I have been emphasizing the concept of looking for details in all subjects, and this activity fell right into that concept. I encouraged them to look for marks, scratches, printing, etc. and try to include those details in their descriptions.
Students might have been surprised to be tasked with investigating items collected in police evidence bags. Each group had unique items to evaluate and describe before creating their own stories to go along with them.
I have been emphasizing the concept of looking for details in all subjects, and this activity fell right into that concept. I encouraged them to look for marks, scratches, printing, etc. and try to include those details in their descriptions.
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A hearty welcome is extended
to the newest member of the Hoggatteer family: LATRELL. LATRELL is not a new student to Cecil Floyd, but has has just landed in our classroom. LATRELL, our wish is for you to feel at home in our classroom, to feel at ease with making mistakes, and to desire to constantly improve on your abilities. Our fourth grade classroom is happier with you in it.
Author Brenda Woods wrote a realistic story set in South Carolina in the years following the Second World War. Like many stories these days, The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA is about race relations. The difference here is that Woods sticks to the facts of history and doesn't try to infuse current political opinion into the story.
I thought this was a decent story, but it promised a dramatic scene and the scene never happened. Truth be told, I was dreading a scene with some KKK movement, but the author must have decided not to involve the group. With that, I felt like the ending was uneventful, while also being convenient. This, and the fact that Gabriel never gets any followup or closure with the new crush he stole a picture of, is a little disappointing.
But I can also say that I appreciated the author's use of language and phraseology. She fully immersed the reader in the culture and period of the story. For that, she deserves high marks. ![]() The events of the grievous terrorist attack on our nation in 2001 can be seen from many points of view. Five years ago, I wrote down some of the memories I still have of that infamous day. Those thoughts appear again, with minor edits, below.
Not only is good posture an important, but this infographic helps you understand
why it's good and how to keep it. ![]() Find More at the Greatist Fitness Blog ![]() Thomas Paine wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls..." With his pen, Paine made his attempt to rally Patriots to the American cause - even during a time when it may have been unpopular, uncool, or unprofitable to do so. His words are a demonstration of choosing just the right words to boost the underdogs. I suppose we could begin our own pamphlet, letter to the editor, or commentary in the same way. The 2020s a most certainly times that try men's souls. A disease is felling our friends. People are rioting in our cities. Elections are questionable. Inflation is more and more evident. These, too, are times that try the souls of our citizens. Is there anything from which to learn about our current state of affairs? Has anything like this ever happened before? I suppose we could point to a variety of events that could inform our decisions for today - at least as far as our personal choices stand. We should look to times when the going got tough and realize that there has always been a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Why do we sit back and let things happen to us, when we could just as well be that bright light to one another? Let's get out there - somehow - in the midst of a thunderous storm, and reach out to help the people around us retain their mental health. We took to the big wilderness trail behind the school, last week, to notice some details in smaller areas marked by the teacher on the ground. As this year has proven, however, all does not go as planned. Shortly after the groups were placed and starting their task, the edge of a storm struck the forested trail with a sudden and steady burst of wind. The trees bent over our heads, with leaves loudly shushing together. Loose twigs and leaves pelted around us as we quickly abandoned the project and rushed to get back inside the school building. One might see from the pictures that it was a bright day before the world caved in on us. We'll have to get back into the nature trail sometime soon - hopefully on a predictably clear day.
It's Labor Day in the United States. We're out of school on this first Monday in September...but why? Many celebrate with cookouts and fishing trips, but what is this holiday about? What are we celebrating? The video below specifically addresses the child labor issues, but other inequalities were also prevalent during the days before workers united to give a voice to the oppressed and help ensure that that voice was heard. It is an effort to protect the less fortunate from the strong arm of the owners and bosses in the working world. While labor unions often also have their distasteful qualities, this aspect is the one we celebrate, ironically, by taking the day off. Many have asked about the papers that were hanging on our board at Open House (Not really: no one has asked about them at all, but that sounded like a pretty good opening sentence.). I had highlighted some of the sentences and phrases that were on each sheet that last year's students filled in. The first section started with, Here are the things that make Mr. Hoggatt's class awesome. The highlighted responses for this section read as follows:
i have learnd a lot in 4th grade In the second section, the prompt was, I think you will love Mr. Hoggatt as a teacher. Here is why." Responses follow:
OK, so this group didn't always pick up on the best capitalization and punctuations skills, but they were still a loving and lovable class that showed lots of promise. I already miss them.
![]() The news is out: the selections have been made for this year's 10 national finalists for the History Teacher of the Year. While I was not among the top ten, I remain impressed with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. I discovered the institute a couple of years ago and quickly signed up for my school to be an affiliate school. The Institute provides a free monthly offer of educational materials - books, posters, and other items - for any school that requests them, and I have been privileged to have received many such materials. Their materials, lesson plans, and curricula is based on primary documents and ideally not political agendas or bias. My students soon learned of the National History Teacher of the Year award, also sponsored and overseen by Gilder Lehrman, and a couple of the students soon nominated me for the award. I applied at their request, and in July of this year, I was informed that I will receive an award as the Missouri History Teacher of the Year. While the philanthropy of the institute and its efforts to spread the documented history of the American experience, the general public, and even educators, are unaware of its operations. Here is how the institute is introduced on their website's About page: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History was founded in 1994 by Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, visionaries and lifelong supporters of American history education. The Institute is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to K–12 history education while also serving the general public. Its mission is to promote the knowledge and understanding of American history through educational programs and resources. I am very pleased to have been selected as this year's Missouri History Teacher of the Year, and I was honored to be considered for the national award, but there is a possibility of an ongoing relationship with Gilder Lehrman moving forward. I am in contact with the institute's curriculum and education leadership and hope to work with them in an expanded role in the near future.
Parents should remember this: in my class, your child is not a number that can be adjusted with a computer program or with a scientific formula. Go back to some of my past articles, and you will quickly see that I understand that there are human beings sitting in the chairs in Room 404. A classroom should never be run like a factory assembly line, our products have hearts and emotions that should never be manipulated like machines, and you child is more than a test score to me.
I am trying to get the point across to these fourth graders that there is an appropriate time to take attention and an appropriate times to give attention. The latter should exceed the former considerably. In order to illustrate and practice the skills of giving and taking attention, we have played a couple of improvisation (acting) games in class. The first is probably the most basic of these games available. Called Zip Zap Zop, students stand in a circle and "pass" the attention among the group. General attention and direct eye contact are crucial to the exercise, and the game gets us more used to standing up straight and looking other people in the eyes.
A second game is quite a bit of fun. In a circle again, I repeatedly call out "Heads Down" and "Heads Up", and students follow that direction. When heads snap up, they are to look someone in the eye (a different person each time). If the other person is looking back at you in the eye, you have to sit down. The field dwindles until only one or two players remain standing. Finally, we simply like to exercise a quiet focus and tune out the rest of the room - other students, noises, itches, and wiggles. Students, still in a circle, find a point on the opposing wall to focus on for a full minute. Without smiling, giggling, or wiggling, they have to ignore everything that happens around them or in their peripheral vision. They aren't supposed to scratch, lean, or smile. Afterward, we have had some quick discussions about what makes this so hard and how to do better the next time. We will continue these games, and add others, as the year passes. This group is pretty wiggly and talkative right now; with some concentrated effort, I am hopeful we can do something about that and start seeing improvement on this front.
And I left it at that.
It was time for recess, so we lined up and walked outside. When I picked up my class after their 15-minute break, my students were astounded. Their beads had changed colors! They had become something different, something "beautiful". "Of course," I told them. "I told you that you have potential!" |
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