the only country that was able to rescue almost all its Jews. The Danish people hid and protected their Jewish friends, and almost the whole Jewish population of 7,000 were saved. They were smuggled across the sea to Sweden, a neutral country, in fishing boats and other watercraft. So it is a positive story.

Once we finish the novel -- toward the end of September -- I will be sending home a "Number the Stars" project. It's a "Tic-Tac-Toe" choice board type project so the kids will enjoy it. I will do that after the Counties project comes in, and before the Write-A-Book project goes out! We'll squeeze it in! :-)