January News-
We've finished The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We are looking at figurative language this week. Students will take a Quiz on Friday, January 16th. Students will make flash cards on Tuesday to help prepare. Next week, we will have a Performance Task that is practice for the PARCC assessment at the end of March. Students will be completing the Performance Task in class Monday through Wednesday.
Our class has 15 Members of the Strive for 25 Book Club!!! These students have read over 2500 pages this year (and completed One Page Reports). Students are not required to complete the reports unless they are trying to get in the club. It is not too late if your child still wants to join.
I encourage you to visit the PARCC website to see what the test looks like. I've included a link to take a practice test for 5th grade Literacy. I think you'll be amazed at what the students will be required to do. Long gone are the paper-pencil tests and bubble sheets. Please keep in mind that this is the first year of the test for everyone (test makers, administrators, teachers, as well as students).
http://epat-parcc.testnav.com/client/index.html#tests
Now you're probably wondering how you can help prepare your child at home, RIGHT???? Our Performance Tasks are designed to be similar to the PARCC questions and require students to answer multiple point questions. In other words, the students are not just asked to determine which character trait describes a certain person, but also determine which detail supports the answer. So at home, try asking your child about the book he/she is reading. Here are a couple of questions to ask:
What is the name of one of the main characters?
Describe a conflict or problem this character faces.
How do you think the character will respond (or how DID the character respond)?
--------the answer here should be some kind of action
What does the character's reaction tell you about him/her as a person?
--------the answer here should be some type of adjective or character trait
What is the theme of book (or even movie)?
How do you know?
You'll also notice the PARCC assessment includes a great deal of vocabulary. How we've been preparing at school (and at my personal home) is by asking "What is another way of saying that?" For instance, students might hear the word sympathetic in a story. By asking them another word for it, students must go back and use context to figure out what sympathetic means in the text. I often ask, "What word would a typical fifth grader use instead?" To avoid sounding like a "typical fifth grader", the students challenge themselves to use the new word.
Here is a link regarding modifications that will be available to all students. Our school is working as a team to help the students know how to navigate through all the tools available.
http://www.parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/Parent%20PARCC%20Accessibility%20Brochure.pdf
This is just the tiny tip of the iceberg that is PARCC. I will try to pass more information along to you as it travels down to me. Please let me know if you have questions.
