LESSON #1: THE BASICS

--Get a good night's sleep.

--Get in the bed by 8:00 pm on

test nights.

--Eat a healthy breakfast on the

morning of test day.

--Do not test on an empty

stomach.

--

LESSON #1: DURING THE TEST:

--Read the directions very carefully.

--Use your time wisely. Don't stay in one place

too long.

--Look back at the text to verify your answer.

REMEMBER: all answers are based on what the

text says--not on what you think they should be.

This is called "textual evidence."

--Double-check your work!

--For multiple choice questions, narrow down the

answer. Cross off those that you can.

LESSON #1: IF YOU FINISH EARLY...

--Go back and check your answers. Ask yourself:

Do they make sense?

--Go back to anything that you intentionally

skipped. Now spend some time on it.

--Make sure every question is answered. Do not

leave anything blank!

LESSON #1: YOUR ATTITUDE

--Do not panic.

--Do not get frustrated.

--Do your best!

--Don't try to finish first. Be

thorough.

END OF LESSON #1

Completion Ticket:

On a sheet of notebook paper write:

NAME:_______________________________

LESSON #1 COMPLETION TICKET

Write whether you want to use it for two points added to a test grade, or five points added to a Jaguar Jumpstart grade.

Write a five-sentence summary of how to prepare for and handle the TCAP test, based on this information.

Place it in the assignment basket as you enter class.

LESSON #2: WHAT SKILLS ARE COVERED?

The TN Ready / TCAP exam is based on the State of Tennessee's official "standards" of what a student should know before leaving the sixth grade.

On the State's website, it gives a long list of "standards," or skills, that teachers are expected to cover by the end of the year.

.

In the TCAP portion of the state's website, it tells us which of these "standards" will be tested on the TCAP.

I took that list and re-wrote it in "plain English." These are the skills we will be covering and reviewing over the next two weeks in preparation.

SKILLS TESTED ON TN READY / TCAP

Analyze what a text says and make logical inferences; cite textual evidence to support conclusions.

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary.

Describe how the plot of a story unfolds, and how the characters change as the plot moves forward.

Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall text and helps with the theme, setting, plot, or idea.

Explain how the author shows the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Compare and contrast the written version of a story to an audio or video version.

Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (styles) based on how they approach similar topics.

Distinguish claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not.

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text. Understand figurative and connotative meanings. Analyze how specific word choices affect meaning and tone. Understand allusions to other texts.

Understand context clues.

Understand figurative language, word relationships, connotation, and denotation.

Make and support a claim.

Write an essay.

Write a narrative (story).

Understand pronouns, including pronoun case and pronoun-antecedent agreement.

Understand simple, compound, and complex sentences.

Understand capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Especially understand commas, parentheses, and dashes.

As you can see...

WE HAVE A LOT TO COVER OVER A TWO WEEK PERIOD!!

Most of it has been covered at some point this year, but all of it needs a thorough review.

REMEMBER...

Do Not Worry!!

We will cover and review all of these things over the next two weeks.

We will take difficult concepts and make them simple. (That is my specialty!)

YOU...CAN...DO...THIS!!!

END OF LESSON #2

Completion Ticket:

On a sheet of notebook paper write:

NAME:_______________________________

LESSON #2 COMPLETION TICKET

Write whether you want to use it for two points added to a test grade, or five points added to a Jaguar Jumpstart grade.

List the top five areas from today's lesson for which you feel like you need the most help.

Place it in the assignment basket as you enter class.

LESSON #3: VOCABULARY FOR TN READY / TCAP

There are a lot of words with which we need to be familiar, in order to be successful on the ELA portion of the TN Ready / TCAP.

Most of these have been covered at some point in the school year, but we want to take no chances.

Today, we defined these words in class. On Thursday and Friday, we will be teaching the concepts related to them, to make sure that we understand.

As always, my goal is to make it SIMPLE !

Beginning

TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2019

TCAP TESTING!

The dates have changed.

The first day of TCAP testing will be Tuesday, April 9.

Let's be in bed by 8:00 pm each night before TCAP.

Let's make sure to eat breakfast before testing.

Let's stay out of fights on testing days.

Let's relax, but still take this test very seriously.

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PROPER PREPARATION.

IMPORTANT VOCABULARY WORDS

Allegory

Allusion

Central Idea

Claim

Clause

Complex Sentence

Compound Sentence

Connotation

Denotation

Dependent Clause

Edit

Evidence

Figurative Language

Genre

Idiom

Idioms

Independent Clause

Inference

Mood

Objective Summary

Paraphrase

Plot Structure

Point of View

Prose

Rhetoric

Simple Sentence

Summary

Textual Evidence

Theme

Tone

Word Choice

END OF LESSON #3

Completion Ticket:

On a sheet of notebook paper write:

NAME:_______________________________

LESSON #3 COMPLETION TICKET

Write whether you want to use it for two points added to a test grade, or five points added to a Jaguar Jumpstart grade.

Choose five vocabulary words today's lesson. Write the five words and their definitions.

Place it in the assignment basket as you enter class.

LESSON #4: INFERENCES

Making an inference involves using what you know to make a guess about what you don't know. It is also called “reading between the lines.” (text + what I know)

CENTRAL IDEA

The central idea in a piece of writing is the point that the author wants you to remember most.

The central idea can be found in three places:

1. in the beginning of a text

2. near the end of a text

3. not stated but implied through most the sentences

PLOT and CHARACTERS

Every story is a series of events (plot).

Events lead to new feelings in the characters.

New feelings lead to changes.

This means the characters are dynamic.

People do not stay the same.

POINT OF VIEW

the way the author allows you to “see” and “hear” what’s going on.

Skillful authors can fix their readers’ attention on exactly the detail, opinion, or emotion the author wants to emphasize.

First-person point of view is in use when a character narrates the story with I-me-my-mine in his or her speech.

Second-person point of view, in which the author uses you and your, is rare; authors seldom speak directly to the reader.

Third-person point of view is that of an outsider looking at the action.