Week of April 7th

Tonight is the very last Elementary Parent Math Night for the year! I will be hosting this in my classroom at 6:30. We will be closing and locking the doors to the school at 6:40, so please make sure you are on time so that you don't get locked out. :) Tonight I will be covering math games and games that you can easily modify to make them math games. I hope to see you all there!

ELA:

This week in ELA we will continue working on our Native American research project. Each student has been assigned a tribe that is native to Idaho. Right now we are busy researching those tribes and annotating as we research to help with writing the paper that is the next step. 

Math:

This week we are jumping ahead to Topic 15 which covers geometry. There is a LOT of vocabulary for geometry so I like to jump ahead to give students a little bit of extra time to learn that vocabulary before ISATs. 

I had two more students pass all of their multiplication facts this morning! I am so pumped about that! Please keep practicing with your student so that they will master these as quickly as possible as well. 

Science Fair Project:

Today your student will be bringing home Step 2: Research and Hypothesis for their science fair project. I explained to my class today that this project is really less about the results of their project and more about practicing and understanding the scientific process. We have been talking a lot about how their research should be about the TOPIC of their question, and not the question itself. Anyone can Google the answer to the question, but this step is about learning everything we can about the topic behind the question. 

For example, we dissected a Mystery Science lesson today as they do an excellent job following the scientific process. We talked about how the question was "How can I send a secret code?" so they researched and thought about everything they knew about codes, which led them to relate codes to a language. This led them to think about the need for a translator which guided them to more research.

After your student has researched their topic, they will form a hypothesis. We talked about how just like an estimate isn't a wild guess but an educated guess, so is a hypothesis. They need to take what they already know about the topic and what they researched and form an opinion on what they think the answer to their question will be and why they think that.

ISAT Testing:

We decided to push back testing dates to give us an extra week to prepare. We will do the ELA ISAT on Tuesday, April 29th and Wednesday, April 30th. The Math ISAT will be on Tuesday, May 6th and Wednesday, May 7th. 

We are coming up on state testing time. I wanted to make sure I let you know the dates of testing so that you can plan ahead and make sure your student is here for that. Also, it helps to make sure your student is getting consistent good sleep leading up to testing. There are two parts to both the ELA and Math ISATs. They are the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). We will give these on different days so that they kids aren't overwhelmed. That means we will have 4 days of testing total. 

ISAT Party:

Each year I throw an ISAT party for my students to celebrate all of their hard work after they have taken the ISATs. This is different than other class parties because students have to earn an invitation to this party. They can earn an invitation in one of two ways. 

1. By scoring a 3 or 4 on the ISAT or moving from one level to the next. For example if they were a 1 in 3rd grade but scored a 2 in 4th grade, that is moving one level.

2. By working really hard leading up to ISAT testing to do their best. I understand that test anxiety is a real thing. Those students who work really hard and don't keep their classmates from succeeding by being a distraction, can also earn an invite to the party even if they don't get the score that they want. 

Students who do not earn an invitation to the ISAT party will spend that time completing work in another classroom. I will let you and your student know if they are at risk of not earning an invitation to the party while they still have time to turn things around. :)

House Colors Thursday:

I just wanted to remind you that students are welcome and encouraged to wear their house color on Thursdays. I am still making shirts for students as they bring them in. I also had some amazing donations from parents to buy vinyl and had one parent send in vinyl so if your student already brought in a sweatshirt and would like a t-shirt (or vice versa), they are welcome to bring in the other while the vinyl lasts. :) Again, if your student would like a house shirt but it is not within your budget right now, please let me know and I can help out with that! 

I also had a parent donate extra shirts for students who may not be able to afford one! Thank you so much! If your student would like one of those, please let me know! It will be a first come, first served basis. :) I have 1 each of Amistad, Isibindi, and Rêveur.