Check out Mr. Hoggatt’s Classroom Wish List.
Mr. Hoggatt welcomes volunteers in the classroom.
February 9, 2010: A Note about Attendance
There are so many reasons to attend school. In the fourth grade, the top of the list of reasons must be to instill a sense of importance in the education process and to establish good habits.
Some students in our class have more than 10 absences (That’s probably about the most absences a person should have in a year.). In fact, new systems in our district automatically flag a student with excessive absences. After receiving a couple of letters from the district, the process is escalated. I’m not completely familiar with the system, but I know at some point Children’s Division is automatically notified.
I have attempted to let people know there have been several absences. It is an area that we must improve district wide, and it matters. Please take my notifications and quick notes as a reminder that the letters the district sends are only preliminary to more serious contacts.
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February 4, 2010: Valentine Time
Next Friday, February 12, is a half-day with a Valentine party mixed in. We will likely construct Valentine sacks tomorrow or Monday, and students may bring their valentines for distribution next week. We don’t spend much time on these preparations, and I don’t require any elaborate boxes to be prepared at home.
Many students copied the names of their classmates today to put on their cards. The quicker, easier method, of course, is just to put “to a friend” on the cards or just sign them, and drop them into each sack. This would keep them from spending too much time looking for the appropriate sacks.
No one is required to bring valentines, but if your child plans to do so, please be sure s/he brings enough for everyone (There are 23 students in our class.).
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January 29, 2010: Fantastic Caverns
Our class will take a field trip to Fantastic Caverns, just outside of Springfield. The scheduled date for the trip is February 19. The trip will be during school hours on that date.
You will be receiving a permission note for this trip soon. Please return the signed note as soon as you can, along with the payment of $6 to pay for admission.
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January 28, 2010: Remember the Pythagorean Theorem?
Ask your child about today’s Math lessons. Perhaps s/he can tell you how many feet are in a mile (5,280). Or maybe s/he will tell you about measuring angles. For example, what is the sum of all the angles in any triangle? What is the sum of all the angles in any quadrilateral? How about a pentagon or a hexagon? See if your child can approach any of these subjects with any knowledge.
When Mr. Culbertson and I went through these items in class, today, there was a time when we observed that mysterious lightbulb-over-the-head with many students at once; it became so bright in the room, I had to shade my eyes. When lunchtime arrived, students were actually disappointed that we had to stop, and after lunch they reported to other adults that we already had done more than enough learning for the day.
In everything we do, it’s nice to show the application of the skills. I think they finally understood why they need addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as making a table, finding a pattern, making a systematic list, and more. We discussed area and perimeter, measurement, mathematics careers, etc. Then we hit on the Pythagorean Theorem. You may remember the P.T. from a long time ago, from when the Scarecrow incorrectly quotes it after getting his brain in The Wizard of Oz:
The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side. Oh, joy, oh, rapture. I’ve got a brain!
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January 25, 2010: Substitute Teacher
Our class will have a substitute teacher tomorrow, Tuesday, January 26. Hopefully I will receive a good report when I return.
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January 23, 2010: Class Spelling Bee Champion
Congratulations to HANNAH for achieving championship status in our classroom. HANNAH was a contender in all of our three classroom spelling bees and a winner of two of them. In our championship round, she was the winner, and she will represent our class in the school spelling bee on February 1.
A big thank you also goes to NYASHA for being a gracious second place contestant. These girls tried very hard and we are proud of both of them.
For more information about the Joplin Globe Spelling Bee, including a downloads of the word lists, please see their Newspaper in Education website.
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January 22, 2010: Grades
As we progress through the year, I expect students to become more prudent in turning in their own work. I may do less and less prompting to remind them of this responsibility. As a result, we have already had a few students who have forgotten to turn in class work. Report card grades are already suffering, as only 12 are on the Honor Roll at this point.
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January 15, 2010: Simulation
Today’s big lesson was a small simulation concerning a “civil rights” issue. I began by announcing to the class that chairs were being removed from the nine-year-olds in our room in order to accommodate some students in another school. Those students who have already turned ten quickly stood in solidarity with their younger peers, and put their chairs in the hall too.
Next, we used the skills we have been working on recently to write friendly letters to the principal, respectfully expressing our feelings of unfairness. When that didn’t work, we quickly threw together some protest signs and proceeded to picket the office, followed by a sit-in which included a time for students to express their honest feelings to Assistant Principal Rooker.
I was very proud that many students courageously and respectfully stood their ground. Until this point, students felt a small degree of anxiety about our “issue”. Back in the classroom, we had a wonderful discussion about the differences in our feelings and those that were being expressed by those in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Due to time issues, we weren’t able to gain full closure in the matter. Next week, following Monday’s recognition of the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr., we will better acquaint what we did and what really happened in our not-so-long-ago history.
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January 14, 2010: Civil Rights/Equal Rights/Fair Rights
We are poised to illustrate, demonstrate, and simulate lessons about Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in general. I will also introduce other issues of equality and fairness in the next couple of weeks. These lessons tie in to a general theme for our class which has, so far, included bullying and the lifeskills of kindness, compassion, and empathy.
Now, using real historic events, the theme opens up to real conversations. Some of these issues are ugly – prejudice, stereotypes, racism, hatred, and religious persecution, to name a few. In fact, with the introduction of history to the theme comes conversation about violence. At the beginning of the year we briefly covered the terrorist attack of 2001, and in April we will culminate the discussion with my personal story about the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City.
These discussions take place in the controlled setting of the classroom, but the nature of the discussions are serious and real without being too graphic. Traditionally, students have walked away from the second semester a little more compassionate and empathetic than they were when they began their fourth grade journey.
Tomorrow, January 15, is Martin Luther King Jr.’s actual birthday, but Monday is the national holiday commemorating his life and the Civil Rights movement. We have no school on Monday in honor of these historic events.
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January 11, 2010: Golden Apple Nominations
The time has come for Golden Apple nominations. Every year at this time, the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce solicits nominations from Joplin students and parents. I encourage you to help your child nominate a former or current teacher for this important award.
I accepted this award in 2003 after two current students and one former student nominated me. Following this, the district nominated me for the state teacher of the year award.
Since I have been through the process, I can now encourage the nominations of other students in our school. How about writing a letter about a teacher that has been special for your child? Why not consider nominating a teacher from the PE or the Art department? Did you enjoy the Christmas program? For all the work that was done, would you like to see our Music teachers see some recognition?
What is involved? Unless the process has changed, the student will write a letter and a parent will write a letter. These letters are sent to the Chamber of Commerce for consideration by a judging panel. Nominees are then invited to apply to further the process. Top teachers are selected for an interview process. Then, at the annual chamber banquet, recipients are announced.
I will be happy to see teachers from our school receive nominations. I offer my assistance to students who wish to honor their teachers. Please consider supporting such a positive initiative.
