Month: March 2024

Activities & Curricular Connections 3

On 19 March 2024

Morning Work

To start off every morning, this grade two class completes “morning work.” Morning work consists of a worksheet that covers both numeracy and literacy topics. As you can see, this sheet requires students to notice the weather, figure out the plural version of a word, mix mistakes in a sentence, count base ten blocks and much more.

This one worksheet covers things in the math and ELA curriculum:

Math

Curricular competencies: Develop mental math strategies (the add and subtract portion) and Communicate concretely, pictorially, symbolically, and by using spoken or written language to express, describe, explain, justify, and apply mathematical ideas.

Content: Understanding the relationship between digit places and their value (“write in expanded form”), addition and subtraction, and more.

ELA

Curricular competencies: Engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers. After students complete this sheet, they go over it as a class and students are allowed to exchange ideas and perspectives

Content: Conventions, common practices in punctuation and capitalization.

Morning Meeting

After they have gone over morning work, they gather on the carpet and fill out this board. The underlined letters were not initially filled out. The special helper got to call on friends to come fill in the blanks.

This connects to the big idea: Through listening and speaking, we connect with others and share our world.

Book and Activity

With Saint Patrick’s Day right around the corner, it was only fitting to read a book about luck! This book is about a clever woman named Fiona who outsmarts the leprechaun king to restore luck to the land of Ireland. The teacher of this class read the book out loud to the students and then had the students complete a writing activity that went along with the story.

While we ran out of time, I was still able to take a look at the sheet the teacher had intended the students to fill out. It required the students to write about and draw what they would do with some “leprechaun luck.”

Curricular Connections

Curricular Competencies: Use sources of information and prior knowledge (what do they already know about luck?), engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers (how well did they listen during the reading of the story?)

Content: Metacognitive strategies: talking and thinking about learning (what did they take away from the story to help them complete the worksheet?), letter formation: legible printing with spacing between words.

The Book That Changed Everything

by cmassier

On 6 March 2024

In Literacy

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Unsplash/Kimberly Farmer^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Growing up my mum would read to me almost every night. It felt like a ritual and provided me with comfort. I loved bonding with my mum and because she worked hard as a registered nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) it was hard sometimes with her long, crazy hours. But I always knew that if she wasn’t working nights, she would be there to tuck me into bed and read me a book.

My Chosen Book

The book that “changed everything” for me was Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Sheila McGraw. I remember my mum reading this one to me multiple times and I would notice her tear up and feel her holding me extra tight. She would try and hold the tears back so I wouldn’t notice. But I always did and would hold her tight too. At the time, I didn’t fully understand why it made her sad, but I do now. I was her last baby.

This was one of the first books to make me feel something. And although I am no longer an avid reader (I bet I would be if my mum still read to me;)), I still look for books that will make me feel emotion. Whether it be happy, sad, mad. I find it hard for me to enjoy reading that lacks emotion.

Assessment & Reporting

by cmassier

On 6 March 2024

In Literacy

What are Writing Samples?

“Writing is thinking. When we write, we … organize, clarify, solidify understanding, build relationships, extend our thinking, and engage.”

-Joan Sedita, Keys to Literacy

Writing samples are pieces of writing done by a student that teachers use for assessment purposes. It can be any kind of writing, like an essay (for older grades), a story, a poem, or a journal entry. Writing samples are gathered by teachers to assess a student’s writing skills, including their ability to communicate ideas effectively and use correct grammar and punctuation.

Why I Would Choose This Form of Assessment

Using writing samples as a form of assessment is something I see as diverse as they can be found in many subjects and can be used year-round, in many grade levels. Specifically in elementary and middle school when students are still learning how to properly write (can be used in high school and post-secondary as well, just differently).

I would use this because it can show me multiple aspects of a student’s writing, including spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, vocabulary, and organization in one. This can give me insight into my students’ overall writing abilities and help me identify where they are strong and where they need improvement!

These can hit many areas in the curriculum. For example in the grade 5 ELA curriculum: “sentence structure and grammar, conventions: common practices in punctuation (e.g., uses of the comma, quotation marks for dialogue, uses of the apostrophe in contractions); in capitalization in titles, headings, and subheadings; and in Canadian spelling, and development of paragraphs that have a topic sentence and supporting details.” and more.

In my 6 week practicum in grade 4/5 this year, I plan to use this form of assessment in my graphic novel creation unit. The end goal of this unit is to have students write their own graphic novels and perform them as skits in groups. Throughout the unit, students will be asked to participate in writing exercises based on the novel we read as a class before their own creation. These writing samples will show me where each student is at and help me in groupings for their final creation.

Student Reporting Policy

The K-12 Student Reporting Policy refers to the guidelines and procedures that schools must follow for reporting student progress, grades, and other relevant information to parents, students, and other stakeholders. This policy outlines how and when student progress will be communicated, in what format (for example: report cards), and what information needs to be included in these reports.

Page 30 outlines how the proficiency scale is used and what teachers need to do to effectively provide descriptive feedback and evidence. This scale is based on four levels of achievement: Emerging (beginning to demonstrate the required knowledge, skills, and understanding.), Developing (progressing towards demonstrating the required knowledge, skills, and understanding but has not yet fully achieved them.), Proficient (consistently demonstrates the required knowledge, skills, and understanding.), and Extending 9demonstrates a deep understanding and can apply their knowledge and skills in complex and unfamiliar situations.)

This document also discusses the frequency of reporting. It states that, for all grade levels (K-12), there is to be a minimum of 5 occasions where student learning is communicated. 4 learning updates, and 1 final summary at the end of the school year. (K-12 Student Reporting Policy, 2023). This is why collecting relevant evidence throughout the year is important.

Sample Literacy Report Card Comment

This is a sample literacy report card comment I wrote for my assessment course. It demonstrates descriptive feedback and clearly states where the student is currently at with their learning as well as suggestions for improvement!