2/28/13

Question About Best Practice....and a Leaky Classroom

First the fluffy stuff. I walked in at 6:30 this morning to find 4 ceiling tiles dripping onto the desks and carpet. We've had about 10 inches of snow in the last week and apparently there is some roof damage above my room. My kiddos and I will be spending the next few days hanging out in the art room until the 2 inches of ice melts and the roofers can make the needed repairs. Until then I hope nothing caves in. :( I've been told a few years ago there was a waterfall in this very room!





On to the important stuff.
In my district we do formative reading assessments each quarter using Scantron Achievement Series....anybody else use it?

We analyze the data and track student progress, display grade level results in common areas...the usual for most of us teachers these days.

I have students record their results, we conference about their strengths and set specific goals based on skills they were weak in. Scantron series provides easy to read, detailed results for each kiddo!

My question comes about in whether or not to form small groups based on which learning targets they missed to correct their misconceptions.

Do I spend valuable guided reading time reviewing the test or move on and base my mini lessons on key areas of need?

What have you guys found to be best practice?

Thanks
*Amanda *

2/24/13

Back with a Bang

Well folks thanks for enduring my venture endeavor of posting from my iPad. I just finished using Pic Collage to show off an activity my little rockstars just finished. In reading our theme is space. Our curriculum includes inquiry based research projects and for this one kiddos made lap books. They came up with their own research questions and off we went. These rock stars are natural born presenters, so we invited a kindergarten class in for a buddy read of our lap books. It was a hit!