Thursday, September 23, 2010

Day three of my Smartboard on a mini vacation....no response devices and no Smartboard.  It hurts me having to teach old school style.  Plus the computer and the technology in the room continues to act unstable. 

Today we worked for 75 minutes on our Theme 1 projects.  Once again kids did an amazing job staying on task and challenging themselves.    
Here is a great example of what one pair of students have done so far:
http://prezi.com/d1eblujymi0_/natures-fury/
What is really amazing about this, is they completely self taught themselves how to use this software.  They watched the video tutorials and then went off and running.

Math:

Exponents

The actual notes that we took in class

Students are to do page 66-67 1-30 all.  They have 25 minutes to work on today’s homework.
We also watched the Brainpop on exponents.

Social Studies --
We finished discussing compromise, the debate over enslaved people, Federalists/Antifederalists and Amendments.  
We also a short conversation about Bath, England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath,_Somerset
Must read pages 163 through 174 by Wednesday the 29th.

Rotation:
Mrs. Cargo’s Class
Mrs. Wilmott’s Class --
Check her website on science for final confirmation, however I believe it to be page 156 and 157 (lessons #1); all of page 164 and 5 vocabulary cards from lesson 2

I am attending an all day technology conference at the District Office tomorrow.   So Mr. Cross my former protege, tutor and aspiring 5th grade teacher himself, will be manning the fort tomorrow for room C-5.  Please make sure students bring any neccessary materials for their theme 1 project since they will once again be given 60+ minutes to work on them.  

Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard

Homework due on Friday:

• Math:  Page 66-67 1-30 all due Friday
• Free Writes (a 2 free-write week): 

The ultimate superhero would……" due Friday

• Grammar packet – due Friday
• Theme 1 project – bring needed supplies

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Library Time -- many students wisely chose to check out books concerning natural disasters or topics related to their theme project.  

The rest of the morning was spent with half the students working on their nature’s fury projects while other students had the opportunity to work on the Friday grammar, tonight’s math homework, read/listen to the math lessons, and complete their science homework.  Then after 50 minutes, the students traded positions where the other half were able to work on their projects.   Once again the energy was strong with many of the students taking this time extremely serious and proceeding with their best efforts.  Some students stamina was not as strong and we had some conversations regarding the overall goal and expectations.  Let’s hope tomorrow is a new day :)

Math:
Using estimating to ensure your calculations are correct.  So we practiced how to quickly estimate using either the decomposing/distributive property and the power of zeros.
There was a great question asked by a student prior to this update about confirming expectations on problems 11-19.   
They are to multiply the real problem, using decomposing/distributive property and then to confirm that this answer is reasonable they are to estimate.  Rather than using the term estimate, the  book calls it “check for reasonableness.”  
E.G. --
#13  7,152 * 283

7,152*200 + 7,152 * 80 + 7,152*3 = 2,024,016

also you would do:
7,000*300 = 2,100,000
Homework tonight: 64-65 1-24 all

Social Studies
We reviewed and discussed pages 155 through 162
Virginia plan versus New Jersey plan.
We discussed how this is even being discussed today...with the two Senators of California representing 37,000,000 between the two of them while Delaware two Senators represent just under 800,000 between the two of them.

Finally we had rotations.  Students need to complete pages 161 through 163 for science.

Have a great evening!!!
Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the rest of the week:
Math:
Page 64-65 1-24 all show your #'s when you are estimating due Thursday
Page 66-67 1-30 all due Friday
Free Writes (a 2 free-write week):
Animals – due Thursday ; tell me something about animal or make up a story with animals
"The ultimate superhero would……" due Friday
           
Grammar packet – due Friday
Theme 1 project – decide what you want to learn more about, finalize planning and beg and request needed supplies. Due ASAP and nightly.

Please take this survey for Jenni's Project

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QQ9FJM2

It is just one question so it should take you no more than 1 minute to take.

Thank you,

Mr. Hubbard

Missing sunglasses....

We had a student put down prescription sunglasses during P.E. today.  She placed them next to many people's jackets.

The glasses are silver with some pink and "they look cool."  They are also worth over $200.

We are hoping and assuming someone accidentally picked up these prescription glasses.

Would you please be on the look out for these glasses, especially when doing laundry, etc...

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Tuesday = a fast one

We made some serious head way on our theme 1 projects. Students were able to begin researching and crafting their projects. I was super super impressed by the commitment that many of the students were making in regards to working hard. We did put in 20 minutes on Mavis Beacon so we could continue working on perfecting our typing skills. Then the students had 75 minutes today to work on their projects. You know things are going well and learning is going on when the students groan when the recess bell rings. No one wanted to stop the momentum that we started. At the very end the student(s) were shown how to complete a project plan update and give me a status description of what they learned today and what they accomplished. Please ask your son/daughter what they learned and what they worked on today.

Math:

More work with the distributive/decomposing numbers...We had a few students still struggling with it. So as a class we roll modeled 3 more examples and we showed how each student could distribute a multiplier to make the calculation easier.

For example:

5215 * 36 = ?

Some students changed it to 5215*30 + 5215*6 =?

Some students changed it to 5215*16 + 5215*16 =?

While another student changed it to 5000*36 + 200*36 + 10*36+5*36 =?

We tried once again to rock the house during math with the response devices however my tablet is having Smartboard issues ever since I agreed to install new drivers. So my board doesn't work and now my response devices don't work. I literally had to take several breaths and find my happy place since having 25 students geared up to use our new toy and to have it not work is a recipe for anarchy and chaos.

After math we reviewed the final free writes from last week. The students enjoy hearing what others wrote and then we try and guess who wrote that piece.

We ended our day with me by reviewing the priority list and seeing what should be tackled today.

They ended the day with PE.

 

Kind Regards,

Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the rest of the week:

Math:

Page 61-62 2-38 even *every problem must be decomposed/distributive property due Wednesday

Page 64-65 1-24 all show your #'s when you are estimating due Thursday

Page 66-67 1-30 all due Friday

Free Writes (a 2 free-write week):

Animals – due Thursday ; tell me something about animal or make up a story with animals

"The ultimate superhero would……" due Friday

Social Studies 155-162 due Wednesday

Grammar packet – due Friday (I will handout on Tuesday, I need to make copies)

Theme 1 project – decide what you want to learn more about, finalize planning and beg and request needed supplies. Due ASAP and nightly.

Daily Status Updates for Theme Project

You need to complete a DAILY status update.  If you are working with a partner, you only have to fill out 1 update (e.g. I do not need you both to complete it).

Here is the link:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&authkey=CJSA0ckI&formkey=dFN1RmZMeUtlRXV2aG42aDNTaGF6R3c6MA#gid=5

Tuesday Technology Game Plan....

1.  Let's see if Mavis Beacon will work for us today.  (15 minutes)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

2.  50 minutes to work on our Theme 1
**At the end this you will need to fill out a status update.
Look back here for the link.

3.  45 minutes to work on the new math program.

Why is the API like QB rating system in the NFL?

Specifically why is it made so darn confusing?  Weighted scores, students moving from Far Below Basic to even just Basic earns you point incentives?   I mean people go ape-poop over the results and get either super excited or super bummed however I bet 98 out of a 100 couldn't figure out how that figure came about.  


Here is the most recent 78 page explanation how the API is calculated.  
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/documents/infoguide09.pdf

Rather than making it some number that everyone waits for the Wizard of Oz to release every September because that basically what the API "scores" being released amounts to, why don't the "keep it simple dummy?"

I would propose that they release the raw score average in math, LA, science and social studies along with the school's and district's Standard Deviation.  Ultimately a student's raw score matters (e.g. SATs) and a school with an allegedly great average but an abnormally high standard deviation would raise eyebrows regarding if all students are being well served.   Furthermore as a parent, I would love to see how my son's raw scores compared to the school's avg and while also comparing the school's averages in nearby communities. 

“You just need to get started” is bad advice | I Will Teach You To Be Rich

“You just need to get started” is bad advice | I Will Teach You To Be Rich

I love both the final analysis about the importance of researching and thinking through your idea versus the instinct to just jump in.

The comments are also a pretty interesting conversation.

Not really scholastic but telling of our times...

geographyofarecession

Or how a photo or a well made powerpoint can speak much louder than an essay....

http://www.latoyaegwuekwe.com/geographyofarecession.html

Monday, September 20, 2010

Today was a review of theme 1 day. Therefore I expect and hope that your son/daughter can catch up on reading for pleasure since there is no reading from our Language Arts book this week.
We did our review spelling for the theme. 30 regular words and 15 challenge words. I'll return their vocabulary grades to them on Wednesday so they can focus just on the words they need to review for our theme 1 test next Wednesday.

We rolled out our first theme project. So we spent time discussing options and expectations. Students may work alone or with one partner.

Students are expected to work primarily here at school. They will be given 10 45 minute periods to complete their project and prepare to present it to our class.

The presentation can not exceed 5 minutes.

Students were deciding today to work solo or with a partner. Then decide 'WHAT DO I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT REGARDING THIS THEME." It was emphasized that this had to be the highest priority since whatever project they decided needed to answer this question. Finally they started the process of deciding which type of project to do.

The key point discussed and emphasized was no matter how cool or awesome their final project was, it needed to answer this first question, what do you want to learn more about in relationship to the theme of Nature's Fury.

Here is the link with the project ideas:

http://www.rogertaylor.com/clientuploads/documents/references/Product-Grid.pdf



The energy in the room was strong since students should be fired up because they get to choose a topic related in some way to Nature's Fury, research and learn more about it and then present what they learned in a meaningful manner. There was some excitement in learning something beyond Powerpoint and trying out this new on-line presentation tool called:
http://prezi.com/



Math:

More practice with the distributive property aka decomposing your numbers.

We as a class completed 7 of today's and tomorrow's homework assignments. I wanted to show them how you can make these larger multiplication problems easier based on how you best multiply or think.

Tonight and tomorrow, all problems must be decomposed/distributive property.

Page 61-62 1-39 odds due Tuesday

Page 61-62 evens due Wednesday

SMART Responses were also used during math time today. The entire class is up and running on the smart response devices. The first quiz almost had some tears and some students who hadn't taken me serious about having to buckle down and work found out that the quiz don't lie. I threw out the first quiz since so many of them were either struggling with using the device correctly, so stoked to be using the devices that they didn't concentrate on the math at hand and some people tried to rush to make up for lost time.

    These devices are great because I can see immediately which students are understanding today's homework and who are not. Also some of the errors tend to be copied by other students and we can teach and readdress where the mistake happened. Please ask your son/daughter about the Smart Response device.

http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Support/SMARTResponse/ResponsePE.htm

Social Studies:

We started "decomposing" the preamble of the American Constitution. I'm not sure if your son/daughter told you but we celebrated the Constitution on Friday, September 17^th The history channel and Houghton Mifflin put together a great webcast where they had dramatic readings of part of the Constitution and they talked about how the Constitution continues to evolve (abolishing slavery, women voting, Civil Rights, equal education, freedom of the press as the press evolves, etc..)

Today we discussed who they meant with "we the people"; What type of "union"? What is Justice? What is tranquility?

**extra credit if your son/daughter wants to memorize the preamble of the Constitution and recite it in front of the class or use a Flip Video and record it. Either way, they can earn extra credit.

    At the end of the day we prepared for the entire week ahead. They had time for putting it into their day planner. We also co-created a "priority list" and what it would look like based on our homework for the week.



Well, I'm off to see if Alex Smith can prove me wrong and act like he is an NFL quarterback. I hope I'm wrong because they have no plan B nor plan C.

Photo from Zimbio Magazine

Have a glorious week!

Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:

Math:

Page 61-62 1-39 odd *every problem must be decomposed/distributive property due Tuesday

Page 61-62 2-38 even *every problem must be decomposed/distributive property due Wednesday

Page 64-65 1-24 all show your #'s when you are estimating due Thursday

Page 66-67 1-30 all due Friday

Free Writes (a 2 free-write week):

Animals – due Thursday ; tell me something about animal or make up a story with animals

"The ultimate superhero would……" due Friday

Social Studies 155-162 due Wednesday

Grammar packet – due Friday (I will handout on Tuesday, I need to make copies)

Theme 1 project – decide what you want to learn more about, finalize planning and beg and request needed supplies. Due ASAP and nightly.

Here is the Product List for Theme Projects...

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.