Welcome to Fourth Grade!

August 3, 2009 | Posted in: Class Updates

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Hello! Welcome to the online home of PGS Room 209. During the school year, I will update this web site regularly with information about activities happening in Room 209, bulletins and news items, current events related to what we’re studying in social studies, online assignments, and much more.

This will be my sixth year teaching at Pine Grove School. I graduated from the University of Rhode Island summa cum laude in 2004 and have a degree in Elementary Education and Psychology. While at URI, I taught grades 3, 4, and 5. I have also taught kindergarten, first, and second grade summer school, and I have interned with an elementary school principal in East Hartford. I have a background in experimental research in the field of social psychology, so you’ll probably see my interest in research and statistics come through this year during math lessons!  I’m currently finishing classes for my Masters Degree in Educational Technology at Central Connecticut State University‘s Center for Innovation in Teaching and Technology.  I’ll be done in the spring (hopefully!) and am developing two programs for my final projects.  One is a program that’s designed to teach different strategies to help kids perform well on the Connecticut Mastery Tests, and the other is an interactive storybook that will help kids learn how to create short answer responses (SAR) to open-ended reading comprehension questions.  The Room 209 fourth graders will get to try out both programs this year.

In my spare time, I like to travel to Rhode Island, Boston, or New York City.  I also enjoy making movies on my Mac, working on home improvement projects (which took up most of my time this summer), or just relaxing by cooking, listening to old time radio shows from the 1940s and 50s, reading comic books, or watching the news. I collect old reel to-reel tapes of music, antique or unusual telephones, and all things related to Star Trek.  My wife and I have a wonderful dog named Rimley.  Rimley is about two-and-a-half years old, and he is a cockapoo (cocker spaniel and poodle mix).  I’m sure you’ll hear all about him during the year!  I enjoy tinkering with my computer and coming up with interesting ways in which I can use technology in the classroom. (You can definitely expect to use computers a lot in Room 209! I am the school’s lead technology teacher, and I enjoy using computers, our class’ SMART Board, and other technologies while teaching.) Of course, I also love watching my favorite sports team, the Boston Red Sox! (Don’t worry Yankees fans, I promise not to be mean!)

This summer has been an usually busy one.  Besides spending time moving classrooms and learning all about the great things that we’re going to do in fourth grade, I also spent a lot of time on projects around the house.  My wife and I have a baby due in December, so we’re having a lot of fun getting ready for him/her.  (We aren’t finding out whether it’s a boy or a girl; we want to be surprised!)  I also spent a lot of the summer working on our new class website, which you’re looking at right now.  Look at one of the following posts for information about why I made a new website and what some of the new features are.

It’s going to be a great year in fourth grade.  There are so many new things to learn, and there are some really interesting activities coming up!  I can’t wait for the new year to begin!

For more information about our class, click “Read the rest of the entry”.

I will talk about the way I run our classroom during the first day of school (and during open house/curriculum night, for the parents.) But here are some answers to questions you may have.  Those of you who were in my class last year should read this; there are several changes.  (It’s a new grade, after all!)

HOMEWORK

You will almost always have homework each weeknight, except Friday. I try to give you about 30 or 35 minutes of homework, but you may occasionally get a little more or a little less. One thing that I do differently from most other teachers is the way I assign homework. I will sometimes give out the entire week’s homework on Monday.  That way, you can more easily plan out your week. However, most assignments are based on lessons that I teach the day before they are due, so I strongly encourage you NOT to do your homework in advance of the assigned day. If you don’t have your assignment when it is due, I will send home a reminder note and will usually give you an extra day to make it up (if you are usually on-time.) You do not need to bring a folder for homework; I will give you one. You will be responsible for recording your homework assignments in your planner (which you will get toward the start of the new school year.)

RULES

We will make a class constitution on the first day of school. That will serve as our rules for the whole year, though we can make “amendments” to add or remove rules as time goes on. I have a chart that helps students keep track of their choices. Each morning, students start off on blue, which mean that they’re doing a great job. When students make poor choices, I ask them to flip their cards to other colors which mean anything from getting a warning, to having a time out, to losing some recess time. I don’t use this system much, because I find that students normally make fantastic choices! When they do make great choices, I may invite them to put their name on a ticket.   Each Friday, you’ll be able to put your “chance” tickets in a box, and I’ll pick a few names of students who will get to pick prizes.  But you’ll have to plan ahead to decide if you want to put all your chance tickets in the chance box, because you’ll also need to save a few in case you lose a worksheet or pencil during the day and need a replacement.  This will help you to learn the idea of budgeting.  (In our class, chance tickets will work a lot like money.)  When the class, as a whole, is working well or following directions, I will drop a marble in our marble jar.  When it’s filled, you’ll earn a special prize!

SPECIALS

We will have specials each day (usually), mostly in the late morning or early afternoon.  Please bring a smock to keep in your lockers for art and be sure to wear sneakers when we have physical education. This is our specials schedule:

Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:                                      SPECIALS SCHEDULE COMING SOON!
Thursday:
Friday:

LUNCH, RECESS, and SNACK

Lunch will be at 12:45 each day, followed by recess. Your parents should also send you in with a small snack and, if desired, a drink. (Please, nothing too messy and nothing that can easily spill!) Snack will usually be in the mid-morning, so please make sure that you eat a good breakfast before school!

LOCKERS and BOOKBAGS

Each student will have a locker of their own. They are standard size, but students often have difficulty fitting in some of the fancier, extra-large bookbags (especially those with wheels). Please be mindful of this, as I do not have extra space in the classroom for storing oversized bookbags during the school day. The lockers cannot be locked, so students should not use them as storage places for valuables. MANY CLASSROOMS CAN SOMETIMES GET A BIT CHILLY,  SO YOUR PARENTS SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SENDING YOU INTO SCHOOL WITH A THIN SWEATER OR INDOOR JACKET THAT YOU CAN KEEP IN YOUR LOCKERS THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL YEAR.

If you have other questions that I haven’t answered, please email me at jmoss@avon.k12.ct.us or ask me on Tuesday, September 1, during the “Meet and Greet” time between 3:00 and 3:30. Feel free to email me to introduce yourself.  I look forward to seeing all of you very soon! Enjoy the last few days of summer!