How Can Your Child SCORE a Gold Medal at Moore?

1. How Can Your Child SCORE a Gold Medal at Moore? Curriculum Night 2012 3rd Grade KICKING OFF a New School Year!

2. Rules and Regulations • Our classroom rules are the same as the school rules. • Some big rules this year are: • Following directions the FIRST time they are given. • Being READY TO LEARN with all materials, homework, pencils, etc. ready • Not worrying about others, only YOU can get YOU to 4th grade.

3. School Rules--PBIS! • Safe • Making good choices • Accepting responsibility • Respecting myself and others • Trying my best

4. PBIS! • SMART BUCKS • Earned for good behavior, anywhere in the school, at anytime, by any teacher in the school (including me) • Can be spent in the school store • SMART CHECKS • Cannot earn them from their classroom teacher • Given to a whole class—when the class gets 10 checks we will have a reward!

5. Field Trips • Monday, October 8--Reynolda Gardens (Krebs/Sneed/1/2 of Matthews) • Tuesday, October 9--Reynolda Gardens (Jacobo/Lipe/1/2 of Matthews) • **We need 2 chaperones each • Thursday, October 25--Bees with Mrs. Smith (Matthews, Lipe, Jacobo) • Friday, October 26--Bees with Mrs. Smith (Krebs, Sneed) • Thursday, February 7--Freedom Train Play at RJR • Thursday, April 11--Millis Regional Health Center • **We will need 1 chaperone for each class • Friday, May 3--Heritage Theater Colonial Days and Ways • Students will need a bag lunch for all of these field trips. • Total cost is $30 per child. Please pay as soon as you can! 

6. Chaperones • We will need chaperones this year on 2 of our field trips. • You must be pre-approved by Mr. Maglio and the School System before you can go on a field trip. • Please fill out the Level 1 volunteer form on the district website www.wsfcs.k12.nc.us. Click “parents”, then click “volunteers”, then click “online forms” on the left hand side. • We must have approval of volunteers even to come work in the classroom and help with Tuesday folders.

7. Background: Common Core & Essential Standards • For the past 25 years, WSFCS curriculum has been The North Carolina Standard Course of Study. • NCSCS was termed “a mile wide and an inch deep”. Now, with Common Core, we teach fewer concepts/skills and go more in depth and raise the rigor. • A major step was taken in setting clear, consistent academic expectations for our students by adopting the Common Core State Standards. • Common Core Standards are a first step to leveling the playing field to allow equal access to an excellent education for all children.

8. Why Common Core? • To provide a more rigorous curriculum (fewer goals & objectives) • Aligned with college and work expectations • The standards provide clear, consistent expectations for what students should be learning at each grade in order to be prepared for college and career. • To provide a deeper understanding of content • -Students will be expected to apply and use the knowledge they acquire. • Each year builds on the next so that by high school, young people are prepared for college or to enter the workplace. • To standardize curriculum across the country.

9. How Common Core Standards are Different… • New standards are fewer and clearer, allowing teachers to move students to a much higher level of understanding of the material being taught. • Provides more emphasis on the use of knowledge • Less worksheets and more showing • Greater focus on real-world application • More open-ended questions • Problem solving that requires students to evaluate and determine best answers & solutions.

10. New State Testing Aligned to New Standards • NC will continue to assess students annually • In Reading and Math for 3-8 • In Science for 5th and 8th • More electronic tests • All subjects will have an end-of-quarter OR end-of-grade assessment • Test format will include multiple-choice, short answer, and performance tasks Demo of New Assessments http://go.ncsu.edu/nctdemo

11. English Language Arts or ELA • The study of Language Arts includes reading, writing, speaking and listening. • 6 Shifts in ELA/Literacy • Read as much non fiction as fiction • Learn about the world by reading • Read more challenging material closely • Discuss reading using evidence • Write non-fiction using evidence • Increase academic vocabulary

12. Math • The Math Standards emphasize that every student can be good in math, setting good math habits and strategies as top priorities for all students. Students should be able to: -Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. -Reason abstractly and quantitatively. -Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. -Model with mathematics. -Use appropriate tools strategically. -Attend to precision. -Look for and make use of structure. -Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

13. Here are the Skills Needed to Succeed in Each Quarter • Reading Skills (all year) Imagine It!: • Sequencing, main idea, drawing conclusions, inference, characterization, fact/opinion, cause/effect, author’s purpose, summarizing, compare/contrast, point of view, figurative language/idioms, poetry, visualizing • 1st quarter: • Math: word problems, # sense, place value, addition/rounding, perimeter, fraction introduction, introduction to multiplication • 2nd quarter: • Math: Applying addition/subtraction to word problems, telling time and elapsed time, geometry—shapes and attributes, Fluency with Multiplication through 100, algebraic equations (finding an unknown in a number sentence) • 3rd quarter: • Math: Measurement—volume and mass, Measuring Perimeter and Area, Relate Division to Multiplication, Comparing Fractions with models and reasoning (ordering, comparing, equivalent) • 4th quarter: • Math: Using Multiplication/Division to Problem Solving, Interpret Data/Graphs with fractional amounts, Linear/Area Measurement, Computing Fluently in Word Problems

14. Science/Social Studies • Science and Social Studies: • 1st quarter: Geography, Plants, Citizenship • 2nd quarter: Earth Systems and Processes; Government • 3rd quarter: Matter Properties, Energy Conservation, Forces and Motions; Communities change over time • 4th quarter: Human Body; Countries and Diverse Cultures; Economy

15. Things You Should Know: • There will be 2 District Benchmark Assessments this year (October and March) in Math and Reading. • 3rd graders must participate in the end-of-grade tests given by NC (May 30 and May 31) • There is no retest—do your best the first time! • New Online Grade book accessed through NCWise where parents can access their child’s grades for assignments before being sent home in the Tuesday folders as well as behavior and work ethics. • Contact Diane Cooper for access codes if you don’t have the “Parent Assist” handout. dcooper@wsfcs.k12.nc.us • Grading is on a 7 point scale as follows: • A=100-93 • B=92-85 • C=84-77 • D=76-70 • F= below 70

16. Tips for Parents: • At-home support is SO IMPORTANT—you see your child more than we do here at school. • Conferences will be scheduled on an as-needed basis but always feel free to contact me with questions or concerns. • You may access any of our websites to get spelling homework and reading logs weekly. • Access NCWise for up-to-date grades. NO PROGRESS REPORTS FOR 3-5 GRADERS! • Correct papers in the Tuesday folders and keep them for review throughout the year—great resource! • “Ways Parents can Help at Home” document gives practical suggestions. • Mrs. Peele has TONS of resources on her blog: http://bananapeele.blogspot.com – On the right under “Rockin’ Resources”.