MrHowd.com

Spelling: None today.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 1-3 are available and due on Monday.

Reading: Today we practiced signing in to STAR Reading. We’ll take a STAR test this week.

Writing: We talked about focusing on the best time in writing. If a student wanted to write about Christmas break, they could focus on just New Year’s Eve, then they could focus more on just the time when the ball is dropping at the end of the night. Focusing on the best part makes writing easier and more interesting.

Students also worked more on their prewriting list and then started drafting sentences below their prewriting on the same Google Doc.

Our first piece of writing, a personal narrative, will be due Friday, September 20. Homework is to work on writing for 15 minutes. Your student should be drafting in sentences by now.

Math: We learned about the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A fixed mindset says, “I’m stuck; this is how I am.” A growth mindset says, “I can get better if I keep working.” We’ll need a growth mindset this year in math to learn new things! Students also worked on MobyMax Fact Fluency and TestPrep Math today. Homework assignments this year in math will be to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy.

Science: We learned more about our first topic by talking about canyons, rocky outcrops, and how water might change features of the earth.

Social Studies: Due to Patriot Day, we talked about the history of the September 11 events.

Character Strength: This week we are reviewing the #OtherPeopleMatter mindset this week. This is about five things:

1. Look for the good in others.
2. Know your words and actions affect others.
3. Cheer for the success of others.
4. Support others when they struggle.
5. Give others your attention.

Notes:

• If you want to order a new McGrath shirt or other spirit wear, do that here before midnight Thursday!
• No school this Friday; it’s Ally Partnership Day.
• Buy chromebook insurance for $25. Due by September 26. Here are more details about chromebook insurance.
• Parents and family members, find out more information about our class here.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at JupiterGrades.

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.

Spelling: Students received a Core Word List, which is their list of spelling words for the entire year. We will have spelling tests about once per month.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 1-3 are available and due on Monday.

Reading: Students worked on a MobyMax Reading Level Assessment and also practiced reading with MobyMax Reading Stories. We’ll use MobyMax for reading practice about twice per week.

Writing: Students looked at their “Authority List” assignment that we worked on yesterday and chose one thing they could write about. This will be your student’s first topic for a personal narrative. We also started prewriting the personal narrative by making a list in Google Docs. This should be a list of important things your student wants to write about their topic.

Our first piece of writing, a personal narrative, will be due Friday, September 20. Homework is to work on prewriting for 15 minutes. Ask your student what they are writing about and have them show you their prewriting!

Math: We practiced math facts using MobyMax Fact Fluency. We also used MobyMax to review math skills from prior years. Finally, we started our first topic in math by practicing place value skills in Khan Academy. Part of your student’s math grade this year will come from skills completed in Khan Academy.

Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy. 

Science: We started talking about our first science topic, Earth’s Features. Today we started thinking about one of the investigation questions: How do fossils get in rocks?

Social Studies: We started our first topic on government by writing about what would happen in our school, community, and country if we didn’t have rules and laws. Homework is to finish the Life without Government note page started in class.

Notes:

• If you want to order a new McGrath shirt or other spirit wear, do that here before Thursday!
• No school this Friday; it’s Ally Partnership Day.
• Buy chromebook insurance for $25. Due by September 26. Here are more details about chromebook insurance.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at JupiterGrades.
• The Science, Social Studies, and Technology pages were recently updated.

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.

Spelling: None today.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 1-3 are available and due on Monday.

Reading: We used our reading time to create our class mission statement. We look at some mission statements from different companies. Some were short and easy to remember; some were very wordy. We chose a short one. We thought this explains our mission this year: “Every student in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.” Homework: if you haven’t yet, now would be a good time to get your student back into the habit of reading 20 minutes a night!

Writing: Students created an “Authority List” in their Google Docs and started to add some ideas. This is a list of topics that each student knows about and has learned about (people they know, places they’ve been, sports, they play, books they’ve read). We’ll use this list for some writing ideas this year.

Our first piece of writing, a personal narrative, will be due Friday, September 20. We’ll start prewriting it tomorrow. Homework this year in writing will be to work on writing for 15 minutes on weekdays.

Math: None today. We did choose a class math goal: to improve our class average math level and to grow a year or more by the end of the year. We’ll use STAR Math tests to measure our progress.

Homework on weekdays this year will be to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy. We will start using these tools this week.

Science: Students received science notebooks today. Each student will need a poly envelope to store their notebook in.

Social Studies: None today.

Notes:

• If you want to order a new McGrath shirt or other spirit wear, do that here before Thursday!
• No school this Friday; it’s Ally Partnership Day.
• Buy chromebook insurance for $25. Due by September 26. Here are more details about chromebook insurance.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at JupiterGrades.
• The Science, Social Studies, and Technology pages were recently updated.

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.

Today was Team Day! The class had to work as a whole class team and in smaller teams to solve a series of challenges. They had to persevere and not give up, and most of the challenges were solved with hard work!

The students came up with these Top Teamwork Tricks after Team Day:

1. Encourage others.
2. Persevere; don’t quit.
3. Keep talking.
4. Think together.
5. Listen to others.
6. Help the team.
7. Focus on the problem.
8. Be selfless. Other people matter.
9. Stay calm.
10. Learn from mistakes.

We also finished playing a game called Win as Much as You Can. During our first try, the class only earned $900 out of $5,000. In this game, when teams agree to work together, everyone wins, but when some teams try to “get ahead” of the others, not only do some teams lose, but the whole class loses out. This game has 10 rounds and it took until the final rounds before the class started to think about how everyone could win, not just a few. We played again and learned from our mistakes, scoring $5,000 the second time. We learned that we need to find a way to “win-win,” so that everyone can win, not just a few.

We watched a video called, Crash and Learn:

Students learned that it’s okay, and sometimes even necessary, to crash and make mistakes. But champions LEARN from their crashes, instead of repeating them over and over or giving up.

Notes:

• Thanks for everyone that helped with Team Day today!
• If you want to order a new McGrath shirt or other spirit wear, do that here before Thursday!
• Here is the School Supply list. Students will need these supplies next week, especially two poly envelopes (I have them in class for $0.50 each), a folder for take home papers, a pencil box or bag, and a dry erase marker.
• Students will need a pair of earbuds this year. Something inexpensive will be fine. Earbuds are preferred over large headphones that are hard to store and usually more expensive to replace.
• Need to update your contact information or send in your email address or phone number? Do that here.
• Parents and family members, find out more information about our class here.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at JupiterGrades.
• Things to do if you haven’t don’t them yet:
  • Complete your yearly online registration.
  • Fill out a Volunteer Registration form if you want to volunteer or chaperone a trip this year.
  • Sign up for a fall conference.
  • Fill out the Household Info Report so everyone at our school qualifies for free breakfast and lunch.
• More class information…
  • About MrHowd.com
  • Class Info
  • Contact Mr. Howd
  • Policies and Procedures
  • Subjects

Today was filled with more get-to-know-you activities and procedures:

Rules?

We talked about if we should have class rules this year. I told the class that maybe we didn’t need them. Many cheered. Then we made a list of what kids could do in a class with no rules. Almost everything on the list was something bad or hurtful. We figured out it wouldn’t be fun to be in a class with no rules.

So then we made a list of 27 rules! That was a little much. We figured out we could cover everything on our list, good or bad, with one simple rule: “Follow the High Fives,” which are respect, responsibility, empathy, integrity, and perseverance. If we do that, we should be in good shape.

Class Agreement

We also created a Class Agreement:

1. Turn and look at the speaker.
2. Use your time wisely.
3. Follow directions.
4. Talk at the right time.
5. Keep pace with others.

Students that struggle with the class agreement may bring a behavior letter home to their family.

Teamwork

We started playing a teamwork game called, “Win as Much as You Can.” So far, our class isn’t doing too well. We’ve only won $200 out of a possible $2,500. Maybe Team Day will help us work as a team more!

Notes:

• Team Day is tomorrow, Friday, September 6 from 9 – 10:30 am. The class will be completing team-building activities in student groups. Thanks to the family members that are helping tomorrow. Activities will be outside; students, dress for the weather!
• Here is the School Supply list
• Students will need a pair of earbuds this year. Something inexpensive will be fine. Earbuds are preferred over large headphones that are hard to store and usually more expensive to replace.
• Need to update your contact information or send in your email address or phone number? Do that here.
• Parents and family members, find out more information about our class here.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at JupiterGrades.
• Things to do if you haven’t don’t them yet:
  • Complete your yearly online registration.
  • Fill out a Volunteer Registration form if you want to volunteer or chaperone a trip this year.
  • Sign up for a fall conference.
  • Fill out the Household Info Report so everyone at our school qualifies for free breakfast and lunch.
• More class information…
  • About MrHowd.com
  • Class Info
  • Contact Mr. Howd
  • Policies and Procedures
  • Subjects