Good Evening,
Please take a moment to review the following information:
Test Prep Homework Week 2: Students will be coming home with their second set of nightly homework reviewing fractions. I had about 80% of my students turn in their homework which is absolutely amazing! Looking to increase this for the second week of work.
Progress Reports: These will be going home at the end of the week. As a reminder, progress reports are a checkpoint in the quarter for your students progress towards standards mastery. Last week, I sent an e-mail asking you to have a conversation with your student about their student work ethic. Here are the questions as a reminder:
- Are you consistently on task and aware of the repeatedly stated expectations for the lesson?
- Are you fully participating in note-taking or test taking strategies being modeled continuously for you?
- Are you focused on the content and more specifically what the teacher is saying rather than having outside conversations?
- Are you using the skills and strategies that have and are continuously taught to you during class?
- Are you checking and double checking your work whether it is being taken for a grade or being used to reinforce what was just taught explicitly to you?
- Are you being proactive and correcting mistakes when the correct answers are being modeled?
- Are you willing to be an active participant in your learning on a daily basis?
- Are you bringing home the classroom work or graded assignments for me (parent) to see?
Science Fair: How are you projects coming along? I haven’t had many parents reach out for clarification on projects or due dates. As a reminder, our classroom Science fair is Friday, April 19th.
AzMerit: There are only 5 more school days until the State assessments begin.
Below is the testing schedule. Please ensure your child will be present and on time each day for the best possible testing environment. Early dismissal from school will also stop any current testing that day and your child will not be able to finish.
Monday, April 8th – Writing
Tuesday, April 9th – Science Part 1
Wednesday, April 10th – Science Part 2
Monday, April 15th – Reading part 1
Tuesday, April 16th – Reading part 2
Wednesday, April 17th – Math part 1
Thursday, April 18th – Math part 2
Here is what to expect
The AzMERIT assessment is a computer-based test that goes beyond multiple choice questions to provide a better indicator of what students have learned during the school year. Third grade will be tested in math, reading, and writing.
- Writing:The writing portion will require students to read a few passages and then write about them. This type of task requires students to think deeper about topics and use evidence to support their thinking.
- Reading:The reading portion will be administered in two parts over the course of two days. This will ensure students have ample time to read and answer questions. The test also contains editing tasks to measure student understanding of fundamental skills like spelling and grammar.
- Math:The math portion will be administered in two parts over the course of two days. This will ensure students have ample time to read and answer questions. The test will ask questions that check a student’s conceptual understanding of math, as well as their procedural skills.
These tests are not timed and your child will be given as much time as needed to complete each portion within the school day.
Please remember that your student has been taught everything that they needed to learn for this test. Students have gone over all reading and math standards (many more than once) and have learned many strategies to help them be successful on AZMerit. It is now up to your student to show us!
Testing Tips:
- Eat a healthy breakfast: Students perform better when they aren’t distracted by hunger or slowed down by a lack of energy.
- Use the process of elimination: When reading through the possible answers to a question, eliminate the answers that are obviously not correct with the strike out tool and then choose the best answer out of the remaining choices. Don’t get tripped up by something that doesn’t belong.
- Work it out/Use Scratch Paper: In the math portion of the test, work out every problem on paper. Draw if you have to. Before choosing a final answer, always plug the one you’ve chosen back into the original problem to be sure it’s correct. For reading, students should be finding evidence and then writing an “I know” statement to connect their evidence to the question to make sure that it makes sense and works!
- Sleep: Not during the test, of course. The night before. It can be crazy this time of year, with sports games and practices, extracurricular activities and season finales of our favorite TV shows. On testing days, get to bed on time or early. Nothing beats feeling rested.
- Offer encouragement: Parents, your kids are probably nervous about the test they’ve been preparing for all year. It wouldn’t hurt to gently remind them to do their best and reassure them that you are proud of them and love them no matter what.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!