letters to my class

Dear Citizens,

I am sure you saw the news of the Boston Marathon bombing last week and the manhunt and capture on Friday. You guys are old enough to know that sometimes people do bad things against our country and its people. Since we live in a free society, we’ll never be able to stop all bad things from happening. Our job as citizens is to strike a balance between freedom and security. We figure this out through discussion, debate, and politics. Sometimes that process is messy and frustrating, but it’s much, much better than the alternative.

Even though you’re only 5th graders, we need you to start thinking about these issues. Soon you will be the ones carrying on this important work of government by, of, and for the people.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Measurers,

Today we will talk about capacity–how much something can hold. We use capacity everyday in our lives, but we don’t always understand how the different measures relate to each other. How many ups are in 13 pints? A goal for all fifth graders is to to know how to convert between measures of capacity.

To understand the world, we measure it. And like everything in math, there are many, many ways of expressing the same amount.

Please find a partner, dice, counters, game boards, and play a game or two of Yut.

Dear Collectors,

Today we’ll read about one of the most famous baseball cards in the world. Not only is it famous, it’s also very valuable as well. It’s a little strange that a tiny piece of cardboard could be worth millions of dollars, but the way humans value things does not always make perfect sense. Things have value if human beings want them. I wonder what things are valuable to you?

We’ll also review fraction concepts, practice computation, and think about all the many ways we can break wholes into equal parts.

Please get a partner, die, eight coutners and a gameboard to play Yut.

Let’s have a great day,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Students,

Sixty-six years ago today, Jackie Robinson played first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was the first African-American to play Major League Baseball in over 50 years. Crossing the color line took restraint, confidence, and bravery. Jackie Robinson not only had to be a better player than most ballplayers, but he had to be a better person as well. Robinson went on to become one of the greatest players of his generation, and we still remember his contributions to Major League Baseball.

Today, all major league baseball players will commemorate Robinson by wearing his number 42 on their jerseys. In our class, we’ll remember him by reading a story about Robinson’s first year in the majors and one incident that really showed Robinson’s courage.

Let’s have a great day,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Fans,

I love baseball. I think it’s one of the best things in the world. I don’t just like the game itself, I also like all the things baseball can teach us about statistics, culture, and history. Today we’ll read a story about baseball to help us learn about an important and controversial time in American history.

During World War II, the United States was fighting Japan. There were many Japanese-Americans living in the United States. Because of  fears that these Japanese  Americans would support the enemy, the United States government rounded up over 100,000 Japanese Americans, took them away from their homes, and put them in interment camps.

Stories allow us to see the world from other perspectives. Stories give us the chance to ask questions that we may have never thought about before.

Let’s have a great day,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Geometers,

I am excited to be back and ready to get to some serious learning. This week, we’ll review concepts of area and begin to think about volume. Volume is one of the most important concepts you will learn in fifth grade, so it is important that you are focused and taking responsibility for your learning. We will also begin talking about energy resources this week. How we get energy, how we use it, and how we will use it in the future are some of the most important problems humans can solve.

Please, take out a read to self book and read until you are called to the floor for morning meeting.

Thanks,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Performers,

It’s been a lot of fun to watch you rehearse for our dramatic reenactment of the Boston Massacre. I can’t wait until the big performance on Thursday. I know you’ll put on a good show.

Think about the things you have to do to be successful as a performer: you have to practice your lines, by yourself, over and over; you have to take the risk of not caring what other people think about you and care only about putting on a good show; you have to collaborate with other thespians and help them to put on a show that you can all be proud.

These skills transfer to every other aspect of our lives. If we want to be successful in school or sports or life, we need to do those three things: put in the hard work, risk being great, and work well with others.

Good luck,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Thinkers,

Sometimes I think the entire history of human knowledge is nothing more than breaking things down into their pieces. When you learn to read and write, you start out with letters and sounds. Then you go on to words. Eventually, you’re filling notebooks with pages and pages of stories and poems. For a long time, scientists weren’t exactly sure what was in the human body. They had an idea that everything was made up of tiny pieces called atoms, but they couldn’t really prove it. Now we not only know that atoms exist, but we can break living things down even farther into strands of DNA that hold all of the information about that living thing. Computers exist because humans figured out how to break information down into pieces so simple that they can be moved at a lightning speed with electricity.

Today, we’ll talk about one way that mathematicians break information into pieces so it can be easily shared and manipulated, and we’ll see all the possibilities that offers us.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Truth Seekers,

I am so happy it’s Pi day. I am irrationally happy. I am so happy, I could just go on and on about it. Today is the day we celebrate Pi and allother irrational and strange numbers that reveal something mystical about mathematics. When we think about Pi, we can’t help but think that math has something interesting and true to say about the natural world. These aren’t just numbers for the sake of numbers. They can represent the real world.

Let’s have a great day,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Dreamers of Dreams,

My favorite movie of all-time is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I think I like it so much because Willy Wonka was a creative genius. He didn’t really care what people thought was possible; he had a dream and he put in the hardwork to make it happen.

Today you’ll have a similar opportunity. With your team, you’ll create a candy store. You’ll have to decide what items you’ll sell, what you’ll call them, and how you’ll persuade people to buy them (Maybe you’ll hide Golden Tickets in your candy bars?). Remember the traits of a good teammate and remember the conflict resolution strategies we talked about yesterday.

Let’s have a great day,

Mr. Heimbuck