It has been far too long since I last updated us on the all the happenings within C-5. However it takes a great deal of time to create and meet with all 32 families in a 1 week window.
Known time commitment -- 32 meetings for 25 minutes each (I have a 5 minute fudge room prior to the beginning of each conference and minutes at the end of each conference. In theory it would be to allow me to prep and/or get ready for the upcoming conference. In reality the conversations are usually so authentic and great that the time gets used up.
So literal live time for report cards mtgs: 32 X 25 = 800 minutes = 13 hours and 20 minutes.
Creation of the report card:
II take roughly 40 minutes per report card to create them. I look at the large stack of papers that were returned, review other paperwork that I have compiled, and beginning about 2 years ago, I review my google docs, Google’s Keep and Evernote with my observational notes of things that occur during reading time, group time, etc. Four or five times per week I take an hour long walk and you would be surprised how often some nugget of genius that a student showed pops up into my head. With modern smart phones (e.g. Keep and Evernote) instead of making weird truncated notes on store receipts, my thoughts on students are captured waaay easier. Then I try to create my notes and analysis that go into my comments or “my script” (just in case you thought I was just keeping up on NBA scores with the computer up during our conferences).
So creation time: 32 x 40 = 1,000 minutes = 16 hours and 40 minutes
We still work 8:26-2:06 therefore you can see how the 30 additional hours can get quickly absorbed when you factor in minor nuisances like eating, commuting, fatherhood, husbandhood, and exercise. Full disclosure I do receive a ½ day off to work on the report cards and I also could use the last Friday of conference week as a full day of conferences.
I am not whining about this at all. I always feel like I am a better teacher with the students after our 25 minute meeting. Why? Because you get to know the child so much as they lead their conference. It is so edifying and so amazing to see the amount of love, care and respect that parents have for their child. You see the mother and/or father dynamics in action as the their child orchestrates their student led conference. You see the unconditional love, the jokes, the seriousness on faces or even the occasional “mom look.” I heard on two occasions last week the ominous “we’ll talk with dad about this when we get home.” Then sometimes due to a child’s nerves, their challenges choices they made or the awesome progress they made, you see mom/dad just put their arms around the child; just a reaffirming touch to comfort their son/daughter that they will get through this. Just last week I observed tears of joy or pride, tears of frustration, looks that made me glad I wasn’t that kid, and dads or moms that ask such amazing direct questions that it is not a surprise that their young child is so bright and inquisitive.
What a long preface to my big return? I just find these conferences so heart warming and reaffirming towards my profession however I figured no one really knows what they entail. Since this year’s class has such kind, compassionate, uberly enthusiastic social kids the 32 conferences were a direct reflection of that energy and kindness. I felt obligated to share and thank you.
Today -- the week before the long Thanksgiving break. Therefore we have much to accomplish and get done while also fighting the 10 year old’s desire to call it in and start daydreaming about the week off from school.
Spelling pretest -- transpiration was a fun word to give an example about
Thanksgiving -- We read two different articles about the first Thanksgiving. We learned many many unique things about the challenges to coming here on a cargo boat. Ask your son or daughter about the idioms:
2. Sitting on the pot
We then had a long talk about if there was a time machine and we tried to take one of the original Pilgrims to a Costco how that experience would go. Running waste disposal in the bathroom, running water, “warm” water, toilet paper, air hand dryers, produce of fruits and vegetables regardless of the year, and freezers. We covered all that and more. Ask them about what stood out.
Character Attributes in room C-5 -- we also voted and wrote about the students we felt best personifies respect, responsibility and caring.
Math -- division with decimals as a divisor.
This is our third time covering this topic therefore tonight is a refresher on this.
Lesson 7-4 page 171 Set D 1-8 all due Tuesday
Students were given 50 minutes to work on tonight’s homework, watch Khan Academy regarding division and vote & write mini paragraphs about the character attribute selections.
We ended the day working on writing the homework for the week, the weekly math problem, and the monthly math problem.
We also had a short conversation, AGAIN, regarding what is appropriate email communication with peers and also what is possibly considered SPAM.
Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard
Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability
- John Wooden
Homework for the week:
Math
7-4 page 171 set D 1-8 all due Tuesday.
write original problem
make division problem into a fraction and then show how you are getting rid of the decimal (e.g. times 10/10 or 100/100 or 1000/1000)
Then solve the problem however you desire (guess & check, stack’em, or old’school division)
*you may estimate if it helps you and you have the skill set to do it quickly
4-6 page 93 9-16 all due Wednesday
write original problem
make division problem into a fraction -- You may be able to reduce/simplify the fraction through power of 1
Then solve the problem however you desire (guess & check, stack’em, or old’school division); problem must be solved with decimal # no writing “remainder”
**super important reminder, you only have to divide up to the thousandths place; just round final answer to the hundredths place. For example: 20 divided by 30 = 0.66666666666 stop at 0.666 and round it to 0.67
**super important reminder, you only have to divide up to the thousandths place; just round final answer to the hundredths place. For example: 20 divided by 30 = 0.66666666666 stop at 0.666 and round it to 0.67
*you may estimate if it helps you and you have the skill set to do it quickly
Chapter review page 148 1-15 all show your work due Thursday
Chapter review page 168-169 1-16 all show your work due Friday
Test on chapters 4, 6, and 7 Friday
Problem of the week due on Friday
History and Language Arts:
Read the article: First Thanksgiving Set Important Example read by Tuesday
*take notes on it or highlight it. Will be used in our compare and contrast article.
Compare and Contrast essay due Friday
Your Thanksgiving and the First Thanksgiving
*You must cite at least 5 times from articles or videos of the First Thanksgiving
*Must be typed (will be given time in class) and placed into our class’ compare/contrast Thanksgiving folder
Language Arts due Wednesday:
Xylem and Phloem Get Things Moving handout
Free-Write due Thursday
What are you thankful for?
Hand written or shared only w/ me
Free-write due Friday
You are a turkey still alive the Friday after Thanksgiving, what is your survival story?
Thursday -- Friendship Soup
We will be making a large soup where everyone contributes their favorite vegetable.
More information to come on Tuesday.
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