We've survived our first day of the ELA MCAS...and it was a long one. I literally left school on Thursday with aching eyes and a headache...and I wasn't the one testing! I was exhausted simply watching the kids work. It's crazy what's expected of kids across the state with these tests, but it's an unfortunate reality that I do my best to handle as a teacher. While I try to instill confidence in them and voice that doing the best they can is all that matters, I do know that the anxiety was still very much there for many kids. So to try to keep things light and convey this message to the kids, on Wednesday, we did a little activity on the rug. The class formed a circle and sat down to share some of their worries about the following day. We talked through some of those concerns, then I had them "channel" their worries into a piece of paper. They were then told to crumple those worries into a ball...and throw them at me as I stood in the middle of the circle. It was pretty amusing, and to the right, you'll find a photo snapped of the aftermath. That day, we also joined classes to do some review jeopardy, and pictures of that are included below.

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Emma and Mason. Oh, Emma. I couldn't have been prouder of her on Thursday. Emma is so incredibly bright, but like many people, she can sometimes lose sight of that when she's feeling stuck. We've been working on developing a growth mindset and positive thinking when facing challenges, and the MCAS is undoubtedly challenging. Well, she stayed calm, worked hard, and blew me away with how she dealt with and persevered through those testing jitters. Mason is also wonderful. Just thinking of Mason makes me smile, because he's such a positive presence in the classroom. He is kind, flexible, goofy, and respectful, and he seems to be genuinely appreciated by his classmates and teachers alike. Nice job, you two!

 

It's April vacation! I generally go away to my grandmother's place in Florida over April break, but this year I'm looking forward to just hanging and relaxing around here. With ELA MCAS the week we get back, we spent the week prior to break working on the different types of text-based writing. Oftentimes kids become under the impression that this testing marks the conclusion of school work--that I need to squeeze in all I need to teach them prior to MCAS. That's not the case! We still have multiple units left and lots to cover. I more so want to do all that I can to make sure the kids feel prepared and confident on those two days. I don't want them to come across questions that surprise them or prompts they don't know how to approach. We had a good discussion about this the day before break, and they let me know how I could structure the few days that lead up to MCAS so that they're feeling ready and positive.

Our Bucket Fillers of the week were Emily and Cecilia. Both ladies are such sweethearts. They are kind to their classmates and don't cause any trouble in class. Emily is always participating and eager to learn. She never complains and is quick to lend a helping hand to anyone and everyone around her. Cecilia has blown me away with how much effort she's put into the writing we've done lately. It's fun to see her fervently scribbling down her ideas when it's time to plan our writing, so much so that her paper is filled from top to bottom with ideas. Nice job, girls!

 

Text-based essay writing is not exactly a bundle of fun. But unfortunately, it's something the kids need to learn, and much of our week was centered on this type of writing. Students read and noted their thinking about an article and folktale related to fear. They then planned and wrote a response to the question, "Based on the two passages, how does fear affect people?" They needed to use evidence from both passages to prove their answer to the question. The hardest part of this process is expanding on that text evidence. Students need to explain or say more about each of the (at least four) pieces of evidence to prove their central idea, which is their answer to the question and the point they're trying to prove. This is the part where they need to articulate their inferences, which is always the most challenging aspect of text-based expository writing. BUT the good news is that we've made a lot of progress over the school year when it comes to writing about texts, and most kids worked really hard on their essays. Another type of writing we've begun exploring is text-based narrative writing, which is referred to as "narrative writing tasks". This involves reading a passage, then writing in response to a prompt that has students either writing the next scene of the story, writing a new ending to the story, or writing the story from a different character's perspective. A lot is involved with this type of writing because not only do you have to understand the passage and weave elements from the passage into your writing, you need to be able to write in a way that encompasses description, characterization, dialogue--all the pieces that make for a good story. Honestly though, narrative writing tasks are a bit more fun to teach than essays, because they allow kids to get creative. So, as you can see, there's a lot of writing going on in 4th grade right now!

This week was our first week with our new end-of-the-year behavior contract. We all worked together to brainstorm the expectations outlined on this contract, and student participation on field trips is contingent upon meeting these expectations. We'll continue to emphasize that mistakes happen--it is inevitable that kids be forgetful or act impulsively at times. This contract is more for students to really think about choices made in the classroom and at school so that we can have a positive remainder of the school year. These kids are all very very capable, and I am confident that with effort and a positive mindset, they will all meet be able to join us for any end-of-the-year trips and celebrations.

Below you'll see some photos of the kids in action, from Owen's extra credit presentation to the fifth graders coming in to share work with us. Our Bucket Fillers of the week were Lacy and Petya. Lacy is our extra homework all star. She is currently making progress towards her third homework pass of the school year! I love her creativity, and I love how motivated she is. Her and Petra also played clever April Fools Day jokes on my homeroom on Monday, which were much better than my attempt at one when I pretended to assign a 5-paragraph essay and the students didn't blink an eye...I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing?! Petya is awesome. He is so reliable when it comes to participating in classroom discussions, and his essay this week was absolutely excellent. I really like his personality in that he can be both goofy and focused, and both humble and confident. I'm looking forward to lunch with both Petya and Lacy this week!