This week, the students will begin taking their Spring MAP tests. If they respond as positively to this experience as they did in the fall, they will enjoy the experience and provide us with an additional measurement of the Reading and Math skills they have learned this year. As a teacher who loves learning data, I enjoy having this Spring MAP data to verify the amazing academic learning I see my students engaging in all year. However, I am always very aware during this testing of the many ways our kindergarteners have grown this year that we do not measure with a test. Four years ago, when we created QAE, it was a given that we wanted to develop students who thrived academically, meeting or exceeding academic standards. However we also knew that there was so much more that we wanted our students to learn at QAE, and so we created our 5 pillars to guide our work: ~ We are creative ~ We are collaborative, compassionate citizens of the world. ~ We learn everywhere, we learn together. ~ We encourage each other to think critically and learn more. ~ We are self-directed learners. As a staff, we believe that allowing these pillars to guide our learning decisions will allow our student to develop resilience, perseverance and grit. And most importantly, we hope that our students will develop a love of learning. The MAP test does not test our students' development in these areas, but I see evidence of this growth every day. I see evidence of self-directed learners when I do a count down and have every student taking a silent breath with me when I get to two. When I am giving a mini lesson on the carpet or my students are sitting in our class meeting circle, I can count on them to really listen to me and each other with engaged brains. Daily, I see children who have learned to respond to the routines and expectations of their classroom in a manner that helps their learning and the learning of their classmates. I see students solving small problems that come up during their work and play without asking adults for help. I see students working collaboratively together to create group art products and research African Animals and solve math problems. These students are able to assess how effectively they are working together and can identify ways they can work together even better. During choice time, I see students laughing together and playing together and creating together. On Friday, I watched every one of my kindergarten students fully engage in their first QAE jog-a-thon. As we took off as a class, we really felt like a team. We cheered as we ran by the banner we collaboratively created and wahootyed and hollered and laughed as we ran. As time went on, I expected to have some of the kids need assistance to stay engaged, but was amazed to see that they all kept moving around the course. Right up to the last minute of running, I saw sweaty, tired little bodies smiling as they kept moving! When our running time was over, they proudly turned their sticks in and then eagerly cheered on the older students as they took their turn to run. I am so happy to be a teacher and parent in a learning community that values learning, in academic areas and beyond! Thank you all for being part of this journey. Katie If you have Jog-A-Thon photos that you are willing to share, please let me know!!! | PBL ~ African Animal Collaborative ResearchOur Animal Expert Groups are hard at work, researching and writing facts for their books. This week, we switched group roles and created group compacts explicitly stating what we need from each other to collaborate in a productive way. After setting the expectations, experts started turning our fact notes from our learning posters into fact page drafts, or "sloppy copies". When we have all of the pages drafted, we will edit them for readability, marking them up with purple pens and making them sloppy before using them to write our final drafts and publishing our books. Celebrating Student Writing!Take some time to read and comment on the new Spring and Science Writing that has been added to your students' E-folio! MAP Testing ScheduleTuesday, May 20 ~ 9:40 - 10:10 Wednesday, May 21 ~ 9:40 - 10:10 Friday, May 23 ~ 9:40 - 10:10 Thursday, May 29 ~ 9:40 - 10:10 Please try to have students as well rested and fed as possible : ) Our adult message to them about this testing will continue to be that we do not want them to worry about the test, but we do want them to try their hardest by focusing and taking their time. Young Authors' DayThis Thursday, May 22nd, we will celebrate Young Authors Day. K students will be assigned to a multi-age group and will be sharing one of their published stories. we will be having local author and poet Eric Ode join us during out kick-off assembly in the morning. If you are interested in ordering a copy of his book, please go to Mr. Jeffrey's blog and fill out an online order form. Kindergarten End of Year Celebration! On June 10th from 6:00 - 7:30 pm we will have our Kindergarten End of the Year Celebration. This will be a chance to celebrate all of our growth as kindergarten learners before we head off to first grade! Plan to join us for an evening event that will showcase our last PBL project of the year, including nonfiction books, life-size animals, African Savanna habitats and much more! |