Science Goal Work

When it is crunch time in the classroom, you know you have to pull out all of the stops! One thing that I love using in my classroom is our Science Goal Work Sheet. I'm not going to lie, the set up for this to happen was a bit overwhelming and took quite a bit of preparation.

The first thing that needs to be done is to have plenty of assessments covering a wide variety of TEKS to give you some good data for each child. Things I have used in the past was when our campus gave a "Science STAAR Simulation", MAP Test data, and anything in class that could help.

On the Goal Work sheet, you will see all of the 5th grade Science TEKS listed on the left side. Then there are 4 columns that say "Test 1", "Test 2", "Test 3", and "Test 4" this is where you will put the tests that you used for your data. The entire column for Test 1 is where you would go TEK by TEK and write the percentage of questions over that TEK the student got correct. You may have tests that don't include some TEKS and what I have done is just put an "X" in that box. After all of Test 1 is filled in for each TEK the student could go back and see which TEK's they might need some extra practice with or which TEK's they are rock solid in. At the bottom of the last page you will put the score of that test. You will continue this process with every test that you decide to include. Also I feel it is important to note, not all tests need to be put on the goal sheet at the same time. As you go throughout the year, you can add to the sheet and the students can see the comparison of the TEKs on different tests. At the very bottom of the last page is where the students will begin their goal work. They will look through the different tested TEKS and determine which one they need the most practice with. They will write that TEK for the first question. The second question asks the student how do they plan on achieving that goal. The students can write a sentence explaining what they plan to do.

Once all of the students goal sheets have been filled out, I place them alphabetically in a hanging file folder system. You will notice at the top right of the goal sheet paper there is a spot for a #. Where I teach, I see all of the 5th graders and have 4 different class rotations. Trusting the kiddos to keep track of this paper for longer than a week is a stressful thought! What I did was out of all 88 of my students I numbered them 1 to 88 alphabetically. I had 12 hanging file folders and labeled each of the folders with 3-4 letters in the alphabet. For example, the first folder was labeled "A, B, C" and all students with last names starting with A, B, or C would place their goal sheets in there. My hyper-organized self took it a step further and had the students not only place their sheets in alphabetical order per folder, but numerically as well based on the number I wrote on their paper. This is not a necessary step, just one that made my organized personality happy! Anyway, this helped the students keep track of their papers and not run the risk of losing it.

The final step can be the most overwhelming. I got one of the 10 drawer rolling carts off of Amazon, and made each drawer dedicated to a TEK. After reviewing all of the students goal sheets I would select the top 9 TEKS that had the most issues and made them a drawer. For the 10th drawer, I made this an Enrichment drawer for my high kiddos. Once each drawer has a designated TEK, I would put in some activities, sorts, vocabulary lessons, games, etc. into each drawer for each TEK. I know this sounds like a lot, but bare with me. Once it is all put together, it is ready for use. Now the students can truly work on their goal sheets. They should have already written the TEK they plan on working on more. If they wrote that Circuits was something they wanted to work on, then they would pull open the Circuits drawer and select an activity from there. The students can complete as many activities from the drawer as they need to until they feel as if they have it mastered. Once they feel like they've mastered a drawer, I typically have them complete a short exit ticket to "graduate" from that drawer. The way you use it in your classroom is totally up to you. In my class I have used it several different ways. If I was doing stations, I would make the drawers their own station or an "early finisher" activity if they finished a station early. During classwork activities, if they finished with extra time left of class, they knew to go straight to the drawers. Once they master a TEK, I always told my kiddos to pick the next TEK that they seemed to struggle with to work on.

This can be made for any grade or subject, I just happen to teach 5th grade science and have the whole set up for this. If you would be interested in this goal sheet for another subject and/or grade, I would be more than happy to make one for you, just shoot me a message! :)