Leadership Academy

There are fewer things that I dislike more than being out of the classroom. However, I am a part of 40 other teachers from WCS and DPS that have volunteered their time and experience to be a part of "The Leadership Academy." Today, I spent most of my time thinking, "What are my educational beliefs?" To stir some of our thoughts, we were shown a video of Jeff Bezos, the founder of "Amazon.com" at the 2010 Princeton Graduation.

To help you understand, I would challenge you to watch the video below for at least the first five minutes. If you have enough time, watch the whole thing. This may help you understand what our local school systems want to accomplish.

And if you have even more time, I would like to know your thoughts about "gifts" and "choices."

Later is Better? (MAPs Testing)

(The picture above is not what the MAPs assessment does. It is just a funny cartoon to go along with computer assessments :-)

I forgot to post our Fall MAPs testing dates last week, so here they are.

Reading: Wednesday, August 31st

Math: Friday, September 2nd

Language Arts: Thursday, September 8th

For those of you who are new to MAPs testing, it is a standardized assessment that all 1st-8th grade students take in WCS. The assessments are not your normal assessments, because the goal is to measure where the students are currently performing. This means that as students get questions correct the test becomes more challenging. Many students do not understand that if the assessment seems difficult, it is mostly likely because they're doing well.

For more information, click the link below.

CLICK HERE!

Please note: These assessments will be given given three times this year, Fall, Winter, and Spring.

Local Historian Visits the 5th Grade

Probably one of my favorite people in the world, Tim Howard, my former 8th Grade teacher at Bagley Middle School, came to speak to the 5th grade about "The War between the States" a.k.a. "The Civil War." Mr. Howard has been teaching Middle School, Social Studies for the past 29 years, yet this is not what makes him a Historian. Mr. Howard is one of the most active members and leaders of the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society. For as long as I can remember, which is at least 16 years, he has been researching, writing, and telling stories of our area's past.

For these reasons, I thought it would be a great treat and experience to invite him to speak on a LITTLE bit of what he knows and loves. For the most part Mr. Howard shared how the Civil War started and how our local area was effected. Honestly, I wish that he could join us each day to share more about our local history, yet I know that there is so much more to cover. If your heritage is here in the Whitfield-Murray County area, I challenge you and myself to help your children understand their past by visiting some of our local historical sites.

Animal Classification

Today, we started talking about Animal Classification. To introduce the concept, each group was given 50 animal picture cards, 50 animal name cards, and title cards to help them classify. Sometimes as a teacher, I think that I understand what students understand. However, the students surprised me with their conversations as they were sorting their animals. During the activity, I could not assist the groups, because I wanted to see what they already knew.

Many of them would come to me with questions, but I would just refer them back to their group or ask them to look up their questions on a classroom computer. To help you understand, here are a couple of things that I heard as I walked around the room.

"A herring is a rabbit!

"Are you 100% sure?"

"Yes!" (Note: A herring is a fish.)

"Don't mammals lay eggs?" (Note: The Platypus does.)

"A snake doesn't have bones!"

This is why I teach! I love to hear what kids know and help guide them to what they could/should know.

For me, it was a fun activity! I just hope over the next week we will all understand Vertebrates and Invertebrates a little better.

A lot in a Little Time!

Today rushed by too fast. So, I'm going to let you enjoy today with a picture slide show. However, before you watch, I would like to send out a thank you to Amelia for bringing in index cards and Fruit Roll Ups (for Fun Friday). Also check out Saturday or Sundays newspaper to see one of our students, Maddie as the Daily Citizen, "Citizen of the Day."

Enjoy and do not forget to turn on the music for the video!

August 26, 2011 - slideshow maker

Fun Friday Clarifications

As all of you know, every Friday is "FUN FRIDAY." With this, I wanted to make sure that you all understood what students are allowed to bring. As of right now, I would prefer that students NOT bring electronic devices. Please, know that I am well aware of other students and classrooms that are permitted to bring in these items. However, I would prefer to wait until the winter months to use these devices, because the outside may not be accessible due to colder or inclement weather.

Even though students are not allowed to bring in electronics, they are allowed to bring in other non-electronic, school appropriate, board, or card games. So...for now, please keep these devices safely at home so that students are able to enjoy other activities. Thanks!

Important Date (September 8th)

Please, mark your calendar for Thursday, September 8th. This will be our first "Open House" and will include your child's writing/photography project. There will be more information to come about this night, but I wanted to make sure that you made room in your schedule to support your child's exceptional work.

Index Card Donations

If anyone has some extra (3 x 5) index cards, our class would be happy to use them. :)

Tunnel Hill (Civil War) Field Trip

Please, mark your calendars (September 9th) for our first field trip to Tunnel Hill Battle Field. This trip will be during normal school hours and will not require chaperones. However, all students who attend this event will be given a free ticket to go watch the actual reenactment on Saturday or Sunday, September 10th or 11th. If your looking for a quality family event that weekend, their will be vendors with arts and crafts from the Civil War era and other goodies like food and music. For more information click the link below.

Click Here!

Double Bar Graph Projects

After spending two hours doing our Math/Science Project, I think most of the class has a better understanding of how to conduct a project. Overall, the process of the projects were excellent! The students worked well together, completed the assignment on time, and included all the six steps of the scientific method. If I could give a grade on effort it would be an (A+).

However, at the end of the project, I think that most students understood more about my expectations as a teacher and their performance as students. At the beginning of the lesson, groups were asked to blindly chose a question from my CLEAN coffee cup that would be the starting point for their survey. After looking at their question, the groups then set out to conduct their experiments without my assistance. Being their first real project, I found that these kids are good listeners and work well together. Of course, there were some little disagreements with how or what to do, but for the most part, the groups had a good final product.

With this final product, the students were able to view each others' work and evaluate themselves. In my opinion, this is probably the most important part of the lesson, because the students are able to reflect, see, and discuss whether or not their work is exemplary. After students had their five minute group debrief, most of them noticed things that they could improve. Many of them were able to see that their work lacked one of the six categories, could not be read at a distance, or lacked creativity or beauty. Each group now has a goal to work toward for their next project tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if they take these into account as they work tomorrow.

Ohhhhh...one last thing, I'm proud of the students for being honest about their teamwork. Everyone of them mentioned that their group had some difficulties about making decisions or working together. However, they were quick to admit their faults, seek a resolution, and pledge to do better the next time. I could not ask for a better way to end the project!

(WCN) Wildcat News

Today, students were given an opportunity to be a part of Wildcat News Team. If your child is interested, they should be bringing home a (WCN) application. By Friday, August 26, these must be completed and turned into me, Mr. Headrick. Please, note that all applicants will be considered yet not all will be approved or accepted to the news team. If your child really wants to participate, he or she must be willing to be present and ready EVERY morning by 7:35am. Also, parents remember that these positions are privileges that will be taken away if abused or neglected by your child. So with your commitment, I ask that you help support your child if he or she desires to be a part of the WildCatNews.

Kickball Science

They did it! They successfully conducted their experiment!

Science Projects

David, Kayree, and Isabel are conducting an interesting experiment on how salt effects the preservation of apples.

I'm really proud of these guys. They have been working diligently on their procedures for a couple of days and have found that even though science is FUN, it can be challenging. In all honesty, they have a great experiment. They want to test whether or not a rubber kickball will go farther than a soccer ball. However, they wanted to jump into the experiment without a plan. Gradually, they have come to a place that they understand that experiments require planning. Hopefully, tomorrow I will have a picture to post of their experiment.

Mastering Math Facts

Alec and Olivia work so well together!

After talking to several middle school and high school teachers this summer, I have decided to take heed to their advice. The common thread that these teachers mentioned had something to do with basic math facts. So...by September, I would like for most of our class to master their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. I know that this may seem like a short amount of time, but I believe that the students should be able to do this with practice and our support. If you have some spare time, spend the next five weeks helping us reach our goal.

Gavin and Jacob are on their way to success!

(C.A.R.E) Folders are Coming

On Monday or should I say every Monday, students will be bringing home their (C.A.R.E) folder. This will contain a blue, (C.AR.E) sheet that shows your child's behavior. Please, sign the blue sheet and return it by Wednesday, so that your child will earn a bonus point on next week's (C.A.R.E) sheet.

Character Characteristics from The Homework Machine

The students made these at (www.wordle.net). Each student had to come up with at least 10 adjectives to describe one of the four main characters (Brenton, Sam, Judy, or Kelsey. Check them out!