A pathway is a set of activities that students might complete to make up a unit. It is personalized based on each student's performance on the pretest given the week before we begin a pathway. Each teacher or grade level might make their pathway look a little different, so please keep in mind that if you have children in other grade levels, their pathways may look different, but they serve the same basic purpose. I have included our current pathway at the bottom of this post.
Part 1
This section includes 4th grade level skills. Each skill has a row of activities associated with it. If the title of a skill is highlighted, that student will participate in a lesson with me. During that lesson, students take notes and complete a small number of practice activities. From there, students are given the practice sheet indicated in the "Apply" box for that row. Depending on the pathway, there may be one or more practice sheets. Multiple practice sheets would typically indicate that we have more than one lesson to teach different aspects of that skill. Students will also complete either the analyze or evaluate activity for the skill being practiced. Due dates for the practice sheets and analyze/evaluate activities are always posted on MyHomeworkApp.com. I try to give students ample class time to complete this work, but some of it may need to be finished for homework in order to be ready by the designated date. All practice work should be completed in (or glued into) students' notebooks in order to have both notes and example activities handy to help with studying. On the day classwork is due, we go over the answers and work through problems that proved difficult. The analyze and evaluate activities are discussed with students sharing their answers and asking and answering questions with me facilitating the conversation.
Part 2
Everyone will complete one create activity regardless of their pretest results. At least one activity will be highlighted for each student based on their pretest. This should be completed on separate paper and turned in as a formal assessment at the end of the unit. If a student showed mastery of a skill on the pretest, that skill is an option for the create activity in order to show their understanding in a different way. Students who participate in all 4th grade level lessons will be allowed to choose from all options, as will students who show mastery of all skills on the pretest.
Part 3
The unit test will be scheduled and the date posted in MyHomeworkApp.com and a message is typically sent via Remind. Students who score 100% on the pretest do not need to take the unit test, their pretest score will count.
Part 4
This section includes 5th grade level skills. I try hard to match 5th grade skills that would be the next logical step to the 4th grade skill that a student has already shown mastery of. For instance, students who have shown mastery of adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers would instead learn to add and subtract decimals. As in section 1, students assigned to these tasks will participate in a lesson with me, and complete practice activities from the "Apply" box. They then will choose either the analyze or evaluate activity that correlates with the skill practiced. As in the first section, all assignments have a due date, and students may need to finish their classwork as homework if they do not finish in the allotted amount of time. On the day work is due, we discuss the answers in class, going over particularly troublesome examples. I do give quizzes on extension lessons and post the results in PowerSchool, however, quizzes on extension lessons with scores lower than 100% will NOT be included in your child's average. I am able to post scores in PowerSchool without those numbers affecting their final grade. I want students who excel in these advanced lessons to have their grade reflect that, but I do not want to penalize students for not mastering above grade level work.
Part 1
This section includes 4th grade level skills. Each skill has a row of activities associated with it. If the title of a skill is highlighted, that student will participate in a lesson with me. During that lesson, students take notes and complete a small number of practice activities. From there, students are given the practice sheet indicated in the "Apply" box for that row. Depending on the pathway, there may be one or more practice sheets. Multiple practice sheets would typically indicate that we have more than one lesson to teach different aspects of that skill. Students will also complete either the analyze or evaluate activity for the skill being practiced. Due dates for the practice sheets and analyze/evaluate activities are always posted on MyHomeworkApp.com. I try to give students ample class time to complete this work, but some of it may need to be finished for homework in order to be ready by the designated date. All practice work should be completed in (or glued into) students' notebooks in order to have both notes and example activities handy to help with studying. On the day classwork is due, we go over the answers and work through problems that proved difficult. The analyze and evaluate activities are discussed with students sharing their answers and asking and answering questions with me facilitating the conversation.
Part 2
Everyone will complete one create activity regardless of their pretest results. At least one activity will be highlighted for each student based on their pretest. This should be completed on separate paper and turned in as a formal assessment at the end of the unit. If a student showed mastery of a skill on the pretest, that skill is an option for the create activity in order to show their understanding in a different way. Students who participate in all 4th grade level lessons will be allowed to choose from all options, as will students who show mastery of all skills on the pretest.
Part 3
The unit test will be scheduled and the date posted in MyHomeworkApp.com and a message is typically sent via Remind. Students who score 100% on the pretest do not need to take the unit test, their pretest score will count.
Part 4
This section includes 5th grade level skills. I try hard to match 5th grade skills that would be the next logical step to the 4th grade skill that a student has already shown mastery of. For instance, students who have shown mastery of adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers would instead learn to add and subtract decimals. As in section 1, students assigned to these tasks will participate in a lesson with me, and complete practice activities from the "Apply" box. They then will choose either the analyze or evaluate activity that correlates with the skill practiced. As in the first section, all assignments have a due date, and students may need to finish their classwork as homework if they do not finish in the allotted amount of time. On the day work is due, we discuss the answers in class, going over particularly troublesome examples. I do give quizzes on extension lessons and post the results in PowerSchool, however, quizzes on extension lessons with scores lower than 100% will NOT be included in your child's average. I am able to post scores in PowerSchool without those numbers affecting their final grade. I want students who excel in these advanced lessons to have their grade reflect that, but I do not want to penalize students for not mastering above grade level work.