Honor, still.

Sammy presents to kindergarten students

After coming up with a new name for Shorecrest's Honor Pledge two weeks ago--the Green and Golden Rule--the students set out to garner support from their Lower Division community to request that the name be officially changed. With much planning and collaboration, students readied themselves to go into all classrooms and offices in the Lower Divisions to make their case. Each fourth grader presented the idea to one classroom or office, sharing the story of the birth of the name as well as thoughts about why the name change would be beneficial. Included in their propositions was that the new name connects to the idea of the Golden Rule, shows spirit by referencing school colors, and is catchy and memorable. Student presenters then asked both students and adults to vote using ballots they created. The results of the voting demonstrated that a vast majority of community members are in favor of the name change: 281 to 62.

Fourth graders then met with Mr. Murphy and Dr. Bianco to formally propose the name change, with the support of the Lower Division community.  From this meeting, students received support from the school administrators, but have been charged with some issues to tackle before an official change can occur:

Aliyah and Chloe's poster

• The Pledge is written as a promise, not a rule. Does this matter? 
• How will Pledge signage, that hangs all over school, be changed? 
• How will the school web site--on which the Honor Pledge is posted--be changed to reflect a new name? 
• What about other publications that include the Honor Pledge with the original name?

The students are eager to tackle this next round of challenges. For sure, it has been, and will continue to be, an amazing opportunity for the students to advocate for something in which they believe and to plan and follow a process for change. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks!

Thanks for helping your children get their We Haz Jazz costumes to school Monday and Tuesday. We are thrilled that the performance is only three days away! If your child has not yet delivered her/his costume, we appreciate your help sending it on Wednesday.

On Sunday I sent an email with the conference schedule attached that, it seems, did not make it to everyone. I apologize! A hard copy of the schedule should have made its way home on Monday. Please, if you need to reschedule your appointment, let me know as soon as you are able. And, I am available next week after school if you would prefer that. Just let me know what works best for you. Thank you to everyone who has already confirmed your appointments.

Upcoming important events:
February 2: We Haz Jazz dress rehearsal, 8:30
February 3, We Haz Jazz performance, 8:30--please join us in the theater!
February 9: conference day
February 14: Valentine's Day--mini celebration, 2:00

Talking, listening, singing

Students discuss and listen actively while Ms. T.'s class observes.

What a fantastic start to a very busy couple of weeks. Today, we worked with Ms. Telemachos' class and modeled a whole class book discussion. After reading the book Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree, students in our class reflected independently about what they believed the most important theme of the book to be. As we moved into our standard open circle, Ms. Telemachos' students filed in our room and sat around us at our desks, prepared to observe our conversation in action. They were asked to watch us and try and decipher what our rules of engagement are, and what we do to promote active, thoughtful communication.

Ms. Telemachos' students were able to observe our students making eye contact with one another while speaking, avoiding looking and speaking directly and only to the teacher, using body language to show interest and understanding, using the language of "I agree with" and "I disagree with" to connect their thoughts to one another, and supporting all of their opinions and thoughts with evidence from the text.

Our students have been having rich, thoughtful conversations, and today's was no exception. In Nora Hurston, students identified two themes about which to talk. One, students felt that the story was really about the importance of never giving up on a dream. After Chloe made a connection to another book we read recently, students then considered that the book is about how gender should not limit people to do or achieve what they want. Our goal, of course, is for students to transfer this high level of thinking consistently to conversations surrounding the books they read independently.

Sammy and McKenna share at Town Meeting.

Today, students had the opportunity to meet with their grade-level colony groups for a second time. After completing their visuals for the initial slides of their VoiceThreads, students spent another chunk of time researching their subjects. Last week we moved from using books and are now navigating through a number of on line sources. Conducting research is tricky business. Many of the topics on which students are focused are not easily found. Students are learning that in order to learn about a given topic, a great deal of skimming and reading is required.

In science, students are working to learn to complete lab reports with each experiment we conduct. Last week, we created streams from single water sources, observing what happened to the water streams as it was poured into our stream tables as well as collecting and observing the run-off from those streams. Some students predicted that all of the water poured onto the soil would simply be absorbed into the ground. While some water was absorbed, much of the water flowed down the slopes. Students observed that as water streamed down our sloped land, it carved paths in the ground. This erosion left behind exposed gravel and deposited a load of sand at the base of each slope. The run-off collected was very murky and brown, but by the end of the day, students had already observed that some of the debris was rising to the surface of the water, while other matter was sinking to the bottom.

As we do for each experiment, students took before and after aerial pictures of their stream tables, using the photos to aid in their observations well after the experiments are complete. Student photographers take the pictures and upload them to iPhoto. This week, students will begin selecting their best images and editing them in iPhoto for use by their groups.

Fourth graders begin another round in technology this week. Each student will be conducting on line research to learn about a different jazz musician. After doing their research--in a manner similar to what they've been doing in social studies--students will be using Glogster to create digital posters. A glog is a multi-media presentation of information, which can incorporate movies, pictures, music and text. (Click here to see an example of a glog.) Students will collect and record relevant information from sites made available on Mrs. Baralt's Symbaloo. They will also search for usable images and video clips to add to the poster. And an important part of searching for all of this information is learning to properly site it. Then, students will incorporate all of this information into their posters. Of course, this research project is intended to support students' learning as we prepare for our grade level show one week from Friday. We will post links to the glogs as soon as they are finished.

Students should be well on their way to collecting and assembling articles for their We Haz Jazz costumes. With the show coming next week, we would like to collect costumes next Monday at school. Please, on Monday, send to school your child's costume. A form will come home tomorrow. Please return this form with your student's costume by next Monday. If you are in need of an item, please let me know sooner rather than later. The more time we have, the greater the chance we will find what your child needs.

Upcoming important events:
January 27: Grandparents and Special Friends Day / noon dismissal
February 2: We Haz Jazz dress rehearsal
February 3: We Haz Jazz performance, 8:30
February 9: Conference Day

Honor.

Last week, students from Alpha through twelfth grade discussed the meaning of Shorecrest's Honor Pledge. After considering the meaning of the Pledge on their own the night before, we gathered to talk about what these words mean to each of us. in a manner very similar to the way in which we have learned to discuss books we read. I initiated the conversation by talking about the meaning of the word "pledge" as a promise one makes to do, believe or support something. Certainly, words carry meaning, and to promise something is serious business. Following my beginning, students took over the conversation and broke the Pledge into its parts, considering the meaning of each of the pieces. On the image of the chart to the left, I recorded the notes I took as I listened and facilitated the class discussions.

As the conversation neared a natural conclusion, Michael shared that he believes the overall meaning of the Pledge is similar to that of the Golden Rule--do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He argued that the Honor Pledge is really Shorecrest's Golden Rule, and that it not only guides us at Shorecrest, but in the greater community as well. We then realized that we could refer to the Pledge as the "Green and Golden Rule" to signify the connection between the timeless adage and the Shorecrest community.  Students were so excited about the name they came up with that asked me to share their idea with Mr. Murphy, which I did. Luckily for us, Mr. Murphy returned our email with a visit in person. Students shared with him their process and result. He was thrilled, and suggested to the students that they should figure out a way to propose a name change to the the entire LD student body.

Today, students began the process of brainstorming ways they could not only educate the student body about the new name, but have begun planning how they might conduct a school-wide vote. Certainly, we are in the beginning stages, but hopefully by next week, they will have a clear plan that they have initiated to propose this change to their peers. Current ideas include presenting at Town Meeting, making posters, visiting classes or creating fliers that can be distributed to students in their classes.  Collecting votes seems to be a more daunting task, but doing something online or using a ballot box are popular ideas. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

In math, as we embark on a new unit, students are working diligently to understand how fractions work. As we move through this unit, students are learning how to both add and subtract fractions. We begin first by using pattern blocks to actually see addition and subtraction in action. After working to define and understand equivalent fractions, soon students will learn about the need to give fractions common denominators in order to add and subtract them.

Just a reminder that if you are interested, Scholastic book orders are due. Also, if any of you are interested in joining us for writing, please let me know. We would love to have you participate by joining us for our lesson and then staying to conference with our young writers. Writing instruction occurs in the morning and lasts about 45 minutes. Please let me know if you'd like to stop by and help out!


Upcoming important events:
January 16: MLK observance--no school
January 18: Geo Bee, 1:30 in the theater
January 27: Grandparents and Special Friends Day--noon dismissal
February 3: We Haz Jazz performance, 8:30 a.m.
February 9: Conference Day

Dirt.

Last week students began a study of land and water. Students assembled the stream tables with which they will conduct numerous experiments over the upcoming weeks. Ingredients in the ground include humus, gravel, sand and clay, which students identified prior to mixing them together. Tomorrow, we will begin by making it rain on level ground. Students will be predicting how the rain will affect the land: making a hypothesis, testing their hypothesis, and drawing conclusions. Students will be recording all of this work in more formal, written lab reports. At first, I will support this work by doing a great deal of modeling. Eventually, students will be responsible for writing these reports independently. Our study will culminate with students planning a small town near the mouth of a river that will be protected from heavy rains, using all that they will have learned about fortifying the land to minimize the effects of erosion.

In writing, students continue to create fictional narratives pieces that include more than one problem. Rather than simply writing stories that focus on the actions of the plot, students are working to develop characters that have internal conflict that resolves (or does not) by the ends of their pieces. So, in order to support this change, the events that carry the more superficial problem must also support the intended change of the main character.

Students continue to do a spectacular job of initiating and supporting thoughtful conversations during whole-group reading discussions. When asked to consider what a book is really about (which, by the way, supports the work of character building that they are working on in writing), students are able to generate very interesting ideas that dip well below the surface story of what we read together. Students are working to be able to have the same caliber of conversations with their reading partners, which much more of the responsibility is on individuals.

In addition to thinking about deeper meaning within the texts we read, students are also looking for details in texts that support our understanding of characters. When thinking about how we imagine characters to be, we often consider small details in stories that help build our ideas. Students have been working to identify traits of characters and then use details from texts to support their ideas. In this web, I recorded students' thoughts about how they would describe Bram, a main character in The World's Greatest Elephant by Ralph Helpfer. In addition to identifying traits, students were asked to support their ideas with details from the text. Soon, students will be learning that how we imagine characters to be can often change from the beginning to the end of stories.

For the first time today, students met with their grade-level colony groups. Researchers discussed their various roles with their groups, asking questions about expectations. Then, students planned and created posters that will become (via a camera) their initial VoiceThreads slides. Posters include the name of each colony, a drawing of each colony, and team members' names. This week, students will begin researching their respective topics using classroom and library books. Next Monday, students will gather again, but this time with members studying other colonies but who are responsible for researching the same topics. Students will have the following two weeks to complete this portion of their work. After that time, we will move to using on-line sources to continue their research. We expect to have completed VoiceThread projects in mid-February.

In math, we continue to power through division. I expect students to be able to solve problems that have single digit divisors and double digit dividends both with and without remainders. I will challenge them to do more, however.We will revisit division throughout the remainder of the year. We are also continuing to learn about grid coordinates as well as identifying and measuring acute, obtuse, right and reflex angles.

A note about upcoming conferences: Located in the "conference" page above are the same times for which you signed up in September. If you would like to change your time, please let me know. I would be happy to reschedule for a time after school anytime the week of February 6th in order to lighten the load on the 9th.

As we move to the fourth-grade We Haz Jazz performance, you may want to help students playing musicians begin searching for and assembling costume items. For other members of the play, costumes are actually quite simple and utilize standard ten-year-old fare:

musicians:
Dress like your musician! Girls should look for long dresses--something already in someone's closet would be perfect. Boys may wear suits. Dress shoes (try and avoid sneakers), a parent's white dress shirt, slacks, tuxes! Check out on-line images of your musicians and do your best to match. Go crazy! Please, however, do not buy anything. If you need help finding something, please let us know. I will recruit a parent (anyone willing?) to help find needed items.

kids, chorus, dancers (or, everyone who is NOT a musician):
Please wear denim on bottom (nothing too short) and any top they like. Please do not, however, choose something with words on it--text-on-clothes is distracting on stage.

Upcoming important events:
January 16: MLK observance--no school
January 27: Grandparents and Special Friends Day--noon dismissal
February 3: We Haz Jazz performance, 8:30 a.m.
February 9: Conference Day

Welcome back. . .

to winter? It may be that my previous chuckle about the nice weather is coming back to haunt me. After only five or so years in this weather, it feels arctic when it dips into the 60s. My Minnesotan family would shake their heads in shame. And then, I was quite certain this morning that aliens had abducted the class and replaced them with docile, quiet beings with heavy lids. It did not take long to get back into the swing of things, however; that chilly recess time is what popped them all back into eager mode. So, thank you, weather. Now, bring back the warm!



In writing workshop students are writing fictional narratives. We spent some time considering the importance of planning before break. Today, we begin a focus on the importance of descriptive language. I asked the students what type of word most often makes writing descriptive. Nearly in chorus, they all replied, "adjectives." In an exercise in challenging what we believe, students listened to Louise, Adventures of a Chicken and each recorded the words that jumped out, or helped make the writing come alive. After listening and listing, we compiled most of our words on the white board. We then went through our massive list of words, identifying each part of speech. When we were finished, students were surprised: half of the words listed on the board were verbs. The rest were adjectives and nouns, with a few adverbs sprinkled in. The lesson learned was eye-opening--writing that grabs us and moves us is full of active verbs. Students will be encouraged to incorporate similar language into their own pieces.

In math we are taking a break from learning new division algorithms and are now studying angles. Students are learning to use both circle and half-circle protractors this week. In addition, students are learning about different types of angles, including reflex angles. After a few days spent measuring and drawing angles, we will learn about map coordinates and grid systems before returning to division. During this second pass through division we will spend more time and students will become more comfortable with the process. Our assessment is scheduled for next Thursday.

Before break, students were placed into small groups to study one of the thirteen original English colonies. Early next week students will meet with their grade-level group to touch base and to take the first step of their project together. After that meeting, students will work independently researching their particular topics within the colony study using books from the classroom and school library. Then, we will move to doing web-based research. At some point during the process the small groups will reconvene, and then will meet again at the end of the project.

Simultaneously, students will continue learning about Colonial America in class. We are still reading more about the Puritans--including Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, two key figures from that time period. Additionally, we are studying the Salem witch trials, all in an attempt to learn a bit about the Puritans and the ways in which we are both alike and different from them today.

In science we are beginning our unit on land and water; specifically, studying the ways in which water interacts with and affects the land. This week we will build our stream tables and begin creating streams. Once we get moving, I will have plenty of pictures to post; as a way of documenting our work, students take digital, "aerial" photos of the before and afters of each experiment. These pictorial records help students identify concretely the changes in the land as a result of water. In this unit, students will learn and be responsible for writing lab reports for their experiments.

Students are well into the throws now of preparing for the fourth-grade show We Haz Jazz. Soon students will begin practicing their parts and dances for We Haz Jazz in small groups. Students who are working on set design will also have extra time with Mrs. Rowe in the art room. Once this special schedule has been arranged students will be informed. Then during the week of the performance, we will run through the production every morning before the final performance on Friday, February 3rd (8:30 a.m.). Please mark your calendars--the show promises to be fantastic!

Upcoming important events:
January 16: no school--MLK observance
January 29: Grandparents Day--noon dismissal
February 3: We Haz Jazz, 8:30