OUR LONG WEEKEND IS ALMOST OVER
Kindergarten and Second Grade CogAT Testing
In Indiana, we
identify students who qualify for high ability in reading/language arts and/or
math. CogAT is a test which has zero reading.
This test identifies your out-of-the-box thinkers . . . those who are
able to make connections. Students who scored a 77+ on the screener go on to
take the full CogAT test. Students who score in the 95th percentile or higher
on the full CogAT test will be identified as High Ability. Remember, this is
only one of two pathways into high ability.
For part two of the identification process, we will use the end of the
year NWEA scores. NWEA will identify
those students who are performing above grade level . . .are high readers; 95th
percentile is used again. Students do
not need to score high on both tests and often times do not.
Kindergarten has
finished their screener test and we are almost done with our full testers. Those
who scored in the 95th percentile will begin HA towards the end of
kindergarten. They will be seen for
about six weeks. If a kindergartener
scores in the 95th percentile on their end of the year NWEA they will begin HA in first grade.
The window for screening all second grade will be from February 27th-March 10th. Students who
scored a 77+ on the screener, will then take the full test in the upcoming weeks.
The results from the upcoming second grade data may change since
kindergarten. In the past, the HA class lists tend to shake up a bit going
from second to third grade; some students may move out while new ones may move
in.
If you have questions, please feel free to
email me.
1st Grade LA
Anagram
puzzles: We had a crazy start to our week. Monday morning I was out of the
building and Tuesday we had a number of students missing because of a schedule
conflict. With the time and student I did have, we worked on anagram puzzles. We cut out letters and had to rearrange them to make a new word to solve the riddle. I
will have a packet of these puzzles for the students to take home if they missed class. They were
fun to do.
1st Grade MA
Target
area: The students had to draw a target using no more than 8 square units. They
needed to cut these out and place them in the middle of their table, grid side
down. The 2 tables then needed to arrange them in order from what they believed
to be the smallest area to the largest area. Next, we used inch tiles to see if
their guesses were correct. Next week we will discuss how targets can have the
same area but be different shapes. Leading to how size and shape can make a
target easy or tricky.
2nd Grade LA
Poetry
Café: With some of our students missing for the poetry café this week I didn’t
want to start our new lesson. On Wednesday we reviewed metaphors that related
to The Miraculous Journey of Edward
Tulane. We read a sentence such as “The course of true love never did
run smooth”, then try to figure out what it meant. Once we understood the
meaning we needed to see how it related or connected to Edward’s journey. We
decided it meant there are always bumps in the road of love. I had to help
the second graders with this idea of ‘love’....a little bit ;) . We then connected it to Edward
because whenever her found love in a person or family, there was a bump in the
road that separated them. This bump, while at the times seemed heartbreaking, always brought him a
new home and a deeper way to love. Thursday we worked on a metaphor worksheet.
The students had to match the metaphors with the meaning and then were able to
draw pictures of the different metaphors. We went over this worksheet in class and the
students were able to take it home.
2nd Grade MA
Old
and New: On Monday the students took a Chapter Check-up test. This was a test
over everything we’ve covered so far this year. I will grade these and return
them next week. Tuesday we started learning about area in our new chapter. We also
touched up on estimating. The students needed to estimate how many square feet
it would take to sleep comfortably in a sleeping bag. We used 12X12 inch sheets
of paper to help visualize the estimating process.
3rd Grade LA
Fables
and Habits: On Tuesday the students read fables their classmates wrote. They
then filled out a Fable Structure Story Map. The students needed to write the
beginning, middle, and end of the fable they read. They then needed draw a
picture of each stage in the fable and tell what moral it included. The
students also needed to decide which of the 7 Habits the fable’s moral
represented. Two of the
students did NOT finish their fables and had to return to class. I do
not assign homework unless is does not get done in class. More times than not,
this is because time is not being used wisely. Please speak with your student
and let them know, just because there are no grades in HA, does not mean
assignment don’t need to be finished.
3rd Grade MA
Area:
This week we finished outlining our 3 students and began counting the area of
their outline. We started with wrapping paper that had a 1 square inch grid on
the reverse side. A student would then lie down to be traced. Once the student
was traced, their group used either a 4”X4” or 5”X5” square piece of paper as a
benchmark to give an estimate of the total area. Next, we divided the body
outline and started counting actual area. We will finish this next week.
4th Grade LA
Monologues
DUE: We spent the week working on our monologues. These are due February 28th and NO MORE
class time will be given for them. The monologues will need to be memorized and
last between 1 minuet and 30 seconds and 2 minutes. The students are to use
their time line as a guide, then add detail to the events. I stressed they
should NOT assume we know anything about their change maker’s life. All the
events they speak on need to have great DETAIL. I asked everyone to read their monologues to someone over
the weekend. This is to practice timing, eye contact, voice volume and
to ensure there is enough detail….Yes, I am stressing the need for detail!!
4th Grade MA
Shape
Up: Wednesday and Thursday we played the game ‘Shape Up’. This game is an
amazing review of the forms of ‘transformations’. The students not only needed
to know all of the definitions to play, but also had to use visualization and
spatial reasoning.
