FCAT For Families - St. Johns County School District

FCAT for FamiliesWinning the Home FrontSimple strategies for helping your childachieve better scores on the FCAT1

GOALSupport the efforts offamilies in promotingchildren’s achievementof FCAT skills.2

Objectives1. Understand what the FCAT is and whatour children are expected to do.2. Understand why increasing time spentreading and having conversations arethe most effective ways to help yourchild be successful on the FCAT.3. Learn how to support your child duringtest-taking time.4. Leave with simple strategies to use athome with your child.3

FCATWhat is the FCAT 2.0?FCAT – Florida ComprehensiveAssessment Test The FCAT is a test given to Florida students todetermine what they know and can do in reading,math, writing, and science. The FCAT was developed by the state of Floridaand first administered in 1998. FCAT 2.0 Reading, Math and Science will beadministered during the spring of 2012.4

When do studentstake the FCAT?5

Reading Monday & Tuesday,April 16 & 17, 2012 Math Wednesday & Thursday,April 18 & 19, 2012 Science Tuesday & Wednesday,April 24 & 25, 2012

FCATElementary School FCAT scores areused to: Identify students’ strengths andweaknesses. Guide classroom instruction. Determine a school’s status underNo Child Left Behind and Florida’saccountability system.7

FCATYou can use FCAT scores to: Identify your child’s talents and provideenrichment. Determine if your child needs extra helpin any areas. You may decide to providethe extra help at home or enroll yourchild in Supplemental EducationalServices (SES). Decide what school to choose for yourchild through your district’s schoolchoice program.8

FCATSchools Cannot“Teach to the Test”For the first time, math andreading FCAT tests willonly include multiplechoice questions9

FCATFCAT expects our children to: Take skills and use them in real-lifeproblem solving situations. Solve multi-step problems. Understand and use information. Get the main idea from reading. Write and organize thoughts. Read, write, and problem-solve for45 minutes or longer.10

Throughout the YearYou can use everyday opportunitiesthroughout the year to ensure yourchild’s FCAT success. Just small amounts of time can reap enormousbenefits. Make the most of the time you already have. Alittle bit of time over the long haul makes all thedifference. Use everyday opportunities to build readingvocabulary, reading comprehension, problemsolving skills, and math skills.11

QuestioningThree kinds of questions: Lower Complexity: recall, observe orrepresent basic facts. Moderate Complexity: involves two steps:comprehension and subsequent processing oftext. Higher Complexity: abstract reasoning,planning, analysis, synthesis, judgment &creative thinking12

QUESTIONING(continued)Easy ways to ask Higher Order questionsduring everyday opportunities: Why did ? Why do you think ? What if ? How would you ? How do you know ? How are alike/different? How did/does ? Which is better ? Why?13

Simple IdeasDoing Laundry: Let your child help sort some of the laundry and explainhis reasoning. Ask your child to determine the size of the load of clothesand the appropriate amount of detergent that shouldbe used. How long will it take the clothes to wash? To dry? What water temperature should be used? Why? At the laundromat, how much will it cost to wash anddry one load of the clothes? All the clothes?14

Simple Ideas(continued)Doctor’s Office: What time do we need to leave in order to be on time for theappointment? How long (do we need/did we have) to wait to see thedoctor? Why do we usually have to wait past our appointment timeto see the doctor? Make use of the wait time to read, complete a crosswordpuzzle, or play a game.15

Simple Ideas(continued)Grocery Shopping: Let your child help you find items on your grocerylist and cross them off as you put them in the cart. Read and discuss the labels on products. Check outthe ingredients and nutritional information. Have your child put items on the counter the waythey should be bagged (frozen items, produce, drygoods, etc.). Why are certain items placed near the check-outcounter such as gum, candy bars, and magazines? How much will we save using coupons?16

Simple Ideas(continued)Riding in the Car: Predict how long it will take to get to the destinationand compare to how long it actually took. Talk with your child about landmarks on the route. What is an alternate route to get to the destination?Which route is the most efficient? Create a traveling backpack. Include things like paper,maps, books/magazines, pencils, markers, calculator,and activity books.17

Simple Ideas(continued)Riding in the car: Play songs that teach sounds/letters/words, math orother educational concepts. Print MapQuest for your destination. Ask yourchild to follow along with the map while you drive. Play an audio book on tape or CD. Have your child read aloud to you.18

READING Support your child’s reading interest byproviding a variety of reading materials. Support your child’s reading level by helping herchoose books that are appropriate for her level. Have family reading time where everyone reads.Read together and individually. Use sticky notes and sticky flags to write or markinteresting or difficult words or concepts in thetext to talk about later.19

WRITINGHave your child: Write in a daily journal or diary. Write letters or emails to friends. Write out errand lists and schedules for chores,appointments, and after school activities. Set up a writing station at home with scrap paper, pens,markers, pencils, stapler, tape, scissors, and magazines. Encourage your child to write their own version offavorite stories and poems. (Ex: The book The VeryHungry Caterpillar could become The Very HungryTadpole.)20

MATH Make math fun! Read fun math books. Play cards,number games, and puzzles. Read and interpret charts and graphs in thenewspaper. Determine how far you will be able to drive with theamount of gas in the tank. Find measuring opportunities:-Have your child help with cooking, reading the recipes,and measuring the ingredients.-Keep a growth chart.21

MATH(continued) Let your child handle money. Have him estimatechange due back. Help him check by counting itback. Create written schedules together and let yourchild be responsible for telling time. Let your child practice using a pocket calculator.Use it at the store to check predictions about thetotal.22

ScienceScience is not just a collection of facts. It is a way ofthinking that includes these components: Observing-Help your children notice small details. “Whatshapes do you see in the spider web?” Classifying-Find opportunities for your child to putthings into groups, such as sorting socks, their toys,canned goods. Predicting-Ask “What might happen if ?” questionsand then test them when appropriate. “How long do youthink that ice cube will last sitting on the counter?” Quantifying-Find everyday opportunities to quantify.“Who is the shortest person in the family?” “Whosebedroom is bigger?”23

SCIENCE(continued) Look for opportunities for your child to collect thingsfrom nature to observe and investigate. Encourage your child to take things apart such as oldtoys, clocks, and broken small appliances. (Don’tforget about safety.) Read and DISCUSS science related books andmagazines together. Help your child learn how to use the text features suchas illustrations/photographs, table of contents, index,glossary, captions, charts, maps, tables, and graphs tobetter understand the information.24

SCIENCE(continued) Watch and discuss the weather station andscience related television shows together as afamily. Check for local science workshops, camps,nature walks, or other science relatedprograms. Visit local attractions that teach scienceconcepts such as science museums,planetariums, aquariums, and zoos. Experiment with cooking, mixing paints, andcreative activities such as paper mache.25

TELEVISION It does not have to bethe enemy of education! Use the TV Guide and schedule qualityprograms to be watched during the week. Watch programs together and make itinteractive. Remember, talking buildsvocabulary which supports comprehension andproblem solving skills.“What do you think will happen next?”“Do you think what that character did wasright?”“Why or why not?”26

VIDEO GAMES Video games require problem solving skills toadvance from one level to the next level. Have your child write and/or illustrate a storyabout characters from the game and describe thecharacters’ personalities. Ask questions about strategies used to win thegames.“How do you get to the next level?”“Why do you need that yellow „power-up‟ thing?”“Why did you choose to play this game?” Computers are great resources for buildingbackground knowledge and skills in all subject27areas.

Before the TestMake sure your child: Arrives at school on time.Gets a good night’s sleep.Eats a healthy breakfast.Knows you care!Make sure you: Encourage your child.Keep a positive attitude.Talk and listen to your child.Provide time for relaxation and exercise.Review test taking strategies with your child.28

On a Daily BasisYour child should: Get plenty of sleep. Eat balanced meals. Arrive on time to school! Be an active, focused,and engaged listener!!!! Do their best!!!!!!

Strategiesfor Success

Reading1. Read the questions.2. Read the captions under pictures,diagrams and/or charts.3. Read the selection.4. Reread the questions and look back inthe selection.a. Eliminate impossible choices andchoose the best answer.

Math & Science1. Read each question carefully and look forkey words to provide a betterunderstanding of how to solve the problem;choose a strategy.2. Determine which data is necessary;eliminate unnecessary data.3. Break the question into parts.4. Complete one part at a time and check offeach part as it is completed.5. Reread the final question and make surethat your answer reflects an accurate andreasonable solution.

TEST TAKING STRATEGIES Make sure to read and follow alldirections. Reread if necessary. Do not spend too much time on any onequestion. If the question is too difficult,skip it and come back to it later. If you are still not sure of the correctanswer, make your best guess. Do not leave any questions unanswered.33

TEST TAKING STRATEGIES(continued) On multiple choice questions, avoid thetemptation to choose an answer until youhave read and thought about the choices. On multiple choice questions, eliminatethe answers that you know are wrong,then make your best guess.34

TEST TAKING STRATEGIES(continued) When you are finished, check to see youhave not skipped any questions. If you have time, reread to be sure youare satisfied with your answers. Be especially careful to check math worksince computation errors are sometimesmade.35

WINNING AT HOME Start by making learning a priority.Show interest in school work.Support 100% attendance.Look for everyday opportunities to havefrequent conversations and listen attentively. Ask higher order questions at everyopportunity. READ, READ, READ!!! Make it FUN! FUN! FUN!!36

FCAT 2.0 Info&Sample Test Questionshttp://fcat.fldoe.org/fcat237

FCAT What is the FCAT 2.0? FCAT – Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test The FCAT is a test given to Florida students to determine what they know and can do in reading, math, writing, and science. The FCAT was developed by the state of Florida and first administered in 1998. FCAT 2.0 Reading, Math and Science will be