Important Dates

  • 01/15/24 – No School – Dr. King’s Birthday
  • 01/16/24 – No School – Inclement Weather Day
  • 01/17/24
    • Division Fact Drill – 2, 5, 10 (100 problems in 10 minutes)
    • 5th Grade Topic 5 Test (Please see learning objectives below.)
    • 6th Grade Topic 4, Part 1 Test (Please see learning objectives below.)
  • 01/18/24 – Star 360 Middle of the Year Assessment – 5th Grade (Room 216)
  • 01/19/24 – Star 360 Middle of the Year Assessment – 5th Grade (Room 210)
  • 01/23/24 – Star 360 Middle of the Year Assessment – 6th Grade (Room 219)
  • 01/24/24 – Star 360 Middle of the Year Assessment – 6th Grade (Room 218)

Announcements

  • Star 360 Middle of the Year Assessment – This assessment lets teachers know if we are closing the achievement gap for students who have yet to perform at grade level and if we are providing enough challenges for students who have met or exceeded grade level standards. Ultimately, we are looking for growth every time a student takes the assessment. However, unfortunately, some students will not grow. Some students stay the same while other might regress. It is impossible to explain the reasoning without hypotheses testing. However, in my experience, I see one or more of the following characteristics in students who fall in this category:
    • Poor attendance
    • Not completing assignments
    • Poor performance on assignments
    • Not mastering the skills
    • Lack fact fluency
    • Lack understanding of vocabulary
    • Lack procedural knowledge of math calculations

So, it is imperative that we stretch students beyond their current understanding and skills if we want to see growth.

I coordinated my testing schedule, so that all students will test in the morning, which is the time most students perform the best on tests. If students are absent on their scheduled test day, they will make up the test with another faculty member on another day. Please note that students perform best when they test with their peers and in their regular learning environment. Since I do not know that date or time of day, please make sure your student is in attendance for Star 360 testing. Lastly, another faculty member will test students who have an IEP or 504 Plan that requires testing accommodation.

  • Homework – There will be no homework this week and next week due to our schedule changes for testing. There will some days that I don’t see all of my classes. Plus, as I stated in an earlier update, I don’t like to give homework on weeks students are testing so they can relax when they get home.
  • 2ndQuarter Skills Mastery – I am still working on the skills mastery checklist to email to parents.
  • 2nd Quarter Failure Notes – I will be emailing failure notices to the parents of students who earned a D or F in math during the second quarter. I often get emails and have conferences with parents who ask what they can do to help their child. The failure notice has a list of actions that you should make sure your student takes to improve. Some parents disagree with the facts listed on the failure notice. The facts are the facts. I am only using quantitative data to report my observations.
  • Weekly Do Now – Since attendance was low on Friday, January 12th, I told students not to submit Week 18’s Do Now. Students will be given time to submit their Do Now on the day we return, 01/17/24. Due to our testing schedule, students will not have a Do Now activity for Week 19.

Learning Objectives

5th Grade Skills

  • I can use the long division algorithm to divide 4-digitI by 2-digit divisors.*
  • I can use the long division algorithm to solve real-world problems.*
  • I can use patterns to solve decimal division problems.

6th Grade Skills

  • I can solve one-step addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division equations.*
  • I can use the solution to equations to solve real-world problems.*
  • I can solve one-step addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division inequalities.*
  • I can graph inequalities.*
  • I understand dependent and independent variables.

*These skills will be on this week’s tests.