The Week Before Fall Break

So impressed with the students who took full advantage of the instructional time leading into Fall Break. From our News Director:

This is the seventh week of school and we have accomplished so much. Our reading skills have been boosted and many other skills have been sharpened.

Since this is almost the end of our second month, we are working on many interesting things. For math, we are working on multiplication with multidigit numbers using the standard algorithm. To practice ELA, we have been reading about Tom Sawyer and his adventures. For writing, we have been reading debates and picking a side and writing about it using I-CERC: introduction, claim, evidence, reasoning, and conclusion. We have also been learning high school level grammar. This is what happens on a normal day in Mr. Grossman’s class every day!

On Thursday September 29th, we were filmed in the classroom. Some of us got interviewed about our Five-Minute Plan. Our Five-Minute Plan is a list of 5 things that we do in the morning when we get to class. We had our first art class and learned about Cubism through Jacob Laurence’s art piece. We made pictures of rooms with a vanishing point.

This is what we have been doing for the last two weeks of school in Mr. Grossman’s class, as we get ready for the fall break.

Motoring Ahead

In just a week, the students begin their Fall Break. Amazing that is has arrived so quickly. In the last few weeks, we have demonstrated the ability to write multi-paragraph essays, multiply and divide decimals, understand the implications of the Earth rotating on an axis, built an understanding of indigenous groups in North and South America, and had way too many indoor recesses.

Diving into Content

The focus on routines and procedures, the first two weeks of the school year, paid off. Week three was about content. We started science and a focus on the Earth and the Sun. Using Microsoft Teams and the ability to upload our social studies textbook to the platform, we read about indigenous groups of North and South America. We added and subtracted decimals and continued to expand sentences, this time using subordinating conjunctions. We read about Antartica and water, from our adopted ELA materials, and we completed our first art project. Great week.

10 Days Into Our Academic year

It is hard not to be excited by what we will accomplish this school year. In 10 days we have moved from simple sentences to complex sentences. We have learned to navigate the place value chart and use exponents. We’ve built out a digital tool library and we are accessing resources through Teams. Moreover, we are completing daily meetings and building stronger relationships. In short, another great week.

First Week of 5th Grade, 2022-2023

Amazing what we accomplished the first week. Students showed such maturity and by day three, they had flexible learning in place, in which there is no assigned seating. We got through several math lessons, completed our first Juicy Sentence, and even did a Pro Se Court. Moreover, we created the conditions for a really strong community.

The 2022-2023 Classroom

Thanks to a first-rate custodian, my room was ready to be moved into way back in June. It took about a month, but I got everything to Westergard, arranged and decorated for the upcoming year.

The Pillow Making Tradition

Great to have the fourth grade distance learning students in the building to make pillows. Although this is a third grade tradition at Gomm, they missed it last spring because of Covid. So we spent the morning offline, in person, to make pillows and reacquaint ourselves with the playground.

Art in the Classroom!

A post describing an art lesson shouldn’t be that interesting. Instead, it is. This is because it was the first time, all year, that I have had an opportunity to teach in person to my distance learning students. It was great to see them and their final pieces turned out great.

Our Learning Before Break

It is pretty astonishing what the students can do online. With Zoom’s breakout rooms, Classkick, and the student’s attention to digital citizenship, we are able to create blended experiences that allow for a lot of learning. We even got a visit from Trustee Thigpen and our Area Superintendent, Jeanna Curtis.

Spreading Kindness

Local artist, Emily Reid, visited the classroom today and the led the students in a card making activity. The theme of the activity was kindness and Ms. Reid helped students create cards with their own unique and artistic flare. Thank you Ms. Reid for donating your time and sharing a terrific lesson with the students.

Thank you Natalie Reed for helping make this happen and working with The Season of Reno, so the residents have cards to look forward to.