Weekly Objectives for 3/24/14 - 3/28/14

Overview - Students will focus on a review of proper test-taking skills in order to be prepared for the upcoming NYS ELA exam on April 1st.  We will look at a practice exam, and throughout the week it will be broken down into sections that are more easily understood.  Students will get a chance to ask questions and discuss strategies to optimize their chances of performing well.  We all know that this exam is not a true indicator of your child's success this year, but it is simply an indicator of how they compare to other students from across the state, in adjusting to the new Common Core Standards.  We will be back on track in two weeks.
         Monday 3/24/14 - We went online and took our STAR Reading assessments today.  We will design our intervention methods from the results of the tests.
         Tuesday 3/25/14 - Students are taking Book # 1 of the practice NYS exam in order to prepare for next week.  This gives them an inside look at the types of questions and texts that they will come across.  As they work there way through the multiple choice questions, the expectations are that they will take notes and underline key words.  These skills have been taught all year and utilized in every STEM project that we have completed.
          Wednesday 3/26/14 - In class, we have moved onto Book # 2 of the practice exam.  Here, the students will be answering multiple choice questions using their acquired skills from previous lessons.  The second part of this book has a short response section.  They must be able to provide 3-5 solid sentences that have a claim supported with textual evidence. In writing, we have worked on this form of writing all year long.  The final stage of Book # 2 is one extended response essay.  The students must create an essay that addresses the multiple questions that they will come across in the reading.  Students will also read a set of articles and then be expected to compare themes or viewpoints between the passages.  As usual, they will be expected to support any judgement with warranted evidence from the text.
          Thursday 3/27/14 - The students are now beginning to wrap up Book #2 of the NYS ELA practice exam.  They have been working on the short response questions and reading paired passages.  The paired-passages format always ends with an extended comparison response.  Students will use the skills acquired throughout the school year to creatively and effectively respond to the rigorous questions.
          Friday 3/28/14 - Today is the final day of NYS ELA Test Prep.  Students will be finalizing Book #3 and those that do not finish are being asked to complete the books over the weekend.  On Monday, we will go over the booklets and work on final review.  Please make that your child gets plenty of sleep this weekend and reads a book/newspaper/magazine for at least 20 minutes.