What do you know?

That is the question that is answered through assessing the students. While testing can get a bad rap, it is a necessary evil. Through assessments we discover what students know and are able to do which makes for more effective planning of instruction. There are many forms of assessing students; some long, some short, some formal, some through observation but please know that I am continually assessing the children's abilities and make changes to my instructional plans and methods of delivery!

On to today...

In math we began with a warm up and then took notes in our math journals. we concentrated on the difference between a digit and a number. 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 are digits. They can stand alone or be combined with other digits to create numbers, such as, 529. We also discussed how the value of a digit can change depending where it is located in a number. For example, the 2 in 52 has a different value than the 2 in 2,398. After that, we reviewed part of the preassessment from yesterday. Finally, the children completed an exit card (an informal assessment) to show their knowledge of the different ways to write numbers (standard form, word form and expanded notation).

During reading, I introduced more anchor activities and the students began working on an ALl About Me book as I continued my reading assessments to determine the students current reading levels.

After lunch and indoor recess, the children will finish working in their baseline writing sample while I continue testing. As children complete their writing, they will have the opportunity to try out different anchor activities.

After that we will begin have our first social studies lesson. The students will create symbols for a hobby they enjoy and then create a map using that symbol and various other elements of a a map.

Our day will end with a brief visit from Mrs. Howard, our counselor.

One more thing...
I tried to stress today that children's home folders should be emptied DAILY...by the the CHILDREN...not by the parents!