Open House Powerpoint

Thanks to all that attended Open House tonight.  If you didn't attend or want a copy of the powerpoint presentation click below.  It's also posted under the resources link above.

Open House

Don't forget Open House on Thursday, September 26, 2013.

5 pm dinner can be purchased
6 pm PTA general membership meeting
6:30 pm Title 1 information meeting
6:45 pm - 7:15 pm Open House
7:15 pm - 7:45 pm Open House

Hope to see everyone tomorrow evening.

New Report Cards

Elementary Report Cards

WCPSS uses standards-based grading for report cards that are provided at the end of each quarter (nine weeks) of instruction. The purpose of the report card is to inform students and parents about a student’s performance on the grade level standards in all content areas.

Starting in the 2013-14 school year, WCPSS will not use 3* for the elementary standards-based report cards. Student performance will be shown with levels of 1 to 4 to indicate whether the student has met the expectations set by the state in the Standard Course of Study and to indicate whether the student has the necessary skills and concepts to be successful in the next quarter or next grade. The descriptors for each level have been aligned to the expectations of the new Standard Course of Study (Common Core State Standards and Essential Skills) for all content areas.

                       

Level	Descriptor
4 - Exemplary	Student consistently demonstrates an in-depth understanding of the standards, concepts, and skills taught during this reporting period.
3 - Proficient	Student consistently demonstrates an understanding of the standard, concepts, and skills taught during this reporting period.
2 – Approaching         Proficiency	Student is approaching an understanding of the standards, concepts, and skills taught during this reporting period.
1 – Non-Proficiency	Student does not yet demonstrate an understanding of the standards, concepts, and skills taught during this reporting period.

Work habits and conduct will receive performance indicators separate from the content area.  The following indicators will be used:

Level	Descriptor
3	Meets expectations
2	Inconsistently meets expectations
1	Does not meet expectations

Your student will also receive a report of the student’s progress in the specials (Art, Music, and PE) at the end of each semester.  The report is provided by the Specialist teaching that area.

In the comments section, the teacher will share information related to growth, strengths and needs of the student.

Parents may request a conference with the teacher to discuss their student’s progress and ways to support their learning in and out of school.

Hat Day

We've received 75 compliment cards. Therefore, we've earned crazy hat day tomorrow.

Flashcards

We are finishing up rounding, estimating, addition & subtraction and moving onto multiplication & division. Students MUST know their facts, which means they must have MEMORIZED them.  There's no other way to master math facts but to memorize them.  Math fact knowledge is key to mastering decimals & fractions. Please continue to work on math facts at home.

We are in need of multiplication and division flashcards.  The class would love it if you could donate flashcards!

Here are some examples of acceptable written responses to homework questions this week.

Page 101
11.  Is 65 closer to 59 or 68?
65 is closer to 68 because it's only 3 away from 68 and 6 away from 59 on the number line.

13.  Is 361 in the range of numbers from 348 to 378?
361 is in the range of 348 to 378 because it's between those 2 numbers.

15.  Maury has 325 stamps in his collection and Jan has 352.   Who has more stamps?   Use place-value words to explain how you know.
I know Jan has more stamps than Maury because Jan has 5 quick tens which is more than Maury's 2 quick tens.

16.  El Paso is 1,483 miles from Chicago and 1,280 miles from Nashville.  Which city is closer to El Paso?  Use place-value words to explain how you know.
Nashville is closer to El Paso.  It is 1 thousand 2 hundreds 8 tens away.  Chicago is 1 thounsand 4 hundreds 8 tens 3 ones away.  4 hundreds is more than 2 hundreds.

Page 103
14.  The population of France is about 48,109,000 people.  The population of Italy is about 58,262,000 people.  Which country has a larger population?  Use place-value words to explain how you know.
Italy has a larger population because they have 58 million 2 hundred 62 thousand people which is more than 58 million 1 hundred thousand 9 thousand people.

Students be sure that you are reading ALL directions and including your explanations/justification/evidence when answering questions.

Homework

I have begun posting the math homework on the blog.  Students will receive a paper copy of homework on Fridays.  If you need another copy at any time, I have scanned and linked the homework under the Student tab at the top of the blog.

If your child is absent, it is his/her responsibility to come to me and ask what they missed and for the copy of the homework and any other assignments.  This is beginning to prepare them for middle school.

MATH homework is due on Friday mornings.  See Reading Response Homework packet for reading homework due dates -- the first 3 reading response journal entries are due next Friday, September 20th. Reading Response homework information is also posted under the student tab.

Happenings in Mrs. Foster's Class

We have been in school for about a week and we learned something new today.  We learned that Giovanni da Verrazano explored the Cape Fear River in March 1524, Hernando de Soto explored the Great Smoky Mountains, and Arthur Barlowe plus Philip Amadas explored Roanoke Island.  In the late 1500s, Queen Elizabeth I of England gave Sir Walter Raleigh permission to start a colony in North America.  Yesterday and today we learned a lot of social studies because we had a social studies text.

I had a wonderful weekend and I hope everybody else had a wonderful weekend.  I hope everybody else had a wonderful week at school because if I didn't I wouldn't want to go to school if I were you.  I like school do you?  I love school because I met new people and became friends with them.  I learned about stuff I never knew about.

By Evelyn Nguyen

Classroom Responsibilities

I am organizing our classroom around the concept of a School Family, where each member learns the skills needed to successfully manage life tasks such as learning, handling frustration, communicating effectively, being sensitive to peoples’ needs and getting along with others. Within our School Family students have jobs to which make our classroom a better place for everyone, help classmates be successful by making decisions that keep one another safe, and working hard & completing work.

Every child has a job -- ask your child what their job is this week.  Jobs will change every other week.  This way our "family" will share the responsibilities of of running our classroom.

One job is Classroom Blogger -- check this blog weekly (Saturday mornings, hopefully) for a student prospective of what was learned during the week.

Standards Based Grading

Ever wonder what Standards Based Grading really means?  Here's a great explanation.