... she can't seem to figure out what the question is asking on the test. Or she can't write what she means in her head. "What is a star?" got the answer, "We see one at day and night." When asked, she says the sun is a star we see in the daytime, and we see the other stars at night, and then she went on and on about stars and planets and space. But even that isn't an answer to "what is a star".
First, she's a little kid. So I'd keep that idea in mind, especially if your son grew out of it.
I suggest going over a couple passages with her so that you can see precisely what trips her up and then ask her what she's thinking at the time. Can you ask the teacher to give you photocopies of a couple passages that she hasn't done yet, and the questions?
Personally, I question the value of these types of exercises as currently used. They strike me as being of the industrial-learning variety (stuff is created in a uniform way that removes uniqueness and evaluated using broad metrics that don't really work when dealing with the developing mind). However, at the same time, you may be able to find a little area where she's confused about something. Maybe Knitting Mama is right about overthinking. Or maybe she doesn't quite get the point of the exercise. Maybe the question is badly phrased. I can see my own seven-year-old mind getting stuck on "What is a star?
" You mean, do I have to classify it? As in, what is a dog? A dog is a mammal? A dog is an animal? A dog is common pet? I don't know how to classify stars! Are there daytime stars and nighttime stars?!?Actually, when I was doing my oral exam for my M.Sc., I was asked about the kind of reaction that took place in some certain situation with viruses. The answer was "they mutate." But I had a background in chemistry and thought the examiner was looking for the specific type of chemical reaction that took place during the mutation. Boy, did I get flustered.
