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.)

September 30, 2012

The weeks just keep going and going.  It seems like time is the hardest thing to truly keep up with.  I honestly can't believe that we are far enough into the school year to be having conferences already, but we are right about half way through the first term already...unbelievable...

There haven't been any real big events this week to relay.  Everything has pretty much been business as usual.  The one decision we did make was based around what our class play is going to be.  Over the summer, I wrote a Broadway musical review with an anti-bullying theme I wanted us to perform, but when I went to seek the rights to perform the songs, I was given several "No"s without a second glance.  The one song I did find that I have obtained rights to use is called "It Gets Better".  Below is the music video that was created for it.

I gave the students the choice.  We could either perform one of the Bad Wolf Press scripts I have, which is what I have done in the past, or we could take on a whole new project and finish the anti-bullying script I had written by writing our own songs to replace the Broadway songs.  The students have chosen to write their own songs, so with the help of Mrs. Bayn, our music specialist, we are going to writing our own songs this year.  This is similar to the concept of the Operas they performed last year, but with more teacher direction than the Operas by Children allows.  I'll keep you posted on this, but hopefully *crosses fingers*, sometime closer to the end of the year, you will be invited to watch our original anti-bullying musical.

 

The only other thing I really wanted to discuss was some changes to the ways I am entering things into the gradebook. As I get used to the changes they made to the system over the summer, I'm finding somethings I like, and  others I don't. 

• First off, we have the option of putting an 'E' if an assignment is excused.  Though I like this, I don't like the fact that excused assignments still show up on their missing assignment lists.  What I have decided to do for excused assignments is simply leave the score blank.  This still keeps it from counting against their grade, but also keeps it from showing up on the missing assignment list.
• Second, I felt like I needed a way to differentiate between assignments that are missing and can still be made up, and assignments that have been missing for long enough they can no longer be turned in.  Missing assignments are shown by putting an 'M' into the score category.  If their grade shows this 'M', than the assignment can still be made up.  Once the assignments passes the limited amount of time, I will change that 'M' to a '0' (zero).  The zeroes still show up on the missing assignment list, but it allows me to tell you which of these assignments can no longer be made up.

I hope these decision I've made make sense to you.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I look forward to seeing you all for conferences this week.  I love having the time to talk about the successes that we share each and every day.  Keep an eye out for next week's blog.  It should be a good one.  I'll give you a little clue: pink ties!

 

"Time is the hardest thing to truly keep up with." ~ Mr. Pratt (That's right, I quoted myself.  I was kind of proud of that line.)

Also, if I ever attach a video to the blog that Internet Explorer is not allowing you to watch, you might consider downloading Google Chrome. (https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/?&brand=CHMA&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk&utm_medium=ha)  For some  reason my IE at home won't view the videos and this was the easiest way I found to solve the problem.

September 21, 2001

"People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily." ~ Zig Ziglar