Friday, January 30

Today, I was surprised at the end of recess with the most beautiful bulletin board I've ever seen.  The quotes literally brought tears to my eyes! This is how I know I have the BEST JOB EVER! This is why I teach!  Big thank you to all the students!

The students are already aware, but I want to give a heads up to all the parents that I will not be at school on Monday or Tuesday.  I will be at a conference hopefully learning how to be a better teacher.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.  I will get back with you as soon as possible.  If you have time sensitive information, like a change in after school plans, please contact the office.

I thought I might start your weekend off right by sharing some very adorable birthday bites from this week.

  

Wednesday, January 28th

Today was one of those days we made the best of.  Several students were out of the room a majority of the Literacy Block due to NAEP testing.  The rest of us did not let that stop us from getting on education.  We worked on our Reading Goals and NWEA goals in Compass Learning.  But, we did not get a chance to review the Lesson 12 packet our work through the planned writing prompt lesson.

We will pick up the pieces tomorrow though!  To be prepared for the day, all students should bring there lesson 12 packet to class for review.  They should also study the word meanings very well tonight.  Tomorrow their homework will be to do a writing so there may not be much extra time for additional studying.  So, make sure you know the words before class tomorrow.

Monday, January 26

There is no reflection page this week. But there is a lot of homework tonight! Students should begin by doing the study guide for tomorrow's Math Assessment. Then they can begin work on the Lesson 12 Word work packet.  Packets are not due until Wednesday, so please focus on being successful for the Math test 1st them do what you can on the lesson 12 packet.

Have you still been logging your reading time for the I LOVE TO READ CHALLENGE? Be sure to keep it up!

Friday, January 23

Ah shucks!  Is it Friday already???

Can't believe how fast this week went, but I really feel like we accomplished A LOT!!
Our entire focus, as you know, was answering extended response questions.  This is critical for ISTEP success.  At the beginning of the week I was wringing my hands a little, but now there is no sweat! (Two idioms in a row!)

Next week we will continue our focus on ISTEP prep, but switch from extended response writing to responding to writing prompts.  Get lots of sleep this weekend, because we have a hard road ahead of us! (Yep, I just snuck in another idiom!)

Thursday, January 22

Whew!  What a day!  I think we will all sleep good tonight.  We are still focusing on testing format.  Tomorrow we will not have a regular ExamView assessment, but we will be assessing our progress on answering Extended Response questions with the RACE method.  Tonight's Homework will be great practice.

Wednesday, January 21

Today we jumped right in (that's an idiom) by taking an online practice test for the ISTEP.  These online tests are also available to students at home.  You can access them on the Computer Cluster page of our website, or directly at http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/english/  .  Answer keys are also available to help parents see what is expected.  I highly recommend parents working through the online test with their students.  You can even challenge each other by switching to the 5th or 6th grade test, or give your each other more practice with the 3rd grade test.  Any practice at all will make a difference on the real ISTEP.

Speaking of practice, for homework tonight students will be have the opportunity to practice using the RACE Method for answering extended response questions.  They will also get some insight on a tragic time in our history - The Dust Bowl.

Side note: With the short week and the intensive focus on ISTEP format, there will not be a Word List this week.

Tuesday, January 20

Wow!  Only 20 days left until ISTEP begins! We can hardly wait!  This week we are preparing by focusing on ISTEP format. This morning we reviewed how to RACE through extended response questions. We also worked on making a plan for completing evidence based writing prompts. This afternoon we practiced using these skills in an academy wide writing session.
Tomorrow we are going to take an online practice test to familiarize our selves with the technology that will be used in the real ISTEP.  We can wait!! In 20 more days we are going to OWN THAT TEST!!!


Students are bringing home Feedback and Data Binders tonight. Please review the week 21 Literacy page with them and guide them in filling out the weekly reflection page. Students are allowed to redo number 8 and 15 on a separate sheet of paper if they would like to prove their grade. We reviewed both answers in clause today using the RACE method, so it should be an easy A.

Wednesday, January 14

Today we worked on being detectives.  As we reviewed the Unit 4 Pretest, we found evidence in the text for our answers. We also collaborated together to find evidence in text during our centers. Tonight, students will get the opportunity to practice finding evidence for homework too.

Tomorrow we will work on our racing skills - no not how fast we are - how well we answer extended response questions.

Tuesday, January 13

Today we focused on reading goals.  How is your student doing? To be on track they should have passed at least one chapter book at or above their lexile by this Friday.

Tonight they are also bringing home their Lesson 10/11 Flashcard Foldable. Tonight's homework is to study the meaning and SPELLING of the words and word parts.

Monday, January 12

You will never believe what happened today!  Nobody went to school and stopped a couple of bullies from stealing everybody's lunch money! It was great!  If you want to know more...ask your child!

Today we also worked through our Feedback and Data Binders.  There is a lot of information in there for you to review with your child.

1. NWEA Reports - these are the same reports that were sent home last week, but please take a minute to review them with your child again.

2. Blue Goal Packets - All students have written new goals based on their winter NWEA results.  Please have them explain their goals and how they plan to meet them.

3. Unit 6 Math Assessment - see the test and continued progress on their graph.

4. Week 20 Literacy Assessment - Please note, only the Language Arts grade will be recorded.  The reading questions were a pretest for the Unit 4 assessment and many students were not able to finish, so the score is not accurate, but it does give us a good starting place for instruction this week.

5. Reading Counts Goal and Report - The Reading Counts Goal for this 9 weeks is to read five chapter books all above their current Lexile (see NWEA report) and in increasing Lexile.  This will be a hard goal to meet unless students are reading their Lexile book EVERY NIGHT!

Friday, January 9

I am so proud of the kids for all their hard work today.  So much effort was used on our Week 20 assessment, and it showed!!

Students are bringing home NWEA data and Report Cards tonight.  Please be sure to look them over and let me know if you have any questions.

I am also going to make another plea for classroom snacks.  I had a lot of hungry students staring at me mid morning and I had nothing to give them.  Please send in what ever you can.

Have a great weekend!!

Wednesday, January 7

Another great day in TEAM33!  The only problem was that it was TOO SHORT!  The students did a great job accommodating the schedule and we got a lot accomplished in the short amount of time. We focused on setting goals based on NWEA.  If you would like to have a conversation with your child about what they learned today try asking the following questions:

What is your new NWEA RIT score in Reading and Math?
How much did you grow from the beginning of the year?
If you were standing in a line of 100 students (100 being the highest score and 1 being the lowest) where would you be standing for Reading? Math?
What is your strength in Reading? Math?
What is your new goal for Reading? Math?

If they have any trouble  answering these questions, don't worry.  NWEA Reports and Report Cards will come home on Friday, and Goals will be in Monday's Feedback and Data Binder.

Tonight's homework is to complete Lesson 10-11 Packet. The vocabulary test will be this Friday.

Parents, one last note: We are in desperate need of snacks.  Anything you can send in will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks again for all you do!

Monday, January 5, 2015

Welcome to 2015!

I am so glad everyone is back!! We had a great day and jumped right back to business! We are working on our writing while reviewing Realistic Fiction. Students should be working on finishing their "Unbelievable Vacation Adventure" planning page for homework. It's ok if somethings aren't exactly as you remember - this is REALISTIC FICTION. 

Data binders are not coming home tonight. Look for important data on Friday... NWEA reports AND report cards. 

Here's to a happy new year full of meeting goals, and making growth in TEAM33!