Today, after the usual morning goings-on, we had a special guest – Mr. Catchings, who is our Assistant Principal, cam in to our class to give us a tutorial on how the MAP Assessments work for first grade. We will be taking the assessments this week and next (tomorrow and Thursday afternoons for reading and Monday and Wednesday mornings next week for math). Here is a description of the assessment from the company’s website:
MAP for Primary Grades assessments combine diagnostic tests and survey assessments to give you insight into your K-2 students' knowledge of core math and reading. Using these tests, teachers can:
• Assess achievement levels of early learners so they can spend more time teaching and less time administering individual diagnostic tests.
• Provide rich information to begin guiding a student's academic career thereby increasing the chances for early academic success.
• Identify the needs of all primary students and inform individualized instruction.
• Encourage student participation with engaging test items.
After Mr. Catchings was done, we had a quick song (“Alice the Camel”) to get the kids moving a bit after having sat for quite awhile, and then had an abbreviated Reader’s Workshop, in which the kids got to do Independent Reading as well as trade in the books in their bookbags.
After reading, it was time to head on down to the lunchroom for lunch and then out for recess. When we got back up to our room, we snuck in half of Writer’s Workshop instead of Read Aloud, and then headed down the hall for Media with Mrs. Hennen.
When we got back to our room, we finished writing – the kids are working on adding details to their work like our friend and writing mentor Vera B. Williams does. At the end-of-workshop share, each writer shared one great details that they added to their work today to make it even better than it as before.
After writing, we had Math Workshop. Today we played a board game in which the kids had to roll an eight-sided die, fill a ten frame with that number, and then move the number of spaces that is left in the ten frame (it’s not actually as complicated as it sounds...).
To wrap up our day, we had Science Lab. The young scientists experimented with water and their rocks again, but this time they recorded their ‘scientific observations’ on a record sheet.
After all of that, it was time to clean up, pack up, and head out!
