Tuesday, #10 2012 2013

9 11 Memorial by Stephen Nessen/WNYC

Day 10

It was like no other day that I have taught.   

The big news that your son/daughter will be talking about was our security lock-down that we began at 12:35’ish today.  It lasted until 1:30’ish.   It was related to this incident that happened in the general area of the of school.  

Your kids were amazing.  They remained silent, they understood that we had to take this seriously and everyone remained calm and ready to help/listen.  The only challenges were that the security procedures began at the beginning of our lunch break so some students had not had a chance to use the restroom before we entered a complete lockdown (i.e. no one leaves the classroom under any circumstances).  

Besides that we had our first experience in the computer lab today.  Students were able to log in, try Renaissance Place and use www.ixl.com    

Math:
Please note that I received the feedback from a few parents about the expanded form style taking up some time.  So we practiced as a class for 45+ minutes.  
I also modified the number of problems so kids can focus on expanded form and doing it correctly.
So please note below the reduction in problems.  
Click here for all the chapter 2 notes

Seaman -- we read and discussed for 30 minutes the beginning of our Lewis and Clark book.

The rest of the day was lost dealing with the lockdown, ensuring the kids received their 25+ minutes of lunch-recess and then all the logistics of walking 26 students safely to the front of the school.   

I am mentally drained however I am so proud of your courageous students and their exceptional behavior in a unique situation.  

Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:
Math
Click here for all the chapter 2 notes
Page 38-39 9-19 all due Wednesday
Page 41  12-19 all due Thursday
Page 46-47 1-14 all due Friday
Chapter 2 test is on Friday
All homework this week must follow format described above and modeled in my notes.

Vocabulary -- mini posters are due on Wednesday.
Here are this week’s words.

Grammar is due on Thursday
2 sided sheet with “Crack the Code” on it.

Free-Write due Friday
What would the world be like with no Saturdays?
1 page (if typed 12 to 14 font) or 20 consecutive minutes whichever comes first.
Don’t worry about spelling or grammar.   
We are working on writing our ideas and brainstorming.  We are more concerned with increasing our speed with thinking & writing.

Reading Summarizing is due on Friday
2 sided sheet with “Bon Appetit” on it.

George Washington -- reading/social studies is due on Friday

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Monday, #9 2012 2013

9 by Leo Reynolds

Day 9

The students had P.E. on this glorious sunny California Monday morning.

CNN Students.  
Things we discussed and took notes on:

1. President Obama and Mitt Romney offer alternate descriptions on the latest jobs reports and unemployment numbers.  Why is that?
2. Congress is going back to work.  What do we call the two branches of Congress?  
3. More discussion on hazing and if the “hazing pledge” will work.
4. They are designing robots that can “walk” and “climb” rough terrains -- what future uses may exist for this technology?  

More procedure discussions...
Here is what we have documented so far....

Math:
More work with adding and subtracting using the expanded form.
It is important students complete homework ALL WEEK following this format:
1.  Write down the original question
2.  Immediately below write the estimated numbers and the estimated answer
3.  Solve the arithmetic problem using the “expanded” form.  

This is being role-modeled and students are strongly encouraged to take notes of this more effective strategy of adding and subtracting.  
Click here for all the chapter 2 notes

Lewis and Clark:
We watched some of the Lewis and Clark documentary.  We re-reviewed the Louisiana Purchase, Rush’s Thunderbolts, Lewis, Clark, President Jefferson and “rumors” that existed about this “new” land.  

Spelling
How this works:  spelling pretest on Monday, students grade & analyze words missed, and the final test will be on Friday.  
Here are this week’s words.

Vocabulary:
Students need to produce “five mini-posters” every week.  They have the five challenge words and they create mini-posters or slightly larger flash cards.  One side has the definition and word and the other side has either a drawing or an image(s) glued to the other side.   This is not intended to time consuming project rather the drawing/image tends to help students remember the words.

Getting prepared for the day.
I role-modeled how students should be completing their day-planner based on the homework for the week.  
I try to give 90 to 100% of the homework from my class on Monday.  That way the students can effectively plan out their week and work harder/longer on open days/evenings while lessening stress on practice, church or family events that occur on weeknights.  
The key?   Students need to listen to my pleads to work smartly throughout the week and use Monday evening as a big homework night.  If not, Thursday nights will become a living heck.
One more note on this -- some students become emotionally flooded with writing down all of the work at once.   They become overwhelmed.  They need to be reminded to take it assignment by assignment.  

Kind regards,
Mr. Hubbard

Homework for the week:
Math
Click here for all the chapter 2 notes
Amazing Arrows - -Math + Art  due on Tuesday;  Students worked on this for 20 minutes on Friday.
Page 35 - 36 2-23 all due Tuesday
Page 38-39 9-26 all due Wednesday
Page 41  12-27 all due Thursday
Page 46-47 1-14 all due Friday
Chapter 2 test is on Friday
All homework this week must follow format described above and modeled in my notes.

Vocabulary -- mini posters are due on Wednesday.
Here are this week’s words.

Grammar is due on Thursday
2 sided sheet with “Crack the Code” on it.

Free-Write due Friday
What would the world be like with no Saturdays?
1 page (if typed 12 to 14 font) or 20 consecutive minutes whichever comes first.
Don’t worry about spelling or grammar.   
We are working on writing our ideas and brainstorming.  We are more concerned with increasing our speed with thinking & writing.

Reading Summarizing is due on Friday
2 sided sheet with “Bon Appetit” on it.

George Washington -- reading/social studies is due on Friday

 

Wednesday, #6 2012 2013

Day 6 

Day 6

We started the day with CNN Students.  
We took notes and discussed the following topics:

1. The Democratic convention
2. What is the American middle class?
3. Learning history through real stories and why they should go visit the Dublin Heritage Center
4. Harrods department store has eliminated boys and girls section in their toy section.  Everything is theme related.  

We corrected our work on finding the main idea and summarizing written work.   
Homework:  Read and answer the questions to The Runaway due Thursday

Another day and more procedure discussions and documenting.  

We correct last night’s math homework, took some last second questions and then we took the Topic 1 test.  

After the math test, we watched this video from Kahn Academy explaining how to decompose numbers (a.k.a. working through arithmetic using expanded form).  
We then had an opportunity to work through addition and subtraction problems using decomposition.  
Homework tonight:  Page 25   9-23 all problems written in expanded form due Thursday
Homework due Friday:  Page 29  9-24  write original number then answer directly below

Coat of Arms -- Art and sharing more about ourselves.   Students were given 25 minutes to work on their Coat of Arms artwork.   It needs to look nice, be in color and cut out.  
Homework:  Completed and turned in on Thursday morning (about ½ the class finished in class)

What would you do?  Reading comprehension + morality issues.  As a class we read through our first scenario today.  We then answered the five questions and the “write about it” or sometimes called “think about it.”   
Homework:  Read The Clarion News and answer the 5 questions + the “write about it” ;  Complete sentences and complete thoughts are required.  Due Thursday.

Thursday night is Back to School Night.  
It is only 30 minutes.   Unfortunately it is frequently tough to have a question/answer period since the 30 minutes go quick.   If you have questions or things you want me to address during my presentation, please send me a communique sometime before Thursday.   

Remember you can like the class website on Facebook.  

Kind regards,

Mr. Hubbard

Tuesday, #5 2012 2013

Shark Pride!!

Day 5

Students had their first real P.E. day with Ms. L   They were about to exercise before the weather become too hot.  

We made further progress on our language arts and math assessments.  

We also continued discussing and documenting class procedures.   

We began our unit on Lewis and Clark a.k.a. The Corps of Discovery.
Click here for information on the Corps
Click here for more information about Lewis and Clark.

We then watched the www.brainpop.comon Lewis and Clark.  I believe the students are pretty excited to learn about this great adventure.   We discussed the Louisiana Purchase, how medicine was extremely primitive back in 1804, the “rumors” that existed about this unmapped land, Sacagawea, and how the Corps of Discovery was similar to our mission to the moon.

In CNN Students today...we continued find the “main ideas” and taking notes quickly and w/ short-hand.  Today’s topics included the Democratic Convention, the Civil War in Syria,  what is hazing, and the 1,000+ still live bombs buried in Germany left from World War 2.  

Math -- review chapter 1 and review what will be assessed tomorrow.  Students were able to take notes on the questions they will be expected to know for tomorrow’s test.  
Homework due tomorrow:   Pages 18 - 19 (1-14 all)

Students were shown how to get into www.ixl.com
first initial last name @des
the password is a mascot dear to our hearts.
I will talk about www.ixl.com on Thursday night however your students are encouraged to use this site to rereview their skills or to move into 6th, 7th or alegebra skills.
Here are all of the 5th grade skills.

More work with finding the main idea and reading for inference...students were given handouts titled:
Uncle Bob’s Zoo
Simply Put
In Conclusion  
All three pages are due on Wednesday.  

At the end of the day, we did a “Survivor” game that also doubled as a discussion regarding working in teams.  Students first worked independently to make quick decisions regarding supplies needed after a plane crash.  
Then students worked in teams of 4 people and had the similar amount of time to make the same decisions.   Finally teams worked in teams of 7 or 8 and had to quickly decide on four items.  We had a discussion about if they made better decisions as a group, independently and the challenges in make a choice when working as a team.   It would be great to ask your son/daughter about what they got out of this exercise.  

Thursday night is Back to School Night.  
It is only 30 minutes.   Unfortunately it is frequently tough to have a question/answer period since the 30 minutes go quick.   If you have questions or things you want me to address during my presentation, please send me a communique sometime before Thursday.   

Remember you can like the class website on Facebook.  

Kind regards,

Mr. Hubbard

Thursday, #3 2012 2013

Day 3....
3/180 = 3/(60*3) = 1/60  so we are 1/60th of the way done and I just gave you a quick simplifying fractions lesson.  

We began the day with a discussion reminder about the best practices for doing our best on an assessment or the “May test.”  I ask the kids to use these quarterly assessments as a practice of the best test taking strategies that they should use in May.   They shouldn’t stress over them since we are working on the discipline of using the proper techniques/strategies.  

They then began taking an assessment that mirrors the May testing they took in May.  That way we can begin assessing what areas need to be quickly re-addressed, what areas should we skip ahead to (due to mastery) and what skills do specific students need more work with.

We did some more review and work on classroom procedures.  Students now know what is expected when we want water, pencils, and emergency procedures.

We then worked more on their note taking, shorthand and assessing what is the main point.   Therefore we watched again CNN for Students.   Today they learned some about Mitt Romney and the GOP slogan of “He built it.”  There were also some information about tropic storm Isaac.  They had some first person reports from brave reporters near the eye of the storm.  We discussed the negative effects of mold after so much flooding.  They also had a short presentation on Hurricane Hunters.  These brave souls fly into hurricanes dropping various probes so they further discover what causes Hurricanes.  Truancy problems in American schools was also quickly discussed.  Finally they showed a “Tomato Festival” that takes place in Spain and involves the worlds largest food fight.  

We then watched and wrote about the website called “Brain Rules.”    Within the 11 slides it covers why consistently exercising will improve your ability to think.    They had to share with me in writing three new facts they learned about our brain and exercise, so if you have time ask your son/daughter what they remember.  


After that lesson we decided to take a walk or jog for 30 minutes.  The only requirement was “don’t stop moving.”  I was able to have conversations with many of the kids and learn more about them, we also discovered a garter snake and we were able pick up litter in the lawn area.  We are going to shoot for an additional 30 minutes a week of aerobic exercise each week in addition to the 45 minutes they have on a weekly basis with their Monday P.E. class.

Math
Chapter 1 Review
We corrected last night’s homework.
Tonight’s homework is a review of the concepts.  We will take our first test on Wednesday.  
Homework due on Friday:   Page 20 and 21 all the odd problems for sections.

Finally we ended the day with a spirited game of scavenger hunt that Mrs. Cooper put together.  The students were able to go around and collect autographs from their peers while learning about each other.    Maybe ask your son/daughter what things did they sign off on and what new things did they learn about their new classmates.  

Misc. things discussed today:
Reading Around the World paperwork was distributed.  We will definitely discuss this at Back to School Night.  

Vallet Permission Slips -- students interesting in helping our school before and after school are bringing home permission slips.

The 5th grader 10 hour community service goal.   Click here for the form to complete prior to June 1, 2013.  

Homework due on Friday:
1.  Math -- see above

2.  The Reading Survey -- complete sentences and all 20 questions.  
Click here for the survey if it has been misplaced  

3.  Name Tag -- Students are to decorate or NOT decorate their name tag.  
The requirements are the following:

1. It must be 18 inches horizontal by 3 inches vertical
2. Myself or any adult must be able to easily read their first name and their student number in the class.
3. It must not have so much bling or pizzaz that it can NOT easily be covered by contact paper.  
4. It must be “appropriate” for a school environment and not distract others from learning (no severed heads, blood, or Justin Bieber photos)

Besides those four requirements students may choose to make their name tag a reflection of their artistic abilities or they may choose to keep it simple and just write their name/stud # with a permanent marker.  

Remember you can like the class website on Facebook.  

Happy Thursday!!

Wednesday, #2 2012 2013

C-5's choice of an ultimate meal

Day 2 was as fast as number 1....

Another day of procedures, math, notes/main idea practice, and learning about each other.

We did some practice with reading independently and completing the instructions “exactly” as they are written.   The instructions are easily read however they are precise and we need to follow them as written/requested.  

We then discussed various classroom procedures and documented was what expected in each situation.  

We then worked more on their note taking, shorthand and assessing what is the main point.   Therefore we watched again CNN for Students.   Today we learned more about how to become a delegate, the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, “now” Hurricane Isaac, Lydia Ko (the  15 year old golf star) and the popularity and inspiration of the paralympics.  

Math:
Greater than, less than, and decimal place value.  
click here to see and use today’s notes
Like yesterday here is a great video that explains place-value if they have forgotten from noon’ish today.
click here
Homework  due on Thursday  (students had just under 15 minutes to begin tonight’s homework)
page 7  6-17 all
page 11 10-21 all
page 13 7-19 all  

Getting to know each other better game.
Students completed a four question exercise:
1.  Describe your ultimate dinner meal
2.  Furthest that you have traveled from Dublin, Ca
3.  My family thinks that my greatest gift is......
4.  My favorite rainy day activity is ….
Ask your kids how they responded or try to guess what they wrote down.  
We learned that a majority of the class would have steak with mashed potatoes for an ultimate meal.  Also we had our share of ribs and a handful of root beer drinkers.  

Homework due on Thursday:
1.  Get the day planner signed
2.  See the math homework above
3.  Answer the reading survey questions that are due on Friday (shoot for 7 questions per night)
4.  Read for enjoyment
My son has back to school night tonight so I will catch up on the emails that came in over the last 24 hours.  I apologize for the slight delay.  

The DES Back to School Night will be Thursday, September 6th at 7:30-8:00 for my 5th grade presentation.  

Tuesday, #1 2012 2013

Day 1 is in the books and so our 180 journey begins.

It was an amazing day with an amazing group of new students.   It is an exciting year as we have 26 students with about a 1/3rd of the class being new to the Dublin Elementary school.  Therefore we have new energy, new perspectives and new friends to make.  

We started the day with a word search so we can get to know all of the new names while simultaneously we can organize and make sense of the school supplies.  

The students then brainstormed classroom rules that they have observed that has worked in the past.   I have collected them and tomorrow we will do more work on making classroom rules that we all feel are appropriate.   

We then had a presentation on “Who is Mr. Hubbard?”   Students learned about my past, my family, my favorite hobbies, my favorite foods, colors, etc...  I hope that students now understand more about who they will be sharing these next nine month with.  

I also role-modeled how to take effective note-taking.  A key 5th grade standard is determining importance and paraphrasing information into your own words.  So we will be practicing on an almost daily basis while watching CNN for Students.    So for the first few weeks, I will be role-modeling how to determine what is important and how to put this information into your own words.   
Today we learned about the Republican Convention, what happens at a convention, what is a delegate, Tropical Storm Isaac, the 300 earthquakes in Southern California over the weekend, a children book written in Portugal that tries to explain their 15% unemployment (co-written by a fiscal conservative and liberal) and finally we learned about an everyday hero bringing education to those in need.

Math -- place value
Here is a great video that explains place-value if they have forgotten from noon’ish today.
click here
Homework:  page 4 and 5   6-24 due on Wednesday

Website -- we discussed this website and also the similar Facebook page
Click here to get to the class Facebook page.  

Finally we had a discussion on how to use our day planner and how to end the day.  

The day went by quick because there are so many procedures to discuss and so many eager students with great questions.  

Homework also due on Wednesday:
1. See math above.
2.  In writing tell me about your family.   You must write 1 full page or for 20 straight minutes (whichever comes first).   If you are using the 20 minutes, must have parent signature.   This may be handwritten or typed out.  Whatever works best for your son/daughter.  Also I am most concerned with what they have to say, don’t worry about the grammar and spelling.
3.  They should give you a packet of paper and my welcome letter.   
4.  The reading survey is 20 questions and due on Friday.   I suggest 6 or 7 questions per evening.

I promise to have more to share going forward.

Thank you again for reading this and trusting me with your child.

Mr.  Hubbard

Tuesday, #176 2011 2012

 Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Day 176 of week 38

We started the day off with bowling.  It was a great time.   Amazingly the kids were ready to eat nachos and french fries as early as 9:30 in the morning.  There was some spirited competition and the loud banging of bowling bowls.  An extra special thank you goes out to Earl Anthony’s Bowling Center for their generous assistance and customer service.

After bowling we completed the final writing assessment of the year.  

We spent the last part of the day discussing ideas for exit song on Friday.  If you have any ideas or know of “appropriate” songs that the kids can exit to, please let me know ASAP.   We also discussed the last part of the promotion ceremony.   Finally we quickly reviewed the items that will auctioned off tomorrow.  

Kind regards,

Ron Hubbard
http://www.diigo.com/user/iamron
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/
Use my Gmail account and you can make me your coach on http://www.khanacademy.org/class_profile
“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”
John Wooden

Last Week of School

M-W 2:05 dismissal

C-5 Auction and C-5  party

Promotion Practice + auction + ice-cream

Auction items up for sale:  

June 21st -- A’s versus the L.A. Dodgers  12:45 game.  3 tickets are for auction.

TBA --- Madagascar 3   2 movie tickets are for auction

TBA --  Brave or Ice Age 2 movie tickets are for auction

There will also be art supplies, a football, some Oakland A’s stuff (thank you to Mrs. Silva’s family), many candy bars, many fiery cheese snacks and many other stuff that you can get at Big Lots and/or the Dollar Store.

5th Grade vs. Dublin E Staff Dodgeball Match-up!!!!!!!

Thursday, June 7, @10:30 a.m.

5th Grade Picnic and Games (after the Dodgeball game) circa 11:30

dismissal @ 12:30

Students should wear real comfortable clothing and there “may” be water balloons so they should wear clothes that can get wet.  

Promotion Ceremony Friday, June 8th, 10:30 a.m. in multipurpose room (MP)

The day begins at 8:30 a.m. for the students.  

Please have students wear their nicest clothes to school.

For parents, friends and miscellaneous family doors to the MP open @ 10:00 a.m., maximum of 4’ish guests per student (limited seating available, NO reserved seats).

Cookies served in the courtyard immediately following ceremony.

REMEMBER TO GO TO CLASSROOM BEFORE LEAVING CAMPUS TO PICK-UP YEARBOOK, REPORT CARDS, JACKETS AND SWEATERS.   Students may leave with their families immediately following.

Monday, #175 2011 2012

Monday, June 4, 2012
Day 175 of week 38

Our final week of 5th grade in the 2011-2012 school year....

Today went super quick.

Promotion ceremony practice lasted the entire morning.

• Practice walking in
• Practice where and how to stand on risers
• Practice saying your lines in our special presentation
• Practice walking down stairs and saying our lines.

A quick time back in class to discuss bowling logistics and explain the rest of the week.  

Their last PE day was supposed to be a “free-choice” day however it rained on their parade.

They ended the day with a rock assembly performed by the Wells Middle School jazz band.  Not too brag, however DES Shark alumni easily made up 2/3rds of today’s rocking band!!

Students also received back the scores of their final states and capitals test.  The class averages for all three 5th grade classes were in the 87-92% range.  This means the “typical” student earned a B+ or an A on this exam!!

At the end of the day all students that ordered a yearbook received one.  Students are welcomed and encouraged to bring their yearbooks to school and have them signed however they must be put away during instruction time or whenever an adult is speaking.  

Family life discussions occurred on Friday.    Click here for the videos that your son/daughter watched.   Now is a great time to ask them if they have any follow up questions or if they are interested in discussing further.  

Kind regards,

Ron Hubbard
http://www.diigo.com/user/iamron
http://mrhubbardsclass.blogspot.com/
Use my Gmail account and you can make me your coach on http://www.khanacademy.org/class_profile
“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”
John Wooden

Last Week of School

M-W 2:05 dismissal

Dublin Bowl (date change)

Tuesday, June 5 -- we walk in the morning.

Students may bring their own money to purchase further snacks or drinks.  

Students MUST wear socks.

C-5 Auction and C-5  party

Promotion Practice + auction + ice-cream

Auction items up for sale:  

June 21st -- A’s versus the L.A. Dodgers  12:45 game.  3 tickets are for auction.

TBA --- Madagascar 3   2 movie tickets are for auction

TBA --  Brave or Ice Age 2 movie tickets are for auction

There will also be art supplies, a football, some Oakland A’s stuff (thank you to Mrs. Silva’s family), many candy bars, many fiery cheese snacks and many other stuff that you can get at Big Lots and/or the Dollar Store.

5th Grade vs. Dublin E Staff Dodgeball Match-up!!!!!!!

Thursday, June 7, @10:30 a.m.

5th Grade Picnic and Games (after the Dodgeball game)

dismissal @ 12:30

Promotion Ceremony

Friday, June 8th, 10:30 a.m. in multipurpose room. Please have students wear their nicest clothes to school. Doors open @ 10:00 a.m., maximum of 4’ish guests per student (limited seating available, NO reserved seats). Cookies served in the courtyard immediately following ceremony. REMEMBER TO GO TO CLASSROOM BEFORE LEAVING CAMPUS TO PICK-UP YEARBOOK, REPORT CARDS, JACKETS AND SWEATERS.   Students may leave with their families immediately following.