September 13

The kids opted to take their first social studies test on Monday.  We reviewed the material in class on Friday and everyone came home with a study guide and some resources to review. They made their own 3x5 notecard in class that they will be able to use on the test. We discussed ways to study for a test, including having a partner ask questions so that they could use "retrieval practice" to come up with the answer.  We also reviewed the essential elements of a timeline and how to read a map for information. They tell me that they are ready!  I can't wait to see what they can do. On Tuesday, we will visit the garden to taste the Columbian Exchange (tomatoes and potatoes are New World vegetables!)  I am so grateful that my students can enjoy this sensory connection to our history unit!

The students placed the picture of the invention that they researched on a time line that resides across from the library.  Their accompanying papers will go up in the same hallway this week so they can match the invention to the student writing about the topic.  This is the first research paper of the year and serves as a baseline - I am hopeful that at the end of the year, my students will be able to see that they grew a lot!  For that reason, these papers are only very lightly edited.  I save all of their writing and put it into a portfolio that comes home at the end of the year.

We started reading The City of Ember which is a dystopian novel.  It has a graphic novel that goes with it, so I plan to use this novel to teach my students how I want them to compare the book and companion graphic novel that they will read independently over the coming weeks.  Each student will create a narrated slideshow contrasting the two books.  This follows the historical fiction book groups that will wrap up over the next week.  We used these book discussions as an opportunity to review the elements of a story and to build background knowledge about this portion of American History.  

This week we tidied up the invention writing, finished building foundational knowledge about the Age of Exploration leading up to the Columbian exchange and started working through Writer's Boot Camp to review and build a reference book of all of the literacy information and vocabulary that I expect the class to remember this year.  We are explicitly practicing the skill of "taking notes" throught his work and then applying it to the social studies content. 

I finished reading, Framed by James Ponti to the class and it was quite the hit! We had a short Socratic seminar as we got to the climax (which is where this book started) and the conversation was lively.  Everyone currently has a historical fiction book to read and we will start discussing these in small groups on Tuesday. All of the classes had a math test this week and for the most part, everyone did quite well!  Instrumental music finally stared and as expected, students had a grand time makeing noise on Thursday morning!  We are definitely settling into fifth grade routines.

Thanks for continuing to turn in CalWood paperwork, which is due September 4.  Last Friday afternoon, my students and I reviewed the slide deck that we showed parents and I narrated the movie so that they could see what they should expect.  They also filled out a notecard listing at least four friends across the entire grade who they would like to share a cabin with.  We guarantee that each kid will have at least one friend in the cabins, but we assign kids more "randomly" to learning groups.

Instrumental music tryouts were a big success.  We had half of Ms. G's class with us so I was viscerally reminded of how large my class was last year!  Yowza!  I am so grateful that we have a third round of fifth graders this year.  Your student should not bring their instrument on Monday, but should bring it to school on Thursday.  I have "supervision duty" on Thursday mornings and this is one of my favorite mornings of the year since the kids are so excited to get their instruments out and make some noise before they go into the building!  This enthusiasm typically fades after a couple of months when they realize how long it takes to learn to play well.  I encourage them to be persistent!

I've been reading a lot about the perceived loss of students' focus as well as growing concerns about technology in schools so I added a couple new articles on this topic to my "parenting articles" page.  I would agree that over my years as a teacher, my students have become less willing to engage in tasks that do not interest them. Some tasks are "boring" and require persistence. My mom used to tell me that learning "boring" things in school (like multiplication facts or spelling words) was just a way of "storing nuts for winter."  They paid off in the long run but were not fun in the moment. Towards that end, I started teaching my students to "take notes" by hand as part of our "Writer's Boot Camp."  We will be reviewing spelling rules, writing mechanics and academic vocabulary and by the end of the year, my students will have filled a composition book with these nuggets.  

Barb Oakley, an educator who I follow, wrote this week about the concept of "never-skilling," which is defined as the failure to acquire foundational skills because a learner depended on AI for quick access to information and did not have the opportunity to practice, make mistakes and correct misunderstandings. This is one reason that we don't use calculators in math!  I will be talking to my students all year about how their brains work and how they can make their learning stick.  Understanding their mistakes is a HUGE part of the process of learning so I try to celebrate these moments as much as possible. This can be a hard sell to a 10-year old, but hopefully will plant seeds for the future. 

To be clear about my philosophy, we do use computers regularly in my classroom. I firmly believe that having the ability to use a computer for drafting has dramatically opened up writing for many of my students.  I teach them to "start in the middle" of their writing, beginning with the part that they know the most about, then go back to edit the catchy hook, thoughtful conclusion, or mechanical errors.  If they can start to get words onto the page without trying to make it perfect, the whole process usually flows more smoothly.  In addition, I am better at giving specific feedback when I can review their writing from my computer rather than having to lug home lots of papers to read!

At the beginning of our current research project we discussed plagiarism, including why they should not use artificial intelligence in their writing. We will revisit this topic in the future! I limit my students to four open tabs and occasionally track my students on GoGuardian to make sure that everyone is staying on task. There have been a few lapses, but hopefully they are learning that I am serious about not playing games or watching random YouTube videos.  Repeat violators will lose their computer access and I will contact parents.  I work hard to lay a strong foundation for middle school and send them off without lots of bad habits!  I appologize for the lengthy post, but I wanted you to know where I stand and how you can support your student as we begin this yearlong journey together!

The first draft of the summer memories have been completed and we will polish those up this week as we also begin social studies this week.  We will also finish up the beginning-of-the-year baseline testing.  I always say that school doesn't really start until after CalWood, but we are actually pretty busy!   Students will have the chance to try out two instruments on Thursday so please be sure to get that paperwork returned.  Carnival club starts on Wednesday morning and it's not too late to join!

Thanks for coming to Back-to-School night and for getting all of that paperwork turned in.  It was a pleasure to meet many of you and I look forward to connecting again at conferences in October.

Students will be sharing their "life boxes" this week. Instructions, with their personal due date, came home in their blue Friday folder. (You should empty the papers and return the folder on Monday.) Since my students have not had a chance to establish good fifth-grade school habits yet, I thought I should include our schedule.  This is a low stakes assignment. Mostly, I want to hear everyone's voice and learn a bit more about what is important to my students this year. I will take a picture of them with their objects to decorate our wall.  Please don't send in anything that is very fragile, alive or valuable - photos of these sorts of objects are fine!

I sent home a Scholastic flyer in Friday folders, too.  I have very mixed feelings about Scholastic but sometimes it has inexpensive books that my students like and I strongly believe in having books in the house for kids to read!  If you are interested in seeing what's available, our class page is at https://orders.scholastic.com/GXBBF and you can look at all of the fliers at https://clubs.scholastic.com/all-flyers/  Our class code is GXBBF and the books are delivered to my classroom.

Back-to-school night is incredibly early this year.  Usually, we have the life box photos, an illustrated quote and the first writing sample covering the walls and hallways.  I apologize for the bare walls but I do look forward to seeing you on Wednesday starting at 5:45. (If you want, you can come at 5:40 for a sneak peak of the year as told by former fifth graders!)  At 6:15, we will switch to your child's math classroom and around 6:30 we will move to the fishbowl to talk about CalWood.  Please leave the kids at home.

We plan to switch classes for math on Monday.  I understand that there has been a fair bit of anxiety around math placement this year - we have tried to be very transparent about the process and we are working hard to put each child into the class where we think they will be successful.  If you or your child are upset about where they landed, please write me a short email and we can talk about the data and options.  There will be so many opportunities to accelerate in math in the future IF a student has a strong foundation.  Similarly, there will be opportunities to repeat a math classes in the future, but this can accompany a battle to simultaneously improve low self-esteem and fill gaps in understanding.  We work hard to create challenging opportunities that meet students where they are at while not pushing them so fast that they lose their spark for learning.  

I can honstly say that when my children were in fifth grade, I did a terrible job of predicting their future. Both kids are accomplished and successful, but not in the ways that I imagined they would be when they were ten years old! Yesterday, Eric's band, Hand Turkey, played a packed album release show at Ophelia's Soapbox in Denver while Bronwyn judged  a cosplay craftsmanship competition at ichigoCon near LA. Eric did not start playing guitar until he was in high school and he didn't build his first guitar until he was a senior. He absolutely hated writing in school, so the fact that he is now writing songs blows my mind!  Bronwyn started making costumes in middle school and didn't start competing in cosplay events until she was in high school.  She's won numerous awards over the years leading up to "Best in Show" at AnimeExpo in LA a year ago but when Bronwyn was in fifth grade, I had never even heard of "cosplay." I guess I'm trying to say that regardless of the math class that your child ends up in, please continue to encourage your child to try lots of new activities and find their true passions.  Speaking as a parent, nothing beats the feeling of seeing your child radiate confidence and joy while doing something that they truly love!

Years ago, parents indicated that they were getting too much email from the school.  Based on their feedback, I switched over to maintaining a class website, and found that it has the added benefit that information doesn't get lost or accidentally deleted.  I still send email for important, time-critical or personal communication but this website is where I post photos, information about upcoming projects and general news from our classroom. I tend to update my blog on the weekend, so Sunday evening is a good time to check in.  I know that websites are not for everyone and I welcome feedback!  Please let me know if you are struggling to find information.

A QUICK NOTE ON  MY GRADING PHILOSOPHY

BVSD requires 4th and 5th grade teachers to use Schoology as our "Learning Management System" and parents have access to the grades in this system.  However, the "grade" that you see in Schoology does not directly translate to the standards based grading system that BVSD uses for elementary school report cards.  While I don't use Schoology to formally calculate a student's "grade" for my class, I have discovered that a lot of my students struggle to turn in their work and Schoology does a really good job of tracking completion.  (This will be yet another good habit to build before middle school.)  If a child completes a task but gets the answer wrong, does not fully complete the assignment, or uses incomplete sentences for a short answer question, I will give them  partial credit to avoid the "dreaded zero."  If your child has a very low grade in my class, it's probably because they have a lot of missing work. I DEEPLY believe in giving feedback and building strong school habits, but I also want my students to be curious and more focused on learning than on jumping through hoops.  There will be plenty of time for them to stress about grades later!!  

We can discuss this more at Back-To-School night on August 19 (in person).