Newsletter 10 4/26/2012
Dear Families,
It’s hard to believe the year is this far along. And we still have so much left to do. It's always tricky when students are absent, but it's especially challenging for them at this time of year, as there is so much happening that is difficult or impossible to recreate or send home. I fully understand that sometimes they need to be absent, but the more they're here, the better.
Measurements of Student Progress (MSP)
The Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) is the state’s exam for students in grades 3-8. The MSP name conveys the goal of the test: to measure student progress. State testing should never be the sole judge of a student’s academic skills and knowledge. A student’s entire performance should always be considered. (emphasis mine)The MSP reading and math … exams take one day. Schools and districts have the choice to pick their testing days within the testing windows. (excerpted from http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/StateTesting/MSP.aspx)
We take the reading test on May 10.
We take the mathematics test on May 14.
We have been learning about test format, and ways to answer so that people scoring the test will know students understood and did what was asked. I’m noticing lots of ability to do the reading and the math, but some lacking in how to express it on paper. This is understandable: it’s their first experience with standardized tests. So we’re practicing.
Our typical routine is to check the work from the day before, introduce the new work, give them time to do it, and go over it that day or the next day. Students do the work with a regular pencil and check with a colored pencil or marker, so it’s easy to see what they did well and what they could have done better.
Since most of the math is reviewing what we’ve done all year, I’m asking students to try and fix incorrect answers by themselves. If they cannot, they should ask someone: family, friend, me, etc. until they understand what to do. I’m still seeing a bunch of computation errors: students who have not yet memorized their addition/subtraction facts, or their multiplication/division facts. That is something they should continue to practice at home, as needed.
When MSP practice work comes home, have your child tell you about it—especially what they did well, and anything they had to correct. If something comes home incomplete, we probably did that part when the child was absent. Please have the child complete the unfinished part, and talk about it at home. If there are any questions, please send it back to school and we’ll go over it.
If your child has any kind of conflict with testing on either May 10 or May 14, please let us know as soon as possible.
Animal Reports
We’ve been going through the steps of writing doing research, taking notes, and writing an animal report. We started by choosing an animal and each day taking notes about a specific topic, which are: physical characteristics, food, habitat, and other things of interest. Now we're writing our introductions; then we will start using the notes to write each section.
We’ll also be using what we’ve learned to create our animals in papier-mâché.
Calendar
May 10--MSP Reading
May 14--MSP Math
Chapter Book
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Sincerely,
Jeff
