MAP Testing Information

The MAP testing software comes from the Northwest Evaluation Association. Their website has useful information about MAP to help answer some questions for you and you student(s). Additionally, if you click here, it will take you to a PDF document entitled 'Parent Toolkit' that will hopefully answer even more questions for you! As always, feel free to contact your student's teacher to ask about more information or how they use the scores to help your student.

3rd-5th grade MAP testing

3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students will be taking MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests starting Tuesday, January 25th through Tuesday, February 1st in the computer lab. These tests are delivered on the computer but for the purpose of the students classroom teacher gathering data based on a Reading test and a Math test.

To better help your student(s), make sure they get a good nights sleep the night before the test, they eat a healthy breakfast the morning of the test, and explain to them the importance and seriousness of taking these test. These tests, taken in September, in January and again in April, help the teachers with better placement/grouping of students in Reading and Math.

Here is when your student(s) will be taking their test(s):

3P: January 25 & January 31

3Sc: January 25 & February 1

3St: January 26 & January 31

3W: January 25 & January 28

4B: January 25 & January 28

4H: January 26 & January 28

4N: January 27 & January 31

4P: January 24 & February 1

5B: January 27 & February 1

5C: January 25 & January 31

5H: January 27 & February 1

5S: January 26 & January 28

Kindergarten Integration

The Kindergarten students have been working and completing a couple different activities related to using KidPix a drawing program.  The students first used KidPix to create a number sentence using stamps and addition.  They took 1 group of stamps, added them to another group of stamps and found the total group of stamps they added together.  Look for their finished printed copy in their portfolio during conferences.

The Kindergarten students also worked on creating a winter scene picture, which included a sentence/statement related to the picture.  Look for these finished printed copies in their portfolio during conferences.

The Kindergarten students do an awesome job in the computer lab using the computers.  Make sure they are exploring these opportunities at home or at the library.  You might be surprised on what they can do already.

1st Grade Integration

The 1st grade students have currently started to create a map of their bedroom in their house, which relates to learning about maps and globes within their 1st grade curriculum.  They are using KidPix, a drawing program to be able to complete this project.

They are creating either a "look from your door" perspective or a "top down/superman/map" perspective of their bedroom.  This will take them 2-3 class periods, and they will finish their map by labeling the different items in their room.  They will print their bedroom and put it in their portfolio to see if their parents and siblings can identify their room exactly.

Be looking for their finished project in their portfolios during conferences.

2nd grade Integration

The 2nd grade students have started to create fiction stories based on a couple story web sites to spark their imagination.  The students have and will continue to work with either KerPoof or Picture Book Maker to create their story and print it out.
The students first came in and looked around at both web sites to get an idea of which story web site they wanted to focus their writing towards.  They then started to jot down some of the characters, settings, problems and solutions related to the information provided on the 1 web site they wanted to create their story with.  They worked in their 2nd grade classroom to create the story and now are working on transferring their information from a rough draft, paper format to a finished, computer printed format.  They will be working on these for 3-4 cycles so it will be a work in progress to get finished before conferences.  Please ask your students about them and check them out with their 2nd grade teacher during conferences.

5th Grade Countries-Pictures/Poster

The 5th grade students are starting to learn how to save pictures from the Internet onto their computer to be able to use when creating their Microsoft Word Country Poster and their Microsoft PowerPoint Country Presentation.  The students are saving pictures from web sites provided by Mr. Morton, in relationship to monitoring copyright infringement.  They are saving these by holding down the control/ctrl button on the keyboard and then pressing the mouse and clicking "Save Image As" to save the picture to their desktop.  We talked about how the control/ctrl key is identical to a right click with a 2-button mouse, which both can be effective and practiced at home.

When the students start their poster they are going to simply create a 1 page poster in Microsoft Word full of pictures and text to better entice someone to travel to their country based off of the pictures and information they provide.  Another way to use Microsoft Word as a graphical tool more than a typing/word-processing skill.

3rd Grade Keyboarding

The 3rd grade students just finished their 2nd Words Per Minute (WPM) typing test.  They did a wonderful job and are more than halfway done with all of their lessons and learning all of the keys.  They have for sure mastered all of the home row keys, spacebar, return and delete keys and have mastered some reach keys and punctation keys.  Students can readily practice their typing at home, at the library, at a friend's house or anywhere they can get on the Internet.  Online Typing games are fun and easy to use if only for 10-15 minutes one time a week.  Some practice is better than no practice at all.

While they are learning to type they are also being introduced to some skill-based learning associated with Microsoft Word.
They currently have learned how to select/highlight a word, sentence and paragraph, how to bold, italicize and underline words and how to align left, align center and align right.  Practicing these at home can be a benefit as Microsoft Word on your personal computers might be a little bit different than Microsoft Word on the schools Apple Macintosh Computers.

4th Grade Welcome to the Web

The 4th grade students have finished learning about the Internet and Internet Safety using the Welcome to the Web web site.  They are now starting the "Challenge" where they are using the skills and information they learned to complete a fun game/challenge activity.  The ideas and information the students learn within technology are useful during the school day, but should most importantly be applied to uses at home.

The 4th grade students will soon be bringing home a green colored, "Our Family's Safety Contract,"   > > > > > > > > > >
sheet where there will be 9 things to think about when using the Internet along with 2 additional things the students write down on their own.  This sheet will need to be signed by both the parent(s) and student(s) and then brought back for Mr. Morton to verify.  This will then be sent back home for you to keep next to your computer to be viewable every time your student surfs the Internet.

Things that you should be able to talk to your students about related to the Internet and Internet Safety are:
Hyperlinks
SMART
Web Browsers
Search Tips
Copying and Pasting Text

5th Grade Countries-Research

The 5th grade students just finished up researching 7 facts about their country.  The students learned how to highlight, copy and paste their information from the Internet into their Country Facts sheet.  Practice this tool at home.
This also included copying and pasting each web site where they obtained each fact as per following copyright policies.  We talk to the students about how copying the information is okay as long as the web site is provided, but as soon as you start using that information, let's say in their Microsoft Word Poster or Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation, then they need to reword the information into their own 5th grade language to showcase to others.  During this process the students also blogged information with other 5th grade students at other WCSD elementary schools to share similar information, as all of the WCSD 5th graders are doing the same project.

Computer Whiz Winners-December

Every month Mr. Morton announces a "Computer Whiz" winner to a student in each 3rd, 4th and 5th grade class that is going above and beyond to showcase First Class Eason Behaviors in the computer lab, and throughout the school day, each and every day. Mr. Morton is just looking for someone that is showing Respect, Responsibility, Safety and Caring as a student, because they "want" to, not because they "have" to.

For the month of December the winners are:

3P- Addie D.

3Sc- Austin E.

3St- Ashley S.

3W- Nick F.

4B- Carson S.

4H- Anna R.

4N- Eliza F.

4P- Makenzye K.

5B- Jack H.

5C- Connor H.

5H- Shay L.

5S- Sam B.