Thursday, January 15

Assignment: Test Corrections

Due: Friday, January 16

Here are my instructions:

The instructions for this assignment are ON the test corrections sheet. Reading those directions needs to be a new habit for most of my lovely students. Still, some will make assumptions. IF you happen to see something they missed in the directions, it's not fair to assist your child in noticing those details. Natural consequences (none of which impact their math grade) will help them, perhaps, to read the full set of instructions more carefully in the future. If you do NOT see your child's test results tonight, wait a day (until Friday after school) and then ask ... and then go over the instructions with them. This is a life skill for them, and unless you plan following them around reading directions for them for the rest of their lovely lives, let this go. ;-)

The test was not a wild success for many of them. That's not to say that there weren't several who scored in the 90th percentile, it means that if your child scored below 70% (at the minimum) they have work left to do. I have many resources and practice sets in their math Google Classroom. They should use them. There are flashcards available, there are Quizizz and Kahoot options. But here is the deal: if they don't do something to solidify their skills they will not be prepared for what comes next. Historically there have been students in the world that let their fraction skills sit out in the cold, but that will just make their math journey more difficult. Fractions will come back to haunt them. And this unit was just the basics, so figure out how to practice what they missed so they can feel successful of what's next.

And finally,

Notes Books are available to use on tests. When they are under the stress of knowing they are testing, wouldn't it be nice to have reassurance that you don't need a common denominator when multiplying and dividing? But you definitely do when adding and subtracting? And that you can't multiply a mixed number until you make it improper? These are all things we have gone over in class, and they have been explicitly instructed to write those steps and cues into their Notes Books in words they understand. So if you need to sit down with them to go over the test corrections, help them to take notes that will help them on the test when you are not sitting there with them. I said to the class today, "If you can think of a question you would ask your parents or a friend, write their answer in your Notes Book!" We all preferred open-book tests, right? Take some of the pressure off! That's what this is... open-book ... and THAT is how you can help them feel more prepared for their retest.

Retests will begin on the week January 26!