Letter to Students: Cliffs Notes for A Faster Brain « The Talent Code
First off, I can not recommend this book enough. It covers some brain science while also discussing mindful practicing leading to mastery. Taking your practice seriously and practicing effectively (all discussed in the book) will lead to improved performance.
**At a minimum this quick article makes for a great dinner time discussion with your child, especially the next time they don't want to commit the time towards memorizing or mastering something.
**Read the comments on the article's website for even more great information.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Week 2 – Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Oh August, we hardly knew thee….
Today was a super quick day with the kids. I had a collaboration meeting that pulled me out of the room from 8:30-9:30 and then the kids have PE after lunch. So the day came and went.
During my absence the kids read most of this week's story about Earthquakes and discussed questions related to this week's reading strategy of inference/predicting. Therefore the kids need to read only the final 3 pages and then they can/should begin working on their comprehension work for the week.
The kids also had 20 minutes to begin working on tonight's math homework while the visiting teacher was here.
Upon my triumphant return :) We discussed some math questions that the children had, we discussed the new math program being all on line and how to properly behave and respect our computer lab.
Computer lab time --- students can not sign in on their own individual account yet so we used generic log ins. Upon logging in the students successfully logged into our math program.
user name: their five digit district i.d. with a zero in front;
example: student i.d. is 12345 then their user name is: 012345
password: changeme
The ENTIRE math book is found on-line. Therefore they can never tell you that they forgot their book at school and they can't do their homework.
We then successfully logged into www.brainpop.com
We watched movies on earthquakes, tectonic plates and natural disasters.
Students can watch these educational movies M-F from 7 a.m. – 5 p.m. user name dublinelem ask your son/daughter for the password.
We then successfully went to my webpage to see where to find all of my links that I keep.
www.delicious.com/iamron is the main one.
Finally the kids were doing such a great job of listening and managing their way through the many websites, I allowed them 10 minutes to go to here:
http://www.subservientchicken.com/
After that we returned to review last night's math homework. We corrected it and took questions. Then we reviewed a near copy of tomorrow's math test.
Click here to use this as a study device for tonight:
http://www.box.net/shared/ef13f33c5e
We also discussed 5th Grade's Reading Around the World.
I gave them the handout and we quickly discussed the minimum requirement of 800 pages per trimester, the Hall of Fame and how I'm only asking 9-10 pages per day. We will discuss this at Back to School Night on Thursday.
I also discussed the 5th grade "end of week party." Kids who haven't completed all of their learning opportunities (called homework in the non-p.c. days) by Friday will stay 20 minutes after school on Friday.
Homework for the week:
Math
HC page 16 7-14 all and page 18/19 1-14 all due Wednesday
Unit 1 test is on Wednesday
HC page 25 1-26 all (pb 2-1 R or page 25 27-34 all) due Thursday
Reading Comprehension: All due Thursday
Read pages 26-46
Hardcover book page 46 1-4 and #6 – answer in complete sentences
P.B. 4 and 5
Vocabulary Work: All due Wednesday
http://www.eduplace.com/spellinglists/index.html#g5
Define and use in a sentence the 5 challenge words
P.B. 3, 8, and 12
Grammar: Type of Sentences due on Thursday
P.B. 13, 14 and 15
Free-write due Thursday
The most dangerous thing in my house is……..
Thursday – spelling test, vocab test and reading test on this week's story.
Kind regards,
Ron Hubbard
Monday, August 30, 2010
Week 2 August 30, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Week 2…..
We started the day getting down to math business. We continued working on the math assessment that we started on Friday. This is not "graded" per se rather I use the assessment to see what 5th grade standards students already know.
After this math, we moved our desks around to factor in some of the early talking challenges we were facing. We also took some questions about band, valet and discussing a typical Monday/Tuesday.
We took a spelling pretest. The real test will be on Thursday (no school for the kids this Friday).
Here is the link to the spelling words:
http://www.eduplace.com/spellinglists/index.html#g5
We are using this link every week so feel free to make it a favorite.
Challenge word vocabulary work:
The 5 challenge words need to be defined and used in a sentence that shows you know what the word means. The 5 challenge words are found in the link above.
We started talking about this month's theme, Nature's Future.
Many of students had their Practice Book open and were able complete page 3;
We had a long talk regarding earthquakes. Based on the questions and the comments many of students could create their theme project based just on earthquakes.
We walked through the reading comprehension strategy for the week – inferences and predicting. We looked at the PB pages and the open-ended questions at the end of this week's story.
We then reviewed Friday's math lesson about 1-4 – ordering decimals. There was also an emphasis on using proper mathematical language to describe decimals. (e.g. 0.05 is said as "zero and five hundredths). We then previewed tomorrow's lesson on problem solving with decimals.
Misc things of note:
Valet – if you are interested in being a valet, please return the paperwork
Band—students should have brought home the packet on Friday. Return this to the office ASAP.
Back to School is Thursday night – they changed the time, NOW it at the following times:
- 6:00-6:45 K,1,2,3
- 6:45-7:15 Community Meeting in MP
- 7:15-8:00 4,5
No school on Friday, it is a teacher workday.
Homework for the week:
Math
HC Page 12-13 1-16 all (pb 1-4R or page 13 17-19) due Tuesday
HC page 16 7-14 all and page 18/19 1-14 all due Wednesday
Unit 1 test is on Wednesday
HC page 25 1-26 all (pb 2-1 R or page 25 27-34 all) due Thursday
Reading Comprehension: All due Thursday
Read pages 26-46
Hardcover book page 46 1-4 and #6 – answer in complete sentences
P.B. 4 and 5
Vocabulary Work: All due Wednesday
http://www.eduplace.com/spellinglists/index.html#g5
Define and use in a sentence the 5 challenge words
P.B. 3, 8, and 12
Grammar: Type of Sentences due on Thursday
P.B. 13, 14 and 15
Free-write due Thursday
The most dangerous thing in my house is……..
Thursday – spelling test, vocab test and reading test on this week's story.
Kind regards,
Ron Hubbard
Friday, August 27, 2010
Email was down on Thursday the 26th.......
Therefore the email didn't get sent until 9:30 this morning?
Further reason to maybe "subscribe" to my blog or make the blog a favorite.
Further reason to maybe "subscribe" to my blog or make the blog a favorite.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Week 1 Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Day 3 of the 2010-2011 “Honeymoon”
This is super quick because I just had a 90+ minute technology meeting.
Today – assembly
It covered a ton of subjects…..
We discussed assembly expectations—I’m big on facing the speaker/entertainer at all times. I also expect them to remember the it is all about the presenter NOT the 5th grader. So they are to applaud and not make noises that draw attention to their self.
Fall –Fundraiser --- a large envelope went home today. 50% of the sales go back to our school. The word on the street is that the wrapping paper kicks butt.
Officer Gill -- spoke about skating and biking safety. We have a DES alumnus that skateboarded without a helmet and almost had a tragic result when he landed on his skull.
Respect Attribute – we discussed what R.E.S.P.E.C.T. and what it means to me
Playground, lunch room and other school rules…….
Math –
Lesson 2-3 place-value with decimals
Homework:
EVERYONE DOES THIS HC Page 11 10-21 all
Optional:
WB 1-3 R or
HC Page 11 22-25 all
**ask to see your child’s workbook, they should be bringing their math notebook homework every night to help with math homework.
Language Arts – due Friday
Checking out our book….students worked in pairs to go through the book and discover the six themes.
They should have the first example and some more themes in their notebook. Here is the example of what we did if they have forgotten…..
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/2010/08/language-arts-homework-for-826.html
5th Grade Expectations….
All three classes were grouped together to discuss the 3 R’s.
Mrs. Cargo covered RELEVANCE
Mr. Hubbard covered RIGOR
Mrs. Wilmott and Mr. Haar covered RELATIONSHIPS
Ask your son/daughter what they took from the meeting.
Homework due Friday:
Math – see above
Cover all three books
Language Arts see above
Free-Write – “My Family” due Friday (see 8/25/2010 for instructions)
Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard
(925) 271-2370
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/
http://delicious.com/iamron
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
• Maya Angelou
Day 3 of the 2010-2011 “Honeymoon”
This is super quick because I just had a 90+ minute technology meeting.
Today – assembly
It covered a ton of subjects…..
We discussed assembly expectations—I’m big on facing the speaker/entertainer at all times. I also expect them to remember the it is all about the presenter NOT the 5th grader. So they are to applaud and not make noises that draw attention to their self.
Fall –Fundraiser --- a large envelope went home today. 50% of the sales go back to our school. The word on the street is that the wrapping paper kicks butt.
Officer Gill -- spoke about skating and biking safety. We have a DES alumnus that skateboarded without a helmet and almost had a tragic result when he landed on his skull.
Respect Attribute – we discussed what R.E.S.P.E.C.T. and what it means to me
Playground, lunch room and other school rules…….
Math –
Lesson 2-3 place-value with decimals
Homework:
EVERYONE DOES THIS HC Page 11 10-21 all
Optional:
WB 1-3 R or
HC Page 11 22-25 all
**ask to see your child’s workbook, they should be bringing their math notebook homework every night to help with math homework.
Language Arts – due Friday
Checking out our book….students worked in pairs to go through the book and discover the six themes.
They should have the first example and some more themes in their notebook. Here is the example of what we did if they have forgotten…..
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/2010/08/language-arts-homework-for-826.html
5th Grade Expectations….
All three classes were grouped together to discuss the 3 R’s.
Mrs. Cargo covered RELEVANCE
Mr. Hubbard covered RIGOR
Mrs. Wilmott and Mr. Haar covered RELATIONSHIPS
Ask your son/daughter what they took from the meeting.
Homework due Friday:
Math – see above
Cover all three books
Language Arts see above
Free-Write – “My Family” due Friday (see 8/25/2010 for instructions)
Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard
(925) 271-2370
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/
http://delicious.com/iamron
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
• Maya Angelou
The Language Arts Homework for 8/26
theme 6 ideas - Google Docs
this document shows the instructions and the example that we made in class
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Day 2 of our 180 day adventure…..
Rules we discussed:
Hats, gum, and poisonous snakes.
Free-Writes --
We discussed the rules of doing free writes. We will be doing one or two free writes per week. Some are serious in nature and they must write non-fiction type free-writes (i.e. they are not that creative). Most will be creative free writes where they will be given a writing prompt and they may write as they see fit.
Requirements:
20 minutes or one full page whichever comes first. If not a full page, then parent must sign and verify that it was an actual 20 minutes.
Just write what you are thinking regarding the topic, do not worry about spelling and grammar. We are exercising our creative writing process.
It may be typed or handwritten, either one is fine with me.
If typed you must use a font no larger than 14 and keep pictures or photos to a minimum.
We then did a practice free-write during class. The kids were able to observe that some students had completed almost two pages in 20 minutes while others students that I observed completed maybe a paragraph. Both were acceptable amounts since some prompts will come easier to others. The main goal is to do a “brain dump” about a particular subject.
Due Friday – a “serious” free write about your family. They may share whatever they feel comfortable sharing about their family. I will not be sharing these free writes with anyone these will only be read by myself.
As a class we reviewed the website
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/
We also reviewed the website found on the District’s official page.
Math:
We spent a significant amount of time discussing math workflow. We corrected last night’s homework and answered questions regarding it.
We also re-reviewed the discussion about seeing placevalue in relationships of the power of ten. It is similar to the style discussed in Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers book. Young students focus on learning the concept of 1,2,3,4, 5,6,7,8,9, and 10. Then they don’t learn all the numbers of 11-99….rather it is refered to as 10+1 {11} or 2 10’s +6 {26}; Then the learning is focused on memorizing the newest place values that arise when you acquire 10 10’s or 10 100’s or 10 1,000’s, etc….
As an aside this also explains why the metric system makes so much sense to many of the countries that practice this type of mathematical nomenclature.
We then walked through the book lesson (pages 6 and 7)
Tonight’s homework due Thursday:
Everyone does pages 7 and 8 (in the Hard Cover book HC) numbers 6 through 22
Students have a mandatory choice:
Page 8 (HC) problems 23-31 odds OR
Work book (WB) Lesson 1-2 R (reteach)
Students were given just about 15 minutes to begin working on their math homework. Some students worked diligently and completed most of pages 7&8. Some students dreamed of lunch time as their stomach’s adjust to our school schedule. They were encourage save themselves from 15 minutes less of homework.
Community Building a.k.a. Circle Time
We discussed the rules of Circle Time and we talked about focusing and listening to each other.
We were able to share what animal best describes ourselves.
We were able to share what color best describes how we felt on our first day at school yesterday. The class however became unfocused regarding listening to their peers so we had to shut the circle down about half way through this exercise.
We came back and did a listening exercise where we try to solve a 2 minute murderer mystery. Yeah!! Tay-Tay for just about solving the mystery!!!
Homework:
Cover all three books by Friday (math, science and language arts)
Night math (see above)
Free-write due Friday (see above)
Reminder 2:05 all this week. Regular schedule next week.
Back to School Night Presentation:
1-3 6:30-7:00
Everyone in the Multi Purpose Room 7:00-7:30
4 & 5 7:30-8:00
Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard
(925) 271-2370
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/
http://delicious.com/iamron
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
• Maya Angelou
Day 2 of our 180 day adventure…..
Rules we discussed:
Hats, gum, and poisonous snakes.
Free-Writes --
We discussed the rules of doing free writes. We will be doing one or two free writes per week. Some are serious in nature and they must write non-fiction type free-writes (i.e. they are not that creative). Most will be creative free writes where they will be given a writing prompt and they may write as they see fit.
Requirements:
20 minutes or one full page whichever comes first. If not a full page, then parent must sign and verify that it was an actual 20 minutes.
Just write what you are thinking regarding the topic, do not worry about spelling and grammar. We are exercising our creative writing process.
It may be typed or handwritten, either one is fine with me.
If typed you must use a font no larger than 14 and keep pictures or photos to a minimum.
We then did a practice free-write during class. The kids were able to observe that some students had completed almost two pages in 20 minutes while others students that I observed completed maybe a paragraph. Both were acceptable amounts since some prompts will come easier to others. The main goal is to do a “brain dump” about a particular subject.
Due Friday – a “serious” free write about your family. They may share whatever they feel comfortable sharing about their family. I will not be sharing these free writes with anyone these will only be read by myself.
As a class we reviewed the website
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/
We also reviewed the website found on the District’s official page.
Math:
We spent a significant amount of time discussing math workflow. We corrected last night’s homework and answered questions regarding it.
We also re-reviewed the discussion about seeing placevalue in relationships of the power of ten. It is similar to the style discussed in Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers book. Young students focus on learning the concept of 1,2,3,4, 5,6,7,8,9, and 10. Then they don’t learn all the numbers of 11-99….rather it is refered to as 10+1 {11} or 2 10’s +6 {26}; Then the learning is focused on memorizing the newest place values that arise when you acquire 10 10’s or 10 100’s or 10 1,000’s, etc….
As an aside this also explains why the metric system makes so much sense to many of the countries that practice this type of mathematical nomenclature.
We then walked through the book lesson (pages 6 and 7)
Tonight’s homework due Thursday:
Everyone does pages 7 and 8 (in the Hard Cover book HC) numbers 6 through 22
Students have a mandatory choice:
Page 8 (HC) problems 23-31 odds OR
Work book (WB) Lesson 1-2 R (reteach)
Students were given just about 15 minutes to begin working on their math homework. Some students worked diligently and completed most of pages 7&8. Some students dreamed of lunch time as their stomach’s adjust to our school schedule. They were encourage save themselves from 15 minutes less of homework.
Community Building a.k.a. Circle Time
We discussed the rules of Circle Time and we talked about focusing and listening to each other.
We were able to share what animal best describes ourselves.
We were able to share what color best describes how we felt on our first day at school yesterday. The class however became unfocused regarding listening to their peers so we had to shut the circle down about half way through this exercise.
We came back and did a listening exercise where we try to solve a 2 minute murderer mystery. Yeah!! Tay-Tay for just about solving the mystery!!!
Homework:
Cover all three books by Friday (math, science and language arts)
Night math (see above)
Free-write due Friday (see above)
Reminder 2:05 all this week. Regular schedule next week.
Back to School Night Presentation:
1-3 6:30-7:00
Everyone in the Multi Purpose Room 7:00-7:30
4 & 5 7:30-8:00
Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard
(925) 271-2370
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/
http://delicious.com/iamron
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
• Maya Angelou
Math Video: Place Values up to Millions
This takes a while to get started however it is a pretty solid lesson. If you get desperate or what to re-review this would be a great 7 minutes of your time.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Week 1 of 2010 - 2011
Our first day of school....wow;
It has been a long journey to get this far....it started for me two weeks ago where I “re” earned my GATE certification with 35 hours of class/lectures.
Then last week I attended two full days of technology training and then prepared for training our teaching staff on Friday. I also co-taught a ½ day class of our new teacher in the district.
THEN I started worrying about my 55 boxes that were sitting in the middle of our brand new C-5 room.
Enough of me whining…….onto matters that matter, your kids and our new community that started today.
We started off the day writing about ourselves. The students need to complete the interview questions that will help me learn more about them. It is not graded rather I’m just hoping to find out more about them. This is due on Thursday morning.
After we began writing about ourselves, we also started making sense of all our supplies. So we spent more time than you would expect discussing expectations regarding the supplies that they will keep and also some rules that I expect within our class.
Some expectations that I discussed, sharpening of pencils, when is a strategic time to dump garbage, how to NOT request to use the bathroom (don’t worry they can go they just need to fill out a form), and utilizing our 10 minutes of preparatory time in the morning .
Then we took a mini-field trip around the new C-Wing and the playground area discussing rules/logistics that deal with the restroom, where you can play and where to line-up.
After recess we recovered from the 100+ degree heat and then I gave a presentation on who I am and what things that I stand for and believe in (I’m talking scholastically and as an educator). They then could ask me questions that they had about class and/or me.
After that we spent time discussing our text books and workbooks. Please have the hardcover books covered by Friday (math, language arts and science).
We then spent significant time discussing our brand new math program and also our my math expectations. I give open note math exams since I believe that note taking is an especially important skill to master prior to moving onto middle school. Not only that , the students create a resource that they can use throughout the year. It is an incentive to have students take well documented notes during the daily work while also using the notebook as an important study guide the night(s) before the exam.
We then quickly went over tonight’s math lesson. Place value….
Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, billions and trillions.
State standards say a 5th grader only needs to know up to a billion, however considering our national debt is in the trillions I feel that this is a very relevant number. You now hear it discussed on CNN, FOX, and MSBC so I thought they should see it used.
Standard form – basically how we typically write out a value using decimals.
Expanded form - a standard value broken down into their individual place value. 2,346 in expanded form is 2000+300+40+6
Word form – 2,346 is written as two thousand three hundred forty six.
Homework due tomorrow: Page 4 of the hardcover book 1-18 all
Then student choice either 19-25 all page 5 or reteach page in the math workbook.
Finally your student should have given you a back to school letter. Please email or write back telling me how to best communicate with you and if you want to share a little about your son/daughter.
Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard
(925) 271-2370
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/
http://delicious.com/iamron
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
• Maya Angelou
http://delicious.com/iamron
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
• Maya Angelou
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Summer Must-Read for Kids? Any Book - Well Blog - NYTimes.com
Summer Must-Read for Kids? Any Book - Well Blog - NYTimes.com
More proof...kids need to do the time and read.
More proof...kids need to do the time and read.
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