Bravo!

I was so proud of our students last night I could have burst! The Grade 5's did an awesome job on their Christmas play!! Our speakers spoke slowly and clearly and with expression.Our singers did a great job of singing!!! Every single student was important to the success of the performance and we couldn't have done it without them. Bravo to you all.

Number the Stars Finale

We finished reading Number the Stars in class last week. Since then, the students have been working away at their Layered Assignment, or at least pretending to. I've spent all week meeting with them individually, going through what they had done, and giving them a list of what they had left to do. Some of them had a lot left. The assignment is due tomorrow and I told them if everybody came with it all done at the beginning of class, we would watch a movie. However, they do have tomorrow's class to work on it.

I'm really hoping that they've taken the advice they've been given about time management and are all ready to pass it in, but I realize that this is a new type of assignment for them and a lot more responsibility than they're used to. Even though I've given them a lecture about how it's due tomorrow and every assignment passed in after tomorrow will lose 1% per day, I will accept them on Monday without penalty. This morning I forgot that  the Christmas concert is tonight and they won't have as much time to work on it as they would on a "normal" night.

They've worked hard on their play for the Christmas concert and are doing a great job! I hope to see you all tonight for their performance!

Reports, Christmas Giving, and Layered Assignments

It's been a while since I've written - sorry about that. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about, preparing for, and creating report cards. They go home tomorrow and I look forward to meeting with you on Thursday to discuss them.

Christmas is quickly approaching. In all the excitement of wondering what Santa will bring us, it's sometimes easy to overlook those in need. In the spirit of giving, we have adopted a family through the Grace Sparke's House for Christmas. As a school, we will supply their Christmas gifts this year. Our class is responsible for buying a PSP to Go card. I have asked each student to bring in a donation by the end of the week. I will pick one up and gift wrap it. Any extra money we collect will go either to buying a surprise gift for our family, or to donating to the SPCA. Any amount you wish to give will be fine. I would recommend around $2.

We are quickly getting to the end of "Number the Stars". We read Chapter 15 today so we have 2 more chapters and an Afterword left to go. We just finished a very stressful section. Peter and Mrs. Johansen have just snuck a group of Jews to Uncle Henrick's boat. Uncle Henrik will take them over to Sweden where they will be safe. On the way back from th boat, Mrs. Johansen twists her ankle and they discover the Mr. Rosen dropped the very important package Peter gave him for Uncle Henrik. Annemarie has to bring it to Uncle Henrik as fast as she can. Just before she reaches the boat, she meets 4 Nazi soldiers with their 2 dogs. Annemarie takes her mother's advice and behaves like a "silly little girl", modelling her behaviour after Kirsti, and makes it to Uncle Henrik's boat before he leaves. He is very relieved to have the package, which we saw contains a white handkerchief.

They could be almost finished their Layered Assignments now. Most of them say they have everything done that they can have done. Remind them, that for their paragraphs and longer writing projects, they should do a few drafts to make sure they pass in their BEST work. Their work should also be very neat and tidy. We made an addition to Layer B, #4. Now they need to write a brief description (1-2 sentences) of why they chose that actor for that role. During our discussion today, they were making suggestions that I wouldn't agree with and we agreed it would be helpful if they gave reasons for their choices. Students who chose Layer C, #1 made their layered-look book today and were shown how they should put names on the tabs. They can start their first draft for this one, but they should keep in mind that they may want to add more information when we get to the end of the book. At this point in the book, they have enough information to start all the assignments but they may learn more in the next couple of chapters that they can add to them.

I hope you're all keeping well and getting into the Christmas spirit!

I love Google Earth!

We traveled the Danish countryside today! In Chapter 6 "Is the Weather Good for Fishing?", Annemarie, Ellen, Kirsti, and Mrs. Johansen take the train north along the coast to Gilleleje. They are going to visit Mrs. Johansen's brother, Henrik. When Mr. Johansen calls Henrik to let him know they're coming, Annemarie notices that he talks in code. He tells Henrik that he's sending him a carton of cigarettes and that there are lots of cigarettes in Copenhagen nowadays, if you know where to look. Annemarie, knowing that isn't true, pieces together that her father is really talking about Jews. On the train trip they encounter 2 Nazi soldiers, but even though Annemarie is afraid Kirsti will let something slip, she doesn't and it's a pretty enjoyable trip. They talk about passing Klampenborg and the Deer Park, and about the castle in Helsingor, which they pass on their way to Gilleleje.

When we finished reading this chapter, we opened up Google Earth on the SMART Board and followed the train's path from Copenhagen to Gilleleje. I am lucky enough to have done half of this train trip myself when I visited Denmark about 10 years ago (unfortunately, before I read Number the Stars). I took the train from Copenhagen to Helsingor to see the castle the girls talk about. I am a huge Shakespeare fan and this castle is said to be the setting for Hamlet. As much as I would like to take the class to Denmark and show them around, that's just not feasible (especially with a math test tomorrow), but we felt like we were there as we looked around Google Earth. We zoomed in close on the castle and checked out a "spherical panoramic view". It was like standing in the middle of the courtyard and turning around to see everything around you. We also got down to street level in Gilleleje and had a good look at some of the marvellous old houses with thatched roofs that are there. It was awesome!

I love learning about the places that I'm reading about. It makes the novel really come alive. If you would like to learn more about Denmark, check out the official website of Denmark and the Visit Denmark website. Tomorrow, we'll probably check out the Meet the Kids website which is a kid-friendly website about Denmark.

The First Meeting of the Math Problem Solving Club

Yesterday, during our math tutorial, I mentioned to the students that we should start a Math Problem Solving Club. I expected to be greeted with groans, but instead, they actually seemed to like the idea! So we decided to meet during the first half of lunch on Day 6 to solve some problems.

Today was our first meeting. We had the same six people in attendance as we had at the math tutorial yesterday. There were three people from Mrs. Keeping-Penney's class, and 3 from our class. We worked out 2 problems that we all agreed were quite simple and are looking forward to next time when I'll throw some harder questions at them.

For those who are interested, here are the problems we solved:

In the first year of production a play sells 1572 tickets, in its second year it sells 1753 tickets, in its third year it sells 152 less than in its second year. How many tickets are sold in 3 years?

Chapters 4 and 5 of Number the Stars

In Chapter 4, Ellen and Annemarie play with paper dolls in Annemarie's apartment. Kirsti comes home in a bad mood because her mom bought her ugly, fish skin shoes. Ellen offers to take them to her apartment and use her father's black ink to make them look better. She also invites the girls over for the Jewish New Year celebration. It is the end of September.

Later that night Annemarie learns that Ellen will be staying with them for a few days. At synagogue that morning the congregation was told that the Nazis had taken the synagogue lists and had the names and addresses of all the Jews. There were rumours that they would be coming that night to arrest all the Danish Jews. Peter will help Mr. and Mrs. Rosen find somewhere safe to hide. The Johansens will hide Ellen by pretending she's one of their daughters.

In Chapter 5, Ellen and Annemarie talk quietly in Annemarie's bedroom, mostly about Lise, Annemarie's older sister who died in an accident a couple of years ago. At 4 in the morning they hear a loud knock on the door and 3 Nazi officers come looking for the Rosens. Before they come into the girls' bedroom, Annemarie remembers that Ellen is wearing the Star of David on a chain around her neck. Annemarie yanks it off Ellen's neck and clutches it in her hand as the soldiers enter the room.

They tell the soldiers that Elle is Lise, Annemarie's sister. The officers are suspicious because Ellen has dark hair and the other two girls are blond. Papa goes to the family photo album and pulls out 3 baby portraits - Kirsti (blond), Annemarie (blond), and Lise (dark curls). The girls names are written on the photos. Papa pulls them out of the album because the dates are written in it, below the pictures, and Ellen is not 21 years old. The soldiers leave. Annemarie's been clutching the Star of David so tightly that it's imprinted in her hand.

After we read Chapter 5 today, the students had 30 minutes to work on their layered assignments. Mrs. Rogers and I checked each of their sheets to make sure they had the right number of points and we circulated and helped the students stay on task and do the best they could. All work on the novel study is to stay in their pocket folders. They may take these home, but all contents must come to school every day.

Math, Number the Stars, and Layered Assignments

Happy Monday!
During a quick glance around the classroom I noticed a couple of math books left in crates. Links to the questions are on the homework page, so there shouldn't be any excuses for not having them done. We had a great math class today! All the students seemed confident in adding decimals and right answers were being called out from all over the room. I moved on to subtracting decimals today and that also seemed to be a piece of cake for the students. We will continue working on subtraction tomorrow. If all goes well, we'll be able to spend Wednesday and Thursday reviewing and practicing for our test which will be on Friday, November 26.

Tomorrow is my Math Tutorial day. As you are hopefully aware by now, there is a math tutorial every Day 1 (Mrs. Keeping-Penney) and Day 5 (me) where students who need extra help or want extra practice should go. I have also told my class that anyone who got less than 70% on the last test must go. Students attending tutorial should bring a lunch that does not need to be heated up in the microwave. My tutorials usually go all through lunch and if they have to go heat it up it takes time away.

We read Chapter 3 Where is Mrs. Hirsch? in Number the Stars today. In this chapter we learn that the Nazis are closing shops and businesses owned by Jews. Peter comes by to visit the Johansens late at night and brings Annemarie and Kirsti seashells. They talk about Mrs. Hirsch's shop being closed down and how Annemarie and Ellen should continue avoiding the soldiers they encountered on the street in Chapter 1. Annemarie wonders what will happen to the Hirsch's now that their shop is closed down and Mrs. Johansen tells her that friends will look after them because that's what friends do. Annemarie comments that just like all of Denmark are bodyguards for King Christian, all of Denmark will have to be bodyguards for the Jews now, too.

I'm trying something new with my Number the Stars assessment this year - a layered assignment. I distributed this to the students today and we discussed it. There are 3 layers: A, B, and C. In layer A there is a list of 10 assignments with an assigned point value. They can choose any assignments from that list, but they have to add up to 50 points. Then they look at layer B. They choose any assignments from that list, but they have to add up to 30 points. In layer C there are 2 assignments. They choose and complete one of them. All assignments are due December 17 (that may change depending on how disruptive it gets around the Christmas concert). I encouraged them today to discuss the assignments with you, pick the ones they want to do, and do as much work as they can as soon as they can rather than leaving it all for the end. I will give them some more time to think about it tomorrow and make their choices. Then I will check and make sure they've chosen well.

Take care!

Number the Stars - Chapters 1 and 2

Well we're two chapters in to our novel study so far and the students seem to be really enjoying it! We've had some great discussions about World War II and the Holocaust and the kids have asked some really interesting questions and raised very smart points. I think we're going to learn a lot from reading this novel.

So far in the first couple of chapters we've met the two main characters: Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen. They are best friends growing up in Copenhagen, Denmark. They are 10 years old and in the same class at school. Their families live in the same apartment building.

We've also met Kirsti, Annemarie's 5-year old sister, who is very stubborn and has no fear of the soldiers that are on every street corner in Copenhagen in 1943. We also met their mothers, Mrs. Johansen and Mrs. Rosen. They meet for "coffee" every afternoon. We learned that there hasn't been any coffee in Copenhagen in a while, or tea or butter or sugar either. What the women are really drinking is hot water with herbs in it. We also learned that there is a resistance movement in Denmark trying to sabotage the Nazis and that they have an illegal newspaper called "De Frie Danske"

In Chapter 2 we learned that Annemarie likes to tell Kirsti stories when they go to bed. We also learned that the King of Denmark, King Christian X, is different from other kings. He used to ride his horse through the streets of Copenhagen with no bodyguards. When a German soldier asked a teenage boy why he does this, the boy answered, "All of Denmark are his bodyguards." We also learned a little bit about Mr. Johansen - that he thinks before he answers any question, and we learned that Lise, Annemarie's older sister, died in an accident a couple of years ago, just two weeks before her wedding to Peter Neilsen.

We had an excellent discussion today (the first of many) about bravery. A student mentioned that Kirsti was brave. Some other students disagreed. They said that Kirsti didn't know any better, so she couldn't be brave. They finally decided that bravery was knowing you could get in trouble for doing something, but doing it anyway, but it had to be something you would be thanked for later.

The students were given a question sheet on Chapter 2 and we read and discussed all the questions. They are to answer one question from each section on a piece of looseleaf and keep it in their pocket folder with the rest of their novel study materials.

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello Parents, and welcome to my blog. This blog is intended to keep you up to date with what's going on in the classroom. I hope you will check it often and leave some comments to let me know your opinion or to ask any questions you need answered. Just make sure that if you need to talk about a specific student you send me an email instead of posting it to the blog.

I hope you're having a good year! I know I am (so far)!