Week 27

Last week, details about the upcoming ELA test (in four weeks!) were posted. This week, we turn our focus on the State Math test. It will be taken during May 11 and 12 (Wednesday and Thursday). The first day will have 45 multiple choice questions to be completed over 70 minutes. The second session will involve 8 short response and 4 extended responses. Short responses and extended responses require a child to solve a problem and write an explanation of his/ her processes.

We have begun to review past topics in math so that it is fresh in the students minds as they approach the assessments. Families can help at by:

• Reviewing multiplication and division facts for speed and accuracy. 
• Encouraging careful reading of directions and math story problems during homework.
• Talking about how a math problem is solved. Try to layout the steps taken by starting with "First, I read the problem and decided that it wanted me to do...."

Again, these are suggestions you might want to tuck in when the opportunity presents itself. 

Here are some upcoming events for next week:

• We will visit the Armory on Tuesday! Please make sure your child wears sneakers.
• First Friday will be a school wide event. As mentioned in a previous post, we will make origami cranes to help raise money for the survivors of the tsunami in Japan. We need as many parents as we can get who are able to make cranes. This is a challenging task for most kids, plus we have also been tasked with helping our kindergarten buddies make cranes. Please refer to the video tutorial that was posted earlier this week if you are coming to help. 

Thank you for your attention to these matters. Have a warm and sunny weekend!