MSTEP

The MSTEP is coming!  Testing for the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress will begin Monday, April 8th right after Spring Break.  Students in grades three through five will be tested during this window.

Please note the following testing dates and subject areas that will be tested on those days:

Fifth Grade Students:

Science:                       Tuesday, April 9          Wednesday, April 10

ELA:                             Tuesday, April 16        Thursday, April 18

Math:                          Tuesday, April 23        Wednesday, April 24

Social Studies:             Thursday, April 25

 

Fourth Grade Students:

ELA:                             Tuesday, April 30        Thursday, May 2

Math:                          Tuesday, May 7           Thursday, May 9

 

Third Grade Students:

ELA:                             Wednesday, May 8     Thursday, May 9

Math:                          Tuesday, May 14         Wednesday, May 15

 It is very important that your child is at school on the above dates to take the MSTEP test.  However, if your child misses any of the following dates due to illness or an emergency, the test will be administered on another day before May 23.  Students will not be allowed to take any part of the test after May 23, 2019.                                                       

Listed below are some helpful ideas for parents to use during this year’s testing window or for any testing situation in the future.

PARENT TEST-SUPPORT STRATEGIES

 Preparing for Testing

  • Note test dates on your home calendar; schedule appointments on non-testing days.
  • Encourage your child to take responsibility for doing their best on the test.
  • Help you child learn how to find information independently.
  • Praise your child for work done well.
  • Encourage your child to ask questions at home and in class.
  • Gather available test preparation materials.
  • Assure your child knows that you value a good education.

Testing Day

  • See that your child is rested and eats breakfast.
  • See that your child arrives at school on time and is relaxed.
  • Encourage your child to do the best work possible.
  • Do not remove your child from school on test days for appointments.
  • See that your child eats healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables (the brain needs natural sugar to function i.e. berries, apples, pears, grapes, raisins, etc.)
  • See that your child drinks 6-8 oz. of water (water helps move the natural sugar and oxygen to the brain faster)

TEST ANXIETY

Students may experience anxiety about tests and may experience heightened anxiety before a testing situation. A certain degree of test anxiety is normal and may help students prepare more effectively, work more efficiently, and remain focused during testing. Too much anxiety, however, can negatively affect performance. The following strategies may assist students and parents in reducing test anxiety.

Parent Strategies for Reducing Test Anxiety

  • Discuss the test openly and in a positive way.
  • Have realistic expectations of your child’s performance while encouraging his/her best efforts.
  • Emphasize that the test is only one measure of academic performance.
  • Emphasize that test scores do not determine a person’s worth.

Please contact the school with any questions regarding MSTEP testing.

Thank you so much for your assistance in making this testing a success for our students!

Kristin M. Waddell

Principal, Whitmore Bolles Elementary

What’s Happening: Week of 12/03

DECEMBER!!!! How did that happen?!?!?!

Here is what you can expect your child to be doing and learning in class this week. As always, please contact me with any questions.

Important Dates:

 

Language Arts:

This week we will continue to focus on informational text. We will learn how to identify the main idea of a text and how to find supporting details.

Reading groups will continue throughout the week. Please make sure your child is reading the books in their bag each night and completing any writing assignments they have for these books.After your child reads, ask them questions about the books, setting, characters, problem, and solution. See if they can orally retell the story using only the main events and important details without copying sentences from the book.

Writing: 

We are finishing up our narrative writing prompt, “Going to the Movies.” Students are practicing their typing skills by typing their final drafts on Google Docs.

Math:

We will being Module 2 in our Eureka Math program. This module is is about place value and problem solving with units of measurement.

Students have been using the following websites in class to help reinforce math concepts. These websites can also be accessed at home for free. Student passwords are taped inside planners.

  1. Zearn.org – This website provides extra practice for concepts taught in class. It follows very closely with the new Eureka Math program that the district has adopted this year.
  2. xtramath.org – This website will help students with fact fluency. A flyer went home on Friday with information on how to set up your free account.

Science:

We will continue our unit of force and motion. We will conduct an experiment on gravity this week.

Geography:

This week we will be finishing up our unit on geography. We will discuss positive and negative consequences for using Michigan’s natural resources.

Spelling:

This week, we will focus on /ow/ words. Students will get 5 words that follow this pattern and 5 content words to study for Friday’s test. On Friday, students will be tested on these words, along with 5 surprise words that follow the /ou/ pattern and 5 additional words from the sight words list that was provided two weeks ago.

Have a great week!!!

What’s Happening: Week of 11/26

Here is what you can expect your child to be doing and learning in class this week. As always, please contact me with any questions.

Important Dates:

Wednesday: Module 1 Math test! A study guide went home over the break.

Language Arts:

This week we will continue to focus on informational text. We will learn how to identify the main idea of a text and how to find supporting details.

Reading groups will continue throughout the week. Please make sure your child is reading the books in their bag each night and completing any writing assignments they have for these books. After your child reads, ask them questions about the books, setting, characters, problem, and solution. See if they can orally retell the story using only the main events and important details without copying sentences from the book.

Writing: 

We are finishing up our narrative writing prompt, “Going to the Movies.” Students are practicing their typing skills by typing their final drafts on Google Docs.

Math:

We are finishing up our first Eureka Math module. There will be an end of unit test on Wednesday.

Students have been using the following websites in class to help reinforce math concepts. These websites can also be accessed at home for free. Student passwords are taped inside planners.

  1. Zearn.org – This website provides extra practice for concepts taught in class. It follows very closely with the new Eureka Math program that the district has adopted this year.
  2. xtramath.org – This website will help students with fact fluency. A flyer went home on Friday with information on how to set up your free account.

Science:

We will continue our unit of force and motion.

Geography:

This week we will learn about Michigan’s natural resources and how human interaction can change the environment.

Spelling:

This week, we will focus on /ou/ words. Students will get 5 words that follow this pattern and 5 content words to study for Friday’s test. On Friday, students will be tested on these words, along with 5 surprise words that follow the /ou/ pattern and 5 additional words from the sight words list that was provided two weeks ago.

Have a great week!!!

Here is what you can expect your child to be doing and learning in class this week. As always, please contact me with any questions.

Important Dates:

Conferences will continue on Tuesday and Thursday evening. Reminder notes went home last week with the time and date for your child’s conference. Please contact me if you need to change your time or date and I will do my best to accommodate. Students are encouraged to come to conferences with parents as part of the conference will be student led.

Language Arts:

This week we will focus on informational writing. We will learn how to identify the main idea of a text and how to find supporting details.

Reading groups will continue throughout the week. Please make sure your child is reading the books in their bag each night and completing any writing assignments they have for these books. After your child reads, ask them questions about the books, setting, characters, problem, and solution. See if they can orally retell the story using only the main events and important details without copying sentences from the book.

Writing:

We will continue our narrative writing prompt, “Going to the Movies.” We will be drafting our big events using sensory details and clear transitions.

Math:

We will continue to focus on multiplication and division as we move along to lesson 16 in Module one of Eureka Math. I am seeing so much growth in our class as mathematicians. This new math program is very challenging but the class is seeing that with a little bit of effort and hard work, we can reach these high expectations!

Students have been using the following websites in class to help reinforce math concepts. These websites can also be accessed at home for free. Student passwords are taped inside planners.

  1. Zearn.org – This website provides extra practice for concepts taught in class. It follows very closely with the new Eureka Math program that the district has adopted this year.
  2. xtramath.org – This website will help students with fact fluency. A flyer went home on Friday with information on how to set up your free account.

Science:

Our focus for science will continue to be force and motion. We will being thinking again about friction and what makes things go fast or slow down.

Geography:

This week we will learn about Michigan’s natural resources and how human interaction can change the environment.

Spelling:

This week, we will focus on multisyllabic words. Students will get 5 multisyllabic words and 5 content words to study for Friday’s test. On Friday, students will be tested on these words, along with 5 surprise words that follow the multisyllabic pattern and 5 additional words from the sight words list that was provided two weeks ago.

Have a great week!!!

What’s Happening: Week of 10/29/18

This week marks the end of the first card marking! Time flies when you’re having fun!! Here is what you can expect your child to be doing and learning in class this week. As always, please contact me with any questions.

Important Dates:

HALF DAY FRIDAY!!!!! Dismissal is at 11:45.

Halloween: Halloween is Wednesday and our class will have a small celebration that afternoon. A note will go home today with specific details. Please remember that costumes are not allowed at Whitmore-Bolles, but your child may dress in orange, black, or Halloween themed clothing if they would like to be festive. If your child would like to bring a small treat to pass out to the class, that is fine. It must be individually wrapped as all treats will be sent home for students to enjoy. At the moment, we have 16 students.

Habit Time: Habit time will begin Wednesday morning and continue once a month for the remainder of the year. Students will be sent to other rooms to work with students of all grade levels on activities related to the 7 habits.

Watch D.O. Gs: Calling all dad, grandparents, and uncles!!! The watch D.O.G program will be starting. If you would like to take part in this program, and volunteer in our school, there will be a meeting October 30th at 6:30. Notes will be going home Monday.

Language Arts:

This will be a review/assessment week for all things language arts. We will revisit how to ask and answer questions while reading to ensure good comprehension, how to use traits to describe a character, and how to recount (retell) a story. We will also revisit all of the grammar skills taught so far.

Reading groups will continue throughout the week. Please make sure your child is reading the books in their bag each night and completing any writing assignments they have for these books. After your child reads, ask them questions about the books, setting, characters, problem, and solution. See if they can orally retell the story using only the main events and important details without copying sentences from the book.

Writing:

Last week we began our next narrative writing prompt, “Going to the Movies.” We will continue to focus on creating a well organized piece that uses sensory details and dialogue.

Math:

We will continue to focus on multiplication and division as we move along to lesson 12 in our module one of Eureka Math. I am seeing so much growth in our class as mathematicians. This new math program is very challenging but the class is seeing that with a little bit of effort and hard work, we can reach these high expectations!

Students have been using the following websites in class to help reinforce math concepts. These websites can also be accessed at home for free. Student passwords are taped inside planners.

  1. Zearn.org – This website provides extra practice for concepts taught in class. It follows very closely with the new Eureka Math program that the district has adopted this year.
  2. xtramath.org – This website will help students with fact fluency. A flyer went home on Friday with information on how to set up your free account.

Science:

Our focus for science will continue to be force and motion. We will being thinking again about friction and what makes things go fast or slow down.

Geography:

We will be reviewing geography concepts this week.

Spelling:

This week, our spelling words will come from the 3rd grade sight word list. I am noticing that many of our students are still spelling many of these words incorrectly in their day to day work. I plan on sending the entire list home for students to practice daily. Save this list as I plan on testing these words every now and again. More directions will be given in class.

Have a great week!!!

What’s Happening: Week of October 22nd

Here is what you can expect your child to be doing and learning in class this week. As always, please contact me with any questions.

Important Dates:

Box Tops are due this Thursday. If you have any that you have been collecting, please be sure to send them in! This is a great way to earn money for our class!

Watch D.O. Gs: Calling all dad, grandparents, and uncles!!! The watch D.O.G program will be starting. If you would like to take part in this program, and volunteer in our school, there will be a meeting October 30th at 6:30. Notes will be going home Monday.

Language Arts:

We will continue to focus on recounting stories, especially during guided reading groups. We will continue to use text evidence to answer questions along with rephrasing the question when writing our answers. This week, we will begin learning about Text Dependent Analysis (TDA), which will be used when constructing short answer responses. TDA will be a major focus this year.

Guided reading groups are in full effect! A reading bag should be going home every day with books worked on in class. Students will have a writing response to work on for each book they are given. Please make sure that if they did not complete this in class, that they are doing this at home and using complete sentences and rephrasing the questions. Remember, your child should be doing 20 minutes of reading at home every day.

Writing:

We are finishing our final drafts for our narrative writing prompt “A Trip to the Apple Orchard.”

This week, we will begin our next narrative prompt “Going to the Movies.” We will learn about two new types of leads: question and dialogue leads. We will also begin to focus on how to use quotation marks to appropriately add dialogue to a story.

Math:

We will review lessons 1-10 in Eureka Math in order to take the Mid Module Assessment by the end of the week. We will post the date in planners.

Students have been using the following websites in class to help reinforce math concepts. These websites can also be accessed at home for free. Student passwords are taped inside planners.

  1. Zearn.org – This website provides extra practice for concepts taught in class. It follows very closely with the new Eureka Math program that the district has adopted this year.
  2. xtramath.org – This website will help students with fact fluency. A flyer went home on Friday with information on how to set up your free account.

Science:

Our focus for science will continue to be force and motion. We will being thinking about balanced and unbalanced forces. Students will be using what they have learned to create a bridge out of paper. Students have been asked to bring in 10 pennies so we can test our bridges to see which bridge can hold the most weight.

Social Studies:

As we continue to discuss the geography of Michigan, we will focus this week on climate and vegetation.

Spelling:

The spelling pattern for our words this week will be /r/ syllables. Please study these words with your child each night so they can be prepared for the test on Friday. Remember, they will have 5 “surprise” words on Friday that are not on the spelling list, but follow the spelling pattern.

Have a great week!!!

What’s Happening: Week of October 15th

Here is what you can expect your child to be doing and learning in class this week. As always, please contact me with any questions.

Important Dates:

Spirit wear orders are due by October 18th!

Language Arts:

We will continue to focus on recounting stories. Recounting stories means we will focus on the important events happening in the beginning, middle, and end of a text. We will continue to use text evidence to answer questions along with rephrasing the question when writing our answers.

We will continue to learn about adverbs this week and practice identifying subjects and predicates in sentences.

As of last week, al students have begun to work in small groups for reading instruction. A reading bag should be going home every day with books worked on in class. Students will have a writing response to work on for each book they are given. Please make sure if they are doing this at home, that they are using complete sentences and rephrasing the questions. Remember, your child should be doing 20 minutes of reading at home every day.

Writing:

We will continue to focus on narrative writing and our prompt “A Trip to the Apple Orchard.” This week, we will be editing our drafts and starting our final drafts. Students have been doing a great job on this topic and I am excited to get these finished and posted in the hallway for everyone to see!

Math:

We will continue to learn about properties of multiplication. This week, we will be introducing the distributive property which means we will be learning how to break apart factors  as a strategy to create an easier problem to solve in a more efficient way.

Students have been introduced to two websites that we will be using in class to help reinforce math concepts. These websites can also be accessed at home for free. Student passwords are taped inside planners.

  1. Zearn.org – This website provides extra practice for concepts taught in class. It follows very closely with the new Eureka Math program that the district has adopted this year.
  2. xtramath.org – This website will help students with fact fluency. A flyer went home on Friday with information on how to set up your free account.

Science:

Our focus for science will continue to be force and motion. We will being thinking about balanced and unbalanced forces. Students will be using what they have learned to create a bridge out of paper.

Social Studies:

As we continue to discuss the geography of Michigan, we will focus this week on the major bodies of water.

Spelling:

The spelling pattern for our words this week will be consonant digraphs (th, sh, ch). Please study these words with your child each night so they can be prepared for the test on Friday. Remember, they will have 5 “surprise” words on Friday that are not on the spelling list, but follow the spelling pattern.

Have a great week!!!

What’s Happening This Week: October 8th

Here is what you can expect your child to be doing and learning in class this week. As always, please contact me with any questions.

Important Dates:

Picture day is this Wednesday! Order forms went home Friday. All students will have their picture taken, even if they are not ordering pictures.

The Book Fair is this week. Our class is scheduled to shop Friday morning.

Language Arts:

We will be focusing on the recounting stories. This is another strategy that will help with comprehension. Recounting stories means we will focus on the important events happening in the beginning, middle, and end of a text. We will continue to use text evidence to answer questions along with rephrasing the question when writing our answers.

We will introduce adverbs this week and practice expanding sentences focusing on subjects and predicates.

Reading groups will begin this week. I will be sending reading bags home with books worked on in class. Students will have a writing response to work on for each book they are given. Please make sure if they are doing this at home, they they are writing complete sentences/answers. Remember, your child should be doing 20 minutes of reading at home every day.

Writing:

We will continue to focus on narrative writing and our prompt “A Trip to the Apple Orchard.” This week, we will practice editing and revising our narratives.

Math:

We will continue to learn about multiplication and how it relates to division as a fact family.

Science:

Our focus for science will continue to be force and motion. Last week students used toy cars to investigate motion and speed. We recorded what we noticed and what we wondered about the movement of these cars. This week we will explore the idea of friction as it relates to motion and speed.

Social Studies:

Moving along with geography of Michigan, we will learn about Michigan landforms such as mountain ranges, sand dunes, peninsulas, and islands.

Spelling:

The spelling pattern for our words this week will be blends. Please study these words with your child each night so they can be prepared for the test on Friday. Remember, they will have 5 “surprise” words on Friday that are not on the spelling list, but follow the spelling pattern.

Have a great week!!!