Parents,
Next week is the beginning of the end of the year testing schedule. I wanted to give you a little idea of how that takes place in 5th grade and general idea of how that affects our school day. There are four tests in 5th grade- writing, reading comprehension/grammar, math, and science. We will take one test per week. This involves 50- 60 minutes of testing each day until the student completes their test. In the subject that we will be testing, we won't have any direct instruction that week. We spend these weeks reviewing the material we learned this year. This slightly changes our normal schedules. For example, we won't have the normal language arts work (comprehension tests, spelling paragraph test, etc.) during the next two weeks. Similarly, next week we will finish the math book. The following week before the test will be a review week. Because we take the testing sessions seriously, I try to give the kids a bit more relaxing downtime. We will still be working on assignments that will lead to grades, but it will be more relaxed. The big push is to have them ready for the testing each day. Please encourage good sleep habits and healthy breakfasts as much as possible. They worked hard this year, and I want them to feel good about their tests. It is a challenging time pushing them to do their best while not putting too much stress on them. We will discuss this in depth, and practice some of the stress relief skills that we have learned this year (mainly focused breathing and mindfulness.) If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Regards, John
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Hi parents,
I hope you were able to enjoy the unusually long spring break this year. It was a little hard on everyone coming back to school on Monday. Tomorrow I will be sending home the 3rd quarter report card. As a parent and teacher, it is interesting to observe my own bias in looking at report cards. Earlier this week, my 7th-grade daughter brought home her report card. I immediately started comparing her grades to the previous quarters. Did she go up? Did she go down? If she went down, I wondered what happened. I believe this is probably a normal reaction for parents. We look at our kids' report cards and want to know if they are doing well. We want to know if they are getting better or getting worse, etc. The teacher part of me has a different view. Here are some of my thoughts that I would like you to keep in mind as you look at your child's report card:
I am also sending home a math assignment (Skills Test) with the report card. Please have your child complete it at home. When they are finished, please put your signature on the assignment. A few years ago I did some research using this 5th-grade skills test. The test is comprised of math (without word problems) that the kids have learned in 5th grade. I found that if a student was able to achieve 80 percent or better on this test, they were very likely to also pass the state of Utah end-of-the-year test in math. If you find that your child has trouble with any area of the test, we still have 3 to 4 weeks to figure it out. This will also be a very good indicator of your child's strengths and weaknesses in math. We will correct the tests in class after I receive them back from you. Finally, habits and mindset have a big impact on positivity and success at school. With spring arriving, it is easy for us to think it is the end of the school year. Please encourage your child to keep working hard over the next 7 weeks of school. As I have been reminding them. If they work hard during the next 7 weeks, they are allowed to have a 12-week vacation as a reward! Regards, John |
Parents:This is the place where I will post updates as I make decisions, problem solve, and learn how to adjust to a new paradigm of teaching. Archives
August 2022
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