Wednesday, August 31st

Tonight's homework: Word Wisdom p. 10 (there is a quiz Friday over Unit 1, Part 1)

Good morning Lodge students and families,

We are continuing the lifeskill of having a POSITIVE ATTITUDE. The quote of the day relating to the lifeskill is by Mary Engelbreit, and she said,

"If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it."

This quote had me thinking this morning. As a teacher, I am often faced with the rigors of maintaining classroom discipline, in order to invite a warm, creative thinking environment for all involved. Sometimes, as a class, we need to "change it up," as they say in hockey. In the beginning, Mr. Polk would say "Pride Promise" and most students would respond by raising their hand and quieting. After almost four weeks, I do have students who respond as they should, but not as many as the first week. I had a new student come in and tell me they used a "level system" in order to get quiet. So, for example, students will hear me say, "Level 1!" and they know to "Zip it. No talking or noises will be allowed."

So, I know as a teacher, I will need to keep "changing it up" to to keep the students disciplined in order to get an education. The second part of the quote helps me too. If I can't change it, I need to "change the way "I" think about it." I know sometimes that I can easily get frustrated because I do not tolerate talking or noise when I am speaking/teaching, or when another student or adult has "the floor." I need to remember to have a positive attitude and know that perfection is humanly impossible. I need to utilize the noise and adhere it to the students' strengths. Just my thoughts for the day...

In class, students were introduced to the Student Reference books for Science. These books will STAY AT SCHOOL. They are not being assigned to students because I only have enough for a class set. Therefore, there will be no homework assignments with the reference books; it will be used for classwork only. We read a chapter that dealt with terminology including: sediment, erosion, weathering, deposition...Ask your child what these words mean.

TOMORROW...the students will be doing an outside Science study to discover the "Earth's Changing Surface." A letter introducing the unit is going home today with your child. Also, there is white slip you can sign if you are interested in volunteering tomorrow for the event. Please follow the directions on the form.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me at ben.polk@evsc.k12.in.us

Have a great day!

~Mr. Polk

HOMEWORK tonight: Word Wisdom p. 10

Plant Cell Animation

To view the plant cell animation, copy and paste the link below into a new tab/URL.

http://www.cellsalive.com/howbig.htm

Enjoy!

The positive attitude quote of the day was:

"It's so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to." ~Annie Gottlier

(Tuesday, August 30)

Good evening Lodge students and families,

If you need a reminder for tonight's homework, it is: Word Wisdom p. 9. It is due tomorrow (Wednesday). To do the assignment, you only need to write down the Word Wisdom words in the left column, your prediction for meaning in the middle column, and the book definition in the right column. You can find all of the book definitions in the back of the Word Wisdom book. Some words have multiple definitions; you only need to write the definition that fits the story on the first page of that part (p.6 in this part). There are two words on your list that have check marks by them. You do NOT have to do these two words (because they were already discussed on pp. 7-8).

In class today, I passed back the students' Word Wisdom pre-tests. They get 10 points of participation, just for TRYING. If they leave any of them blank, they will miss those points. I do still grade them to show the students what they missed, and then I put the correct answer by it. So, don't be confused if I put (-5), and you get a 10/10 score. You get all the points just for trying. I will also give bonus points for high scores in the class. Please use the pre-test as a tool to study for the upcoming Word Wisdom quiz, which will be on Friday. Quizzes will be worth ten points. They will assess the students on their understanding of the ten Word Wisdom words for the week. The homework throughout the week should help the students with understanding.

In science, we continued with our note-booking. We finished our template today, and the students should start remembering the seven steps of our scientific process:

1) Focus Question

2) Prediction

3) Procedures/Plan

4) Observation

5) Claims and Evidence

6) Conclusion

7) Reflection

Before the 9 weeks are over, I will give the students a quiz to name the seven steps of our scientific process. I also showed the students a neat plant cell animation. On their science pre-test in week two, there was a question asking about the size of the plant cell. This animation shows that the plant cell is smaller than the head of a pin. Using the animation, we were able to see a magnified view of the plant cell in which the human eye cannot see without the magnification. I compared the animation to looking through a microscope. The students really enjoyed looking at this animation, and plan to share it with you. The website is below:

http://www.cellsalive.com/howbig.htm

Click the link above for the neat plant cell animation!!

That's all for today!

~Mr. Polk

(Monday) August 29

Greetings parents and students of Mr. Polk's classes. I apologize for not blogging yesterday. As I told the class yesterday, it is very important to have a positive attitude (lifeskill this week) daily. On Sunday, when planning for science, I accidentally cut my hand when trying to open one of the gigantic tubs. Two lessons learned here: don't grow impatient because you can't find the scissors and use a knife, and to have a positive attitude even when bad conditions arise.

Anthony J. Angelo, author of The College Blue Book, once said, "Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine." I reminded the students yesterday to bring their own sunshine (positive attitude) daily even when they are having a bad day, or had a bad weekend. It's such a small thing, but it pays big dividends to end up having a great day!

In class Monday, we began our science unit. The first couple of days will be for getting acquainted with the science notebooks (which Mr. Polk is providing). For now, we are going to keep the notebooks in the classroom. That way, we shouldn't have any lost books, or have to go back to the locker to get them. We are going over the template on how to construct their notebook. There will usually be no homework with the science kits. Grades will come from their participation with their notebook, participation with their groups during lab time, and also science bell-ringer worksheets. There will also be assessments (quizzes and tests that they will be graded on) at the end of a unit.

We also began doing Word Wisdom. Students should be familiar with this workbook from last year. We will use it as our homework piece during Science week.

Homework from Monday night: Word Wisdom: Read pp.6-7 (Do p. 8)-Due Tuesday.

If you are wondering if we are doing Spelling, we will have Spelling words during each Language Arts week (every other week). I will try to send a newsletter with the list of words for that week.

Have a great week!

~Mr. Polk

Six Pillars of Character

This clip is a good reminder of how to show good character.

Character Counts

Here is a short clip showing how character counts!

Bucket Filler Skit

Watch and learn how to be a bucket-filler (also notice the person who is not being a bucket-filler).

Bucket Fillers! Let's show kindness toward one another! =)

Today, I am sharing with my students what it means to be a "bucket filler." It is sometimes easy to think negatively about something or someone, but does this help anyone? Instead, let's focus on thinking positive thoughts and showing kindness to one another. To "Fill a bucket," you could simply smile at someone, you could thank a person for doing the right thing, you could write a positive note to someone, or you could help someone with a task (open a door, carry a heavy box, pick up trash). Today, and in the the future, let's be "bucket-fillers" and show someone we care!!!

Demonstrative Pronouns interactive lesson

I especially enjoyed this interactive demonstrative pronouns lesson. It creates a picture for visual learners!

Interrogative and Demonstrative pronouns teaching

This is a good interrogative and demonstrative pronouns lesson.

Interrogative pronouns

I thought this was "warm and fuzzy" for interrogative pronouns!

More Pronouns and Cross out the Sentence that Doesn't Belong!

Today, students in Mr. Polk's classes are beginning to understand what a wonderful tool the "Polkinator" blog will be for their language arts and science classes. I am making it a goal to utilize the blog each day. I use it in the class to review previous day's material and homework, and to discuss what we will be doing the current day. I also use it to show educational videos the students will learn from and enjoy.

Yesterday, we discussed interrogative pronouns. The interrogative pronouns are who, which, whose, and what.

Example 1) __________ books are on the floor?

Out of the four choices above, whose is the correct answer. You cannot say who because it is singular and the question is asking a group of people. Which in this sentence would not be grammatically correct, and what is the answer for another question. Also, it is important to note that you should not write the answer as who's. Who's literally means "who is" and the sentence "Who is books are on the floor" does not make sense.

The students are doing grammar bell ringers each day for participation. They must correct their answers in class to get the participation points. They also get Polk Pride tickets for volunteering at the Promethean board.

In writing, we continued looking at the components of a paragraph. Their homework from the Tuesday night was to read a paragraph and underline the correct topic sentence. They also need to remember the difference between a topic sentence and the main idea of a paragraph. The main idea is only a phrase, not a sentence. Their homework for Wednesday night was to complete a three page packet. In the packet, they were to cross out the sentence that did not belong with the rest of the paragraph.

Until next time!

~Mr. Polk

A student-led possessive pronoun podcast

Possessive Pronoun song (it has a good beat)

Possessive Pronouns, Topic Sentence, and Main Idea

Today, we discussed possessive pronouns for our bell ringer. Students receive "Polk Pride" tickets if they volunteer to write on the Promethean board. I have a drawing every Friday for each class to win prizes (pencils, erasers, candy, etc.). Our classes do a pretty nice job with staying engaged during this time.

Examples from bell ringer...

• Dana put on (her hers) hat. The correct answer is her. Since Dana is a singular noun, we need a singular possessive pronoun.
• We went for a picnic with ___________ cousins. (Add a suitable pronoun from the list of possessive pronouns).

List of possessive pronouns: my, your, her, his, our, their, mine, yours, hers, ours, theirs

Technically, for agreement, we would choose "our." But, as I said in class, you could say, "We went for a picnic with your cousins." But, we would not have agreement if we said, "We went for a picnic with yours cousins."

Monday night, students had homework to complete one paragraph about their summer. Many students completed this, but there was a good number of students who did not. We need to make sure students are writing their homework in their agenda books daily.

In class, students peer-edited other students' paragraphs. I kept a checklist to give credit to the students who completed the assignment.

Then, we spent time looking at paragraphs and finding the topic sentence and discussing how the main idea is not the same thing. The main idea is not a sentence; it is rather a phrase that tells us what the paragraph is about.

For example...

• Topic sentence: My favorite memory from this summer was our day at Holiday World.
• Main idea: "Favorite memory from summer"

The students homework tonight was to complete pp. 11-13 (packet). They were instructed to identify (underline) the topic sentences in each paragraph.

That's all for today! ~Mr. Polk

Grammar Rock: Pronouns!

Now, how about a "School House Rock" grammar rock song about pronouns?!!!

Mr. Polk's 4th grade Blog: Take 1

Today, I was inspired by Mrs. Esparza, math teacher at Lodge Community School, to begin (or continue) my blog. Instead of this being a blog about sports and Mr. Polk, I would like to post information on some of the neat things we are doing in 4th grade language arts and science at Lodge.

Now, I'm just a beginner at this, so I probably won't have cool videos uploaded like my colleague, Mrs. Esparza. However, I will share what we are doing in class in a written format for now. This week is a "language arts" week and next week will be a "science week."

In science, I am very excited to share that we will be working with the Indiana Science Initiative to do engaging science activities, in which the students will make many discoveries working in cooperative groups.

Today, in language arts, we discussed personal pronouns (4.L.1). For example, we discussed 1st person singular (I, me), 2nd person singular, (you), and 3rd person singular (she, he, him, her, it). We then discussed the 1st person plural (we, us), 2nd person plural (you), and 3rd person plural (they, them).

REMEMBER: A pronoun is a word that takes the place of one or more nouns.

Example 1) "Susie brought her apple to lunch today. She ate it and thought it was delicious." Notice how "She" replaces "Susie" and "it" replaces "apple."

Example 2) "Susie brought her apple to lunch today. Susie ate the apple and thought the apple was delicious." Doesn't it sound repetitive to say her name again and to use the word apple two more times? (YES)...this is why we use pronouns.

Today, in writing, our homework assignment was to write one paragraph on the subject: "My Summer." Students took home a "Preparing a Paragraph" checklist to use with developing their paragraph. They were instructed to write the paragraph in their language arts notebook, and to have someone at home proofread their paper, and to get a signature. Tomorrow, in class, the students will share their paragraph with a peer, for one more proofread, and they will then write their final draft in their best cursive writing on a separate sheet of paper.

Until next time...I am going to try to make this blog more exciting!

Mr. Polk