Exam Questions: Year One Term One

Monday A.M.

Tell how God was faithful to Joseph in the land of Egypt. (Bible)

Show how nine beans may be grouped into three sets. Then, show how these same beans may be grouped into three different sets.

Tell how God miraculously protected George Washington during the French and Indian War. (George Washington by D'Aulaire)

Hum Mozart's "A Little Night Music".

Name the colors in the color wheel in Spanish.

***This morning's exam narrations went well :) I waited until Little Dude was down for morning nap, then I gave Shug and Punkin something fun to do and went into another room with SweetP. We had our little tape recorder and microphones, beans, and color wheel. I also had the exam questions. The only issue was that, at times, SweetP would forget to hold the microphone up high enough to her mouth, so I'd have to gently nudge it up in the middle of her narration. That may have been a bit distracting. I meant to time the exam session (just for future planning), but I completely forgot about it when the time came. I hope to time this afternoon's questions, though. Thanks so much for all of the kind comments :) You all are so encouraging.***


Monday P.M.

Tell the story of one of Britain's ancient heroes. (Our Island Story)

Tell why David Livingstone was not content to stay at the mission station in Kuruman. (David Livingstone)

What have you noticed (yourself) about a white-tailed deer?

Tell one of Aesop's fables (The Aesop for Children)

***Well, we're done for the day! This afternoon's exams took a total of ten minutes. One tip - if you're trying to tape narrations with a ten month old baby in the room, it might be hard to hear through the squeals and babbles ;) Once Little Dude was occupied with some Legos, SweetP began to narrate much more fluently than she had in the morning (even offering a little extra anecdote on the last question). It may be that she just needed to warm up since she hadn't officially narrated since Thursday. I'm pleased with today's exam experience! Although, I'm not convinced that this tape recorder is the best way to go.***

Tuesday A.M.

Tell three ways in which Martha Washington was a comfort to the soldiers in the Continental Army. (Martha Washington)

Arrange the hands on the Judy Clock to point to 7 o' clock.

Tell the story of the boy Jesus in the temple. (Bible)

Explain how water travels from the Nipigon Country in Canada to the Atlantic Ocean. (Paddle-to-the-Sea)

Name your family relationships in Spanish (example: Nana is my abuela)

***SweetP was a little flaky this morning. I'm not sure if the questions were a bit harder or what. I knew the Paddle question would be tricky - she got the basic concept of the pathway, but she kept wanting to name the Great Lakes in order of Paddle's course. Eventually, I told her to end her narration, and we looked at the map later on. Who knows how long she would have thought aloud about whether Lake Huron came before of after Lake Erie if I hadn't moved her along ;) We used a normal tape recorder today instead of the toy one with the microphone. I'll wait until afternoon exams are over to comment on my preference.***


Tuesday P.M.

Tell about your favorite aria from The Magic Flute. (The Magic Flute)

Tell all you can about what makes an animal a mammal. What can you tell about nursing sows and their piglets?

Sing as much of any folk song as you can.

Choose two different tree-nuts/seeds that you have seen this fall and tell all you can about them.

Count from 1 to 10 in Spanish

***Considering that we didn't get to these exam narrations until 7:30pm, SweetP did great! I didn't tape record these answers, I just typed as fast as I could. Which wasn't fast enough. I had to interrupt her a lot to get all of the words typed out. Not at all optimal. It definitely helps to type later after the narrations have been recorded. I'm feeling so-so about exams so far. I think I'll like having so many narrations typed out for our year end State Assessments, but I'm not sure about how beneficial I think they are in general. We'll go on with tomorrow as planned, though.***

Wednesday A.M. (Not today! We went shopping all day instead!)
***Thursday A.M. instead***

Recite a poem that you have memorized this term.

Tell a tale about a Greek or Roman hero. (Fifty Famous Stories Retold)

Using an orange, explain one way in which we can tell the earth is a sphere. (Elementary Geography)

Explain why the American Revolution was fought. (Martha Washington)

Translate the following Spanish words into English: comer, globo, por favor, hola

***I felt better about exams today. I purposed to keep the feel of things light and relational instead of too "exam-y". We did not tape record, but I typed as fast as I could (which is pretty fast), all the while abbreviating a good bit and misspelling a lot in my efforts to keep up. I still had to ask her to wait for me to catch up, though. After SweetP finished each narration, I took a moment to go back through my typing and correct my typing errors. I liked this better than typing after recording, but SweetP (of course) really likes using the tape recorder. She did say (sweetly - her blog name fits her) that she doesn't like having to stop her narration to wait for me typing. That makes sense. I think for our final exam questions we will try Lindafay's method and tape record without transcription. I could always type a few narrations each term for written records.***


Wednesday P.M. (No exams today - we played hooky!)
Thursday P.M. instead

Tell all you know about the continent of Africa. (David Livingstone)

Count out 12 beans into one set. Tell how many beans will be left if you take four away? Show your work with the beans.

Tell a fairy tale or folk tale that we have read this term. (Treasury of Children's Literature)

Tell all you know about the nest-making habits of goldfinches. (Among the Forest People)

Sing "Frere Jacques"

***We're done!! This afternoon we used the tape recorder again. Aside from the one time SweetP got completely distracted by brushing dust off of the top of it right in the middle of her fairy tale narration, I would say this session went more smoothly than those I typed as she narrated. I would prefer to not transcribe today's narrations, but I remembered that I had told SweetP (a few weeks ago) I would type out her answers. She's a paper-loving child and the idea of a little book of her own narrations appealed to her greatly ;) So, I guess I'm going to type out some narrations tonight,*sigh*. Helpful tip - don't make silly commitments to transcribing exams unless you really like typing. This is an especially handy tip if your child is a rather prolific talker.***