First Homework Assignment

a-1-2-a-five-senses              a-1-2-b-five-senses

This is their first homework assignment so I’m giving a little extra guidance to help make sure we all meet the expected standards.  There is a copy of the worksheet included for downloading if it’s broken or lost.

This assignment is due Monday October 1st.

What I do expect: (If these are not met, points will be deducted from their score)

• pictures must be coloured
• name, number and class must be written on BOTH sides of the paper
• neat writing, with proper spacing
• completed work

What I DON’T expect:

• perfection, they are little I want them to do it themselves.  I want to see the children’s work no yours! (of course you can help them but please let them do it themselves).
• everything to be correct, I don’t expect them to get everything right and if there are errors they won’t be deducted as long as they show they understood the concept of goal of the homework.
• correct spelling, you’re welcome to help them correct their spelling but as long as I can phonetically read and figure out what they meant I don’t deduct spelling.  This is science class and our focus isn’t spelling and grammar, the focus in our class is the concepts.

I have included some step by step photos and an example of final product.  Please DO NOT glue the worksheet into the science notebook, I will guide the students on how to do that in class after the assignment has been graded.

 

Summer Time!

It’s been a really great year and I’ve had a really good time teaching your children. I hope you have a fantastic summer with lots of fun and happiness together! See you in September for grade two!!!

Summer homework: Have fun! 😉

In case anyone is interested, there is a Canada Day Celebration this Sat. It’s free and has family friendly activities as well as things for adults too.  Happy Canada Day!

https://www.facebook.com/events/110936156188479/?active_tab=about

Project Test Results and Advice

I just want to address any questions/concerns about the project test.

First don’t panic, if your child scored lower than you anticipated. I honestly tried my best to be fair and objective. Scoring the projects took a lot of time and thought. I originally intended to use 3 periods only but ended up giving the students a 4th period to complete their projects.

While we worked in class, they were allowed to use their books as well as help each other during several of the steps. Most of the actual poster was done as an individual, and I gave a lot of advice to the group and to individual students as they worked. I reminded them that clear pictures were important as was colour to make it look nice. But to be careful with colour, not to just wildly colour in a way that made it messy or covered up writing. I even let a couple of students start over when they had gotten a little wild with their paper. Everyone was give 2+ periods to work on their posters and the ones with very little data/images were repeatedly coached to add more information.

Some kids were over confident and didn’t take the project seriously, some stood up to present and said nothing or spoke in a complete or near inaudible voice. I genuinely tried to be generous in those cases but at the end of the day there is only so much I can do.

We are trying to vary out assessment practices because in the real world it’s not all about sitting down and writing an exam, at work, school and in life we’re assessed on many different things not just our ability to remember and regurgitate facts. I know that it might have been scary for some, but I think this was a good exercise for the kids. And that they have a lot of opportunity to learn and grow from this experience.

The rubric is in the post announcing the test project (a couple posts further down) and the the grade paper I passed out as deliberately small in an effort to save paper.

I took photos of the notes organizing thoughts paper, and the final projects for you to have a look at. I didn’t want to post them because I didn’t want people comparing the student’s work but I have no decided to preemptively address concerns and questions.

If you still have questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me at msmvince@gmail.com and I will do my best to address them as soon as I’m able!

I hope you all have a wonderful summer vacation!

Test Project

Dear parents,

This section the students complete a project as their science exam, which means there will be no written exam for this section. The project will be worth 100% of the test grade. The expectations are that they will understand the material we have learned this section and be able show that by telling 3-5 Key details from any Lesson from Unit C Chapter 6 lesson 2-4 p 212-231, Unit D Chapter 7 Lesson 1-4 p 240-267.  They will be expected to draw and label several main points from a single lesson, they will not know which lesson until it is randomly assigned at the beginning of class. The students will work in randomly assigned pairs. They will have 1 and a 1/2 lessons to complete this task. In the second lesson, they will have finish up their mini poster, then have 10 minutes to talk with the other students with the same lesson and add any information that they might have missed. Then they will break into groups and put together a larger poster for the chapter (by putting the lessons together on a larger paper). Each student will need to present orally one or two facts from their lesson to their group, this will carry over into the third lesson. Finally, they will compile their parts into a single poster to post in the classroom where the class will discuss the key points learned this section.

They will be permitted to reference the text book during class. They will be graded on whether or not they have enough key points for their lesson, how clearly they have demonstrated their understanding of those points, neatness and tidiness of mini posters, how well they communicate and work together in peer lesson groups (all of lesson one meets to discuss), are they able to stand up in their group and present their key points, and do they speak in a loud clear voice when presenting to their groups.

The project will be conducted during week 18-19 (June 13-20). I will post a copy of the rubric on the blog if anyone needs a copy.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions,
Ms Vince                                                                                                                         msmvince@gmail.com

 

Grade 1 Science Test Rubric
Instructions: Make a mini poster of a single lesson. Include 3-4 key points (4 is better) from the lesson to present to your classmates. You CAN use your books. Meet with your lesson group and discuss, help each other make sure your mini posters are complete. Present your lesson to your new group, in a loud and clear voice.

	5	4	3	2	1
30 points	30-26	25-21	20-16	15-10	9-1
Includes key information and points from assigned lesson	Includes 3+ key points from the lesson, all the information is complete	Includes 3+ key points from the lesson, but some information isn’t complete.	Includes 2 key points from the lesson, all the information is complete.	Includes 1-2 key points from the lesson, but some information isn’t complete.	Includes at least 1 key point from lesson, but some information isn’t complete.
Information is illustrated clearly (shows understanding)	Includes clear pictures and clear hand-written information for each point.	Includes clear pictures and clear hand-written information for most points.	Includes pictures and hand-written information for some points. Writing or drawing are a little messy.	Includes pictures and hand-written information for some points. Writing or drawing are messy.	Includes few pictures and little hand-written information. Writing or drawing are very messy.
10 points	10-9	8-7	6-5	4-3	2-1
Lesson poster looks nice	Mini poster is well organized, and visually pleasing.	Mini poster is well organized or visually pleasing.	Mini poster is somewhat organized, and looks ok.	Mini poster is not very organized, and looks messy.	Mini poster is poorly organized, and looks messy. Poor Effort.
Communication in lesson groups	Communicated clearly and well in groups. Helped others clarify their ideas.	Communicated somewhat clearly and well in groups. Helped others clarify their ideas a little.	Communicated fairly clearly and well in groups. Didn’t offer to contribute to others.	Communicated very little in groups. Didn’t offer to contribute to others.	No communication in their groups. Didn’t offer to contribute to others.
Stand up and present lesson	Gave a short presentation to their group including all key points.	Gave a short presentation to their group including most key points.	Gave a short presentation to their group including some key points.	Gave a short presentation to their group including only one key point.	Would not stand up and give a short presentation to their group.
Voice, loud and clear	Presentation is confident, loud and clear speaking voice.	Presentation a little nervous, loud and clear speaking voice.	A little nervous, voice is either loud or clear not both.	Nervous, quiet voice, unclear voice.	Can’t hear or understand their presentation.

 

Notebooks Request

I have a request, at the end of the year the kids will take all their books home, but I was wondering if it’s possible for me to have some samples to keep?

If you plan to keep them, which I completely understand as I would want to keep them myself, don’t worry about it at all. But, if you’re planning to recycle them I would love to keep ones that are in good condition as samples for our department.

If you think your child’s science books would be appropriate for me, and you don’t wish to keep them as a memento please email me and let me know. I will make a list and collect those books at the end of the month.

Thanks so much!
Ms. Vince

msmvince@gmail.com

Seasons Clothes

 

Seasons Activity

Recycling

Minerals

Investigating minerals, we looked at the colour, texture, and luster!

Children and Parents

Some young look just like their parents, some look very different.