Getting the Year Started Correctly!

Howdy, and welcome to the first official post of the school year!  The kids have been hard at work getting procedures, routines, (songs!), and expectations learned quickly.  Here's a brief look at what's been happening:

Reading:

The kids have been working on conditioning muscle memory.  Basically, this means that they have been getting used to getting focused and staying focused while reading independently.  This is incredibly important when I will be working with small groups, as those reading independently will be able to work on skills without my help.  Additionally, the kids have also been practicing their fluency daily by reading with a friend.  Ask your child what EEKK! means in our classroom :).

As a whole group, we have also been working with finding the problem and solution with a story.  This is a basic, yet essential strategy in fictional passages.  We will continue working with this as well as 'facts and opinions', 'character traits', and 'making inferences'.

Math:

The kids have been doing a fantastic job working in groups with rotations.  I have been able to work with small groups, which allows me to adjust instruction according to academic needs.  Everyone has had a thirst for knowledge, especially in this content area.  Make sure to stay posted to our class website, as links to all the songs, videos, and games we watch/play in class can be found there.  Our next unit deals with place value, and I have a whole new arsenal of songs, games, and manipulatives ready to go!

Science:

We have started our investigation of the human body.  So far, the class has observed a classmate jumping rope, counted an approximate total of bones in a human skeleton, and put together a human skeleton (in paper format!).  We will continue our investigation by looking at some real bones (the non-human kind), exploring how muscles help our bodies move, and discuss coordination in a few weeks.

Social Studies:

Before beginning our exploration of the United States, the students have been learning about how to study geography.  They have taken a scavenger hunt through our social studies book, started creating definitions for different geographical terms, and reviewed the five themes of geography.  During September, we will be exploring the Presidents of the United States, American Symbols, and setting some goals with cities, states, and major landforms.

General:

Thanks for the parents who have volunteered to join us in our classroom!  I will be sending out a schedule before the end of next week.  If you aren't on the schedule, please contact me for some ideal times and dates.  Any extra help is greatly appreciated!

All three fourth grade classes will be traveling to Twin Pines Golf Course later in September for a community service project:  they will be helping plant trees throughout the golf course (more hazards for me, I guess).  This will be done in the morning, and more details are soon to come.

Lastly, I do not require your child to have his/her agenda signed each night.  However, it is important that you look through and discuss with him/her the events of each day.  Also, we will be writing dates of upcoming field trips, tests, and other important events in there.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.  By closely communicating with each other, we will make this a year of immense academic and social growth!

Google Calendar - Parent Volunteer Appointments

You now have the ability to sign up for a classroom time Mondays - Fridays, 8:50-9:50 or 1:00-2:00.  Here are the steps:

Step 1:  Right-click on the link below, and select "Open in New Tab".
https://www.google.com/calendar/selfsched?sstoken=UUNMUnFhaWhmbmdPfGRlZmF1bHR8ZTI3NGM1ZThlOGY1ZmQ5Mzc1NDUwNDA0NmMwNjQ4YjI

Step 2:  Find the date(s) you would like to volunteer, then click on the gray area(s) to set up an appointment.

Step 3:  In the "What" box, replace the information listed with your name.

Step 4:  Click "Save", then join us on that day!

If you would like to sign up early, you may do so at our Open House (Monday from 5-7:30).  I'll be there to help you with these steps.  Also, on Monday I'm going to post a screen-captured video showing how to do the above steps.  I'll post that link at the end of this post upon completion.  If you have any further questions, you are welcome to send me an email as well.

Open House on Monday, August 22nd from 5:00 - 7:30

I look forward to meeting your family at Pierce's Open House this coming Monday.  While there will not be a formal presentation, I welcome you to use this time to ask questions about the curriculum, my teaching style, expectations, class arrangements, differentiated instruction, or any other ideas that may come to mind.

One BIG request I will be asking at Open House is to have parents sign up to volunteer!  My hope is that I have at least one parent volunteer in my room in the morning and one in the afternoon.  In the morning, our class will need your help for word study, grammar practice, and writing.  That time will be from 8:50 - 9:20.  In the afternoon, we will need your assistance with math games and small group work (from 1:00-2:00).  The math games assist us in mastering skills and are easy to learn.  As I am working with small groups, an additional helper could clarify any questions and regulate game play.  Finally, and this is a BIG wish, I am hoping a parent (or two) will volunteer to help organize lots of parents to come in lots of times throughout the year.

Again, I'm extremely excited to meet everyone at Open House or the first day of school.  This will be the best year of your child's life!

Best wishes,
Mr. Bauer

I'll Just Wait for the Movie

One of my favorite picture books is written by Chris Van Allsburg.  In 1995, he released Bad Day at Riverbend, a story set in the southwest.  In Riverbend, a typical southwestern town, every day is like the other...until one day, a stagecoach with no driver shows up, covered in SLIME!  Determined to figure out who cause this atrocity, the sheriff sets out into the desert to find the culprit.

That book was written 16 years ago, before the internet was commercially available.  Additionally, iPods, iPads, Kindles, smart phones, 3G networks, WiFi, and a plethora of other electronic devices weren't in existence either.  No Matrix Trilogy, hybrids, or Lady Gaga.  A lot has changed since 1995.

I'd love to tell you how the story ends, but that's not what this is about.  With such a wonderful delivery, you certainly wouldn't do justice to this story, speccifically the title of this post.  It makes me appreciate the blinding light the story describes.  Read to find out exactly what I'm talking about, because after all, you won't be able to wait for the movie.  Just be careful of the slime and blinding lights.

Buy Bad Day at Riverbend on amazon.com

Avoiding the Summer Slump

Before the kids left for the summer, I informed them of some homework they need to do over the summer.  That homework was this:  when doing anything, don't just do it, think about it. 

I've seen lots of kids say words like "I never get the ball" or "That's not fair".  While supervising recess one day, someone told me he never got the ball.  I continued watching.  There were 6 people on his team, and he got the ball twice...out of 14 plays.  That's one out of seven, which is almost one out of six.  After explaining this to him, he was still upset, but had a better understanding.

Someone also made a great connection in math.  We were learning about volume, and she said that she wondered how many cubic feet of water were in the city pool.  She now knows how to find that out, but it's just a matter of doing it.

Lastly, and this to me is a no-brainer, read.  Each day, our class enjoyed reading independently and within groups for 45 minutes.  When they have been conditioned to do so for that period of time, reading is incredibly enjoyale and rewarding.  However, if kids aren't given that 45 minute time for only reading, it's hard to enjoy reading when it comes in 5 minute segments.

Mark Twain writes, "I've never let school interfere with my education."  I don't completely agree with this, but outside of school really is where the skills developed can be used.  Enjoy your summer.