Please, look for the Friday folders over the weekend. We include all school papers and notes. It is also a way for us to communicate.
We have learned about a new graphic organizer to improve our writing skills. Ask your children to show you how to make a four-square. We have created wonderful, detailed, interesting pieces of writing using this method.
DARE has begun and Officer Plank usually assigns homework each week.
Have a great weekend.
Please rad the following information about next week's State Social Studies Test.
Information about the Test
The New York State Social Studies test is a two-day exam. Each day they will be given an hour and a half. Students will be asked to answer 35 multiple-choice questions, each with four possible choices. The test will also include three or four constructed response questions. A constructed response question requires them to write a short answer response based on the examination of a piece of data or information such as a timeline, map, graph, cartoon, chart, or short reading.
Finally, students will be required to answer one document- based essay question. This will test student’s ability to examine and draw conclusions from historical documents. This section of the test is broken into two parts: a short written response to a question(s) about each piece of data, and a question that requires the children to write a well organized essay using information from the documents.
Preparation in the Classroom
Each day in class we have been working out of the workbook called Mastering New York’s Grade 5 Social Studies Test. This text is broken down into chapters. The first five chapters provide the children with basic information about the test and some strategies or ideas to help them answer the different types of questions on the exam. During these chapters, we also introduce a variety of other test taking strategies or tips to help them with the specific types of questions they will have to answer.
The remaining chapters in this text cover specific Social Studies topics, such as geography, history, and government. Each of these chapters includes a review reading section about that topic and a sample test. While reading these chapters, we are teaching them specific strategies or skills for working with each part of the test.
In Writing, we have been teaching the children the important parts of a sentence, paragraph and essay. We are introducing to them different graphic organizers to help them brainstorm and organize their thoughts for their essay. Students have learned how to use the Four Square graphic organizer to pull facts and ideas from the example test documents and learned how to fill them in on a four square. We have also used a Task Organizer to help them organize the different information that they want to use in their essay.
Finally, we have also been teaching students how to read maps and graphs. Students have learned about the different parts of a map, such as the map scale, key and so forth. We have gone over how to read maps and locate specific places on a map. We have taught them about the different parts of a graph and how to read the information given.
How you can Help at Home
Students will be assigned some work out of their Mastering New York’s Grade 5 Social Studies Test and some essays to work on at home. They will start these assignments in class, but they will be sent home with the remainder of some of these assignments. Please encourage your children to bring home their study guides to help them prepare for this test. Go over some of the reading sections with them and help them review. We are spending a good portion of the day reviewing and practicing, but assistance at home would be greatly appreciated. We usually finish those workbooks two weeks before the test. We will encourage them in class to bring those home. The following is a list of strategies you can encourage your children to use when practicing or studying at home for the test:
Strategies for Multiple Choice Questions
1) Two of the four choices will be inaccurate or make no sense. Your children should choose from the two that make the most sense.
2) Have your children cross out the choices that are inaccurate or they know are wrong. Have them choose from the ones that make the most sense.
3) Sometimes you can find the answer to some multiple choice
questions in other sections of the exam. Encourage your
children to keep an eye out for parts of the test that may help
them with other questions.
Strategies for Constructed Response Questions
1) If the question requires the children to look at a graph, table, chart, map, or timeline encourage them to study it first. They should read the title first. This will help them to first understand what the topic is. They should examine the categories, legend, axis, and the actual information provided.
2) Students should read the question first and underline the part of the question that tells them what they are answering.
3) They need to give information from graph, map, chart, table, timeline, reading response, cartoon, or picture. We unfortunately can’t grade them on their opinion. So they need to stick to the facts when answering these questions.
4) Students should underline where they found the answer and then copy it or restate the information.
5) We encourage them to copy the spelling from the test. They should do the same at home.
Strategies for Document Based Questions and Essay
1) When answering the questions, they should read the question then examine or read the document. They should underline where they found the answer and then copy it or restate the information.
2) They should use a Four Square or Task Organizer to brainstorm for their essay.
3) When filling in the Four Square or Task Organizer, they should use information from each document.
4) They should use the background information to write their introduction and conclusion.
5) Their essay should have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. They should write a rough copy and a final copy in pen and cursive.
6) Finally, they should edit their rough copy prior to writing their final copy.
Night Before the Exam
Students should spend a short amount of time studying the night before the test. They have worked hard and shouldn’t spend all night studying. They should go to bed and eat a good breakfast before they come to school. Most importantly, they should relax and try not to get worked up over the exam.
Education Gateways makes no warranty for SchoolNotes.com.
Information on this site is generated by the users. The views
expressed are not necessarily those of Education Gateways or its members, and
Education Gateways is not responsible for user's conduct on SchoolNotes.com.
