Weekly Update, Monday, May 30th

Happy Memorial Day!

I just flew back from Rhode Island and am recharged for the last 11 days of school!  I hope everyone had a great weekend, if you have any photos to share, please email them to me!

Please ensure your child reviews some of their math materials tonight, if even for a few minutes so when he or she sits down for the Math SOL Assessment tomorrow at 8:00 am, it isn't the first math problem he or shee has seen in three days!  On Friday I asked students to bring home their math materials and morning workbooks, either of these would be good to review, or you can go on the VA Department of Education website to the math SOL practice questions: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/released_tests/2013/gr_4_math_released_in_spring_2014.pdf

Other noteworthy items in Academia:

Science: 
Students started their open-note plant quiz on Friday, I'll have them finish it this week.  I couldn't ethically give them ONE MORE TEST during a week of testing!  I feel confident they know a lot about plants, and will allow them to use their notes for the rest of the quiz.  Once this unit is over, we will finish our last unit which is on the Scientific Method.  Students will have a quiz on this next week.

Health:
Either later this week or early next week, I will begin to teach health!  We will primarily focus on content related to nutrition.

Reading: 
Students should still be reading!  I will be finishing DRA testing this week and next to determine student reading levels.  This information will be reported in report cards.

Homework for the rest of the year:
Prior to the Reading SOL Assessment, I made a deal with students that if they used their scratch paper during the test to show me their "active reading," and explained why they chose the answers they did, they would not have homework for the rest of the year!  22 students did this and as a result will not have homework for the rest of the year!  Students are obviously still encouraged to read, but are not expected to write summaries about their reading.  That being said, these students will not have Word Study homework either.

Lastly, the boys bathroom has had toilets purposely clogged with paper towels for several weeks in a row.  Until this issue is resolved, teachers are unfortunately going to be stricter with giving permission  to boys to use the restroom.  If your child knows anything about the toilets being clogged, please let me know, or have your child let me know.