Murphy Mustangs
News and Events for the Month of December
2013 is Winding Down
Sincerely,
Sean MartinsonDad to Four Amazing Kids
Principal - Murphy Elementary School
www.isd318.org/murphy ~ www.murphyprincipal.org
School: 218.327.5880 ~ Cell: 218.209.2573
Media Content and Children (2 Cents from the Principal)
Although I think of myself as a technologically literate person, and an advocate for technology in education, I have some specific concerns about what I am seeing children come to school with today. This article in our newsletter may or may not touch a nerve for some people. I don't intend to offend, however, I do hope to raise some awareness of very relevant issues for the children of today. That concern is what the children of today are learning from popular culture such as video games, television shows, and mainstream movies.
Maybe I'm putting the cart before the horse. What I'm going to write about isn't saying that video games are bad or television and movies are bad. What I am going to say though is that we really need to pay attention to what our children are learning from the different content they are viewing. Are they learning the behavior we want them to have? Are they learning the values and morals that we want our children to have?
Some of the most popular titles of video games, movies, and television today are often rewarding violent and/or disrespectful behavior. Let me put it to you another way. If your child were to talk back to you or be disrespectful to a grandparent, what would your thoughts be? Many of today's shows geared toward our children, specifically reward that type of disrespectful behavior.
How about one step further. If you were walking down the street and someone came out with a gun and started shooting at people, what would your first instinct be? I think the first instinct of many would be to protect their children and to get out of a dangerous situation. How impossible is it to think that the shooter would be our very own child? However, many of today's video games reward just such behavior. Take for example, a popular title called Grand Theft Auto. As the name implies, you are to break the law and steal cars. What many people may not be aware of though, is that you're also rewarded for even more violent behavior. For example, you get extra points or money for shooting and/or killing police officers, prostitutes, civilians, etc.
There is a book out called Stop Teaching our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie, & Video Game Violence. The book is written by retired Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. In his book, one of the topics he discusses is video game violence. He specifically relates today's first person shooter video games, such as "Call of Duty", to video game simulators that our military uses to train soldiers for active military duty. What he shares is that the video games of today are more graphic and realistic than the simulators soldiers were training on even 10 years ago. So to go back to an earlier question I raised, what do we want our children to learn?
One thing I would ask that you keep in mind now and in general is: what do we want our children to learn? Ask ourselves what do we want our children to grow up to be? What values and morals do we hold to be important? How do we want our children to treat each other, their peers, their elders, and others? When you go to buy, and allow your children to view things, stop and think about what it is they're going to learn from what they're going to be doing. If what they're about to do doesn't show them what you want them to be, don't let them watch it or have access to it (keep in mind the friends and homes they may visit).
For every device out there, there is plenty of content that is positive and reinforces the skills and concepts we want our children to learn. Wrapping up this article, technology such as video games, movies, and television shows have their place. They're all very powerful tools. However, we have to keep in mind the power of that tool and what it is going to be used for.
P.S. Favorite "video game" in our house: NHL Hockey. Other than that, it's lots of card and board games.
Mustang Motivators
School Store
December Program
What is Telepresence?
I have been asked to talk a little bit about virtual field trips and the Telepresence studio. Although it's hard to convey through the written word the excitement that I have for this program, I'll do my best. I'll start with.... let's say it's nothing short of miraculous. In the past when we wanted to teach or talk to our students about advanced topics, often the teacher would have to rely on secondhand information or do the best they could to learn and share information. Although we would do our best, sometimes students were unable to find the answer to their driving questions. Enter the Telepresence Studio and video conferencing. Now not only are we able to bring content information to students, but we are able to bring it to them from the first-hand experts.
A couple of examples that I can share with you directly from Murphy School include content being brought directly from NASA. That's correct I said NASA, no kidding. "The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Our students have been able to discuss content first hand with NASA scientists in the field on topics ranging from planet Earth, the moon, the sun, our solar system, and more. In other words, they are the real deal when it comes to advanced scientific research. These sessions and discussions are from people that not only know the content, but they are often the scientist in the field doing the work.
Our fourth grade students were able to participate in a discussion about the Mars rover project. This project had them partnered with the Denver Museum of Science and Nature, and NASA's JPL laboratory in California (Jet Propulsion Laboratory). Our students were able to ask questions and receive information from the scientist that is sending the commands to drive the Mars rover, again, no kidding. This information and knowledge that our students are gaining is not from somebody that's not just familiar with the field, but THE expert in the field.
We have had classes from our little corner of northern Minnesota join with an aquarium in California, a zoos in Indianapolis, and NASA research laboratories all over the United States. I think that this is an excellent start in integrating the tool into our curriculum and into our day (bringing content experts directly to our children). What I envision long term is increased collaboration between our students and others around the globe. We started locally last year by holding the Battle of the Books competition between Deer River, Forest Lake Elementary, and Murphy Elementary School.
We are actively seeking partnerships within our region and beyond. Without access to technology like a Telepresence Studio, this would not be feasible or sometimes even impossible. We have upcoming collaborations with NASA on a variety of project. The Denver Museum of Science and Nature will present a program on the Virtual Heart to our 4th graders (Valentine's Week) and an arts integration lesson based on Titan (a moon of Jupiter). This week we even have a 3rd grade class exploring the American Smithsonian Museum of Art (Native American Artists collection).
I think to say that I'm passionate about this tool would be an understatement. If you're ever in our little corner, please feel free to stop in or attend one of the sessions with our students.
Winter Clothing
All of our students are expected to wear the appropriate winter clothing including a hat, coat, gloves/mittens, snow pants, and boots. Students that forget items often have to play on the black top or stand against the wall (such as forgetting boots or snow pants). If the weather is too cold to be outside without the item they have forgotten, we will have them stay inside. We want kids to be safe and at the same time work on responsibility in remembering their clothing. With all of the fresh snow this week, I have had kids that haven't had all of their winter gear stay inside and read. Shortly, we will be sending them out and they can play on the blacktop. My hope is that after these first couple of days, they will remember their gear.
Start and End of Day Times
A reminder about start of day and end of day times. Although staff may be here earlier getting ready for the work day, the front doors do not open until 7:40am each day.
On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays the end of day bell rings at 2:50 and we start heading to the bus and parent pickup lines.
On Wednesdays the end of day bell rings at 2:10 and we start heading to the bus and parent pickup lines.
Accelerated Reader
AR Book Finder
- Find AR Books by level, topic, and interest levels.
- www.arbookfind.com
- AR Home Connect is a tool related to Accelerated Reader. You can use the same login your child uses to take an AR Quiz.
Murphy Books Read and Passed
ISD 318 Total Books Read
ISD 318 Total Words Read
Murphy Sites & APP Corner
Here are some sites that your child has access to at school and at home. There are also "APP" version links below in our "App Corner". If you are having any issues or need help gaining access contact Mr. Martinson: smartinson@isd318.org or 218.209.2573
AR Home Connect
- https://hosted70.renlearn.com/161353/HomeConnect/ (same login as AR quizzing)
- www.brainpop.com and www.brainpopjr.com
- Username: eimurphy
- Password: brainpop
- www.isd318.org/murphy
- The front page of our school website also has links to sites that the children are familiar with and use in school.
Murphy's FaceBook Page:
Murphy's Twitter Feed
Principal's Pad
Tumblebooks
- www.tumblebooks.com
- username: murphyes
- password: books
APP CORNER
BookMyne
BookMyne: Mobile app for the Grand Rapids Area Library and the Arrowhead Regional Library System (Apple and Android).
BrainPop
- http://www.brainpop.com/apps/landing/
- Username: eimurphy
- Password: brainpop
BrainPop Jr.
You can access all BrainPOP Jr. movies and quizzes from the app.
- Username: eimurphy
- Password: brainpop
Accelerated Reader
- http://www.renlearn.com/ar/apps.aspx
- In settings, when asked for "District ID" use: GRSD-43UL
- Username and password are the same as your child uses at school.
IXL Math
Raz Kids
Upcoming Events
- Thu Dec 5, 2013 1:00pm – 2:00pm 3rd & 4th grade musical "Of Mice and Mozart"
- December 21st-January 1st NO SCHOOL ~ Christmas Break
- Thursday, January 2nd ~ SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION
- Monday, January 20th ~ NO School for kids.
Edna I. Murphy Elementary School
Email: smartinson@isd318.org
Website: http://www.isd318.org/murphy
Location: 822 NE 5th Ave, Grand Rapids, MN
Phone: (218) 327-5880
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/216656585122152/
Twitter: @murphymustangs