Young Scholars Academy 2011-2012

How can you help your children prepare for the new state test?

A Family’s Checklist for STAAR™ Familiarize yourself with the as-sessed curriculum, listed by grade level and subject at www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/ Make the most of the curriculum resources and/or events that may be offered by your student’s school Know the STAAR testing dates for your student’s grade level, available at www.ysafe.org/staar/test Help your student get a good night’s sleep before the test and set a daily routine that promotes healthy habits. Make sure your student eats a healthy breakfast on the testing day Reassure your student that he/she can be successful on STAAR View your student’s test results and history through the Student Por-tal for the Texas Assessment Manage-ment Systems at www.TexasAssessment.com/Students Look ahead to the next grade lev-els’ requirements to better prepare your child for academic success Review work that your child brings home looking for how improvements can be made

Additional STAAR resources: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/ www.ysafe.org/staar

If you have further questions contact your child’s teacher or any member of the our STAAR Team: Anella R. Coleman – Principal Rachel Riles, – Asst. Charter School Principal Rachel Riles/Jewel White– Reading Angela Amira-Moody – Technology Cassondra Walker – Science Taneisha Riles – Math Salvador Cena — Social Studies

Young Scholars Academy for Excellence 1809 Louisiana, Houston, Texas 77002

Phone: 713-654-1400 or 713-654-1404

Fax: 713-654-1401 E-mail: info@ysafe.org

www.ysafe.org

The Reading STAAR test will cover many genres of literacy including : fic-tion, non-fiction, poetry, expository, persuasive and media literacy. There are several things you can do at home to help your child to be successful on this test. � Encourage increasing amounts of si-lent reading daily. � Have them read all types of text such as biographies, newspapers, in-dexes, advertisements, posters, sched-ules, menus, catalogs, etc. � It’s appropriate to read to your child text that is at a higher level than they can read independently. Then you could ask them questions about what they heard. This will expose them to new vocabulary and have them think at a deeper level. The Writing STAAR test is a two day test. Students will write a composition and answer multiple choice questions on each day. On a regular basis, ask your child what they are learning about writing in school. Ask them what they do well as a writer and what they are working to improve.

Helping your child in Reading and Writing

Preparing for Math! Some changes our students will find on the math test. � In mathematics, the number of open-ended items on tests will increase to allow students more opportunity to de-rive an answer inde-pendently. � The rigor of items will be increased by as-sessing skills at a greater depth and level of complexity. This means your child must under-stand math concepts rather than memorize steps to solving problems. How you can help prepare your child for the math assessment? Ask questions while they are solving math problems such as: What have you tried? Is there another way to think about this prob-

lem? Can you explain this to me in your words? What do you know about this problem so far? Is there another way we can think about this? Is this like any other problem you have solved? What is it you are trying to do/solve/ find out? Help your student develop number sense: Play games with numbers Attend math workshops the school provides Study facts and allow them to manipulate num-

bers frequently

Science in the Classroom and at Home for Grades

SCIENCE STAAR CATEGORIES Matter and Energy Force, Motion, and Energy Earth and Space Organisms and Environments Do it! Talk it! Read it. Write it! Be responsible for your actions. Prac-

tice safe procedures. Keep a journal of scientific discover-

ies. Example: Pictures, drawings, words, etc.

Ask and answer questions. Seek answers to questions through

simple observations or research to find the answers.

Use the strategy of what do I know about a topic, what do I want to learn about a topic, what have I learned about the topic.

Make predictions. Record observations by describing or

telling what happened, and why it happened. Parents: Answer your child’s question with a

“What if question…” If your child asks: “Why do birds fly

south for the winter?” Your answer might be : “What do you

think would happen if the birds stayed at home?”