Homework - 4/30/2007

• none

Yes, I again assigned no homework. The students took part one of the science portion of the STAR test today. Then we went to the Opera House to see a program called Dancing Across Cultures put together by the Presidio Dance Theatre.

Homework - 4/27/2007

• none

Yes, I really did not assign homework tonight. I hope that all the fifth grade students are studying for the science portion of the STAR test that they will be taking on Monday and Tuesday.

Besides tests, homework assignments, and notes they have kept from their science studies this year, I have provided them with many pages of additional notes to help them prepare for the STAR test. They have six (6) double-sided pages of notes regarding the fourth grade science concepts that may be included on the test. They also have one (1) double-sided page on fifth grade physical sciences and two (2) double-sided pages on fifth grade life sciences. I have not provided the students with additional notes on fifth grade earth sciences, namely weather and the water cycle, and the solar system.

The students were also assigned two (2) double-sided pages of fourth grade test preparation questions as homework and three (3) double-sided pages of fifth grade test preparation homework. Not only were these assigned and corrected, but I reviewed them with the students in class.

Homework - 4/26/2007

• Water Conservation (Nonfiction Reading Practice: The Water Cycle) - 68/69
• The Study of Magnetism (Nonfiction Reading Practice: Magnetism) - 52/53

Homework - 4/25/2007

• The Hydrologic Cycle (Nonfiction Reading Practice: The Water Cycle) - 66/67
• Test Prep 5th Science - 5/6

Homework - 4/24/2007

• An Invisible Force (Nonfiction Reading Practice: Magnetism) - 50/51
• Test Prep - 5th grade Science - 3/4

Homework - 4/23/2007

• The Never-ending Water Cycle (Nonfiction Reading Practice: The Water Cycle) - 64/65

Test-Taking Tips

Here is a repeat of a handout that Ms Arios and I recently gave to all the fifth grade students. These are test-taking tips aimed at students, but I thought parents might find this helpful as well. If students are hearing these ideas at school and at home, then they might stick in their minds better.

1. Get a good night's rest. Don't leave home without breakfast.
2. Be prepared. The best way to take a test is to know the facts.
3. Take a quick look at the whole test before you begin answering questions. In this way, you can decide how much time you will need for each section.
4. Read and follow all directions carefully.
5. Read each question completely before answering.
6. Work at a steady pace - not too fast or too slow.
7. If you don't know an answer, skip it. Go back to it later.
8. Be neat. Neatness counts.
9. If you finish early, go back and check your work.
10. Relax and do as well as you can.

Ways to Help Your Child with Test-Taking

• Do encourage your child. Praise them for the things they do well. If they feel good about themselves, they will do their best on a test. Children who are afraid of failing are more likely to become anxious when taking tests and more likely to make mistakes.
• Do make sure your child attends school regularly. Remember, tests reflect children’s overall achievement. The more effort and energy your child puts into learning, the more likely he or she will do well on tests.
• Do provide a quiet, comfortable place for studying at home and make sure that your child is well rested on school days and especially on the day of a test. Children who are tired are less able to pay attention in class or to handle the demands of a test.
• Do make sure your child eats a well-rounded breakfast every morning. A healthy body leads to a healthy, active mind.
• Do provide books and magazines for your child to read. By reading new materials, your child will learn new vocabulary words that might appear on a test. Test makers draw on a wide variety of formats when choosing items to evaluate reading comprehension skills, so students should read fiction, non-fiction, poetry, newspapers, recipes, etc.
• Do limit your child’s TV time. Studies show that children who watched fewer than three hours of television a day scored higher on the national reading test than those who watched more.
• Do help your child avoid test anxiety. It’s good for children to be concerned about taking a test. It’s not good for them to develop “text anxiety.” Test anxiety is worrying too much about doing well on a test. It can mean disaster for your child. Students with test anxiety can worry about success in school. They can become very self-critical and lose confidence in their abilities. Instead of feeling challenged by the prospect of success, they become afraid of failure. To help with test anxiety, help your child to do the following: Plan ahead. Start studying well in advance. Make sure you understand what material the test will cover. Review the material more than once. Don’t “cram” the night before. Get a good night’s sleep.
• Don’t get upset because of a single test score. Test scores are not perfect measures of what a child knows or can do. Also, many things can influence how your child does on a test on any particular day. One test is simply one test.
• Don’t place so much emphasis on children’s test scores that you lose sight of their well being. Too much pressure can affect their test performance. Remember, your love and support should not be conditioned on how well they perform on tests.

Homework - 4/20/2007

• Cumulative Math Review - 1) Correct Chapters 5 & 6; 2) Complete Chapters 7 to 12
• Persuasive Essay - Outline

Homework - 4/19/2007

• Process of Elimination - 25-28

Homework - 4/18/2007

• Skimming and Scanning - 17/18

Math Forum

Another site that might be helpful is the Student Center of the Math Forum, specifically the Elementary School Student Center. Students might also use the Elementary Archive for Ask Dr. Math.

Math League

We are participating in the Math League again this year. If you go to the registration page for California, and scroll down to San Francisco, you'll see that we are the only public elementary school in San Francisco that is participating in the Math League.

The contest is open to 4th and 5th grade students. Thirty 4th graders and thirty 5th graders will compete in this math competition, as selected by the fourth and fifth grade teachers. Each student competes with students of the same grade level; 4th grade students are not competing against 5th grade students. It will be administered after we are done with this year's STAR test.

Students who are interested in topics that may be included on the Math League contest but which may not have been taught in fourth or fifth grade may go to the Math League Help Topics page. The Math League contests are open to all schools in the United States and Canada; it is not a California contest, so it does not align with our state's mathematics content standards.

Homework - 4/17/2007

• Question Stems - 14/15
• Magnets Are Everywhere - 48/49
• Science Test Prep 5th Grade - 1/2
• Permission Slip (for Friday's field trip)

Homework - 4/16/2007

• Qualifying Words - pages 2/3

Homework - 4/13/2007

• Science Test Prep - 4th Grade - Complete pages 1-4
• Math - Cumulative Review - 1) Correct errors on chapters 3 & 4; 2) Complete chapters 5 & 6

Homework - 4/12/2007

• Math Practice Test 2 - obtain parent signature

Note: Parents, please just sign your child's answer document indicating that you saw their work; your signature is not an indication of your approval or disapproval of your child's work.

I hope that you will see how much I am asking of all of my students at this time of year; they truly are expected to do a lot. The STAR test is a cumulative test of all they have learned this year.

Also, the STAR test and the practice tests that we are using were written based on all of the standards for fifth grade, and yet we are only 80% of the way through the school year. I do not expect the students to answer all of the questions correctly. I do reasonably expect them to answer correctly any question regarding skills and concepts that I have taught them. Please keep this in mind as you are reviewing your child's progress on these practice tests.

The point is to encourage them to do well (or better.) Remember, it's okay if they make mistakes now, as long as they ask me questions to improve their understanding, and as long as they show improvement. Now is the time to make mistakes and learn from them, before they have to take the real test, the STAR test.

Practice and Study for STAR Test

We will be taking the ten practice tests, four in Mathematics, four in Science, and two in English-Language Arts in class over the next few days. I am asking the students to bring home their graded answer documents for you, the parents, to sign. This is so you can see how much work we're doing in class, which is part of why there is so little homework currently. And so you can see how your child is doing in those three subject areas.

For science, I have provided to all the fifth grade students, two different sets of study materials for their benefit. One, there are three double-sided pages of fourth grade science concepts that former students researched. These are organized as a series of questions (which the students researched) and answers. Two, I have prepared a three page, double-sided summary of fourth grade science concepts from last year's textbook. These include many key vocabulary words and their definitions.

For mathematics, I have given all fifth grade students a double-sided two page study guide of math standards. I have marked key standards, which tend to make up a larger percentage of questions on the STAR test. I have included key vocabulary and definitions as well as references to page numbers in this year's mathematics textbook. I have also included a number of other information that I have taught or will teach which is not included in the textbook.

Please use these resources to help your child study and prepare for this year's STAR test. And encourage them to ask questions as we are reviewing the practice tests in the classroom.

Homework - 4/11/2007

• Science Practice Test One - obtain parent signature
• The students also have a Social Studies assignment that is due to Ms. Arios tomorrow

Homework - 4/10/2007

• Cumulative Math Review - 1) Correct errors on chapters 1 & 2; 2) Complete chapters 3 & 4
• Math Practice Test One - 1) Correct errors on skills and concepts taught; 2) note questions about topics not yet taught, to ask Mr. Walker about; 3) have parent initial or sign test
• Permission slip for field trip - and bag lunch
• Money and/or returned pictures
• Wednesday envelopes

Because we are only doing these practice tests in class, I am asking the students to bring these graded tests home and have parents sign that they have seen them. I want parents to know how much work I am asking of their children in class, and I want parents to see how well (or poorly) their child is doing.

California Content Standards - Practice and Mastery

Before Spring Break I passed out three California standards-based test preparation booklets. They are titled California Content Standards: Practice and Mastery. They cover three different content areas: 1) English-Language Arts, 2) Mathematics, and 3) Science.

I hope you have seen these new materials already. I did ask the students to bring them home over Spring Break so that you could see them. These are new this year, and replace CAMS (Comprehensive Assessment of Mathematics Strategies) and CARS (Comprehensive Assessment of Reading Strategies) you may remember from previous years. CAMS and CARS were useful tools, but were too generic. The new Practice and Mastery booklets specifically target the California Content Standards, what I am teaching and your children are learning. They should be better preparation for this year's STAR test than CAMS and CARS.

I will have the students taking these practice tests in the classroom. I will not be assigning any of them as homework. Each practice test is considerably longer than the tests from CAMS and CARS, and just are not appropriate for homework. There are four practice tests each for Mathematics and Science, and two for English-Language Arts.

Don't hesitate to ask your child to see their corrected answer documents. I intend to grade each of these practice tests, so that I can see precisely how well they are doing, and note areas of strength and weakness that will guide the review of concepts and skills that we will be doing over the next two weeks, leading up to this year's STAR test.

Mathematics Study Guide

Before Spring Break, I gave the students a double-sided paper that is a study guide for fifth-grade mathematics. I hope that you have already seen this document and that it has been helpful to you and your child.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, they will receive pages 3 and 4 of that document. Please ask to see this paper as it should be a valuable resource for you and your child, not just to prepare for the STAR test, but as a resource to keep, and to see just how much mathematics your child is expected to learn this year. Please note the key standards; these are the important ones for your child to master this year.

In previous years, I gave students just a one-page math study guide. I have expanded that one page to four. I hope that effort is useful to you and your children. Of course, I have shared this resource with Ms Arios as well so that it benefits all fifth grade students here at Lafayette.

Persuasive Essay

I assigned the final major writing project, the persuasive essay, before Spring Break. It is due on Wednesday, May 9, 2007. The students already have the assignment paper as well as a list of approved topics. I will approve other topics when submitted to me in writing.

Today, I gave the students a sample essay which marks important parts to be included in the essay. Specifically, it highlights 1) the argument being made, 2) the topic sentences of each of the body paragraphs, and 3) the three supporting statements in each of the three body paragraphs.

On the back of that sample essay is a blank outline that the students are to complete for their persuasive essay.

We have previously looked at a student example included in our Houghton Mifflin reader.

Homework - 4/9/2007

• Cumulative Math Review - Chapters 1 & 2 (Many students finished these in class and will not have them for homework tonight.)