McBride Article

1) Something in the article that I was already familiar with were the terms formative and summative assessment.  Formative assessment is typically an informal assessment that monitors student progress on an ongoing basis.  It could be as informal as judging their class participation and what they offer to the group, or as formal as a written test.  Summative assessment is a cumulative assessment such as a unit test, midterm, or final exam.  Although assessment is not always fun for students, it is a very important part of the learning process because it allows teachers to constantly monitor their students' academic progress.

2) Something in the article that challenged something that I already knew was the concept of having another colleague review a test for you.  To me, this concept seems foolish and not very practical.  In theory, it would be great if someone could take the time to review all of our tests and even take the test themselves to make sure that the questions were fair.  In reality though, teachers and other family members are busy enough with their own work and most likely do not have the time to review a test for you.  If you do have someone to do this for you however, it would be very beneficial and it would definitely make a difference having an outside perspective on the test.

3) Something in the article that made me think was when the article talked about making sure students understand the information that they were learning about.  The article gave the example of learning the multiplication facts.  It said that you could not test a child on their ability to do simple multiplication by complicating it with a word problem.  At that point it would become more of a reading assessment than a math assessment and gives the potential to confuse the student.  I never thought of it in this way before.

Monarch Butterfly Word Cloud

My favorite Word Cloud tool was Tagul.  My favorite feature that I used was the custom template design.  By using this feature, I was able to download a picture of a butterfly from google and use the butterfly shape to put some of our vocabulary words from the unit inside.  It is a great way for the students to visualize their vocabulary and in addition to make it more fun for them.

Field Trip!

Upcoming Field Trip to the Newport Butterfly Zoo!

I hope you are all enjoying our unit on monarch butterflies!  We have had a lot of fun over these past few weeks watching our classroom caterpillars (Jessie, Sally, and Ronny) transform into beautiful butterflies, but I think it would be a special treat for you all to see a lot more of them in a more natural environment.  We will be leaving from school at 9:00 am this Friday, October 11, 2013.  Remember, if anyone has not yet turned in their permission slip, you must do so but Tuesday morning at the very latest! As we get closer to our big day I will send out a list of what you will all be expected to bring!

Here is a link to the Butterfly Zoo!

Chaperones!

        Thank you so much for volunteering to come with us on our trip!  I will send you all an email updating you on the groups that I have organized on Tuesday once I receive the rest of the permission slips.  I would suggest that those of you who are not riding the bus get together and make some carpool arrangements!  Thank you again for volunteering and expect an email from me within the next few days!