Post date: Apr 30, 2017 4:05:42 PM
Math 7H Period 1
SOLs Covered: All Math 8 SOLs
Math Unit: Math 8 SOL Review
Daily Agenda: April 24-28, 2017
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Math 7H
Upcoming Assessments: SOL Quiz #1 (Mon. 5/1); SOL Quiz #2 (Wed. 5/3)
MSM2 Period 3 & 4
SOLs Covered: 7.11 & 8.13 Data Analysis; All Math 7 SOLs
Math Unit: #24 Data Analysis; Math 7 SOL Review
Daily Agenda: April 24-28, 2017
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Data Analysis; MSM2
Upcoming Assessments: Finish Practice SOL Test (Mon. 5/1); SOL Quiz #1 (Wed. 5/3)
After School Help Session: Tues. 5/2, 3-4PM
¡Hola! My day was packed yesterday, so I'm having to catch up on weekend chores today and will thus keep this pretty quick. Thankfully it wasn't a very exciting week math-wise with all the testing, so there isn't a ton to cover. The honors class started the week with the ARDT post-test. While this test is more for state data collection purposes, we do benefit from getting extra practice with the testing system, which was dramatically updated this school year. The tools are a little different and the formatting has changed a bit, so I'm happy we got that surprise out of the way with the ARDT pre-test in January and now had extra opportunity to explore the new features rather than getting that surprise the day of the SOL.
From that they went directly into the practice SOL test for the county, which acts as both a practice for the SOL and the final benchmark test of the year. It is a very rigorous test with many higher level questions in order to help better prepare the students for the real SOL. For this test I told the kids to take notes while working on anything they struggled with so we can further discuss it while reviewing over the next three weeks. If they didn't get it for the practice, they won't get it for the real deal if they don't prepare in the meantime, so they need to ask their questions now when they have the chance as I can't answer them the day of the test. They should go back to review the results of their test as well to take additional notes. I'll be reviewing the overall results, but only the kids will know if they guessed and got lucky on a question or if there were another issue that the data alone won't show me, so it's really important that they take these steps as part of the review process.
The testing took a bit longer than expected, with students needing to catch up after absences and such, so those who finished earlier moved onto the SOL Vocab.com list I have set up for them. This assignment will need to be completed by May 19th (the Friday before SOL week) and while it's not a perfect match to the math (some words will give non-math definitions or examples, ex. independent), I've instructed the kids to make notes (mostly mental, though written for words they are struggling with) on the "math meaning" for each word as it pops up. All the words can be found throughout the notes pages they've been given this year as well as a vocab list in the digital SOL review folders (linked above) to aid with their review. They also had a little extra time to wrap up their IXL work for the month of April; those students who were behind for the month by Friday will find the required make-up time listed in the notes section for May on their Synergy grades. I'll do one more check for April at the beginning of this week for those who went home and worked after Friday dismissal or over the weekend. All students got the folder they'd turned in at the beginning of school back this week to store their SOL review materials. At this point they've gotten two problem packets (one classwork, one homework), a copy of the formula sheet, and a full copy of the Smart Chart. They'll store any additional materials, including the mini-SOL quizzes we'll be taking over the next three weeks, in the folder as well. It's super important that the kids remember to bring this folder to class everyday along with their Chromebook.
The MSM2 classes started with data analysis Monday, moved onto the ARDT test (see details above) Tuesday, before a final day of data on Wednesday. They spent the rest of the week working on their own practice SOL test (again, see above for details), though a good number still need to finish up on Monday.
Well, that ended up being a bit longer than I set at to write at the start, but I want to keep everyone informed so the kids can do their very best and wind up getting carried away. I'll wrap things up here (just heard the washer cut off, so it's time to switch out the laundry), but feel free to email with any questions. I hope everyone has an awesome week!