What's Happening This Week:

**We will continue CMAS testing with our second of three Science Unit assessments tomorrow (Tuesday, April 14th). We will test every morning from 7:30-9:30a.m. through Tuesday, April 21st.**

I am so proud of how well the students did last week with testing! I know how difficult it is to test right off of Spring Break but they handled it well! We are 1/3 of the way finished!

As a teacher, I use the CMAS/NWEA data to help determine:

• If your student is on grade level
• If your student is in need of intervention or advanced learning plan
• How to group students to ensure optimal learning during partner/group projects

As a class, the data is used to identify:

• Where, if any, gaps exist that I need to fill
• Subjects/content areas I can accelerate due to broad knowledge base
• Identify areas where I need to further develop instruction
• Evaluate curriculum and preparedness for my fifth grades for sixth grade/middle school

As an Intermediate team/teacher team we triangulate data samples to include CMAS, NWEA and Dibels to create a whole picture of student learning. CMAS is the only norm based assessment we administer that evaluates writing and compares it to a broad base of students.

It would be extremely helpful and extremely appreciated if any absences/appointments could be scheduled in the afternoons. I will be doing my best to limit (and hopefully eliminate) homework during CMAS testing. Thank you, I appreciate your support of our classroom!

Important Upcoming Dates:

**April 7-24th - CMAS Testing - Grades 3-8**

April 16th - Bookmobile after school

April 24th - 3-8 Spring Program @ WCHS 6:30pm

April 21 - May 1: StuCo Yarn Drive

April 28th-May 15th - NWEA/DIBELS End of Year Testing

This week:

We will continue to work with multiplying/dividing fractions as well as working on Volume, Coordinate Plane and Measurements/Conversions. We will also continue to do some review of prior knowledge as we get ready for CMAS Math this week.

We will continue diving into my absolute favorite unit we have all year on Wednesday - American Civil War! I am so excited about this unit! There WILL be an individual project that comes with this, however, I will wait until after CMAS testing to start it.

We will continue our Wonder Novel Study this week. This is one of my favorite books. We often have amazing conversations throughout the book. I ask students to self-reflect during discussion and writing prompts.

It is quite long so it will take us through a large portion of April. I hope to be able to watch the movie at the end.

We will begin our next History unit soon. I am undecided just yet on which unit it will be. It may depend on how our afternoons look, trying to get through the Civil War content because it is more in depth and often takes more time to get through, especially with mornings dedicated to testing.

Due to the Civil War content being in depth and generally a lot of content to cover, we will prioritize this before adding another history unit.

No new lists until after CMAS! We WILL review and practice Civil War content specific words to ensure students understand the vocabulary.

We won't have another major essay due until after CMAS/NWEA testing when we complete our final End of Year writing assessment with our Civil War Research Project. More info to come.

**April 7-24th - CMAS Testing - Grades 3-8**

April 16th - Bookmobile after school

April 24th - 3-8 Spring Program @ WCHS 6:30pm

April 21 - May 1: StuCo Yarn Drive

April 28th-May 15th - NWEA/DIBELS End of Year Testing