8/31 Thursday -- It is a quick one folks!

Brainpop -- the saga continues 

Brainpop congratulated me on discovering a bug in their software. Currently, teachers are unable to change passwords of their students. Our situations are further complicated because teachers are never shown their student's passwords. So we have cases where students can't log in because they don't remember their password and I can't change it right now. They said they would get a programmer on this right away and tey will call or update me back once they fix the bug. 

If you child is positive that they know their password and they can't sign in at home -- try clearing out all Brainpop related "cookies." I did that for one student, and it did work!!!

Therefore, kids are getting an extension on the Brainpops this week. 

IXLs 
They are due tomorrow. 

Here is the link with the due dates and assignments for the entire year!!!

Weekly Friday Reading Journal + Reflection 
Remember students may either 1) Create a video response 2) Answer on-line or 3) Print up the document and write their answers. 

Here is the video link for the week.


As a reminder, the reading journal is a "soft" Friday deadline since they need to read for 30 minutes on Thursday as well. Therefore, just get it completed before the Monday morning of the next week. It is a reading journal and weekly reflection, so this can't authentically be "skipped" or "made up" after the fact (i.e., no one remembers what they read two weeks ago or what their goals were that week).



Stay cool....make sure they bring EXTRA water tomorrow -- it is going to be a record setting heat day!!

Wednesday 8/30 -- Brainpop Drama, Security Procedures, Math delayed by one day and Mr. Newell's Mindfulness

Brainpop Drama 
Please let me know if your child is having problems signing into Brain Pop at home, as I see issues on my end when resetting students passwords. Also, some students can't sign in even after Brainpop themselves emailed me that they corrected it. I'll be calling New York tomorrow morning while they have P.E. to get to the bottom of it. If your child has legitimately had Brainpop issues, please let me know about your issues. They will need to make it up however they should not stress about the Friday deadline. 

The new security procedures....
Thank you for your patience and support for the increased security changes made this year.  One of the security vulnerabilities that were addressed was the resolution to unwatched and unprotected students in the C and D Wing every morning between 8:10-8:25.  We appreciate all the families that have changed some long developed habits/traditions as we have created a safer community for the children. 

We are very pleased to report that student safety has improved. With the spirit of change and increased security, the teachers increased our teacher morning coverage by 50% (2 to 3) during the school arrival window of 8:10 to 8:25.  Most importantly prior the 8:25 bell teachers and administrators no longer discover students lingering in the C & D area outside our doors without supervision.  

As with any new practice, the implementation process has been a little bumpy, and there have been necessary tweaks & improvements. It is funny this week's language arts theme is "Trial and Error" where we are discussing being open to change course or opinions as we take in new information. Similarly, we are always looking to provide solutions to better our learning community.  Therefore if you have ideas to better protect the students during the 8:10-8:25 period, please let myself or administrators know. 

Brain Week + Beta Testing a new DUSD language arts program = less math time this week.
Therefore, the kids were not fibbing when they said I cxl'ed tonight's Zearn.org lesson. We didn't go over lesson #3 today in class, so I felt it was unfair to go forward without working with them. 

So what exactly is the homework as of Wednesday evening Mr. Hubbard?
I'm glad you asked. 
 ONE:   30+ minutes of reading every evening.  Thursday night -- the journal response or the video responses to self-reflection questions and their reading for the week.

TWO:  Thursday night -- watch Zearn.org lesson 4 


Due Friday:  The 4 IXLs 

Multiply numbers ending in zeroes (5-C.4)	GP
Multiply numbers ending in zeroes: word problems (5-C.5)	GP
G.3 Understanding decimals expressed in words
Model decimals and fractions (5-G.2)

Due Friday if technology possible:  The 3 Brainpops 

Speaking of Brain-Week:
Today the kids learned with Mr. Newell regarding Mindfulness. He shared with me the slide show the students used and learned from and it pretty amazing. I appreciate how Mr. Newell takes the time to update his presentation with new and relevant information that the kids will love. The kids were blessed to have his class today. 
Here is the link if you would like to check it out and you can even "quiz" your kids. 

Tomorrow and Friday will be more than a little hot; we can expect to have indoor recesses, and we also have P.E., Please remind your child to bring a water bottle and to stay hydrated.

Thank you for bringing such lovely kids to school each day!!

Mr. Hubbard

Happy week 2! 8/22/17

Let's catch up on the last two days...

Eclipse Day

At first, I thought the big guy upstairs was trolling us and we were going to have clouds cover the sky during the eclipse. Then around 9:50'ish the clouds cleared off and we could observe the eclipse. We looked at 10'ish, 10:15 (when it was 75% covered), 10:40 and then 11:15 when it was pretty much the regular sun again. Mrs. Cargo has a close friend that lost some site during the 1979 eclipse so I shared that story and we watched two different videos that had the kids keenly respectful of the power of our sun. So the kids stayed safe, looked at some history and we are all grateful for the Joshi family's glasses donation.

Circle Time
We spent time on both Monday afternoon and then this morning, doing circle time. I'm a big believer that to be the best teacher possible; you follow this saying, "People won't care how much you know until they know how much you care. " So we have used the time to share out about each other's weekends, discover what their favorite smells are, and learn what things they collect. Then I mix in some listening challenges, so the kids have an incentive to learn each other's names and also listen & learn about each other. We will do this once a week most of the year, and early in the year, we may even do it more than once a week. 
Ask you, child, what they shared that they collected, what scents do they love or enjoy and what they felt was memorable about their weekend. 

Reading "at least" 30 minutes every weeknight
We will discuss this on Thursday during the Back to School Night. I want to ease your responsibility from having to sign and return nightly the reading log. I also want the students to learn responsibility by choosing whatever they want to read and keeping up with the daily reading. They will then type or write out a paragraph on Thursday evening telling me what they read this week, what was interesting and sometimes I may ask them to write about something specific that they read. 

IXL and Brainpops
Every week the kids will get 3 to 5 IXLs and 2 to 4 Brainpops. I generally make ALL OF THEM due on Friday. However, kids should strategically work on them throughout the week. This will ensure that their Thursday evenings are not hellacious every week.  
Brainpops -- should be re-watched and quizzes retook until they earn "at least" an 8 out of 10 on the quiz.  Students created their user names and their passwords so they should know these and I asked them to write them down. 
IXLs -- should be worked on until they reach "at least" 80 points. If you feel your child should be challenged more, one of the easiest ways to work on their thoroughness and advanced math skills is to have them earn 100 points on each IXLs. Frequently the 92 points - 100 points are clearly advanced 5th grade or higher grade level arithmetic.  All students received a print out of their IXL user name and password. 

Eureka Math and Zearn Learning
That will begin on Monday next week. Watching Zearn will be a nightly expectation Monday-Thursday. 

Back to School Night!!
Thursday night!! The 4th and 5th grade is up first this year so 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. will be my presentation. If you have any questions, please email me ahead of time, and I will try my darndest to reply to them during the performance. Parking will be a challenge. On a positive side, there should be so many adults here at that time that the GATES should be flowing like a river and you should be able to access the C and D wing directly. 

 
Sheep Brains
Next Tuesday from 10:30-Noon'ish, our class, will be dissecting sheep brains. If you would like to help, we could use parental volunteers. 
Please complete this form and turn it into the office ASAP if you would like to help. 

We also need a volunteer to take home all the dissection materials, bleach them out and wipe them dry. They must be returned the next day since I am leading dissections each day that week. Every class is recruiting volunteers for the dissection days and also the cleanup duty. 
**We also could use some medical gloves donated to the class. The students and I all need medical gloves for the dissection process. 

I hope you can attend on Thursday evening!!

Kind regards,

Mr. Hubbard

Day four -- August 17, 2017

Solar Eclipse 
The famous solar eclipse will be this Monday morning. We were lucky to have the Joshi family donate glasses which ensures that everyone in our class can safely observe this historic event. Because we live in 2017 and everything and everyone can be sued, it does entail that I share with you an informational legal document. You ONLY return it if you would like your child to NOT participate in using the glasses and observing the eclipse. 


ClassCraft will begin tomorrow!
We have worked out our technology challenges, and the students will sign into Classcraft tomorrow. This does entail homework for you as well because parents do have the ability to give out "gold coins" during their time at home.  I will be asking for your ideas on back to school night regarding scenarios that you would like to see (making the bed, reading 30 minutes without giving you grief, completing challenging math, etc.).  It is 100% free, and you can install the app onto iPhones or Android phones. The kids are super fired up therefore, make sure to ask them to explain what it is all about.

Day Planners
I gave every student a day planner today.  We also spent about 40 minutes putting all of our holidays, significant school days, every collaboration Wednesday date, and field trip date into their day planner. So often you can now ask them when an important event is occurring.

Writing and Math
We did an end of year  4th-grade assessment that every 5th grader at DES is taking. The assessment will help give us a baseline regarding where all of the 130 students are. We have also begun writing on a daily basis. Yesterday they told me about their family and today they had to choose between being born with a third leg or being born with a third arm.

Homework???
That will begin next week, and I'll discuss this topic during Thursday's Back to School Night. Here it is in a rough nutshell:
1. 30 minutes of reading every Monday-Thursday evening. With no reading log.

2. Every Friday -- either a written letter (typed or handwritten) or a 2-minute video (left on Flipgrid) where the student explains in significant details what they chose to read over the four days that week.
3. 2 to 3 IXL math skills will be assigned.
4. 2 to 3 Brainpop movies + 80% or higher on the movie's quiz.
5. Every Monday-Thursday evening -- the student watches the Eureka math's Zearn.com lesson & practice before class. Then we use class time to work on the Eureka math homework.  Yes, you do not have to decipher or try and teach the new math strategies. Rather, you just proctor that your son/daughter completes that night's math lesson & activities (often they take 15 to 20 minutes to complete).
Throughout the week, though more challenging during shortened weeks, the students will be given the opportunity to complete the Zearn.com, IXL.com and the Brainpop.com assignments IN CLASS. Students that are focused will have little homework outside of the 30 minutes of reading while students that enjoy conversations with others or randomly surfing the internet will have more homework.

Day Two! 8/15/2017

Less talk about supplies and more time spent learning about each other!!

Gaming in class? Aka CLASSCRAFT
We did spend the morning discussing Classcraft. We are going to use Classcraft to both help offer parents feedback on how each student's day is going and also to have some fun. As a parent I appreciate how it allows you to limited hand out amounts of gold-coins at your discretion regarding homework @ home, studying @home and general overall effort towards learning while @ home. I am unsure if you can "take away" gold coins as a teacher can. We will find out together. Look for your parent invite in the next few days. In the meantime, ask your son or daughter to share what they learned about Classcraft today.
https://www.classcraft.com/#modal-iste-2017
https://help.classcraft.com/hc/en-us/articles/217901858-Inviting-parents-to-Classcraft


Getting to know each other time.....
We did the classic "Find someone who did ???? over the summer".  Then as an entire class, we shared out some of the similarities. Also, we began guessing who replied in what way to the day one survey titled, "This is me."  Students were then asked to answer six questions about themselves, and then we had a snowball fight!! I was attacked by 26 students all trying to bring me down with binder paper snowballs.

The Pyramid of Success
I value character, and I try to use the early part of the year to get to know each other and also make a point to discuss, write and reflect upon character issues. I use the book "Inch and Miles..The Journey to Success" written by the late John Wooden. Ask your son or daughter about 1. What is a success? 2. What is the pyramid of success? And then have them describe the four character attributes that we read about and discussed today: hard work, enthusiasm, friendship, and loyalty.

Get your head on straight
For the last year and a half, I have been using meditation in my class as a way to improve learning, specifically right after we return from our morning recess time. Numerous studies and many schools have found great success in teaching students basic breathing exercises, practice with focusing and learning to cut out the ever present stimuli in their life. We use the popular app/website called www.mindspace.com  The lessons are 100% secular, there are no references to religion, and there is absolutely no use of idols.   Much of the beginning lessons focus on observing our breathing patterns and challenging ourselves to turn our attention to how slowing our breathing and lasering our focus calms the body.  If you are skeptical, please feel sign up at www.mindspace.com. Both the website and the app will give you a free two-week trial and try the foundation lessons that we are doing at school. Also, feel free to discuss this with me if you have questions, suggestions or concerns.
Articles that discuss meditation:
The Atlantic Article
Slate's Article
Forbe's Article

I sent home a PG Movie permission slip; please consider signing it and returning it. Sometimes, especially on a Friday, we will watch part of a fun movie after lunch. The permission slip allows me to play most Pixar films and other kid particular movies.

Some people were having a challenge finding my Facebook page, so here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/mrhubbardsclassdotcom/
I like to post parent related articles there, and people are welcome to join or start a conversation regarding the articles.

I also need about ten more families to complete the survey:

Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard

Day 1 is in the books....

It was a great day getting to know the newest group that I will spend the next 291 days forming a learning community. Yes, you have 291 days from your son or daughter becomes a middle schooler.

Supplies for days....

The first day often involves sleepy students with enthusiasm that sort of gets derailed as "we" as a class handles how to decipher all of the school supplies. We talk about what is donated and what is not given and how they may want to handle the items that they keep.  At this point, they want to keep a 3-ring binder, at least one folder, one math note book, one college ruled notebook and an envelope to hold their one to three pencils, one pen, one to two highlighters, and their markers if they choose to keep them. The extra notebooks (graphing and college ruled) may be left at home.

Items that we could still use donated to the class -- scissors. I have exactly six in my class so for art projects it would be great to have more scissors. Also, colored printing paper would be wicked awesome. Like I did tonight, in an ideal world I would send home important "please don't lose" form in a particular color. Then I could tell the parents, "hey, look for the orange colored handout in the backpack."

Long story, long....supplies take a lot longer than you imagine.

We did discuss eating in class, privileges versus rights,  using the restroom rules, changes to the bell schedule, and how to line up and go to lunch.  We also fleshed out my life and who "IS" Mr. Hubbard. Students are now well versed in my life, my likes/dislikes and where I came from.  We did do some dancing to Michael Jackon, invent some new handshakes, create some dance moves and have some movement. Finally, we did get onto the Chromebooks, joined my Google Classroom, and they answered an easy question. We also discussed our theme of "Today You, Tomorrow Me."

Please complete this quick survey, and it really does help me out. 

Also, if for some reason my brightly colored letter didn't make it home, here is my welcome message. 


Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard

2017-2018 Is Upon Us!!

We are only five days away until our 180-school day journey begins.

This year's theme will be "Today You, Tomorrow Me!" If you have 8 minutes and you don't mind getting a case of the feels, give this a listen.  Listen to the story, "Today You, Tomorrow Me"  Or watch this part of the video (it is important to stat at 3:32):




If your child has me as their teacher this year, it will help me a ton if you could complete this form. I know you have already completed similar information for DUSD and then you had to write it on paper for the emergency forms; however, this helps me have my own readily available copy that I can save onto my hard drive. I greatly greatly appreciate you taking the 5 to 7 minutes to complete the form.

"Sleep Well to Think Well"
My son or daughter wants to know what they should do to be ready for Monday, what should I tell them?  If they haven't already, they should be going to sleep at their "typical" school bedtime. They should then also be having their alarm set for their "typical" school wake up time. If you have been napping on the importance of sleep in your child's life and your own, I will recommend watching this 12-minute video from PBS's NOVA

Anything else they should do?
They should come to school having a positive attitude towards learning, be willing to make mistakes and be kind.

My tale of "Mice and Pens"

As we get prepared for the upcoming 2017-2018 school year, I pulled up the 5th grade supply list for this year.
2017-2018 Supply List

Something seemed fishy right off the bat because I've been trying my best to repeal "erasable pens" for many years. I thought I finally had rustled up enough votes among my team that those hybrid pens would finally be removed from our list. Yet, there they were in the middle of the list.

A quick aside, my main problem with the erasable pen is my problem with almond milk, rice milk, cashew milk, etc..Those "phony" milk are NOT milk, they are nut water or something. Similarly, pen ink that "erases" is NOT pen ink.  Stay in your lane. Stop trying to be a pencil and stick to be the best pen that you can be.

We also began a few years back requesting or strongly suggesting a  "wireless-mouse." As our Chromebooks age, the mouse pad in the middle does NOT age gracefully. The closest thing to botox or plastic surgery for a Chromebook's mouse pad is the wireless mouse.

Other things that were requested for the upcoming school year that didn't make it onto the list:

colored paper -- having colored paper allows us to send home information that sticks out. 10 or 11 years have a habit of just shoving important paperwork into the Twilight Zone of their backpack.

Smaller three ring binder -- the 2-inch binder is just WAAAAAY too large for our young 10 and 11-year-olds.  A sensible 1-inch binder makes taking it out and lugging it back and forth every night much easier.

Scissors -- we have not asked for scissors in the last five years. Guess what happens to 30 scissors over five years? They become about eight small bland hardly working scissors that no kid wants to use. So we needed to replenish the classroom scissor cache.

Long story short, if your child is at Dublin Elementary School 5th grade for the 2017-2018 school year, click here to see the supply list that 5th grade intended to make public.  If you bought on-line, it will  be different from the changes we proposed. Please do not go out and purchase new things. We will make due with what we have.