Over the past few weeks, I have been assessing your children to see what they already know. The literacy assessments that I have completed with each student include:
~ upper case letter identification ~ lowercase letter identification
~ letter sounds ~ 1st 25 sight words
I expect my students to be at different places with their progress in these areas. One of the most important messages we strive to communicate as K teachers is that learners learn different things at different times, and that this is ok. This year, students are entering K with different levels of academic understanding and will continue to progress through their learning at a variety of paces. Kindergarteners grow in so many directions, and our goal is to nurture the direction each child is growing in and celebrate each new learning success.
To support your child at home, talk to him or her about what they already know and what they think they need to work on. If they are not yet able to identify all of their upper and lowercase letters, identify the letters they do know and celebrate them. Then make flash cards of the letters they do not yet know and play games that help them learn these letters. If they are not yet able to identify all of their letter sounds, again, identify those sounds they do know, celebrate this learning, and then let them study the letters they do not yet know on Starfall (www.starfall.com) while you are getting dinner ready. If your student has mastered their letters names and sounds, get them on Raz-Kids listening to and reading books. We will continue to work on all of these things at school as well!
On October 21st and 22nd, the students will take their first MAP tests. The MAP test, which stands for Measures of Academic Progress, is a nationally administered adaptable assessment that measures student growth and achievement in Math and Reading. (For more info go to http://www.nwea.org.) On these two days, students will take two sections of a Math test and two sections of a Reading test. Because the test is adaptive (increases difficulty when the student answers correctly) it often can be challenging for students. I make sure to tell there will be questions they do not know, and that that is ok! I give them the message ~ try your hardest, but don't worry about anything you don't know!
At your conference in November, we will review your student's assessment data and talk about how you can support your student's academic progress at home.
~ upper case letter identification ~ lowercase letter identification
~ letter sounds ~ 1st 25 sight words
I expect my students to be at different places with their progress in these areas. One of the most important messages we strive to communicate as K teachers is that learners learn different things at different times, and that this is ok. This year, students are entering K with different levels of academic understanding and will continue to progress through their learning at a variety of paces. Kindergarteners grow in so many directions, and our goal is to nurture the direction each child is growing in and celebrate each new learning success.
To support your child at home, talk to him or her about what they already know and what they think they need to work on. If they are not yet able to identify all of their upper and lowercase letters, identify the letters they do know and celebrate them. Then make flash cards of the letters they do not yet know and play games that help them learn these letters. If they are not yet able to identify all of their letter sounds, again, identify those sounds they do know, celebrate this learning, and then let them study the letters they do not yet know on Starfall (www.starfall.com) while you are getting dinner ready. If your student has mastered their letters names and sounds, get them on Raz-Kids listening to and reading books. We will continue to work on all of these things at school as well!
On October 21st and 22nd, the students will take their first MAP tests. The MAP test, which stands for Measures of Academic Progress, is a nationally administered adaptable assessment that measures student growth and achievement in Math and Reading. (For more info go to http://www.nwea.org.) On these two days, students will take two sections of a Math test and two sections of a Reading test. Because the test is adaptive (increases difficulty when the student answers correctly) it often can be challenging for students. I make sure to tell there will be questions they do not know, and that that is ok! I give them the message ~ try your hardest, but don't worry about anything you don't know!
At your conference in November, we will review your student's assessment data and talk about how you can support your student's academic progress at home.
Working together as a class
We continue to practice working together as a classroom of learners that help each other learn.
We often stop to assess what we are doing well and how we can do even better. This week, we took 8 seconds off of the time it takes our whole class to quickly, quietly and safely come to the carpet and be listening, ready for our calendar helper to begin our morning meeting.
I see all of the students working hard to be kind, safe and fair learners in our class. In addition to working hard, we also love to play together and have a lot of fun. Here are some photos of the students enjoying some Friday afternoon collaborative games.
We often stop to assess what we are doing well and how we can do even better. This week, we took 8 seconds off of the time it takes our whole class to quickly, quietly and safely come to the carpet and be listening, ready for our calendar helper to begin our morning meeting.
I see all of the students working hard to be kind, safe and fair learners in our class. In addition to working hard, we also love to play together and have a lot of fun. Here are some photos of the students enjoying some Friday afternoon collaborative games.