December 10, 2010

Sorry this is long but please read the entire entry, there are a lot of important things here.

Today we had Orbert Skye (Author of "Leven Thumps") come to our school. He talked to the kids about how they can become writer by reading and practicing.

We also had our geography bee. Congratulations to Aurora and Haley T. for winning. They will go onto the School Geography bee which will be sometime in January.

Math: We had to rush through this lesson, so I hope that everyone got it well enough to do their homework. It involved rates and unit rates. For example, if I earned $100.00 for working 4 hours my rate would be $100.00/4 hours. The unit rate would be $25.00/1 hour. The students had to look at how a rate can be put in a fraction form but also can be reduced to a simple form to show the unit rate. Most of the students were able to get this concept but because I rushed through the lesson, I didn't get to assess if they were completely ready for the homework. Please work with them but if they can't get the concept, ask them to do what they can and do and bring me their questions on Monday.

Also, I need to mention an important issue. I have had a lot of students come to class without their homework being complete. I used to allow them to finish their work in the hallway while I corrected it in class. However, I used this correcting-time as an assessment of understanding and a Q and A session. So, those that don't do their homework miss out on all this because they are in the hallway. Besides the fact that there seems to be about 5 to 10 students in our hallway, I feel like they are missing important review for the test. Therefore, I have decided to practice some hard love. I told them that if they do not finish their homework, they will get a zero (unless they get a letter from home telling me why they didn't do they couldn't do it). This will teach the students to be responsible.

5th grade is a very hard transition for most students. There is such a large curriculum, difficult state and national evaluations, and to top it off many of the students are starting to go through puberty. I understand that many of the students might be struggling with my strenuous demands but really I do have good intentions. I want them all to succeed and allowing them to get off easy is not the way to find success in life. I know that I push a lot but I also follow up with a lot of love and support. Please help your child by encouraging them and supporting where you can. I know that if we both are working together, they will eventually understand the value of hard work, really hard work, which is really a priceless attribute.

Also, the students voted to have a white elephant gift exchange. I told them not to spend over $5.00. We will probably do this Tuesday or Wednesday (I will tell you the day before).


HW:
Math: 11-4 worksheet on rate and unit rate
Read

Have a great weekend.