Friday, January 6, 2017

Newsletter for January 6, 2017


What We Learned This Week

Word Study
I administered the Developmnetal Spelling Assessment to measure student growth and ensure students were in the appropriate group. I'm very pleased with the progress they've made. I will share results with you soon.

Students are working on building vocabulary. During independent reading, students are looking for one interesting word each day, which they record on a post-it note on their table. As they read throughout the week they make tally marks to keep track of how many times they read that word, building awareness through intentional practice. I am also encouraging students to use these new words in their writing and speaking.

Reading
Students are beginning to compare and contrast two articles. Our process is to read each article independently and highlight important vocabulary words that help explain the article, are key terms in the article or are confusing words. Next students answer standard fairly straight forward questions (who, what, where, when, and why). These first steps are intended to get students to think more deeply about what they are reading. Lastly, they must identify how the two articles are related and write a short essay comparing and contrasting the articles. These paired articles are one of the most challenging reading (and writing) skills they will learn this year so we will take it slowly, increasing the text complexity and length as we practice over time.

I administered the STAR Reading Test.

Writing
Students are revisiting narratives as we draft pen pal letters using our iPads. (Thank you for always reminding your student to charge their iPads at night.)

Math
I am reviewing key math concepts learned throughout the first half of the year and I will assess these areas next week in anticipation of the interim progress reports. This also gives me a great opportunity to dig deeper into what students may not have mastered so we can revisit content.

I administered the STAR Math Test.

Important Dates & Reminders

Testing dates are in bold. I will highlight changes and new dates in red.
A Days: No specials 
B Days: Music and PE
C Days: Art
D Days: Library
E Days: Music and PE

January 10 Student Group Activity Photos (e.g., Recycling Team, Orchestra, etc.)
January 13 Town Hall Meeting 12:30pm
January 16 No School for Students & Staff:  MLK Day
January 18 Interim Progress Reports Sent Home
January 25 Parent/Teacher Conferences 
January 30 State of Schools at UAHS 5 - 8pm

February 6 - 10 Boxtop Collection Days
February 6 - March 31 Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment
February 20 No School for Students & Staff:  President's Day

March 1 Early Dismissal 1pm
March 9 3rd Grade Musical
March 10 Town Hall Meeting1:45 PM
March 10 End of second Trimester
March 13 - 17 Spring Break - No School 
March 20 No School for students - Teacher Workday 
March 28 Progress Reports Home Today  

April 5 - 6 Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment
April 5 Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon 
April 6 Spring Picture Day          
April 10 - April 28 STAR Reading and Math Assessments
April 12 - 15 Ohio Mathematics Assessment
April 14  No School for Staff & Students: Good Friday     
April 24 - 28 Scholastic Book Fair        
April 28  KID FEST 5 - 8pm

May 8 - 19 Terra Nova & Inview Gifted Screener
May 15 - 19 Diagnostic Writing Assessment
May 24 Field Day             
May 26 Town Hall Meeting 8:25am
May 26 Last Day for Students; End of third trimester     
May 26 Early Dismissal 1pm  

No comments:

Post a Comment