Professional Development

Early Childhood teachers will continue to develop skills in modeling and drawing out children’s language in complete sentences.

Writing process applied to children’s drawings will assist students in transition of spoken language to printed word.

Parental Participation

Communication:

 - Early Childhood teachers will submit newsletters   

   informing parents of skills being addressed in the   

   classroom with tips on  how parents can help develop

   these skills at   home.

 - Early Childhood teachers will hold curriculum nights to

   provide information to parents on helping students

   further develop literacy skills.

 - Early Childhood teachers will also instruct parents on the

   parent responsibility for student reading logs.

Learning at Home

- Parents will partner with Early Childhood teachers in

  requiring students to use complete sentences in making

  needs, facts, and questions understood.

Professional Development

Kindergarten teachers and the Instructional Facilitator will participate in building in-service meetings on the use of Hall and Williams’ Building Blocks strategies for developing phonemic awareness.

Kindergarten teachers and the Instructional Facilitator will utilize grade level meetings for continuous review of Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works. 

Kindergarten teachers and the Instructional Facilitator will utilize grade level meetings for continuous review of Literacy First.

Kindergarten teachers will utilize grade level meetings for continuous review of Earobics.

Kindergarten teachers will participate in a school wide book study of the book Building Academic Vocabulary.

Parental Participation

Communication:

 - Kindergarten teachers will submit newsletters   

   informing parents of skills being addressed in the   

   classroom with tips on  how parents can help develop

   these skills at   home.

 - Kindergarten teachers will hold curriculum nights to

    provide information to parents on helping prepare

    students for the OCCT.

 - Kindergarten teachers will also instruct parents on the

    parent responsibility for student reading logs.

Learning at Home

- Reading Logs include a space for parent/teacher feed-

  back regarding the student’s reading at school and at

  home.

Professional Development

First grade teachers, special education teachers and the Instructional Facilitator will use grade level meetings to acquaint themselves with strategies from Words Their Way.

First grade teachers will participate in building in-service meetings with the Instructional Facilitator and the Library Media Specialist to learn to identify ways in which students can best learn ways to access information using title pages, tables of content, glossaries, and indexes when conducting research.

First grade teachers will participate in school-wide in-service meetings stressing (QAR) Question Answer Relationship Strategy and Bloom’s Taxonomy questioning strategies to boost critical literacy related to the use of literary elements.

First grade teachers will participate in a school-wide book study using the book Building Academic Vocabulary .

Parental Participation

Communication:

 - First grade teachers will submit newsletters informing     

    parents of skills being addressed in the classroom with

    tips on  how parents can help develop these skills at   

    home.

 - First grade teachers will hold curriculum nights to

    provide information to parents on helping prepare

    students for the OCCT.

 - First grade teachers will also instruct parents on the

    parent responsibility for student reading logs.

Learning at Home

- Reading Logs include a space for parent/teacher feed-

  back regarding the student’s reading at school and at

  home.

- Pal Packets will be used to ensure learning of the      

  desired learning goals is extending to home for

  further practice of the skill.  

Professional Development

Second grade teachers will participate in building

in-service meetings with the Instructional Facilitator and the Library Media Specialist to learn to identify ways in which students can best learn ways to access information using title pages, tables of content, glossaries, and indexes when conducting research.

Second grade teachers will participate in school-wide in-service meetings stressing (QAR) Question Answer Relationship Strategy and Bloom’s Taxonomy questioning strategies to boost critical literacy related to the use of literary elements.

Second grade teachers will participate in a school-wide book study using the book Building Academic Vocabulary.

Parental Participation

Communication:

 - Second grade teachers will submit newsletters informing     

    parents of skills being addressed in the classroom with

    tips on  how parents can help develop these skills at  

    home.

 - Second  grade teachers will hold curriculum nights to

    provide information to parents on helping prepare

    students for the OCCT.

 - Second grade teachers will also instruct parents on the

    parent responsibility for student reading logs.

Learning at Home

- Reading Logs include a space for parent/teacher feed-

  back regarding the student’s reading at school and at

  home.

- Pal Packets will be used to ensure learning of the      

  desired learning goals is extending to home for

  further practice of the skill.   

Professional Development

Third grade teachers will participate in building in-service meetings with the Instructional Facilitator and the Library Media Specialist to learn to identify ways in which students can best learn ways to access information using an atlas, dictionary, and encyclopedia when conducting research.

Third grade teachers will participate in school-wide in-service meetings stressing (QAR) Question Answer Relationship Strategy and Bloom’s Taxonomy questioning strategies to boost critical literacy related to the use of literary elements.

Third grade teachers will participate in a school-wide book study using the book Debbie Miller’s book, Reading with Meaning.

Third grade teachers will participate in school-wide in-service meetings stressing Marzano’s strategies of Note Taking and Kinesthetic Representation.

Third grade teachers will participate in district in-services to identify ways to more effectively utilize Target Teach within the Standard District Curriculum.

Parental Participation

Communication:

- Progress reports/report cards

- Periodic phone calls or notes regarding student progress

- Third grade teachers and the Parent Facilitator will host

  a curriculum night where they will provide information

  about how to help students prepare for the reading/LA

  portion of the OCCT at home.  They will inform parents of

  home-friendly activities.

- Third grade teachers will hold parent/teacher

  conferences in the fall and spring to meet with parents on

  an individual basis.     

Learning at Home;

- Read 25 minutes per day.

- Pal Packets will be used to ensure learning of the      

  desired learning goals is extending to home for

  further practice of the skill.

- Homework will be assigned four times each week

  to practice and review language arts skills.

Professional Development

Fourth grade teachers will participate in school-wide in-service meetings stressing (QAR) Question Answer Relationship Strategy and Bloom’s Taxonomy questioning strategies to boost critical literacy skills.

Fourth grade teachers and special education teachers will participate in a school-wide book study using the book Debbie Miller’s book, Reading with Meaning.

Fourth grade teachers will participate in district in-services to identify ways to more effectively utilize Target Teach within the Standard District Curriculum.

Fourth grade teachers will participate in school-wide in-service meetings stressing Marzano’s strategies of Note Taking and Kinesthetic Representation.

Fourth grade teachers will participate in a school-wide in-service where they view an ASCD video called Building Academic Vocabulary: A Six-Step Process for Teaching Vocabulary.

Fourth grade teachers will work with the Instructional Facilitator to review the eight-step lesson progression for teaching comprehension

Parental Participation

Communication:

 - Fourth grade teachers will submit newsletters informing     

    parents of skills being addressed in the classroom with

    tips on  how parents can help develop these skills at  

    home.

 - Fourth grade teachers will hold curriculum nights to

    provide information to parents on helping prepare

    students for the OCCT.

 - Fourth grade teachers will also instruct parents on the

    parent responsibility for student reading logs.

 - The regular education teachers will communicate with  

   the special education teacher and parents regarding

   student progress and specific needs as addressed in

   the IEP.

 - Annual IEP meeting in which current test scores and

   academic progress is shared as well as new goals for

   the next calendar year.

Learning at Home

- Reading Logs include a space for parent/teacher feed-

  back regarding the student’s reading at school and at

  home.

- Pal Packets will be used to ensure learning of the      

  desired learning goals is extending to home for

  further practice of the skill.   

Professional Development

Fifth grade and special education teachers will participate in a school-wide book study using the book Building Academic Vocabulary.

Fifth grade teachers will participate in school-wide in-service with ENI consultant to identify ways to more effectively utilize Target Teach within the Standard District Curriculum.

Fifth grade teachers and special education teachers will study the book Modifying The Four Blocks For Upper Grades: Matching Strategies to Students’ Needs by Cheryl Mahaffey Sigmon.

Fifth grade teachers will participate in in-service programs with the school librarian where they identify ways to authentically use literary elements using different types of books. Fifth grade teachers will participate in school-wide in-service programs learning how to utilize the Question Answer Relationship Strategy (QAR) and Bloom’s Taxonomy questioning strategies to enhance critical literacy relating to using pre-reading strategies and using literary elements.

Fifth grade teachers will participate in school-wide in-service meetings stressing Marzano’s strategies of Note Taking and Kinesthetic Representation.

Parental Participation

Communication:

 - Fifth grade teachers will submit newsletters informing     

    parents of skills being addressed in the classroom with

    tips on  how parents can help develop these skills at  

    home.

 - Fifth grade teachers will hold curriculum nights to

    provide information to parents on helping prepare

    students for the OCCT.

 - Fifth grade teachers will also instruct parents on the

    parent responsibility for student reading logs.

 - The regular education teachers will communicate with  

   the special education teacher and parents regarding

   student progress and specific needs as addressed in

   the IEP.

Learning at Home

- Reading Logs include a space for parent/teacher feed-

  back regarding the student’s reading at school and at

  home.

- Pal Packets will be used to ensure learning of the      

  desired learning goals is extending to home for

  further practice of the skill.