Today's word parts:
nat means "born" like in nationality, natural, and native
paleo means "old" like paleontology or paleolithic, a word to describe the oldest people to start using rocks as tools
curs, just like curr from a couple months ago, means "run" like with cursive writing and discursive words
crypt means "hidden" like an encryption or cryptic language
cad means "fall" like a cascade or, more depressingly, a cadaver
capit means "head" like with decapitate (ouch!) or captain (Spanish: capitan)
The students started the day reviewing the ISTEP 6-point rubric and using that to reflect on their own writing. Then, they got the 20-25 minutes (depending on which class) to finish their ISTEP writing from yesterday. After that, they graded a peer's writing with the ISTEP rubric and then graded their own. We talked about the difference between objective and subjective grading. For example, if a student writes in their essay that Lynhurst students should have three hours of language arts a day, a grader shouldn't lower their grade because they disagree. Hopefully, the ISTEP people grade our work objectively.
We scratched the surface of some research review stuff we're going to be doing for the next couple days. The students are using four sources (encyclopedia, website, book, and magazine article) to practice taking notes. The subject is the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, a fire which destroyed 17,450 buildings and cost over 200 million dollars in damage. That's 200 million 1871 dollars! Only (only?) 300 people were killed though.
The students will work with the sources tomorrow and will be graded on taking notes on the note cards properly and keeping track of their source information.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Monday
I promised a student I'd type this first: There is no homework for tomorrow.
We went over six of our word parts:
ped is a weird one because it means two things--"foot" or "child"--Think centipede or pediatrician.
mort is a depressing one because it means "death" like the words mortal and immortal or mortician. Or rigor mortis.
carn is kind of gross because it means "flesh," meaning that if you're a carnivore, you're an eater of flesh. And that makes you kind of creepy.
psyche means "soul" or "mind"; a psychologist examines your mind and a psychic can read it.
ethno means "culture" or "race" like ethnicity.
And gen means "origin" like genesis, ingenuous, and genetics.
The students got their ISTEP work back from last Thursday. A lot of students did very very well, but I know we can do better. Because I'm a big nerd, I did some stat figurin':
82% got a 2 on the first question. 15% got a 1 and 3% got a 0. That's really good. I wish all the questions were answered that well!
Question two was the toughest--Only 33% got a 2 with 63% getting a 1. 4% got a 0.
Question three was kind of in between. There were about the same amount of 2's and 1's with 3% getting a 0.
Students need to work on quoting specific text to back up their ideas. Most of them read and understood; it's just a question of being more clear and specific with our answers.
We looked at the example answers the ISTEP people send us. My students, as always, are harsher graders than they are.
They also got their extended responses back. Those are graded with a 4-point rubric. 21% of my students scored a 4, 49% scored a 3, 25% scored a 2, and 5% got a 1. As I told the students, I'm a tougher grader than ISTEP with extended response.
I gave them another ISTEP writing--a 6-point rubric prompt about school changes. They had some time to work on it today, but they'll have to finish tomorrow.
One last note: I've got the Fever 1793 book reports in, and they really helped out some of the grades. I have some grades to put in the computer tonight, and then the grades should be accurate. As always, let me know if you have questions.
We went over six of our word parts:
ped is a weird one because it means two things--"foot" or "child"--Think centipede or pediatrician.
mort is a depressing one because it means "death" like the words mortal and immortal or mortician. Or rigor mortis.
carn is kind of gross because it means "flesh," meaning that if you're a carnivore, you're an eater of flesh. And that makes you kind of creepy.
psyche means "soul" or "mind"; a psychologist examines your mind and a psychic can read it.
ethno means "culture" or "race" like ethnicity.
And gen means "origin" like genesis, ingenuous, and genetics.
The students got their ISTEP work back from last Thursday. A lot of students did very very well, but I know we can do better. Because I'm a big nerd, I did some stat figurin':
82% got a 2 on the first question. 15% got a 1 and 3% got a 0. That's really good. I wish all the questions were answered that well!
Question two was the toughest--Only 33% got a 2 with 63% getting a 1. 4% got a 0.
Question three was kind of in between. There were about the same amount of 2's and 1's with 3% getting a 0.
Students need to work on quoting specific text to back up their ideas. Most of them read and understood; it's just a question of being more clear and specific with our answers.
We looked at the example answers the ISTEP people send us. My students, as always, are harsher graders than they are.
They also got their extended responses back. Those are graded with a 4-point rubric. 21% of my students scored a 4, 49% scored a 3, 25% scored a 2, and 5% got a 1. As I told the students, I'm a tougher grader than ISTEP with extended response.
I gave them another ISTEP writing--a 6-point rubric prompt about school changes. They had some time to work on it today, but they'll have to finish tomorrow.
One last note: I've got the Fever 1793 book reports in, and they really helped out some of the grades. I have some grades to put in the computer tonight, and then the grades should be accurate. As always, let me know if you have questions.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Friday's Class (An All-Haiku Entry)
Vocabulary--
We reviewed and then turned in
Yesterday's worksheet.
Easy, easy grade!
All they had to do was sit
And fill in answers.
Then it was test time.
Students who studied did well.
The others? Not good!
List ten word parts notes--
I think it's an easy list.
But what do I know?
Started a short story--
"The Lady or the Tiger?"
We'll finish Monday.
The weekend is here,
And I'm going to grade stuff
And sleep a whole bunch.
We reviewed and then turned in
Yesterday's worksheet.
Easy, easy grade!
All they had to do was sit
And fill in answers.
Then it was test time.
Students who studied did well.
The others? Not good!
List ten word parts notes--
I think it's an easy list.
But what do I know?
Started a short story--
"The Lady or the Tiger?"
We'll finish Monday.
The weekend is here,
And I'm going to grade stuff
And sleep a whole bunch.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Thursday
I gave the students one more vocabulary review sheet. We did part of it together, but they'll need to finish it at home. If they use that and the worksheet from earlier, it will help them on the test. They will need to bring the worksheet to class tomorrow. We'll go over it together, and then they'll turn it in. If they can't get an A+ on that, I don't know what else I can do for them.
Sixty minutes of today's class was for ISTEP practice. They read about a border collie named Rico and answered three constructed response questions. Then, they read three quotes about dreams from Eleanor Roosevelt, Walt Disney, and the poet William Yeats; chose the quote that is most meaningful to them, and wrote an essay. I'll use the 4-point ISTEP extended response rubric to grade that one.
If they didn't like the nonfiction text about border collies or the essay, they can blame the ISTEP people. This was exactly what the test looked like last year, and they had the same amount of time to finish it up. Some of them learned that they need to pace themselves a little better because they were not able to get done.
I will be grading those this weekend so that we can learn from them early next week.
Reminder: The vocabulary test is tomorrow! I've already got it printed out and everything.
Sixty minutes of today's class was for ISTEP practice. They read about a border collie named Rico and answered three constructed response questions. Then, they read three quotes about dreams from Eleanor Roosevelt, Walt Disney, and the poet William Yeats; chose the quote that is most meaningful to them, and wrote an essay. I'll use the 4-point ISTEP extended response rubric to grade that one.
If they didn't like the nonfiction text about border collies or the essay, they can blame the ISTEP people. This was exactly what the test looked like last year, and they had the same amount of time to finish it up. Some of them learned that they need to pace themselves a little better because they were not able to get done.
I will be grading those this weekend so that we can learn from them early next week.
Reminder: The vocabulary test is tomorrow! I've already got it printed out and everything.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Wednesday
The more I think about it, the more I wish I would have just done my own research paper instead of working with what they were working on in Mr. Day's class. As we started some book research today, I noticed that a lot of students have no idea what their topic for their group even is. A lot of them have topics (sagging pants) that, even though it might seem like an important issue to them, is not going to be easy to research. I was very disappointed in what a lot of students were able to accomplish today because they were struggling with poorly-chosen topics. I may need to reevaluate the final project (the book, brochure, or poster) for my class. I think the experience, at the very least, is a good lesson in the importance of organizing information and starting with a narrow topic. Racism, the topic a lot of them picked in Mr. Day's class, is too big for one research topic. Narrowing it down to current immigration issues and the discrimination of Hispanics is much better.
So to be completely honest with you guys, I'm a little depressed about the research project.
Nevertheless, we did learn some stuff today. We reviewed note cards, and I emphasized the important of those topic categories--those research questions that will help give shape to their overall topics. We visited our favorite media specialist Mrs. East (she's our only one, but she's still our favorite), and she taught us about the book resources that are available. The students started taking some notes and using their bibliography sheets to keep track of their sources.
In the next few weeks, we've really got to dig in and look at ISTEP writing. Did you know that the writing portion of ISTEP is less than three weeks away?
Reminder: Vocabulary quiz is on Friday.
So to be completely honest with you guys, I'm a little depressed about the research project.
Nevertheless, we did learn some stuff today. We reviewed note cards, and I emphasized the important of those topic categories--those research questions that will help give shape to their overall topics. We visited our favorite media specialist Mrs. East (she's our only one, but she's still our favorite), and she taught us about the book resources that are available. The students started taking some notes and using their bibliography sheets to keep track of their sources.
In the next few weeks, we've really got to dig in and look at ISTEP writing. Did you know that the writing portion of ISTEP is less than three weeks away?
Reminder: Vocabulary quiz is on Friday.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Tuesday
We completed the 2nd half of the vocabulary review sheet. Again, those words are on the test, so it would benefit the students to use that as a tool as they prepare for Friday's test.
We looked at more research stuff. We started by looking at the process, especially the planning part of any research project. I compared it to a vacation because the first steps are to figure out who's going with you on vacation and what purpose the vacation should serve. Will kids be going or is it just a couple married people? Will it be romantic, adventurous, relaxing, or just really far away from your mother-in-law?
Research is the same way. You can't really start without knowing what you want. We looked at narrowing their topic (something they should have already done with Mr. Day) and coming up with topic categories or research questions. This will help them have some focus to their research and hopefully not be overwhelmed with all the information that is out there.
We also looked at how to take notes on note cards. Each note card has three pieces of information: 1) the topic category the note goes with at the top; 2) the note (summarized/paraphrased/appropriately quoted); 3) the source and page number if available
The students had some time with an encyclopedia (I can thank Jiminy Cricket for knowing how to spell that word! Anybody know what I'm talking about here? "Ennnnnn-cyclopedia. E-N-C-Y-C-L-O-P-E-D-I-A.") article about the Declaration of Independence to practice taking notes with topic categories.
Tomorrow, we'll make a trip to the library to do some book research.
Here's a link to the youtube video if you want to hear Jiminy Cricket sing about where to go when you're curious: Encyclopedia song
We looked at more research stuff. We started by looking at the process, especially the planning part of any research project. I compared it to a vacation because the first steps are to figure out who's going with you on vacation and what purpose the vacation should serve. Will kids be going or is it just a couple married people? Will it be romantic, adventurous, relaxing, or just really far away from your mother-in-law?
Research is the same way. You can't really start without knowing what you want. We looked at narrowing their topic (something they should have already done with Mr. Day) and coming up with topic categories or research questions. This will help them have some focus to their research and hopefully not be overwhelmed with all the information that is out there.
We also looked at how to take notes on note cards. Each note card has three pieces of information: 1) the topic category the note goes with at the top; 2) the note (summarized/paraphrased/appropriately quoted); 3) the source and page number if available
The students had some time with an encyclopedia (I can thank Jiminy Cricket for knowing how to spell that word! Anybody know what I'm talking about here? "Ennnnnn-cyclopedia. E-N-C-Y-C-L-O-P-E-D-I-A.") article about the Declaration of Independence to practice taking notes with topic categories.
Tomorrow, we'll make a trip to the library to do some book research.
Here's a link to the youtube video if you want to hear Jiminy Cricket sing about where to go when you're curious: Encyclopedia song
Monday, February 7, 2011
Second Monday in a Row
Two Mondays in a row. That doesn't happen a lot.
The catICEtrophe (I'm so proud of that one) messed everything up, so here's an updated list of due dates, etc.:
1) The next vocabulary quiz will be this coming Friday.
2) The Fever 1793 book report needs to be turned in some time this week. I've gotten a few; I'd like a lot more.
3) We'll be researching in the library on Wednesday. I don't have a due date for the language arts part (children's book, poster, brochure) of the research project yet.
Today, we did half of a vocabulary review sheet. The words I included on the review sheet are the ones on the test, so this can be a valuable tool for the students as they study this week. We'll do the second half tomorrow and some other activities later in the week to hopefully get those vocabulary scores up.
We spent some time reviewing and practicing our sentence combining. I think the students are finding complex sentences easier than compound sentences. You'd think they would be more...well, complex.
Finally, we took a little quiz with the orange dinkers on paraphrasing. I know it's been a week, but this was a painfully easy quiz. We reviewed paraphrasing, talked about the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing, and looked at a few examples. Tomorrow, the students will practice a little on their own before we get into the heavy duty research stuff.
I finished my progress reports about thirty minutes ago. Sadly, the grades aren't very good at all. If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email.
The catICEtrophe (I'm so proud of that one) messed everything up, so here's an updated list of due dates, etc.:
1) The next vocabulary quiz will be this coming Friday.
2) The Fever 1793 book report needs to be turned in some time this week. I've gotten a few; I'd like a lot more.
3) We'll be researching in the library on Wednesday. I don't have a due date for the language arts part (children's book, poster, brochure) of the research project yet.
Today, we did half of a vocabulary review sheet. The words I included on the review sheet are the ones on the test, so this can be a valuable tool for the students as they study this week. We'll do the second half tomorrow and some other activities later in the week to hopefully get those vocabulary scores up.
We spent some time reviewing and practicing our sentence combining. I think the students are finding complex sentences easier than compound sentences. You'd think they would be more...well, complex.
Finally, we took a little quiz with the orange dinkers on paraphrasing. I know it's been a week, but this was a painfully easy quiz. We reviewed paraphrasing, talked about the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing, and looked at a few examples. Tomorrow, the students will practice a little on their own before we get into the heavy duty research stuff.
I finished my progress reports about thirty minutes ago. Sadly, the grades aren't very good at all. If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email.
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