Blog Archives

Letter to a Person on their First Day

1/31/2014

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Let's face it: from the moment a person is born, s/he begins learning.

Take four minutes to watch this video:

Now for some questions:

What are the first things a baby needs to learn?
Is this really a video for a person "on their first day", or could it be for us?
What can you do to make the world a better place?
Does the world have a reason to be glad you are here?
Explain why love is louder than hatred ("even if hate has a bullhorn").
What, besides "We're glad you're here", do we need to say more to each other?
What does it mean to teach someone to "be a person"?

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Wii-wards

1/30/2014

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Our school uses a reward system in which students earn Golden Tickets for Showing Respect, Observing Safety, Accepting Responsibility, or Resolving Conflict. Students may trade these tickets for rewards at once they have accumulated 15, 30, or 45.

In our classroom, there is an added incentive. Once a student has 60 Golden Tickets, he or she chooses a friend from our grade level, and the two will eat lunch in the classroom and play Wii games on the SMART Board.

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Math Shortcuts: Multiplying Two-Digit Numbers

1/29/2014

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With practice, this could be a nice and impressive way to multiply two-digit numbers:

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Motion and Design: Rubber Band Power

1/28/2014

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It's time to apply some force to our K'nex vehicles, in the form of rubber bands. Students worked together to change a single variable and then test and retest

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Outside the Window

1/27/2014

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From our vantage point, not much has changed on the construction of the community safe room and gymnasium. The changes since last reported on this website were actually made last weekend. No longer can we see clouds through the ceiling, and the outer brick facade can bee seen through the windows on the back wall.

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Mood Music Breeds Passion for Writing

1/26/2014

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Passion is a strong word, but it can be used to describe a person's desire to do a certain activity that s/he enjoys doing or believes is right to do. I have several things about which I am passionate: my faith, my family, and my profession being three that come to mind. Traveling and writing also help to fill my life, and I enjoy doing each as often as possible.

As an educator, I hope to instill passion in my students, usually in the form of developing them with a hardened passion for reading or math. I believe, however, that writing is an art. Writing is something we teach, but it's also a subject that I think students only develop with...passion. Many would replace that word with another - practice - but while practice is important, and while the basics of writing are necessary (grammar rules, punctuation, capitalization), I believe an individual only feels like a writer if s/he is getting something in return for the effort. Namely, that something is satisfaction, accomplishment, pride, and a bottomless desire for more.

Hoggatteers felt a bit of this when we used music to inspire scenes in our minds, last week. The first step was simply to draw a scene or a character inspired by the selected piece of music. Simple. I played an instrumental version of the song "Bring Him Home" from the musical Les Miserables, performed by The Piano Guys. This piece has an amazingly mournful, regretful sound to it, setting the mood for some unique drawings by my students.

The next day, after a quick discussion about the process - with me point out that the writing they were about to do was based on their own visions and not on a picture prompt provided by me - students sat silently and wrote about the scene they depicted. I played the audio from "Bring Him Home" once again as they wrote.

And students could not get the words out fast enough! When time was up, many students simply could not get their pencils to stop. They wanted to keep writing.

They wanted to get all of their thoughts out. In short, they were passionate. In the end, I expressed to them my own passion and that I was pleased they were able to get a taste for themselves.

After some edits, rewrites, and reproducing their drawings (this time with color), their finished products looked better than anything they have written during the entire year. We will display these for others to read.

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Math League: Contest Time!

1/25/2014

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The Cecil Floyd Math League, or as I like to call it, the M4+H LE46UE, competes in Bolivar, Missouri, on Saturday, leaving super early in the morning and returning in the evening. Whatever the results, we are very pleased with the progress that has been made by this team!

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2014/5 Mark Twain Award Nominees

1/24/2014

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The list of nominees for the 2014/5 Mark Twain Award may be seen at right. I have read one of the books already, thanks to the recommendation of a former Cecil Floyd teacher. I will likely begin reading the rest sometime after our annual Book Fair, which usually coincides with our third quarter parent conferences. As these are the recommendations of Missouri librarians, they may be some of the better books that are offered for fourth through sixth grade readers.

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Positivity: Meaningful Quotes (Education)

1/23/2014

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"Reading is the sole means by which we slip,
involuntarily, often helplessly,
into another's skin, another's voice,
another's soul."
(Joyce Carol Oates).

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Motion and Design: Drop Weight System

1/22/2014

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What powers a vehicle? What keeps a vehicle moving? Does an added load slow a vehicle?
Does more power speed up a vehicle? What makes a vehicle faster? What helps a vehicle carry more?

These questions have now been answered, at least in part, through the experiments of the day. On one end of the string: the vehicles created from a technical drawing. On the other end of the string: a hook on which hangs washer weights. When the number of washers is increased, the vehicles move quicker. When weight (wooden blocks) is added to the vehicle, more washers must be used. Students timed their experiments and recorded their findings.

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Math Shortcuts: Divisibility Rules

1/21/2014

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Knowing these divisibility rules can make short work of certain math problems. For example, divisibility rules are helpful when reducing, or simplifying, fractions. Another type of question that might arise could be like this one:

Which is the following is evenly divisible by 9?

A) 1233

B) 1234

C) 1236

D) 1239

Here are the basic "tricks" to use when determining divisibility:

Divisibility by 1: all whole numbers are, of course, divisible by 1

Divisibility by 2: the number is even (it ends with 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8)

Divisibility by 3: the sum of the digits is divisible by 3

Divisibility by 4: the last two digits is divisible by 4

Divisibility by 5: the number ends in 0 or 5

Divisibility by 6: the number is even and the sum of the digits is divisible by 3

Divisibility by 7: an example follows:

3101
310 - take off the last digit of the number, which was 1
-2 - double the removed digit and subtract it
308
30 - repeat the process by taking off the 8
-16 - double the removed digit and subtract it
14 - the result is 14 which is a multiple of 7

Divisibility by 8: the last three digits are divisible by 8

Divisibility by 9: the sum of the digits is divisible by 9

Divisibility by 10: the number ends in 0

Divisibility by 11: add every other digit beginning with the units digit. Subtract the sum of the remaining digits. If the result is 0, the number is divisible by 11.

Notably missing is a trick for determining divisibility by the number 7. For that, all "tricks" are complicated and more difficult than just doing the division to check it for yourself.

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Golden Apple Nominations

1/20/2014

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Nominations are now being accepted for the annual Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce Golden Apple Awards. The awards, presented by Empire District Electric Company and Missouri Southern State University, recognize excellence in the teaching profession. The nomination deadline is Feb. 7.

Nomination forms will be distributed in our classroom, and all nominees will be recognized at a reception on March 4. The four award winners will be announced at the Chamber's annual banquet in April.

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Motion and Design: Technical Construction

1/19/2014

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Our latest lessons have focused on making and reading technical drawings. Students are expected to pay attention to the tiniest details, rather than appreciate the overall vehicle. Graph paper is provided for the drawings of their own group vehicles, and an excellent drawing is provided so each group could build an exact duplicate of the car we will use in future challenges.

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Outside the Window

1/18/2014

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After two weeks of winter break - and a bonus three days for the weather - we were back in school on Thursday, the ninth. Construction apparently continued whilst we were away, and we now have walls outside the main gym structure. These walls will effectively extend our hallway (the North Wing) to provide a quick entrance to the gym from our end of the building. It appears that the hall lighting will be assisted by windows (that hopefully will be impact-resistant from playground balls).

The picture on the left was taken on January 9. On the right is a picture from a week later, January 16.

After a week, the outside bricks (in the back of the building) are almost all laid. The site is cleaned up, and the roof/ceiling has started to take shape.

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Math Shortcuts: Multiplying a 2-Digit Number by 11

1/17/2014

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The first digit of number being multiplied by 11 is the first digit (hundreds) of the answer.

The last digit of the number being multiplied by 11 is the last digit (ones) of the answer.

The sum of the tens digit and the units digit of the number will give the tens digit of the answer. If the sum is greater than or equal to 10, add one to the hundreds digit.

For example: 43 x 11 = __________

The first digit of the answer is: 4

The center digit is 4+3. That is: 7

The ones digit is:
3

Therefore, the product of 43 and 11 is 473.

Now, can you apply what you learned here to work three- or more-digit numbers times 11?

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