Mr. Mansfield

Good morning parents,

 

I see that my blogs haven't posted...urrrrrgh!  We've had some trouble with the internet connection up here...so in the middle of texting, I'll lose the connection or for some reason my post won't be saved to the website.

 

All is well here.  The kids are really having the experience of a lifetime!  It's great to see them outside the classroom, in a different environment.  There is A LOT of hiking...so far I'd estimate they've hiked 15 miles...up and down a mountain!  The science classes they are attending are really great...they are learning an amazing amount about the environment, the flora and fauna of this area.  Yesterday, I hung out with a group that was working on the three types of rocks, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.  I also hiked with a group through the mountains where the naturalists invited the students to join what they call "clubs."  Ok, so I know some of this sounds gross, but I assure you that there is nothing unsafe about what the students did!  First students were asked to pick and taste specific plants we'd find along the trail.  They tasted, plants and parts of trees.  The naturalist would explain what vitamins were in each plant and share the health benefits to the students.

 

Next the students were invited to join the giant red fire-ant club...yes, you guessed it...students were asked to locate and actually eat a fire ant!  The intersting thing is that the ants have 3 distinct flavors, sweet, bitter, and salty.  I took plenty of pictures.

 

There is also the banana slug club...but, don't worry, students didn't have to eat the banana slugs...to become a member of the club, the students simply had to place the slug on the bridge of their nose  for 5-10 seconds.

 

One of the most amazing events, for me, was the rock climbing wall.  This tower is HUGE...I took tons of pictures of our kids as they climbed to the top !  I just wish I could be everywhere at once...so I could take pictures of these important moments each child's life, but unfortunately I can't be everywhere. 

 

We've been on two night hikes...the kids were great.  The first night, we hiked to the top of the mountain, had a campfire, and were entertained by the naturalists who did a series of hilarious skits.  Tonight, it's the students' turns to do skits.  Tuesday night, each child got the oportunity to face their personal fears...their challenge was to make their way down a path, at night, alone, in complete darkness!

 

Tomorrow, we will be packing up early and heading to the beach!  Then we're on our way home.  We will be back at Sims sometime between 2:45 and 3pm...

 

 

We're all set for Tutoring Tuesday! I will be on campus at 1:00pm.  Students need to bring their math books and social studies books if they took those home.  I'll be ready to help them in any area that they want help in.  Students who want to redo assignments or turn in assignments may also do so.  I know I've heard back from about 6 parents so far.

 

 

It came so quickly...off track time.  As you know, and as promised, I sent home progress reports on Thursday and requested they be signed and returned by Friday, track-off day.  Most students turned theirs in, a few did not.

 

I have to say, as the progress report day approached, the kids kicked it into high gear to re-do poorly completed assignments and to get those pesky missing assignments turned in.  If you, as the parent, aren't pleased with your child's grade, then you'll want to send your child to my FREE tutoring sessions, Tutoring Tuesday.  These session are held in my classroom from 1-3pm.  I'll help your child catch up.

 

You might have noticed some different types of assignments lately...all very "techy."  Well, these are inspired by the Masters program classes I'm currently taking.  I'm working to bring more technology into your child's learning.  Your first exposure might have been the great race to find the capital of Turkey.  Students were asked to text someone outside the classroom to gather this information.  It was a genuine assignment.  My goal was to show how fast students today can access information when motivated.  They don't always need to rely on their teachers or their text books.

 

Our latest adventure is The Long distance Email Race.  Each child is allowed to email up to 6 individual, who in turn are asked to email only 1 other individual who lives further away from Elk Grove.  Our goal is to see who can get an email from the furthest location on the planet from our town.  Students can earn 60 points in writing, technology, social studies, and math.  They will collect the emails, record the data (distances in miles) find the mean, median, and mode for this data.  In addition, they will create a map of the world on which they will plot their received emails.  Plus, they will be required to use a web-based tool to help calculate the distances traveled by the emails.  All this is happening during our off track time.

I'm feeling a little frustrated...we've taken 2 chapter tests and things haven't gone well.  I'm at a loss for what to do.  First, the chapters we have covered are a review of 4th and 5th grade concepts.  But I've gone over each lesson in detail, students and I take notes listing step-by-step instructions how to complete each type of problem.  They are given 1/2 of a math page (either the even probs or the odd)  The next day, before correcting these assignments, I allow students to ask for help on ANY problem that gave them trouble.  We complete the problem together on the board, then I ask, "Is there anything, any step that confuses anyone in the class?"  If there is a question, I answer it until the student tells me that they "get it."  The students are given time to change the answers on their papers.

 

I then give the students the opportunity to vote to put the assignment in the grade book or not.  Then I assign the second half of the page...reviewing the notes, taking questions, doing example problems.

 

When it comes time for the test, I remind students that they are allowed to use their notes on the test and that it is an "open book test!"  This means they can look back in the book to find examples of how to solve each sort of problem.

 

Today, we graded Chapter 2 Math test...20 students got lower than a C.  20!  As we went over the problems they missed, all but one student had made a "silly" error.  One student copied the problem down wrong...another student forgot to put the decimal point, a different students misread the instructions, yet another wrote 1000 divided by 0.8 instead of 0.8 divided by 1000.  Every error we covered was due to lack of attention, lack of checking for accuracy, or simply working too fast.

 

I realize that I misjudged the amount of work given last night, I will be more careful about that in the future.  My motivation was finding out that we are at least one chapter behind the other sixth grade classes.  I'm trying not to push the students too hard, yet I don't want to fall too far behind, either.  But I'm also seeing that many students in the group are not being as careful in their work as they need be.

 

If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I'm open to hearing them.

 

 

Parents, our class needs help!

 

As I indicated at our 2009-2010 Back to School Night, I intend on sending home progress reports just before each track-change day.  Though I am prepared, our school's main computer motherboard has malfunctioned.  Our computers are working at limited capacity; I have no access to student grades already entered into the computer system.  Our district is locating another motherboard to replace the failed one, but in the mean time, no teacher at our school has access to our computer grading system.