April 2015 – Grade 1

April 29, 2015

Happy Birthday!

April 29, 2015

Happy Birthday!

April 29, 2015

Getting Ready for the Big Day!

Parents, there are lots of things you can do on or immediately before test day to improve your child’s chances of testing success. What’s more, these strategies will help your child prepare himself of herself for school tests, too, and promote general study skills that can last a lifetime.

Provide a good breakfast on test day. Instead of sugar cereal, which provides immediate but not long – term energy, have your child eat a breakfast with protein or complex carbohydrate, such as egg, whole grain cereal or toast, or a banana yogurt shake.

Promote a good night’s sleep. A good night’s sleep before the test is essential. Try not to over stress the importance of the test. This may cause your child to lose sleep because of anxiety. Doing some exercise after school and having quiet evening routine ,will help your child sleep well the night before the test.

Assure your child that he or she is not expected to know all the answers on the test. Explain to your child the test may measure things that he/she has not yet learned in school. Help your child to understand that you expect him/her to put forth a good effort and that this is enough. Also avoid threats or bribes; these put undue pressure on children and interfere with their best performance.

Keep the mood light and offer encouragement. To provide a break on test days, do something fun and special after school. Take a walk around the neighborhood, play a game, read a favorite book, or prepare a special snack together. These activities keep your child’s mood light even if the testing sessions have been difficult and show how much you

April 27, 2015

Terra Nova

What is this? – Terra Nova is a series of standardized achievement tests designed to assess student achievement in reading, language arts, mathematics, science, vocabulary, spelling, and other areas

The tests will take place in the classroom. A few tests will be completed each morning over the 5 days we have to administer them. We aim to begin the tests promptly at 8:30am. This will last approximately one hour and a half, with breaks at intervals. We will then have a long snack and recess.

Date –Terra Nova will be held from April 27th – May 1st

Extra! In preparation for our upcoming test, please try to find any opportunity to revise the practice papers that are sent home.

What do you need to know?

The most important thing to remember is that these tests do not provide an absolute measure of your child’s understanding but are merely a statistical snapshot of your child’s performance on a particular day. There are many other ways to assess your child’s learning in the classroom and this combined with test scores should give you an overall picture.

Reasons for testing:

To identify and examine areas of strength and weakness in the performance of students.
To provide a basis for reports to parents and students.
To inform teachers of the needs of their students. This helps in working toward increasing student achievement and closing achievement gaps.

In class I encouraged the children to try their very best on these tests, but to take away any stress and upset we have practiced the test format and skills as much as possible to give the children confidence in the area of test taking. We also impressed upon the children that there will questions they will not able to answer and this is expected. The tests have to cover huge spectrum and occasionally there will be some more difficult questions. I explained to them that we will be as prepared as we can by completing class work and by doing daily practice tests until the actual test commences April 27^th.

I would be happy to discuss any concerns or questions you have, so please feel free to contact me or come in and talk with me.

Thank you for your support!

April 19, 2015

“Be Strong and Courageous”

We are now studying the life of Joshua. God told him to be strong and courageous as he led the Children of Israel across Jordan River and into the promise land. Joshua was a great leader who listened to God. Today, Joshua acted as Joshua and we were the children of Israel. We marched around the City Jericho just as God commanded. We love acting out bible stories.

Men carrying the Ark of the Covenant.