Testing Information

Second Grade High Ability Identification Process:

Second Grade CogAT Testing:

We have now finished up all the testing for second grade CogAT.  Originally all students were screened and those who received a 77+ percentile rank, then took the full.  As a parent you may be asking yourself, "Should I be worried if my child did not take the full CogAT test?"  No.  This is only one of the two ways to qualify for high ability.  Please remember, CogAT is a test with zero reading.  It is a test which shows how students think.  It often identifies your out-of-the-box thinkers.  There is no way to prepare for it, nor does it test things that are taught in class.  It's just the way the student thinks.  We have the data, but will not make any final decisions until the NWEA data is in.

Second Grade NWEA Testing:

 Two scores listed, yours will have one.

The window for the NWEA test will open April 19th.  NWEA data from the end of the year is an achievement test.  Students who are shining in the classroom often score high on this test.  The big change going from second to third grade is the "Language Arts" section.  Students need to score in the 95th percentile or higher, on not only the "Reading" section, but also the "Language Arts" section.  Quite frankly, we do a lot of writing and reading in our third and fourth grade curriculum.  The LA section is not available to kindergarten and first.  A good suggestion that I give parents who are anxiously waiting their child's test scores, look back at past NWEA scores from this year.  Look at their Fall and Winter scores to see how they've done this year so far.  The score you need to look at, is the middle one similar to the highlighted snip above.  The middle, bold number needs to be 95 or higher in order to be considered for HA.  The number of students identified will be around ten percent of the second grade class.  Please don't hesitate if you have questions.  I'm sure this is a little overwhelming.  I'm here to help and answer any questions or concerns that you may have.  The bottom line, we want our kids to be where they need to be!  At the elementary level, that's during our WIN time.  What I Need.  Students are looked at each and every year for high ability.  Just because they were not identified in elementary school, does not mean they will not be identified later.

High Ability Summer School:

Brochures will go home today with the information about high ability summer school.  It will be taught again by Mrs. Pethes, a fourth grade teacher at Liberty.  I'm so impressed with her program!  Students really enjoy getting immersed in the theme of Old England.  It's hard to believe, but it's time to start planning your summer to see if you can schedule all those fun activities and educational camps.  It will run Friday, May 31st-Thursday June 21st.  If you have any overlap, no worries.  Mrs. Pethes is very adaptable.  It is offered to all current high ability students grades 1st-3rd grade.  Please fill out the form and turn it into the office by:  Friday, April 27th.

December 11- December 15

BAILLY'S SUPER WORD OF THE WEEK

DECISION: to make up your mind 

1st GRADE LA

Persuasive Paragraph: Monday we tried to finish up our persuasive paragraphs. I allowed students to be PROACTIVE and take it home to finish. I was happy to see many of them chose to do so. If it was not completed in class or for homework I will allow a few minutes on Monday for completion. The hamburger model and persuasive paragraph has allowed the student to utilize a higher-level thinking skill while planning and writing. 

Tuesday the students were on a field trip.

2nd GRADE LA

 Journals, Review, and Metaphors: Monday I had the students finish their journal entry. Last week I asked the students, Would Edward be better off staying with Bull and Lucy? If you are not reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane with your child, I highly recommend it. It has quickly became one of my favorite books. This book can be an easy read or studied for its' deep metaphors and endless connections. The journal entries allow me to see how deep the students are reading and relating to our discussions. 

I love the way we review our homework readings with each table getting to explain a chapter to the class. We have charts in our room to help us track the book. If a new character or setting is introduced, Edward's name or outfit changes, or Edward has experience another emotion, we track them with post-its. It's kinda a big deal to get to write the post-it 😉.

As I mentioned above, this book has a lot of connections when you look beyond the surface. This allows the perfect opportunity to introduce metaphors. We read an excerpt from the Testing Tree found in the beginning of Edward Tulane. Once I set the path, they saw how the excerpt relates to our story. They realized metaphors, "describing something by calling it something else", are all around us. We will continue our metaphor lesson next week. 

HOMEWORK:

 Read chap 18-21

 Reading Analyzer: FAVORITE chapter

3rd GRADE LA

Writing & Homework: We finished our Beatrix Potter lesson this week. The students wrote on a chart similarities between the theme, setting, plot and character traits in their books. We then identified the different interactions and how they affected the plots of their different stories. This lesson continued to help develop the understanding of interactions while also analyzing classic fictional texts. 

We finished up by starting this weeks HOMEWORK. 

HOMEWORK: Finish your interactions journal. Think of a time you interacted with nature in an imaginative way. Write a paragraph describing your experience. ILLUSTRATE your paragraph with colored pencils, crayons, or markers. 

4th GRADE LA

Computer Lab & Project: Monday we were able to get into the computer lab and print out our pictures for our biography project. Not everyone had their pictures ready. This task is now their responsibility to complete on their own time. However, it is known that they are always welcome to come into my class during lunch recess to complete this!! Once students are done typing out their time line events they will start gluing everything to the time line!! Hopefully, this is where we will be close to ending at before the break.