Evaluations on the Horizon

As you know there are a couple of summative evaluations on the horizon for next week.  A summative evaluation is a mark or grade awarded to a student based on work of an end - unit task.  Other evaluations have been made throughout the unit (diagnostic, formative) for other reasons, such as to inform my teaching and to track progress of the students.  Marks are not necessarily always awarded in these situations.

On October 7 we will have an evaluation on the first unit of our Literacy program.  For this task, the students will read a suspense narrative text, they will then answer questions based on that text and the work we have done in the unit.  There will be graphic organizers, short answer questions, and multiple choice questions.  The topics that will be evaluated are:  extending understanding of the text by activating prior knowledge (schema) to make connections, characteristics of a suspense narrative with evidence from the text, adverbs, adverb phrases, use of quotation marks in dialogue, and suffixes (inflected forms) and base words.  The anchor charts that you see on the Anchor Chart Library page will be posted in the room during the evaluation, like they are on a daily bases.  The students will be able to bring home their duo tangs to review if they would like, and they can review the anchor charts from the website.

On October 10 we will have our first math test.  It is on Unit 2 - Whole Numbers, and will include material from the whole unit, EXCEPT that for grade six our math curriculum tells us that we have to read and work with large numbers to millions, and our text book goes beyond that.  Therefore, we will follow the curriculum and work with large numbers up to and including millions.  Again the anchor charts will be displayed in our room during the evaluation.  For studying purposes, the students should ensure that all errors have been corrected, and that they understand what they did wrong.  Parents are welcomed to make a practice test, if desired.  They should also review the anchor charts on the website.

It is important that students ask for help well in advance of these dates if it is needed.  That will give them time to internalize the information.  I have been working diligently with everyone along the way, but sometimes a last minute question will arise.

After all students have written each evaluation, and they are evaluated they will go home to be reviewed and signed by parents.  Please send them back promptly.  Thank you in advance!