COVINGTON SCHOOL, 4th GRADE!Mrs. Gustafson – Miss Coffman – Ms. Nemsick

WELCOME TO THE 2013-14 SCHOOL YEAR!

OUR MISSION

LEARNING TODAY FOR A SUCCESSFUL TOMORROW

LEARNING AND SUCCESS IN D123

EXPLORE

LEARNING

CAREER

HAPPINESS

CHALLENGE

ACHIEVE

LITERACY

POWER

MATH SCIENCE

EXPERIENCEEDUCATION

GROW

LEARNER

WISDOM

THINKER

STAMINAGRIT

EXPERT

BELIEVE

DIFFERENCE

OUTSTANDING

TOGETHER

SUPPORT

CONFIDENCE

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

BELIEVETODAY

SUCCESSFUL TOMORROW

SMILE

HISTORY

ART

WEALTH

FAMILY

COMMUNITY

TEACH

CHANGING TO THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS

THIS YEAR, OUR DISTRICT CONTINUES TO IMPLEMENT OUR TRANSITION OVER FROM THE ILLINOIS STATE STANDARDS TO THE NEW, COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE CCSS AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATION, PLEASE VISIT:

http://www.corestandards.org/.

Keep Calm&

Support Common Core

WHAT YOU CAN DO

REPORTING OF PROGRESS AND GRADING

THIS YEAR, WE WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE A STANDARDS BASED REPORT CARD FOR LANGUAGE ARTS. MATH, SCIENCE, AND SOCIAL STUDIES WILL BE REPORTED THROUGH TRADITIONAL LETTER GRADES UNTIL WE TRANSITION TO A FULL STANDARDS BASED REPORT CARD.

MID-TERM REPORTS WILL BE SENT HOME EACH TRIMESTER CONFERENCES WILL TAKE PLACE IN NOVEMBER. AS ALWAYS, YOUR CHILD’S TEACHER WILL REACH OUT TO YOU

IF CONCERNS ARE PRESENT IN ANY AREAS.

BALANCED LITERACY WE WILL CONTINUE TO BREAK OUR LITERACY

BLOCK INTO THREE SUB AREAS:

“WIN,” OTHERWISE KNOWN AS OUR ENRICHMENT PERIOD

WORDS THEIR WAY (WTW), OUR SPELLING PROGRAM WHICH FOCUSES ON SPECIFIC PHONOLOGICAL SKILLS THAT ARE TAUGHT IN A PROGRESSION

CORE LITERACY – NEW READING AND WRITING SKILLS

NOTE: IN MOST CASES, YOUR CHILD WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT TEACHER FOR “WIN” AND WTW. THOSE TEACHERS MAY CHANGE AS THE YEAR GOES ON

MATHEMATICS During the next few years our math curriculum will

transition from Everyday Math to Common Core State Standards for Math. These are based on the highest state standards across the country designed to ensure all students are college and career ready. The major change in our district is the gradual change from a spiraling math curriculum to deep understanding of specific grade level standards that are built upon, but not repeated each year.

SCIENCE

WE WILL BE COVERING THREE MAJOR UNITS IN SCIENCE THIS YEAR:

MAGNETS AND ELECTRICITY

EARTH MATERIALS

PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE CYCLES

SOCIAL STUDIES TOPICS

Branches of Government

Voting

Process

Early Western Civilizations

PBIS - THE COUGAR CODE

BE RESPECTFUL

BE RESPONSIBLE

BE SAFE

Helpful Hints:•PLEASE SEND GYM SHOES FOR PE DAILY

•LUNCH BALANCES CAN BE CHECKED AND PAID IN HOME LOGIC

•PLEASE MAKE SURE STUDENTS ARRIVE NO EARLIER THAN 8:10, SO THEY ARE SUPERVISED BY TEACHERS UPON THEIR ARRIVAL EACH DAY

•STUDENTS SHOULD BE READING FOR APPROXIMATELY 20 MINUTES EACH EVENING AT HOME

•ON LATE START DAYS, STUDENTS ARRIVE ONE HOUR LATE(THE NEXT LATE START IS WEDNESDAY, OCT. 2ND)

STAYING INFORMED

“LIKE” D123 ON FACEBOOK

&FOLLOW D123 STAFF

ON TWITTER!

REMEMBER!

WE ARE A TEAM! WORKING TOGETHER, TEACHERS AND PARENTS

CAN MAKE A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE IN WHAT AND HOW A CHILD LEARNS. YOUR SUPPORT AND VALUE OF EDUCATION IS ALWAYS APPRECIATED!

FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME AT ANY TIME WITH CONCERNS, QUESTIONS, OR IDEAS THAT YOU MAY HAVE!

THANKS FOR COMING TO CURRICULUM NIGHT!

I LOOK FORWARD TO AN AMAZING YEAR!

REFRENCES

DUTY, K., & JONES, J. (2013) 3 KEY IDEAS FOR PARENTS ABOUT THE COMMON CORE; WWW. HELLOLITERACY.BLOGSPOT.COM