Mini Mall Tips

I wanted to send a few tips for preparation of Mini Mall. On Friday morning, students do NOT need to bring their backpacks to school (they will not be necessary since Mini Mall lasts almost the ENTIRE day). For each booth, the students will need a "cash box". This can be a reused shoe box or other place that money can be stored throughout the day. Also, groups are going to want to have some "start up money" in their cash box for the first few groups that come to shop at their booth. We suggest about ten dollars in bills/ coins (depending on how much they are charging for their items). At the start of sales, I will personally go around to each booth and record how much money they are starting with in their cash boxes so we can be sure to pay them back at the end of the day. Just to be clear, money loaned for the cash box to start the day (approx. $10), WILL BE RETURNED at the end of the sales day. We will be meeting in the cafeteria instead of the classroom on Friday morning to set up booths starting at 7:30am and assist students in finding their sales spot. We are SOOO pumped for Mini Mall and look forward to a REWARDING day! Thanks in advance!

Homework This Week

Parents - 

Students will be taking the SAT-10 next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  This is what most teachers refer to as the "NRT" or "Norm-Reference Test."  The difference between the SAT-10 and the FCAT is that the FCAT compares 5th grade students amongst each other in the state of Florida while the SAT-10 compares 5th graders across the nation.    

• Many of you might remember that the students took this NRT assessment AFTER we finished FCAT during the 2 week testing window in April.  However, THIS YEAR, the students are taking the NRT assessment early which means our 2 week testing window in April will be much shorter.
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• The SAT-10 is NOT used for placement next year in middle school or benchmark achievement - FCAT is used for both of them.  
• During testing, please remember:
• - that students should receive plenty of sleep the night before the assessment.
• - that students should eat a hearty breakfast to fuel them up for the assesment.
• - that students will not have homework other than to read nightly.

- that students need to arrive ON TIME each day because we will begin testing promptly after we take attendance.  If a student is tardy and we have already begun testing, they will get pulled out later in the week for MAKEUP testing.  

Since testing will be going on this week, students will NOT have Word Study Homework or Math Homework. Instead, we are asking that students read nightly (as always) and also visit http://www.fcatexplorer.com/ and practice their reading, math and science skills for 30 minutes a night. Students should have their usernames/passwords with them. 

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!  Have a terrific week!