Monday 12/01/03 Reported & Photographed by Mr. Vincent

“How was your Thanksgiving?” echoed through the room as eager students returned from Thanksgiving Break. Many students were confused because the “On Time” assignments trays were missing. In fact, I moved them. In an effort to reduce our number of late assignments, I will be collecting assignments each morning from each student individually. The morning message required students to clean and organize their exploding desks. Some desks looked as if a tornado sailed through. Others were already clean. Good for them! After our typical morning announcements, it was time for the "Pledge of Allegiance" and the "Kid of Character Pledge." Before we started math, I collected reading charts. We had all charts turned in except three. This was so disappointing. I thought we would get 100% this month. We’ll try again next month. In math the class is studying fractions, decimals, and percents. Today I introduced students to a super-duper fraction stick chart. This chart is special because it has a number line for converting fractions to decimals! After some measuring practice, students worked on their math assignment. Leaving Room 12, students filed into the music room with pencils in hand. Ms. Noble was nowhere to be found. She had a substitute teacher today. The sub handed out a “Listening Examine” where fifth graders had to try to identify all the instruments they heard in a piece of music. Students also circled what mood the music had, including sad, peaceful, energetic, excited, etc. Upon returning to the classroom, the students got their calendars for books groups. We have five different books being read. They include Santa Paws, The Twits, School Spirit, Blister, and My Life as a Fifth Grade Comedian. I taught students how to use the Date Book on their handhelds to enter the pages they need to read each day. After recording the pages, students began to read their books. Students had their noses buried in their books, so I think they are already hooked on their book choices! Samantha said, “School Spirit is kind of interesting.” For writing the class reviewed common and proper nouns. We played a game where students tried to name as many proper nouns as possible. Remember to capitalize proper nouns! Students were fascinated that proper nouns like December and March are capitalized while seasons like winter and spring are not. Since I was the Roving Reporter for today, I took the opportunity to write some of my report with the class. Although our recent articles for The Daily Planet have been great, they can be made even better. We will now focus on Word Choice, adding quotes, and including good photos. I shared with the class that its important that we have well written and fun-to-read articles because people from around the world read them. In fact, I recently received an email from a teacher in Japan who uses our Roving Reporter articles as models for their own! That’s a big responsibility. After a pizza lunch, chilly recess, and a quick spelling sheet, it was time for science. Students have been taking notes about thermal energy. I asked the class questions with answers contained in their notes. However, memories were quite rusty after the long weekend. Next, I gave the students a few more notes to take. They are recording their notes in the handheld computers so that they are sure not to lose them before the test. Next, Mrs. Magstadt, Willowdale’s counselor, sauntered into our classroom, indicating it was time for a guidance lesson. Students quickly put away their handhelds and got out their guidance folder. Mrs. Magstadt’s lesson went by quickly and soon it was time to return to science. Students finished taking notes over Lesson 2. Afterwards, I quizzed them over many of the concepts in the lesson. Finally, I passed out the green Lesson 2 worksheet and concept map. Students busily worked for a while before it was time to pack up. Decimals, proper nouns, and heat were the main themes for today. The return to academics after Thanksgiving break wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be when I rolled out of my warm bed this morning. Besides, it’s only three weeks until winter break (and you thought only students counted down until vacations!). Back