Team 16 has been very busy. Two weeks from today, March 19th, we have the long composition for the MCAS's. The 4th grade team has been working hard to prepare the students to do their best work! There will be an increase of homework over the next 2 weeks. I will do my best to send it home on Monday and it will be due back on Friday. This way, students can space out the work.
Reading Response:
Today, I sent home the reading response guide with 9 steps to write a complete essay. I went over these steps very slowly with the class. I also sent home a graphic organizer. Students can choose to fill it out or just use it as a reference to make sure they included all the parts. In the same packet, you will find the simple scoring rubric. This is for parents to understand how the writing is scored. Don't worry about scoring your child's writing this week, we are going to score them in school on Friday together. The students need to read the Teeth passage and answer the 8 multiple choice questions. Please remind them to read the captions and blurbs. Then they need to write the open response question. Parents, if you have time, please look over this with your child and see if all the parts are included. Remind them to go back and reread if needed. Some students like to underline or highlight important facts. Thank you for your help with this!
Writing:
There is also a persuasive writing paragraph due on Friday. Again, I included an organizer as a reference. Students have the option of typing this paragraph if they wish. Please share it with me at susan_cherwinski@wayland.k12.
Team 16 will be doing a lot of practice in school too. We also started a Word Wizard of the Day so students will start learning harder vocabulary words and the goal is for them to incorporate harder vocabulary in their writing. This also teaches students how to use a dictionary. The Word Wizard chooses a word from a list. Then they look up the definition in the dictionary. We have a poster where the wizards write down the word and the definition. Then they have to use the word in a sentence and come up with a synonym and antonym for the word.
I sent home a sheet about Mangahigh.com. Team 16 has the school's free package. Mangahigh offers an A+ Quest package that will give your child personalized recommended challenges, unlimited access to the 550+ math quizzes, and access to their own progress report which you can monitor at home if you wish. There is a fee for this. We do have a discount code that is listed on the sheet I sent home. Check it out and see what you think. I like Mangahigh because I can personalize student learning through offering different challenges. Also, I have a student who chooses her own challenges that meet her needs. I have offered this option to all the students. I am hoping more decide to do this.
I did add 2 new playlists to Power My Learning. I added an opinion writing and a reading comprehension playlist. Have your child check them out if they are more motivated by technology. These are great resources and practice to help prepare for the MCAS's. I also added several new math challenges to Mangahigh.
Please remember to sign-up for a conference. I sent the link yesterday. Come with questions/ concerns if you have any so I can address them. I will be sharing with you your child's assessment results in both math and reading. I will also be sharing their google sites which display the work they are most proud of. In addition, I will brainstorm ideas with you on helping me to get all students to put forth their best effort and be proud of the work they turn in. Finally, I am excited to share and celebrate your child's strengths!!!
I look forward to meeting with you.
Thank you,
Susan
Susan
*I also emailed you this update.*
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