Welcome To Curriculum Night! Mrs. Merkel Mrs. Rankin

Tonight we will discuss: Procedures Handwriting Word Study Readers Workshop Math Workshop Writer’s Workshop Science Social Studies Assessments Report Cards

Procedures Nightly Agenda signing: Please sign agendas each night & write the book your child read for 20 minutes. I will check them periodically to see what the students are reading. Communication Folders: These are the red folders that come home each Friday. It will have information for the week including Character cards. On the Return side, please make sure this information gets signed & returned on Monday. Comet Character Cards: These yellow or blue cards come home on Fridays in the red Folders. Please review with your child & both of you sign it. Please return them each Monday. Birthdays: As per the County policy, birthday invitations may not be handed out at school. As a class, when it’s a students birthday, I do give them a Happy Birthday Crown to be worn that day. If you would like to send in cupcakes for your child’s birthday, please let me know and we will have them after recess on that day. Please keep in mind the treat needs to be store bought and nut free due to student allergies. Any other type of treat will not be served & will need to be picked up by you. Cupcakes can not be sent to or from school on the bus. Lunch: If you come to eat lunch with your child, you need to sign in at the office first & get a visitor’s badge. Then wait for us outside the office to walk to the cafeteria. Our lunch schedule is posted on my website. Before taking your child to the stage to eat, please be sure I know so that I don’t think I’m missing anyone.

Procedures Transportation Changes: If your child is going home a different way for the day, please send a note in. I can not change a child’s transportation without a note or phone call from you. If you me after 10:00 am with a change, please also call the office so they can let me know. Our days here are full & I may not get to check my until the end of the day once the students have left. Fun Friday: We have Fun Friday each Friday from 1:45 – 2:30. These activities are used as a reward/consequence for letters above or below the line. The children need 80% for the first quarter and it will increase each quarter, to participate in Fun Friday. The activities could be Reading Nook, Puzzles, Board Games, White boards, Art & Drawing, 4 Corners, & Silent Ball. If students get less then 80% above the line, they will go to Study Hall to work on unfinished work, or other curriculum based work.

Handwriting We practice D’Nelian handwriting here at Cox Mill. This form of printing is proven to prepare students for cursive writing in 3 rd grade. Please help me by reinforcing that your child uses the D’Nelian way & writes everything as neatly as possible.

Word Study Students will work on spelling patterns they have trouble with & are able to have individualized “spelling” word list. It has been proven to help students generalize strategies & apply them to their own writing. It also creates lifelong spellers or word solvers instead of students who temporarily memorize words for a test.

Words Their Way Spelling Program Words Their Way supports Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction. Throughout the week, students use picture and/or word cards, sorting grids, interactive whiteboard technology, and manipulatives that give students practice in the element that correspond to the lesson's sort. The heart of the program is the sort, the process of grouping words or pictures that represent sounds into specific categories. Students compare and contrast words, categorizing similar sounds and associating them consistently with letters, letter combinations, syllable patterns, and spelling conventions. Quizzes Students will be expected to write their heading then sort their words in the appropriate column. Teacher will call words out in random order. The goal is for students not only to spell the word correctly, but also to understand the assigned pattern. In turn, students will be able to carry it over to their reading and writing. New sorts will be given on Monday and quizzes will be given on Friday. heading (patterns for long a) Sorted words

Reader’s Workshop Starts with a 15 minute Mini-Lesson Student reading/Teacher conferencing: 45 Minutes Breaks off into groups (15 minutes each) 2 a day starting on Tuesdays Stations include – Teacher small Groups – Reading buddies – Word Work – Media (Book) shop

Math Workshop Starts with a 15 minute Mini-Lesson Breaks off into groups (15 minutes each) 2 a day starting on Tuesdays Stations include Teacher – Reasoning – Games/Computers – Mystery/Math Literature

Writer’s Workshop Starts with a 15 minute Mini-Lesson Student Writing/Teacher conferencing: 25 minutes Teaching Point/Closing/Sharing: 5 minutes

Science/Social Studies Science: We use hands-on science kits to teach Matter, Life Cycles, Weather & Sound. Social Studies: We will study Geography/Map Skills, Government, Cultural celebrations/History, Communities & Famous Americans.

Assessments This Year I will formally assess your child using the following assessments:  Reading:  Reading 3D (3 times a year)  Discovery Education  Assessments per skills/strategies taught.  Word Study:  Spelling Inventories (3 times a year)  Weekly Buddy Checks

Assessments  Math:  Math weekly assessments  Discovery Education  Students will be informally assessing the children throughout the year during workshop conferencing/small group to drive my instruction.

Where to go to learn more Visit Cabarrus County’s parent webpage Visit our school webpage Visit our classroom webpage

Thank You! Thank you so much for coming tonight. Please always check our website to keep up to date on what’s going on in our class! Have a great Night!