Welcome to Curriculum Night

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Welcome toCurriculum Night

• Fourth Grade
• 2007-2008

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Purposes of Grading

• Communication to parents and others
• Student self-evaluation
• Select, identify, or group students
• Provide incentives
• Evaluate the effectiveness of instructional
  programs
• Provide evidence of students lack of effort or
  inappropriate responsibility

Thomas Guskey, ASCD Conference, 2005 and GACIS,
2006
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Are Traditional Grades Really Accurate?

• Student who has demonstrated mastery of ALL of
  the standards, but fails the class
• Student who has demonstrated mastery of only SOME
  of the standards, but passes the class
• Student who fails every test and passes the class
• Student who does well on every test and does
  poorly in the class
• A child who fails the class and makes a 95 on the
  End of Course Test
• A child who passes the class and fails to Meet
  Standard.

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Thinking Point

• If the purpose of grading and reporting is to
  communicate to parents and students, is it more
  important to communicate accurate information in
  a format that is unfamiliar to them or is it more
  important to communicate faulty information in a
  format that they are familiar with?

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Our Class
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Who Do You Want Packing YOUR Parachute?
Who Learned the Most?
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A lot of current practice in grading and
reporting is shamefully inadequate. Guskey and
Bailey
Grades are not inherently bad. It is their
misuse and misinterpretation that is bad. Guskey
School has come to be about the grades rather
than the learning. Conklin
Grades are so imprecise that they are almost
meaningless. Marzano
The purpose of grading is to evaluate the
individual childs progress without comparison to
other children. Our intent is to describe the
childs progress. Lake and Kafka
Many common grading practicesmake it difficult
for many youngsters to feel successful in
schools. Canady and Hotchkiss
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The Point Is..

• To create a grading and reporting system that
  informs parents.
• To create a grading and reporting system that
  aligns with the classroom assessment practices of
  the teacher.
• To create a grading and reporting system that
  informs instruction.
• To create a grading and reporting system that
  supports student learning.

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If we accomplish our goals, we will be able to
have

• Consistent accountability to high standards
• Grades assigned based on a body of evidence
• Academic grade only reflects student
  progress/achievement of standards
• Non-academic topics, such as effort and behavior,
  reported separately

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• A survey was done last spring on standard based
  report cards, combination report cards, and
  traditional report cards. The majority of the
  parents that responded to the survey had positive
  feedback about the standard based format.

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• Social studies and science will still be a
  straight percentage grade this year.

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Language Arts and Math will receive both
percentage and standards based reports this
school year.

• Students will receive a 1,2, or 3 on each
  standard as they have in the past with each
  standard being worth 3 points. Therefore, if
  there are 5 standards in a subject area there are
  15 points possible. If a students receives three
  3s and two 2s, the student would receive an 87 on
  the percentage grade.

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Reading Percentage Grade 87 This was found by
the following calculation 3 2 3 3 2
13. Then, divided by a total possible of 15
13/15 86.6 87
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• Friday folders need to be returned signed with
  all stapled work for portfolios

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Spelling
Each week students will be given Sitton spelling
words. A spelling test will be given each
Friday. Students will highlight words each week
on a master list in their folders. Students will
be responsible for any highlighted words. Once a
word appears on the spelling list, students are
responsible for spelling it correctly all the
time. Some students will complete a pretest on
Mondays. They will receive a list of challenge
Sitton words for their test on Monday if they
dont miss any words on the pretest.
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Math
Students are using a new textbook series this
year. We will also be holding timed tests once a
week. Its important for students to become
efficient with all of their addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.
Please practice math facts with your child as
much as possible at home.
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Science
We will be studying several different units this
year. Students will have vocabulary and notes
from each chapter. Its important that they study
these on a regular basis. We have already studied
space. We will study weather next. We will also
learn about the water cycle, light, ecosystems,
sound, and simple machines. We will be rotating
science with social studies approximately every
three weeks.
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Social Studies
Fourth grade social studies covers United States
history through the Civil War. We will be
learning about Native Americans, Famous
Explorers, Colonies, Revolutionary War, US
Government, Westward Expansion, and the Civil
War.
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Reading
We will be reading several different novels
throughout the year and completing engaging
activities. We will complete reading skills from
the reading series. Students will keep vocabulary
words and assignments in their vocabulary
journals. They will also have novel booklets to
complete with each novel. Some students will
receive more challenging booklets and vocabulary
so that everyone is being appropriately
challenged.
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Accelerated Reader
Students will be reading Accelerated Reader
reading books. Each student will complete a STAR
reader test to determine their reading level and
the number of points they should try to reach
this year. Please encourage your child to read
nightly. We will read several AR books as a class.
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Homework
Students are assigned homework to practice the
skills they learn in school. Students will write
their homework assignments in their agendas each
day. Students will fill out a homework slip each
time they have not completed a homework
assignment. These will come home in their Friday
folders for parents to sign and return. Please
encourage your child to complete his/her homework
assignments and bring them to school. Homework on
most evenings should not take more than 40
minutes. We always try to be considerate of this
because we know many of the students are involved
in extracurricular activities. If it consistently
taking your child longer than this, please let
your childs teacher know.
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Policies
Snacks Students may bring a healthy snack each
day for the morning. Please try to send things
that will not interfere with school work. They
may have a water bottle at their desk. Supplies
Please check with your child each week on their
supply status. We are only using yellow 2
pencils in class. Absence Please send a note
with your child when they return to school from
an absence. The school needs these notes within 5
days of returning to school. There will be a
make-up sheet for any missed work when the child
returns to school.