Week in Review

Hello all,
I must say that I had some of my best moments as a teacher this week. It was a week that I felt everyone was excited about what we were learning which lead to some great discussions and lessons. I also started to feel that most, if not all, of the students have finally realized that fourth grade is a different bird than third grade. With this realization, the students have started to work harder and I have seen the results in their recent assessments. For example, the average grade in both classes on the Ecosystem quiz last week was an 82 (B-), while the average on the Isopod quiz today was a 93 (A). I have also seen an improvement on a lot of the classwork and homework assignments. It has been an awesome week in math. I have absolutely loved teaching the kids about expressions, phrases, and equations. They have really caught onto the concepts and I can't wait to build on that success next week.
I did have an interesting moment mid-week when one of the students asked, "Why do we have to learn this?", as we discussed isopods. I didn't respond by saying, "You just do!", like some of my teachers might have done, but I did take the time to discuss my thoughts with the students. I explained that they probably won't need to know that an isopod is a scavenger in order to become a successful banker, lawyer, athlete, etc. However, I went on to explain that we study isopods because roly-polys are a good organism to integrate into the terrarium, and we use terrariums because they are an excellent (and fun) way to build the skills involved in the scientific process. I shared a laundry list of other skills that we used or learned about during our study of isopods:
* study skills
* reading for information
* observation
* recording data
* making connections
* questioning/hypothesizing
In short, our content that we use is a springboard to mastering a wide variety of skills that will not only make them better learners, but better thinkers. After my soapbox moment, I felt good that children understood my point.
Finally, we spent the afternoon talking about our upcoming trip to Harris Hillman. For those of you who don't know, Harris Hillman is a local school that provides education to children with a wide variety of physical and mental disabilities. Our fourth graders, over three trips, will be forming a relationship with these students. The first trip will involve a "show". The students are going to work in groups of 3 or 4 to put on a routine, skit, etc. that is set to a positive, upbeat song. I have seen these performances in year's past and they are wonderful. I am really looking forward to sharing this opportunity with your children. It is opportunities such as this that make me thankful to be a part of the Ensworth community.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful, and hopefully dry, weekend. Thank you again for all that you do.