SHARING Thanks to everyone who sent in items for your children to share this week. We are really enjoying getting to know each other more, and this is a helpful way to learn things that are important to the children at home. Thanks also to everyone who came out last night and allowed me to share a glimpse of what we are doing in kindergarten with you! WRITERS' WORKSHOP We are all real writers! Every afternoon we have a secret club of writers that meets to write real true stories. (Don't ask our club name! It's top secret!!!) The learning targets we are focusing on right now are: 1. I will improve my writing. (We like to say "when you are done, you've just begun"...i.e. you can always write more!) 2. I will help friends write. (We are not only responsible for our own writing, but making sure to help friends with sounding out words, spelling sight words, and figuring out how to write different letters or draw certain things.) Here we are meeting with writing partners to share our work and ask for suggestions. The most important thing to remember (which we are working very hard on) when a partner is sharing is to listen respectfully! :)
WHAT IN THE WORLD DO WE DO ALL DAY?!?
Do you find it hard to get your child to tell you about his/her day? Click the file above to see our weekly schedule. Here are some ideas for conversations starters.
MAP TESTING Next Tuesday through Friday we will take the MAP test each day for 45 minutes (though most students will finish in less time and be dismissed from their computers). MAP stands for Measures of Academic Progress. (It has nothing to do with maps.) For 2 days students will test in reading and for 2 days they will test in math. The test questions and answer choices are read to them by the computer. There is a button they can click to have it reread the question and answer choices at any time. As students answer questions correctly, the test gets more difficult. One thing we will talk over and over about is that the students will NOT know the answers to everything, and that is OK. We just try our best and answer what seems like the best choice. If your child expresses any concern about not knowing the answers next week, please let me know and I will talk to him/her individually. Being able to use the computer is very helpful when taking a computerized test! For the past week we have had groups of children practicing using mice/track pads on laptops to navigate a basic website. Every child has had at least 2 sessions of this, and some have had more if we felt they could use the extra practice. This weekend, it would be great if you could let your child get on the computer for a little while to get more comfortable with the mouse/track pad. Students will test on laptops with mice attached, so they will be able to use EITHER the mouse/track pad, and they can even switch back and forth and it will work fine. The website we've been using, that I recommend you use too at home is www.starfall.com. Let your child go to the ABCs page, and he/she should know what to do from there!
1 Comment
Margaret
8/21/2015 07:07:22 am
Love the student reading club and the weekly blog posts! Thanks for 3 great weeks of kindergarten Ms. Mansfield! Looking forward to many more and smooth MAP testing next week.
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April 2016
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