Thursday, September 16, 2010

    The big news today…no more gum for the next month. We had someone put gum in the recycle bin earlier this week??? Now today I discovered in front of the class a piece of gum on the ground in front of our class. Since we are the only class allowed to chew gum during tests, we have lost the privilege for the next month.

    Today – we started the day with DEAR time again. Many students took their first independent AR tests. Some chose to use this time to study for the science test.

    Afterwards I showed them how to get to the AR book finder.

http://www.arbookfind.com/usertype.aspx

This can be found in my delicious.com/iamron under AR

    I also taught a lesson regarding how to use Amazon to help you find a book. We looked at "customers also bought, " "listamania," and how to review the customer write ups.

    We reviewed the practice book lessons for the week. So we reviewed again correct plural nouns and specific descriptive nouns.

    Before recess we reviewed this week's strategy of classifying and grouping non-fiction information.

    We reviewed the distributive property (aka decomposing of #'s) and as a class we worked and showed 4 examples from tonight's homework.

    We then had our class photos which took a period of time. The students did a wonderful job of not getting hurt or being too much of a distraction while we had to wait for everyone to complete their photo.

    Prior to lunch students were able to watch math brainpops, work on our new math website or work 20+ minutes on tonight's math homework.

    Rotations today….Cargo and then science w/ Wilmott. Science does have homework tonight due tomorrow.

    Finally tomorrow we are going to spend some significant time celebrating national Constitution Day. So make sure to ask your son/daughter on Friday about our Federal Government and our Bill of Rights.

Homework for the week:

Math:

Due Friday pages 57-58 5-27 **11 of the multiplication problems must be decomposed.

Free-Write due Friday – this week a true free-write; write about whatever you want

Science due Friday (softback page 158/160) vocabulary notecards –sun,star, fusion and the non-fiction handout

Social Studies due Wednesday 9/22 read pages 155-162

Due
Friday -- Language Arts Comprehension:

Read 78-100 / On page 100 – you choose 3 questions and answer them in complete sentences / P.B. 39/40

Kind regards,

Ron

DES Scoop Night

Mr. H looking dazed and confused.

    I'll be scooping tonight from 8:15-9:00 with Mr. Haar and Ms. Shiell at the Dublin Cold Stone near the movie theatre. Please come join us if you can.

    If that time doesn't work we also have teacher working 6:00-6:45 (Coupe, Cargo and Franklin), 6:45-7:30 (Bright, Cartmell, Lombardo) and 7:30-8:15 (Agenjo, Guadagni and Mitchell).

    It is a great way to load up on calories and earn money for Dublin Elementary School.

This is worth 5-10 minutes of your time.....

Google Family Safety Center

This is a new web site put together by Google to educate parents about how to protect kids and your family when out on the world wide web.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Still too many ants, so please remind your son/daughter to bring home their lunches.

We started off the day with the library. Students continue enjoying the book that they are reading. It involves a young boy learner financial concepts while working for his friend and himself. It has a ton of jokes so it keeping their attention.

 

We came back and students were allowed to either read their newly checked out books, read Volcanoes, work on practice book, study science flashcards or study challenge words.

    We reviewed this week's grammar lessons on plural nouns and more specific nouns. We discussed many examples. Students were strongly encouraged to copy down the challenging plural noun rules.

    Math time – we discussed the distributive property in full detail. We also discussed Commutative
property and associative property. The distributive property will be super important and emphasized as we go forward since it a key concept in effectively multiplying and adding successfully.

http://www.aaamath.com/pro74bx2.htm

http://www.math.unt.edu/mathlab/emathlab/distributive_property_of_multipl.htm

    This allows students to have more options when dealing with larger multiplication. Heck, I have had success with some of the students that struggle with 8*8 or 9*6 –they can decompose one of the numbers into numbers that they can more easily multiply/add.

    After math we reviewed the challenge word vocabulary and their sentences. Students did a great job this week of completing this assignment and bringing it to school!!

    Rotations – they rotate to Mrs. Cargo's class. http://dusd.schoolwires.net/224720722164552217/site/default.asp

    They rotated into science, the test will be tomorrow. So they better have those 19 flashcards memorized. "Remember – repeat to remember and remember to repeat" http://www.brainrules.net/short-term-memory

http://www.brainrules.net/long-term-memory

http://dusd.schoolwires.net/224720722164555580/site/default.asp (this Mrs. Wilmott's link)

 

Photo day is tomorrow!! Students brought home the envelope on Monday. Hopefully it made it to you. If you don't have one, bring your checkbook and stop off in the front office for an extra envelope. Photos are circa 11:15 for our class.

    Have a great Wednesday night.

 

Homework for the week:

Photo Day is 9/16/2010 around 11:15'ish;

 

Math:

Due Thursday Page 54-55 7-18 plus 1-6 OR 19-23

Due Friday pages 57-58 5-27 **11 of the multiplication problems must be decomposed.

 

Free-Write due Friday – this week a true free-write; write about whatever you want

Grammar Work due Thursday – P.B. 48, 49, and 50

Science due Thursday – 20 flash cards written out and the test is Thursday

Social Studies due Wednesday 9/22 read pages 155-162

Due Friday -- Language Arts Comprehension:

Read 78-100

On page 100 – you choose 3 questions and answer them in complete sentences

P.B. 39/40

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Reoccurring theme, Tuesdays rock and roll quickly and end abruptly.

1 The brand new C-Wing has too many ants!!

We had morning technology lab. Within the laboratory students were allowed to either study for the chapter 2 test or take the chapter 3 test. With this new computer/math website, it has the ability for the student to take a test and then receive PowerPoint tutoring lesson specific to the skill they didn't master. Furthermore the PowerPoint has both sound and writing to appeal to both audio and written learners!!

Students also practiced typing for 20 minutes to build up their typing skills.

Finally students were able check out a great website put out by our federal government that teaches computer privacy, handling money and being advertising awareness.

You can see it all the links in this blog.

After technology lab the students and I graded last night's math homework and asked final questions regarding chapter 2. They then were given 80 minutes to work on the math tests. About 2/3rds of the class completed the math test. Those that didn't will have exactly 20 minutes to complete the test tomorrow.

We ended the scholastic part of the day reviewing practice book pages 38,43 and 47 and discussing the meaning of the base words "struct" and "rupt";

Remember those 5 challenge words are due tomorrow.

The completed the afternoon with P.E.

Have a great Tuesday and go Giants!!

 

Homework for the week:

Photo Day is 9/16/2010 around 11:15'ish;

 

Math:

Due Wednesday Page 52-53 8-25 **also write the four properties in your math notebook

Due Thursday Page 54-55 7-18 plus 1-6 OR 19-23

Due Friday pages 57-58 5-27 **11 of the multiplication problems must be decomposed.

 

Free-Write due Friday – this week a true free-write; write about whatever you want

Vocabulary Work due Wednesday – 5 challenge words, P.B. 38, 43, and 47

Grammar Work due Thursday – P.B. 48, 49, and 50

Science due Thursday – 20 flash cards written out and the test is Thursday

Social Studies due Friday read pages 155-162

Due Friday -- Language Arts Comprehension:

Read 78-100

On page 100 – you choose 3 questions and answer them in complete sentences

P.B. 39/40

September 14, 2010 Technology Lab

We are going to type for 20 minutes...take this practice seriously. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

 
Math time:

www.pearsonsuccessnet.com

I would suggest that you study for chapter 2 or take the chapter 3 test.

Finally let's be curious and try this website.  It is going to teach you various lessons about being a consumer in America. 
http://www.ftc.gov/YouAreHere/

Monday, September 13, 2010

Our first five day week of the year…..

It was a busy day since Monday is a big let's get organized and plan out our week day.

 

Spelling Pretest –

http://www.eduplace.com/spellinglists/index.html#g5

 

We re-reviewed conjunction usage.

 

We then spoke some about this week's story. It concerns volcanoes and it once again a non fiction story.

http://www.nationalatlas.gov/dynamic/dyn_vol-ca.html

 

Students were given 30 minutes to either read independently or begin reading about volcanoes.

 

After recess we prepped for tomorrow's chapter 2 test. Students can prep for the test in the following ways:

1^st – do tonight's homework

2^nd—go on-line and take the chapter 2 test. Whatever questions they miss, they will be offered a follow up tutoring lesson.

3^rd--- study this test so you can see what tomorrow's test will be like (very similar however the numbers are changed to protect the innocent). Here is the link: http://www.box.net/shared/3j9zd7ouuu

4^th—make sure their math notebook has any type of notes or reminders that will be help them succeed.

Students were given 25 minutes to begin working on tonight's homework and when finished to work on the on-line chapter 2 test since it will give them immediate feedback regarding what they need to work on.

 

Students then read this week's story on volcanoes for 20 minutes with a partner.

 

After lunch we discussed other successful ways to prioritize and manage your time.

I spoke about the 4 quadrants and the need to work in the area titled "important and NOT urgent" and too often we work on activities that are urgent and NOT important or worse yet, NOT urgent and NOT important.

We then discussed the good old fashioned "prioritize and make a top 10 list"; We did a few examples to each style and how you can use these as a student.

I have attached the examples that we discussed and students can save the file and print this up for future use.

http://www.box.net/shared/5kb8klkifd

Finally we were given 15 minutes plan out and strategize the game plan for this week based on our weekly homework expectations.

 

Homework for the week:

Photo Day is 9/16/2010 around 11:15'ish;

 

Math:

Due Tuesday Page 46-47 all and chapter 2 test Tuesday

Due Wednesday Page 52-53 8-25 **also write the four properties in your math notebook

Due Thursday Page 54-55 7-18 plus 1-6 OR 19-23

Due Friday pages 57-58 5-27 **11 of the multiplication problems must be decomposed.

 

Free-Write due Friday – this week a true free-write; write about whatever you want

Vocabulary Work due Wednesday – 5 challenge words, P.B. 38, 43, and 47

Grammar Work due Thursday – P.B. 48, 49, and 50

Science due Thursday – 20 flash cards written out and the test is Thursday

Social Studies due Friday read pages 155-162

Due Friday -- Language Arts Comprehension:

Read 78-100

On page 100 – you choose 3 questions and answer them in complete sentences

P.B. 39/40

 

Kind regards,

Ron

 

Week 3 – Thursday, September 09, 2010

Today….

We started the day with Language Arts and homework time. Students were given 60 minutes to either work on the comprehension work due on Friday, Practice Book work due on Friday, study spelling/vocab or read independently.

We reviewed the five vocabulary words that will be tested tomorrow. I'm on the fence how to penalize the FIVE students that forgot, misplaced or simply didn't do their vocabulary work. We then review the definitions and the sentences as a class which makes "turning it in late" somewhat unnecessary. I am leaning towards a Friday party.

Math:

Lesson 2-6

Subtracting with decimals.

We tried our darndest as a class and we decided to not make decomposing of numbers (aka Burger King Method) mandatory for tonight's homework. When you end up decomposing a "one" into tenths, hundredths, and thousandths, you end up doing standard borrowing like things so just subtract "old-school" style.

Homework: page 40-41 9-23 plus either 40 1-8 all OR 41 24-27 all

Students were given 30 minutes to work on tonight's homework.

 

Science book walkthrough – this was a continuation of yesterday's team work with discovering how a typical non-fiction text book is laid out. So the students worked in teams of three doing a textbook scavenger hunt.

Then we had rotations again today…students went to Mrs. Cargo's for cursive practice.

Then they went to Mrs. Wilmot's for science. They were assigned more flash cards. I have a cache of flashcards so please do NOT purchase more flash cards. Your child can have a pack to keep at home if that helps. Please see Mrs. Wilmot's or Mrs. Cargo's website if you need more instruction about their homework.

    Homework due Friday:

Math

Page 38 1-8 all OR 39 27-33 all

Due on Friday:

Page 40-41 9-23 all

40 1-8 all OR 24-27 all

FYI – page 46-47 1-14 all due on Tuesday 9/14 and Chapter 2 test will be given on 9/14

 

Vocab and Spelling test is Friday

http://www.eduplace.com/spellinglists/lists/sl_g5t01_02.html

 

Grammar due Friday

P.B. 33, 34, and 35 Conjunctions, combining sentences and correcting run-ons

 

Reading Comprehension questions due Friday:

Read 54-76; P.B. 24 and 25; and page 76 Student chooses which 3 questions to answer but must be complete sentences.

 

Free-write due Friday: "When Mother Nature gets upset….."

Have a great evening.

Mr. Hubbard

Week 3 – September 7, 2010

Week three…

 

With Tuesday off a long weekend, it was a day of compact learning.

 

Technology lab – let's see…my website wasn't loading, my delicious account wasn't loading, they couldn't get into typing, furthermore they tried to log in and take an AR/STAR test and it said their accounts were set up yet. It is just great times being in a computer room with 25 excited students and various computer challenges occurring at the same time. Thankfully the www.pearsonsuccessnet.com worked wonderfully. Students were able to begin taking the chapter 2 pretest. Upon finishing the students are able to go back and either 1. Work on the lessons they missed questions on or 2. Work on challenging work based on their mastery of the skill in the pretest.

 

Language Arts:

Spelling pretest -- http://www.eduplace.com/spellinglists/lists/sl_g5t01_02.html

 

Reviewing what this week's story is all about… ..a storm chaser. We talked about our classroom schema. We talked about what a cool job that would be. We also reviewed the key vocabulary for this story: pb 23

 

Math:

Lesson 2-4 adding and subtracting larger numbers.

The big lesson that we covered was reviewing the style of "decomposing" your numbers. In 5^th grade terms – writing out the words in expanded form. Once laid out in expanded form they may add or subtract the numbers. We also did the "Burger King" method where you can decompose the number into parts that help you most successfully add or subtract. They should 3 examples of what I am talking about written in their math notebook.

Students were given 20 minutes to begin working on tonight's math homework.

 

Language Arts again –

Students were given 25 minutes to begin reading this week's story. They were able to work in pairs, read, ask questions and refer to this week's PB work.

Conjunctions – we discussed the main ones – but, and, or, that, yet, nor, and however

We also watched Conjunction Junction What's Your Function.

 

We used the final 15 minutes before lunch to write down the homework for the week into their day planners. We also discussed about planning their week out since it is only a three evening week. I also explained that we will be using class time to resolve some of this work.

 

They ended the day with PE.

 

Homework for the week:

Math

Due on Wednesday:

Page 35 7-18 all ** must use the expanded form on at least a 1/3^rd of them

Page 35 1-6 OR page 36 19-25

Due on Thursday:

Page 38 9-26 all**must use the expanded form on at least 1/3^rd of them

Page 38 1-8 all OR 39 27-33 all

Due on Friday:

Page 40-41 9-23 all** must use the expanded form on at least 1/3^rd of them

40 1-8 all OR 24-27 all

FYI – page 46-47 1-14 all due on Tuesday 9/14 and Chapter 2 test will be given on 9/14

 

Vocab due Thursday

http://www.eduplace.com/spellinglists/lists/sl_g5t01_02.html

Define and use in a sentence the 5 challenge words. Plus p.b. 23,28 and 32

 

Free-write: due Thursday

"I need to get this off my chest….."

 

Grammar due Friday

P.B. 33,34, and 35 Conjunctions, combining sentences and correcting run-ons

 

Reading Comprehension questions due Friday:

Read 54-76 ; P.B. 24 and 25; and page 76 Student chooses which 3 questions to answer but must be complete sentences.

 

Free-write due Friday: "When Mother Nature gets upset….."

 

**I will put out an update with the Back to School Files..I have them on my flash drive and it is at home.

Tuesday's Computer Lab.....

Here is what we are doing today in the Computer Lab:

typing -- Mavis Beacon is not up and running yet so we are going to use these two websites for 15 minutes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

http://www.typingweb.com/typingtutor/

Then we will move onto Renaissance Place.....
user name is your 5 digit student id and password is des

After that go to
www.pearsonsuccessnet.com
05digitid and password: changeme

Mrs. McGowan: Why Read 20 Minutes a Day?

Mrs. McGowan: Why Read 20 Minutes a Day?

Basically those 20 minutes a day add up to some serious myelin build up while not reading 5 minutes a day is not building up much of anything.

Week 2-- September 1, 2010

It was our first 8:30-2:50 day so I felt like much was accomplished. I took questions about Reading Around the World. People seem clear about the expectations. You have a roll in this, the signing off of 100 pages, so we will discuss this at Back To School Night.

 

We took our first library visit of the year. Mrs. Klein discussed the expectations of the media center and using our books. The district has begun having the kids and their families sign a contract acknowledging the need to keep books in great shape and returned in a timely fashion so everyone can benefit from our library. Please sign and return the library contract.

 

After library we took 25 minutes of DEAR time, drop everything and read. Students are allowed to also read and complete their weekly language arts comprehension questions during this time or practice book.

 

We reviewed the challenge words for the week.

http://www.eduplace.com/spellinglists/index.html#g5

For week one, the students did an amazing job with their definitions and their sentences. So I expect great things with tomorrow's vocabulary test.

We also corrected the three vocabulary practice book pages. We had a discussion regarding thesaurus and when would you need to use it. Also how blindly using it can cause some word choice embarrassment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s0LqZMsfTQ

**I didn't show this to the class, I only made reference to it.

 

Math – we corrected last night's math homework and I answered questions that people may have head.

We then took our first math test of the year. Many kids finished super quick so I'm hoping it is not a case of rushing.

 

After the math test, we reviewed chapter 2 lesson 1. It is about mental math. I gave several examples and we brainstormed ways that we can use mental math. We also discussed appropriate versus inappropriate times to use mental math. For example a doctor would prescribe specific amount of medicine per day while an event planner would estimate a number slightly larger than what they think are showing up.

Homework:

HC page 25 1-26 all

27-34 all OR 2-1 R

Students need to show me which numbers they are using, NOT JUST give me their final answer. I realize that it is called mental math however we are practicing our estimating and mental math skilz. Students had just over 15 minutes to begin working on tonight's homework.

**don't forget the entire book is now found on line. If a child needs a further lesson, they can log in and check the area in 5^th grade book that says, "to do."

 

Language Arts -- we reviewed the expected grammar lessons for the week.

Types of sentences

The declarative sentence makes a statement. The interrogative sentence asks a question. The exclamatory sentence is a statement that shows strong emotion. And the imperative sentence gives a direction or a command but without strong emotion.

Predicate and Subject

http://www.criticalreading.com/simple_sentence.htm

Combining subjects or predicates to make shorter concise sentences.

 

Circle Time:

What is your favorite sport? We had a cornucopia of answers to this question. We had 18 different sports mentioned.

When you hear our classroom theme of "change" what do you think? Some great answers from high level thoughtful responses to some simplistic answers.

If you HAD TO listen to the same artist or album for 24 straight hours, which artist could you listen to without going crazy? Taylor Swift won in a landslide decision.

For the 2^nd time we had to cut our time short because too many kids are sharing amongst themselves rather than listening and waiting to have their opportunity to share. Somewhat disappointing….

 

Since my circle time activity and icebreaker was cut short by selfish deciscions, I then used the final 20 minutes to discuss the article that I posted last night about myelin formation.

http://thetalentcode.com/2010/08/24/letter-to-students-cliffs-notes-for-a-faster-brain/

Rule 1: Feel the Burn

Rule 2: Repetition is Underrated. (Repetition is Underrated.) Also, Repetition is Underrated.

Rule 3: Steal From the Best

We also looked at this quick slide show:

http://thetalentcode.com/myelin/

slide 6 was especially powerful with the class.

 

Homework for tonight:

Homework for the week:

Math

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

 

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.

http://www.eduplace.com/spellinglists/index.html#g5

 

Kind regards,

Ron Hubbard

Letter to Students: Cliffs Notes for A Faster Brain « The Talent Code

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.

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.

www.pearsonsuccessnet.com

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 5^th 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 5^th 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

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 5^th 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

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.

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

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

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.

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 5^th 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

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.

Don't multi task and do homework...

Well, you can allow your son/daughter to do however they won't be accomplishing much.

Study Hacks � Blog Archive � Is Allowing Your Child to Study While on Facebook Morally Irresponsible?

Zero Tolerance

I love the last part of the post where the author has clearly dropped the gauntlet down.....here it is:

The question is simple, “Are you going to adapt your philosophies and practices to a new generation of learners, a new information environment, and a new future?”.

If not…

Then get out and go run a Laundromat.

Too much multi-tasking equals LOW grades...

Study Hacks � Blog Archive � Is Allowing Your Child to Study While on Facebook Morally Irresponsible?

Statistics....the good, the bad, and somewhere in the middle.

Yong Zhao � Blog Archive � A Pretense of Science and Objectivity: Data and Race to the Top

The comments from readers ask some great questions as well.

It will be interesting to see how next year's new classes look....

2¢ Worth » If I was a Petulant Child

I love how he imagines a 12 year old would respond to not having internet access.

Accepting that, I got to wondering, what if I was a 12 year old, a member of the ultimate customer base that we are all serving. What if they’d invited a game-playing, text-thumbing, Facebook browsing youngster to speak? How might she have reacted?

Dude!

No Internet? Wait a minute. You want me to talk about how my generation thinks, how we interact with each other, how we play – and work – and learn, what we care about and where we do it — and you want me to do it without the Internet?

Dude!

Study Hacks » Blog Archive » I Got a C on My Orgo Exam! What Should I Do?

Study Hacks » Blog Archive » I Got a C on My Orgo Exam! What Should I Do?

If you have time, I would read this over and see how this applies to your son/daughter. It was written for a college student however it could be adapted to apply for a younger person.

ginandtacos.com » Blog Archive » PRETZELS AND SPITE

ginandtacos.com » Blog Archive » PRETZELS AND SPITE

I see this debate in a lot of different social issues these days: do we want something made or done right if it means that many people won't be able to afford it, or do we want cheap shit that everyone can afford? Regardless of which one of those options we prefer individually or collectively, our system can only produce one of them.

I find this last paragraph of the posting pretty telling.....I makes me think about how charter schools fall into this? Are we trying to work around the above hypothesis or are they meant to fail?

I need to think about this more, but his posting has me thinking.

Paretns handling the digital overload

NetFamilyNews

A great article regarding how to help your child process the 24/7 digital onslaught.

2 big things from this article....

The Importance of Being Unpredictable � The Talent Code

1. Focus is something that must be practiced and developed. This would be in both school, music, and sports.

2. You should practice the ability to focus with distraction and randomness.

Here is what the author says in the article that stood out for me:

The desired quality here is focus, which we can define as the ability to maintain concentration and control emotions in the face of unpredictability. We usually think of focus as something that’s innate, part of your character.

But the lesson here, I think, is that our instincts might be wrong. For Mackey, James, and the violinists, focus is a kind of skill, one that requires a training regimen all its own.

In fact, we can go further and divide all training into two basic types: 1) the training that builds the fundamental skill (a.k.a. the fast, fluent neural circuit); and 2) the training that field-tests that circuit, whacking it with all kinds of real-world randomness and distraction, in order that it become stronger, more reliable, and capable of handling surprises. Sort of like a good dog team.

A teacher exposes the less than desirable food we feed our students at school..

A Teacher is Eating School Lunches Every Day for a Year

Check out the article, they point out a school in France does not repeat a dish in a 32 day cycle. While we serve pizza 40% of our school lunch days.

The best? We serve sugar based snack foods for our 10 a.m. snack time (dunking French toast and PopTarts), we do this even during school testing week.

$2 for prisons for every $1 towards education...

ginandtacos.com � Blog Archive � STRIKING A NICE BALANCE

The author speaks to the point,

"Spending twice as much on prisons as higher education should prompt some soul searching."

What does this say but us as a society?

This is for all my skateboarding students...

skateboarding

This one made me kind of sad...

YOUTH - NEW MATH by Craig Damrauer


As wisdom increases the dividend will decrease :(

The Week in Rap

The Week in Rap

Another weekly rap...

The best part is the great links that they supply to the current events that they rap to. The class enjoys watching and then discussing the events.

"Made, not born."

Made, not born.: "

"

When is the Kindle going to come to schools?

See below...
Those large backpacks are hurting kids backs.
The luggage style backpack, while better on the back, is seen as "uncool" by the typical teenager.



MRIs Show the Effects of Heavy Backpacks on Kids’ Bodies: "

We've heard about the problem of heavy backpacks. Kids today are often burdened by having to carry too many books, and may even experience back pain.

Now, a new study using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans shows that typical backpack loads can indeed put significant stress on kids' spines. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego imaged the spines of kids while they wore 9, 18, and 26 pound bags (one at a time, of course). The scans showed that the heavier the bags, the more there was compression of the discs in the spine. Heavier bags also caused increased curvature of the lower spine in kids. (For the study, researchers measured the kids as they carried the bags using both straps; but the researchers point out that in reality, kids usually sling backpacks over one shoulder, making the strain on their backs that much worse.)

While most early-grade school age kids don't have the carry the load that say, middle-school and upper-school kids usually have to do, parents can make sure they take steps now to prevent problems as kids get more books in their bags. Check out these tips for preventing backpack injuries in kids. And if your child complains that his backpack is too heavy, take it seriously.

"

Are little hunt and gatherers struggle with school...

Sitting, reading, PE taken away and 80+ minutes of math is tough for our little guys. Truth be told, it is tough for the little girls as well. However as we become more "corporate like" it does challenge the predisposed to be active boys even more. See Ms. Jacob's comments below:

The boy gap: "

My column on The Boy Gap is up on Pajamas Media. I look at two new books that ask why so many boys are doing poorly in school.

As reading and writing are pushed down to earlier ages, boys are struggling harder to meet higher expectations, writes Richard Whitmire, a former USA Today reporter, in Why Boys Fail.

“Each year since 1988 the gap between boys’ and girls’ reading skills has widened a bit more,” Whitmire writes. Boys aren’t wired for early verbal skills — and teachers aren’t trained in “boy-friendly” techniques to help them catch up.

Boys are asked to do too much too soon — and labeled hyperactive or bipolar or autistic if they act like little boys, writes psychologist Anthony Rao in The Way of Boys. “Girls use more words; they cooperate with others; they use social skills effectively. A boy’s brain by contrast, is working on other tasks that are equally important but not always valued as highly in schools, such as learning through touching and exploration, developing motor skills and engaging in spatial tasks. Boys also engage in normal aggression, and they have a healthy interest in challenging rules to test the limits of their power.”

Boy-friendly schools need not be hostile to girls. Teaching phonics and intervening to help kids with reading problems turns out to help boys quite a bit.

"

Florida Girl, 6, Handcuffed After Temper Tantrum at School ---A sign of "privatized" education?

Florida Girl, 6, Handcuffed After Temper Tantrum at School - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

This is obviously a sad & extreme situation. However I wonder how children like this will be handled if we move to the teacher pay incentive based purely on test performances? Let's face it, if your child begins acting abnormal they will "literally" be taking money out of a teacher's paycheck, because every minute the teacher deals with your child, they are not teaching the other 31 students.

In a privatized environment that that they are pushing education to become more similar to...you can "lay off" employees that do not have self-motivation or are not great performers. The cream will rise to the top AND the low performers will be weeded out as to not take away from the rising cream. At least in a K-8 environment this type of get rid of the 20% every school year simply not realistic. So what does this newly "privatized" teacher do so he/she can help create an environment where all the cream is rising tot he top?

Since lay offs of 8 years aren't going to happen, then drastic manners where the student must immediately leave the class/school will begin happening. Quite simply, non scholastic behaviors will not be tolerated since from a time investment it will not pay off in improving my overall test scores. Twenty minutes lost on a behavior issue will be twenty minutes I could have been helping a child(ren) learn something that may show up on the test.

Also I wonder if teacher really buys into this "gotz to get paid" mentality if you start assessing students early in the year and see where the largest "upside" to my time investment will lie? That kid may have little upside or way too much baggage, I may have to count him/her as a loss and spend my time towards more students with "testing" upside or room for improvement.

The Science of the Hot Streak « The Talent Code

The Science of the Hot Streak « The Talent Code

1) Super-high goals, from the start. On his first day, to the open-mouthed disbelief of media and fans alike, new Jets coach Rex Ryan talked about how the team would be visiting the White House after winning the Super Bowl. The West 56th St. writers set their goals even higher. As Mel Brooks said, “It wasn’t only a competition to be funnier. I had to get to the ultimate punch line. I was immensely ambitious. It was like I was screaming at the universe, like I had to make God laugh.”

2) Strong shared identity. It’s no coincidence that Coach Ryan and Sid Caesar resemble each other in personality; or that they have created teams in the images of themselves — tough, sharp, provocative, funny as hell. Because they’re not just building a team — they’re creating a story.

3) Early failure is not a verdict, but a navigation point for better work. The Jets went through a tough patch early in the season, much like the Monday-Tuesday doldrums on West 56th. The bad days weren’t the end; they turned out to be stepping stones.

The setting of goals is important. However I really love the #2 and #3. The idea of building a narrative or "shared identity." I know this was also important during my time managing at Franklin Templeton. The shared narrative almost becomes your 'mission statement' since you want to actualize or personify that story.
With point #3, I keep thinking about to the Bill Walsh book that I read recently and how he would retell some of the lowest points of his career and then reply "and here is what I learned from this." It was like Walsh almost seemed grateful for these stomach punches since it gave him an opportunity to learn or grow.

The bus driver had it all wrong..he should have asked for his $$

Police, school squelch child's $10K giveaway | thestarpress.com | The Star Press

Apparently the bus driver, I'm assuming he/she is the only adult on a school bus, became suspicious.

Too bad :)

Alternative Free RSS Reading Tools: feedly (for FireFox) and MobileRSS for iPhone

This takes some time to read through..but I can NOT live without my googe reader.....

Alternative Free RSS Reading Tools: feedly (for FireFox) and MobileRSS for iPhone: "

I read 99% of my news these days from my subscriptions in Google Reader. For me, the printed newspaper primarily has value in helping get fires going in our living room fireplace. (I actually have to get them from my in-laws, incidentally, who are still devoted newspaper subscribers.) In this post I’ll discuss my impressions of two free news reading applications (feedly and MobileRSS for the iPhone) which integrate well with Google Reader and offer features not available in the standard, “Google version” of Reader.

While I perceive most digitally-connected adults today to still be “email people” and most seem to prefer the printed to the digital word, I’m comfortable predicting this will continue to change over time. I’ve noticed with interest my wife and son shift their reading preferences further toward digital texts in the past few months, especially after my wife obtained a Kindle earlier in the fall and my son discovered the site FanFiction.

In February 2009, PEW research revealed Twitter users are far more likely to read their news on digital and mobile platforms. This should come as no surprise: Until recently, most folks “on Twitter” were early adopters of technology and those adoption behaviors extend far beyond microblogging.

As a very active Twitter user, I find myself reading at least 90% of my news on my iPhone using the Google Reader Mobile Edition web app. The “share” option within Google Reader is very important to me, so any computer-based or mobile RSS reading solution needs to not only integrate with Google Reader but also support article sharing. With these criteria in mind, I’ve been exploring two new tools for RSS reading lately, feedly (a free, cross-platform extension for FireFox) and MobileRSS (a free iPhone app which offers offline RSS reading as well as sharing / starring.) James Deaton introduced me to feedly months ago, but I never developed a habit of using it. After reinstalling it recently, this evening it reveals the following post statistics waiting for me in my “feedly dashboard:”

52 categories. 825 sources. 22,127 unread articles

Talk about TMI.

I really like the color coding of feeds in feedly’s dashboard, providing insights like this one:

The light red background means that you have not read any articles from that source for the last 30 days and that it has more than 250 unread articles

Hmmm, I have a few of these. Perhaps time to unsubscribe from those feeds?

Another great feature of the feedly Dashboard is how it permits users to drag-and-drop feeds to which you’ve subscribed into different categories. As far as I know, you can’t do this in Google Reader, although you certainly CAN change subscription options using the drop down menus for different feeds. This drag-and-drop functionality seems to be faster, and it also is wonderful since it provides a visual, “big picture” view of your feeds and categories. The feedly dashboard makes it easy to identify feeds to which you may be subscribed more than once, as well as feeds which don’t have any posts. This feature enabled me to discover Richard Florida’s blog (to which I’d subscribed when it was still hosted as a subdomain on typepad) has now moved to www.creativeclass.com. Without this visual interface, I might have missed this blog source change, and therefore missed out on information shared there.

I also like the subscription interface for feedly. Don’t get me wrong, Google Reader’s default subscription format works well too, but somehow it strikes me as positive to view these available categories (which probably do need to be cut down) in feedly’s format rather than simply Google Reader’s drop down menus.

I also like how feedly supports blog feed “favorites,” in a way I don’t think Google Reader does. When you view your “digest” view in feedly instead of the “cover” version, feeds you have marked as “favorites” show up prominently so you can focus on those information sources. I’ve dabbled with this option a bit, but haven’t invested LOTS of time in it. (In other words, my list in the image below is far from complete.)

If you haven’t given feedly a try, I encourage you to check it out. The price is right (free) and it works as an extension in FireFox so you can use it on any computer platform you happen to be using.

A second alternative RSS reading tool to the standard Google Reader website or mobile-optimized site I’ll address in this post is MobileRSS.

There is a $3 paid version, but the free version has ads that are barely noticeable and seems to work great. It is fully integrated with Google Reader, like feedly, but has the HUGE benefit of permitting OFFLINE blog post reading as well as sharing, starring, etc. Any “interaction” you have with post content is uploaded / synced the next time you are connected to the Internet. I’m eager to give this a try on my next airline flight.

You’ll note at the bottom of the screenshot above, the app syncs your subscription list. This can take awhile if you have LOTS of subscriptions, so this provides more incentive to “clean up” old/expired subscriptions or subscriptions you don’t read much. As I mentioned earlier, feedly can be a great help in that regard.

I’ve briefly tried other iPhone RSS reader applications which integrate partially with Google Reader, like NetNewsWire for iPhone and FluentNews, but neither of those options seemed to support “sharing” via Google Reader. NNW 2.0 does support “starring.”

FluentNews is a mobile-friendly website, and displays its mobile version in standard web browsers. Check it out at www.fluentnews.com.

A few months back I tried USA Today’s iPhone app, but didn’t like the fact I couldn’t SHARE what I was reading in my Google Reader feed. I do like the new $3 CNN iPhone app, for the way it permits customized news feeds, but mainly for the iReporter features. I’ll write a separate post about that functionality sometime soon.

What are your favorite RSS reading options?

ADDITION: If you are a Google Chrome user, note that Google today announced several new extensions with specific support for Google Reader. Not sure any of these can beat feedly, however!

Technorati Tags:

google, iphone, mobile, reader, rss

"

2009 Parade....

Me and My Little Boy enjoying the parade.

Game Theorist: The class matching problem

Game Theorist: The class matching problem

http://www.slate.com/id/2227233/

Two different perspectives on requesting classes and how this affects the class receiving your child and the class losing your child.

I like the principal in Southern California that makes a parent spend a day observing a desired teacher prior to requesting him/her.

I also think there should be some factoring in of prior relationships between teacher and the family. Both when positive or negative because this is a collaborative effort between family, student and teacher.

I think schools in general should offer parents a way to make an informed request (i.e. the idea above) since this is your child that you are talking about. However these request need to come in prior to the classes being created because once they are created they are pretty much balanced with equal amounts of chemistry, learning levels and behavioral "challenges."

Of course, I say the above paragraph however students that move into the school's area over the summer just gets put into the class with the lowest amount of students or whoever is "next in line" to receive a student. This is often since it is challenging to do your due diligence when receiving a new student over the summer.

Baby Einstein is Dead! Long Live Baby Einstein! - NurtureShock Blog - Newsweek.com

Baby Einstein is Dead! Long Live Baby Einstein! - NurtureShock Blog - Newsweek.com

An interesting read...basically they were able to discover that Baby Einstein has lessoned, greatly lessoned, their claims about the power of their music since originally rolling out their product.

I will do my best to withhold any commentary on the G.W. analysis.

A good night’s sleep improves productivity

A good night’s sleep improves productivity: "

Failure to get a good night’s sleep can significantly alter your abilities to be productive, handle stress, and live an uncluttered life. I’m currently experiencing this phenomenon first hand since my son started teething. I have never in my life been this tired for such a continued amount of time, and I’m envious of parents whose children are seemingly unaffected by the teething process.

Actually, I’m envious of anyone who gets sleep, irrespective of if they have children. I may even be thinking mean thoughts about all of you and your well-rested state of being right now …

Where was I?

Oh yes, sleep deprivation.

We’ve talked in the past about how it is important to keep a sleep journal to determine the number of sleep hours you need to function at your best. Too little sleep and too much sleep can influence your behavior, so it’s best to know how much sleep you need. If you don’t know how to interpret the data you collect in your sleep journal, I recommend checking out the article “How Much Sleep Do We Really Need?” by the National Sleep Foundation.

Missing out on sleep affects motor skills, cognitive abilities, and other brain functions. Also, and this is the part that is most disturbing to me, being suddenly woken up (say, like by a crying baby) can have the same effects as sleep deprivation. A study by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder found that sleep inertia (being jarred awake) is the same as being deprived of sleep for 24 hours.

From an article about the study on Medical News Today:

The study showed test subjects had diminished short-term memory, counting skills and cognitive abilities during the groggy period upon awakening known as sleep inertia, said CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Kenneth Wright, lead study author. The new study has implications for medical, safety and transportation workers who are often called upon to perform critical tasks immediately after waking, since cognitive deficiencies following 24 hours of sleep deprivation have previously been shown to be comparable to the effects of alcohol intoxication, he said.

In addition to tracking your sleep patterns, you might also want to try different methods of waking up. A blaring alarm clock might not be the safest way to wake you up from your beautiful, relaxing, glorious night of sleep.

"