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Grade 1 science is a great curriculum, and the age of the students makes it incredibly fun to teach. I have taught grade 1 science twice, and find that the students are thrilled with any concept you teach. However, being that I am an intermediate teacher, I found it difficult to work with the lack of reading and writing. On top of that, the fact that I was not the homeroom teacher, and had limited time with them, made it difficult to do any form of extensive conferencing. With that in mind, I decided to teach them how to write tests. Most people thought I was crazy, but let me explain first. I started by using games to teach them how to do true/false and multiple choice. I then continued with group activities that taught them how to do complete answers when writing (answer, reason/proof, example - all be it with limited sentences). The beauty of this is that when it came time to write a test, the students thought of it as a game, some even asking if they could do another one. On top of that, I sent home the test questions a week in advance, so students could practise at home. Okay, you are still wondering how on earth they write the test, well here is how I do it. I start by informing the students that they do not answer a question until I say so. I then start with the true/false, and read each one out loud, with a lot in intonation, and circle the room to make sure each student has circled one or the other. I then progress through each one out loud, continuing to monitor their papers to be sure they are keeping their circles in line with the questions. Keep in mind, I have spent time teaching them how to answer this type of question. I follow this type of pattern for each of the questions, first explaining what to do, reading it out loud, and circling to be sure they have understood. My next step is to sit down at a table and have students bring their completed tests to me (while all others work on the word search normally included with the test, or other work). I sit one on one, and look through the student's test. When I find a question that is not correct, or I feel could have more information (I always probe for at least one), I ask the student and have them answer orally, recording their answer for them. I also do this for the students who are not ready to write their own answers. In the end, I have had a chance to speak to each student, but those who are able to read and write have not needed as much one on one time to show me their knowledge. The last point to note is that I do not put grades on the tests. I found in the past that they get obsessed over them, and do not understand that achieving a B is great, and very few get As. A lot of people think I am crazy, but I can tell you that it works. I also believe that by having students write tests at a younger age, they will be more prepared as they progress higher through the grades, and their fear of tests will not be as great. I do have marking schemes for most of the tests, but often I would just end up using this rubric, as it was basic enough to work for all of them. There are times when I do have a chance to get around and talk to the students during their lesson. When I have a lesson that allows for that, I try to take notes of their understanding. Here is an example anecdotal note sheet I use for some other assessment. I make these up for any lesson in which I think I will have time to use it. I teach the grade 1 units in the order they are listed below. You will find that my living things unit is not complete, that is because in the two years I covered grade 1, I didn't make it to the end, although I was very close. I have included the blank lesson plans with the ideas of what I would do to finish, and on the student webpage I typed out a few more ideas.
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Student/Parent Web Page (contains all worksheets and answer keys) |
Assessments/Other |
Lesson Plans |
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Quiz Answers Rubric Marking Scheme
Curriculum - Expectations vs Lesson List
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I do not have a test, as I did not finish this unit.
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