Student Skills

Student Skills cover a wide range of activities that enable a student to be successful at school tasks. Among these skills are Active Participation, Note-Taking, Study Skills, Test-Taking Skills, Problem Solving Skills, and other Academic Skills like reading ability. Many very successful students possess these skills naturally, but students who are not so blessed with innate student skills can develop these skills.

Active Participation

Although obvious to adults, students need to be aware of the fact that active students will take more from a lesson than passive students. Note to students: Think 'bump on a log' or 'wart on a frog' and then volunteer!

• Listen carefully to the teacher and the other students. Use the SLANT Strategy: Sit up straight, Look at the speaker, Activate your thinking, Note your thoughts, and Tell your thoughts to another.
• Think about what is being said -- Do you agree or disagree? Does it seem right or logical to you? Do you have questions?
• Contribute to the discussion -- Add your thoughts to the discussion, whether they are original or a piggyback on a previous comment, without being merely repetitive.
• Ask questions when you would like more clarification about the ideas. Do not sit idly and allow the class to move beyond your understanding; raise your hand and ask your question. You've heard it before, but one more time: "Someone else likely has your same question and is afraid to ask." We all get stumped sometimes, or maybe your mind wandered for a moment. Simply say, "Ms. Benedick, could you go back to ...?"
• Work cooperatively with your group and always do your share of the task to the best of your ability.
• Take notes. Sometimes you may get home and need the reminder that notes provide when you are working on your homework practice, and sometimes a new skill is dependent on a previously learned skill. You can use your notes to refresh your memory or to help a parent or sibling recall skills to help you.

Note-Taking

Students should take notes in each class every day. Each notes section should be headed by the date and the lesson topic. Do write on both sides of the pages, and just skip down a few blank lines to begin the notes for each day. Obviously, notes should be written legibly and pages should be kept free of doodling ;-)

• Anything the teacher writes should be considered important enough for the student to copy.
• Students should extend notes with ideas from the discussion about the content, such as the mathematical reason for a step in a problem or the scientific principle discussed or the historical significance of an event.
• Notes should include any diagrams or sketches used to solve a problem or display information.
• Use graphic organizers to help keep your notes in order and make your thinking visible -- T-charts, Sequence Chains, Main Idea & Supporting Details Tables, Webs & Concept Maps, Frayer Models, and Venn Diagrams. You may create your own or select from those available for class use.
• Teacher created notes should be glued into notes pages along with student notes.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary notes should be kept either in a separate section or starting from the last page of the notes section. Terms should be reviewed daily with a sprinkling of previous terms interspersed for maintenance.

• Vocabulary Flips/Fingers - this strategy was used in fourth grade and works very well. The same procedure can be followed using index cards, also, but the cards will be loose.
• A helpful addition to the fourth grade version is to use all four sides of each flip/finger: on the inside of the flip should be the definition of the term on the left of the fold and an example or use of the term on the right side of the fold; on the outside should be the term to left side of the fold and a labeled diagram to the right side of the fold. Do not cut the paper until all four parts are completed.
• Vocabulary pages should be stored in the open position to take up less space.
• Study terms 'forward' and 'backward':
• Forward study begins with the term and the student supplies the definition and an example.
• Backward study begins with the definition and the student supplies the term.

Study Skills

Mathematics

Math is unlike other subjects, although reading skills are a factor. To study math, students must do math. Attendance can be a factor also; math lessons all build on previously learned content, so missed classes may create holes in learning and understanding.  

• Taking good notes in class is a good start. Review your notes before each homework session to keep information fresh. Before a test, go back over all the notes for the unit.
• To review skills, read the introductory problem on the first page of the lesson. Think about how you might solve the problem. Solve it. Review your work by checking the solution/s in the textbook. Work through other examples.
• The textbook is a good resource --
• Text pages are marked 'For another example' and 'For more practice' with pages and items
• At the end of each section of a chapter, you will find a Section Review and a Section Diagnostic Checkpoint. Work through these items.
• At the end of each chapter, there are review pages: Key Vocabulary & Content Review and a Chapter Test.
• Go back and rework problems missed on class work and home assignments.
• Turn computation problems into word problems -- this is a good strategy for all times.
• Review important information and teach it to someone else. Doing this forces students to clarify their thinking and put their thinking and understanding into their own words.
• Use the online components from the website: www.pearsonsuccessnet.com and your login with the password bcpsmath.

NOTE: Be aware that not all lessons in the text are used in our curriculum.

Science and Social Studies

To study these topics, students will need class notes, vocabulary, and the text. In order to bring the text home, students will need to sign out a book with the teacher. Details like dates will not be emphasized.

• Preview notes and text for vocabulary terms. Be sure that all the terms are in the Vocab Flips and are being studied regularly.
• Turn titles and subheadings into questions. For example:
•  "Newton's First Law" could be turned into "What is Newton's First Law?" "What is the cause or effect of Newton's First Law?"
• "The Battle in the North" could be turned into "Where in the North was the battle fought?" "Who were the opponents in the battle?" "What was the result of the battle?"
• Take the information from graphic organizers and write short summary paragraphs.
• Have someone quiz on the information and vocabulary.

Test-Taking Skills

For math test preparation, use the online components available at www.pearsonsuccessnet.com

•  Skim the entire test to get a sense of the work and the layout of more time-consuming items like BCRs.
• Be aware of time limits. Check the time and be aware of when half the time is gone, and check that about half the items are completed. DO NOT obsess about the time, just be aware.
• Test items do not have to be answered in order, so students may answer the items in any order. Skip 'stumpers' that will cause loss of time. They are not worth more points, usually, anyway so save the hardest for last...except for BCRs because they are worth many more points than multiple choice items.
• Answer the easiest items first, then the BCRs, and finally go back to any 'stumpers' that were not answered the first time.
• If items have been skipped deliberately, make a mark on the paper as a reminder to go back and try again.
• Multiple choice (selected response) items usually have the correct answer, so try each possible response.
• Eliminate impossible or unlikely responses to improve your chances of guessing correctly, if necessary.
• Never leave a multiple choice item blank. You can blind guess and still have a chance at being correct.
• Be very careful of NH or Not Here choices -- yes, they may be the correct answer sometimes, but often they are there to trick students. Review work carefully and double check all possible responses.
• Beware of items that contain limiting words like all, none, never, always, and not. Read and re-read items carefully. Check your answer choice carefully.

Problem Solving Skills in Math

 There is a problem solving process that we use in problem solving.

• Preview the problem to get a sense of what it is about, what the question is, and what you are told.
• Read the problem more carefully and highlight, underline, or circle important information.
• Make the problem visual and analyze the problem -- use an organizer, draw a sketch or diagram, make a table or organized list, draw a representation of the problem using an appropriate manipulative, imagine acting it out, work backwards, guess and test, solve a simpler problem, write an equation, or find a pattern.
• Choose a strategy and solve the problem.
• Check whether your answer is reasonable and whether it is labeled.
• If time permits, try another way to solve the same problem and compare answers.

Some problem solving strategies were suggested above: use an organizer, draw a sketch or diagram, make a table or organized list, draw a representation of the problem using an appropriate manipulative, imagine acting it out, work backwards, guess and test, solve a simpler problem, write an equation, or find a pattern.

• use an organizer -
• Addition & Subtraction: Parts and Total, Change, Comparison (missing part problems (start unknown, change unknown, answer unknown);
• Multiplication & Division: Area Model, Array Model, Part/Whole (Fractional Parts), Comparison, Repeated Addition or Subtraction, and Ratio (working with groups (combining, breaking into groups, finding a difference, an amount repeated x many times)
• draw a sketch or diagram - when the problem gives information like a story or that can be pictured
• make a table or organized list
• problems that give more than one set of data, or
• problems that ask for data to be continued
• draw/solve with manipulatives
• choose an appropriate manipulative
• if a test, draw the manipulatives
• act it out -  for problems that could be acted out and can be visualized using people and actions
• work backwards -
• when the end is given and the start amount or time is to be determined
• problems that call for inverse operations (division problem with divisor or start unknown, multiplication with a missing factor, subtraction with missing start or change, or addition with a missing addend)
• guess and test - when the end is given and the parts must be found
• solve a simpler problem - especially useful for fractional problems - solve using whole numbers and use the same operation and procedure with the fractional numbers in the actual problem
• write an equation - when the information for two of three parts (start, change, answer) is provided and the operation is clearly understood
• find/use a pattern - information suggests a pattern or asks to extend a pattern 

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