Toy Drive: FINAL UPDATE!

WE DID IT!!!!!  Our goal was to collect 200 toys over a period of 3 weeks.  With one day left, we still needed 18 toys, and come Friday, the last day of the collection, we had an astounding 74 toys come in!  I am so, so, so proud of our students!  We, as teachers, are going to have to come up with some sort of reward for them for the amazing job they've done!  I will be delivering them to Primary Children's on Friday.  I'm hoping, while down there, I can hand deliver a few of them to bring back some stories for the children, so they can hopefully personalize this project, if even just a little bit.  I will share those stories here if that happens.  Thanks again for all your support parents!  We did an amazing job!

"No one has ever become poor by giving." ~ Anne Frank

October 28, 2012

Holy smokes!  It takes me sitting down at my personal computer at 8:00 at night, but I finally feel like I have a few minutes to truly update you on what's been going on in the classroom!  To start with, here's our homework board for this last week:

Things have seriously been moving!  We've completed our second unit in math, and hopefully they know everything they'll need to know about decimals: adding, subtracting, multiplying dividing, comparing, ordering, etc.  We also learned about some new techniques for greatest common factor (GCF) and least common multiple (LCM). I'm not going to lie.  I, as a teacher, learned a new way to teach a few things this year that really excited me.  Hopefully my excitement passed onto the children.  Let me give you an example.  For instance, let's take the fraction 18/24.  Using what we referred to as the cake method, we can find the GCF and LCM of those two numbers, and simplest form of that fraction, all in the same calculations.  Take a look at picture below.  The numbers to the left are common factors (numbers that will evenly divide into both numbers).  When you multiply all of the common factors together, you get the GCF.  The two numbers across the bottom are the fraction in simplest form (3/4).  Multiply the GCF by those two numbers and you have the LCM!

I knew the cake method before this year, but it wasn't until this year that I realized the power of it!  As I previously said, I just hope my excitement over my learning translated to the kids and their learning.

The other really exciting thing I have to share is math related as well.  A while back I told you about our PEMDAS Music Video!  Well, here it is, fresh for your debut!

I'm so proud of the kids for how well they did during the filming of this.  I may have conceptualized the video, but the song is original, and the acting and singing is all them!

All in all, things are really just moving.  The end of the first term is just around the corner!  Some things, I've already started moving assignments to second term.  Math and language will end the term with the tests we just took.  anything knew we do won't appear until I can start putting grades in for fourth term.  Spelling will end after the tests this week and science will pretty much continue until the last day.  As for the other rotations, I think they should stop collecting first term assignments here soon.  The official end of the term is November 7.  The estimated date for report cards to come home is November 19.  I'll keep you posted if that changes, but keep an eye out around that time frame!

That's pretty much all I have.  I feel much better having updated more than just the homework board this week!  Things are going great here.  We'll live, laugh and learn and before we know it, sixth grade will be over!

"Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm." ~ Robert Schumann

Toy Drive Update

With only two days left, we are 48 toys away from reaching our goal.  that  means that just over one-third of our sixth graders need to bring in just one toy to reach it!  We're almost there!!!  Keep them coming!  Collections end this Friday.

"From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life." ~ Arthur Ashe

October 17, 2012

I swear, I seem to be running faster and faster, and still falling further and further behind.  It seems I'm barely staying caught up with the classroom stuff, which is leaving the extra things like the blog behind.  I promise, I will work toward keeping this updated more often... worst case, above is last week's homework board.

"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime is doubly so." ~ Douglas Adams

Toy Drive Update

We are one-third of the way through our collection and we are one-third of the way to our goal!  Great work so far!  Keep them coming!!!  Remember, all letters and donated toys are due by October 26.

"Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul." ~Jim Valvano

October 14, 2012

"Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none ofhis present." ~Roger Babson

Cancer Awareness

Cancer. There I said it. Why should we be aware?

Nearly 12 million people per year are diagnosed with cancer. That's nearly 4% of all Americans.  11,000 of those cases are children under the age of 16.  Just last year, we had 4 survivors (that I know of) associated with our school.

October is specifically Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Within my classroom, I use it as a general cancer awareness.  Why?  There are more than 100 types of cancer that can affect the body. Why this month? A male wearing pink the entire month long definitely draws attention.  Why bring awareness? Many reasons I've listed already.. Here's a few more statistics: 30% of cancers could be prevented mainly by not using tobacco, having a healthy diet, being physically active, and preventing infections that may cause cancer; around 7.5 million people die from cancer each year, accounting for about 13% of all deaths worldwide; more than 30% of cancers can be cured if detected early and treated adequately.

Cancer is something that affects every single person. If you are not diagnosed, you know someone who has been. It is something that I would wish away, were I ever to find a genie lamp, but realistically, that cannot happen, thus, I do what I can.  I've walked several Relays for Life and I've donated my time and money. I've given what I can to help those with the knowledge one day bring an end to it.

Until that day, we have the grave statistics to deal with. Like this one: Primary Children's hospital has 3 new children per week admitted to their care, fighting various types of cancer.  This brings me to our idea for this year.  These kids are in the hospital for up to 10 to 12 hours at a time receiving treatment.  The chemotherapy wipes out their immune system, often times keeping them home when they're not at the hospital.  These kids could use a friend, a toy, something to do.

This year, our sixth grade is doing a service project.  First, we are going to write letters to these patients, letting them know they are not alone, that there are people out here that care.  Our goal is write at least 200 letters.  Secondly, we are going to do a toy drive, that we will then deliver to Primary Children's with our letters.  Due to the chemotherapy, and what it does to the immune system, we do have to ask that the donation items be newly purchased.  They've also asked that we steer clear of stuffed animals, because of the germs they could collect.  Here is list of items that would be perfect to donate to our cause:

Plastic toys (Barbies, action figures, small toys, etc.),

Playdoh,

Fuzzy Coloring Posters,

Nail Polish,

Yoyos,

Hot Wheels,

Coloring Books,

etc.

Again, we are trying to stay away from stuffed animals and the items donated should be newly purchased, still in package if applicable.  We will be collecting items until October 26.  If you would like to help us out, please bring the items to Mr. Pratt's class, room 203.  Along with the 200 letters we hope to write, we have a goal of collecting 200 toys.

Ghandi once said, "The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others." Thank you in advance for any help you will be able to give us as we "lose ourselves" in this service project.

"Cancer is a word; not a sentence." ~ John Diamond

October 6, 2012

I'm going to follow this update with a, in my opinion, more important blog, so I'm going to keep this short.  Above is the homework board for the week, and below is a picture of how we learned decimal division, it represents the story of "The Frog and the Dog."

Once upon a time, a sweet little dog lived happily in his home.  The only thing that didn't quite seem right was the fact that he had no neighbors.  He was slightly lonely.  Finally, one day, his wish came true, and a frog moved in next door.  The problem...the frog was not so nice.  The dog quickly figured this out and decided to just keep to himself.  It didn't seem to matter though, with as far as he kept away from the frog, he was still afraid of him.  The frog soon figured this out and took full advantage of it.  He liked to tease the dog and jump toward his house.  Everytime the frog jumped toward the house, the dog jumped away.  This continued happening until the frog found himself right next to dog's house.  The frog walked up and peeked through the window.  When the dog saw the frogs eyes through the window, he got so scared that he jumped through his roof.

It sounds silly, but it really is representational.  Dividing decimals is gross, so we change the divisor (the number on the outside) to a whole number instead.  For each spot we move the decimal place to the right in the divisor (the frog jumping toward the house), we have to move it the same number of times in the dividend (the number on the inside; the dog jumping away).  Finally, wherever the number ends up in the dividend, we have to put the decimal up above it, in the quotient (the number on top; the answer; the dog jumping through the roof).

Needless to say, as silly as the story is, I think it really helps the kids to remember the steps for dividing decimals.

"In life, all good things come hard, but wisdom is the hardest to come by." ~ Lucille Ball (Hopefully, stories like 'the Frog and the Dog' make it a little easier to obtain some wisdom.)