NYSTCE Multi-Subject: Childhood cheat sheet

Phonological awareness is an oral/aural skill (rhyming, syllable counting, phoneme blending); phonics applies letter-sound knowledge to printed words.

The five essential components of reading instruction are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Fluency has three measurable dimensions: accuracy, rate (words correct per minute), and prosody (expression and phrasing).

Ehri's word-reading phases in order: pre-alphabetic, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic, consolidated alphabetic.

Six common syllable types: closed (short vowel), open (long vowel), vowel-silent e, vowel team, r-controlled, and consonant-le.

Comprehension strategies include predicting, questioning, visualizing, monitoring/clarifying, and summarizing.

The writing process stages are prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing; revision targets ideas and organization, editing targets conventions.

Common informational text structures: description, sequence, compare-contrast, cause-effect, and problem-solution.

Vocabulary tiers: Tier 1 = everyday conversation words, Tier 2 = cross-curricular academic words, Tier 3 = domain-specific technical terms.

Base-ten place value: each place value is ten times the value of the place to its right and one-tenth the value of the place to its left.

Renaming a fraction by multiplying numerator and denominator by the same nonzero number produces an equivalent fraction; a/b = (a×n)/(b×n).

Order of operations: grouping symbols, then exponents, then multiplication/division left to right, then addition/subtraction left to right.

Distributive property a(b + c) = ab + ac underlies the standard multi-digit multiplication algorithm; a + b = b + a is the commutative property.

Area/perimeter formulas: rectangle A = lw and P = 2(l + w); triangle A = ½bh; circle A = πr² and C = 2πr.

Volume of a rectangular prism: V = l × w × h, equivalent to counting the unit cubes that fill it without gaps or overlaps.

Measures of center: mean = sum of values ÷ number of values; median = middle ordered value (mean of two middles if n is even); mode = most frequent value; range = maximum − minimum.

Fraction-decimal-percent equivalences: 1/4 = 0.25 = 25%; 3/4 = 0.75 = 75%; 1/5 = 0.2 = 20%; 1/8 = 0.125 = 12.5%.

The greatest common factor simplifies fractions (divide numerator and denominator by the GCF); the least common multiple gives a common denominator.

Photosynthesis equation: 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + light energy → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂; chlorophyll in chloroplasts captures the light.

Water cycle stages in order: evaporation (and transpiration), condensation, precipitation, collection; the Sun is the energy source.

Three rock classes: igneous (cooled magma/lava), sedimentary (compacted and cemented sediment), metamorphic (preexisting rock altered by heat and pressure).

In a food chain, energy flows one way from producers to consumers, with roughly 10% transferred to each successive trophic level.

Physical change alters size, shape, or state without forming a new substance; chemical change forms new substances with different properties.

Earth's 23.5° axial tilt, not its distance from the Sun, causes the seasons; a full lunar phase cycle takes about 29.5 days.

Elements of art: line, shape, form, color, value, texture, space. Principles of design: balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, unity.

U.S. federal government branches: legislative (makes laws), executive (enforces laws), judicial (interprets laws), linked by checks and balances.

In music, pitch is highness/lowness of sound, rhythm is the organization of duration and beat, dynamics is loudness, and timbre is tone color.