Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Hey, Buddy

At the end of every Open Court Reading unit there is a district assessment. To be perfectly honest, these are not particularly good tests. The skills tested do not perfectly match up with the materials in the unit, and the vocabulary section is often quite confusing. I spend a good bit of time preparing the students for the test since the results are logged into the district’s computers. I make up review worksheets and word searches and spelling scrambles and other things so that I feel the students will be ready. And that’s what we did today.

Yesterday I gave the students some prep materials as part of their homework, and today we spend a good bit of time – probably more than the students wanted to spend on it – going over the answers. We will be doing some more of this as part of homework tonight, and going over it tomorrow. It is valuable material; it is more than just teaching to the test. But like the students I wish it were a trifle more fun.

But the day was not without some fun. Each Tuesday is our “Buddy Reading” Day when we have an opportunity to read to kindergartners from room 2. Last week we went to their class; today they came to us. We’re still getting to know each other, but I can tell that we will have some fast friendships by the end of the year.

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It’s a nice way to end our shortened days.

Homework:  (1) Create a tree map using the words from the spelling word search we  did this morning. Focus on the ending patterns like adding an extra consonant before the –ing or –ed or changing a final y to an i. (2) Do the review diagram on page 114 of the Social Studies text. (3) Do “Greater Numbers,” Envision Math pages 106-107.

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