Freshman Parent Orientation Wednesday , August 6 , 2014

1. Freshman Parent Orientation Wednesday, August 6, 2014 South Forsyth High School

2. How a 9th grade parent feels… Don’t worry, take a deep breath, and everything will be okay… Your students are in great hands!

3. SFHS Counseling Staff • Dr. Jamie D. Brown, Dept. Head A – B • Eddy Fernandez C – Gah • Corinna Spurlock Gai– Kot • Stacye Fickle Kou – Nor

4. SFHS Counseling Staff • Michele Vargas Nos – Smi • Shari Frankel Smj – Z • Kristi Hall Administrative Secretary

5. Student Schedule

6. Grading Scale

7. Academic Support • Teacher Extra Help Sessions • Instructional Focus (IF) • War Eagle Learning Center • Instructional Extension (if funding is available)

8. War Eagle Learning Center EAST HALL (Room 1130 across from East Hall Counseling Office)‏ Open daily before school 7:45-8:23am and after school 3:45-4:15pm.

9. First Steps for Students • Stay organized • Communicate with your teacher • Attend teacher extra help sessions during IF, before or after school, and participate in Instructional Extension • Be proactive not reactive

10. Best Practices for Success • Complete homework nightly, “There is no such thing as no homework,” except for on the last day of the semester • Turn in assignments on time! If not on time, still turn them in, because 0’s destroy your average • Use itsLearning • Ask questions • Use good study habits, pick at least 3 classes to review every night even its only for 15 – 20 minutes

11. Sycamore Learning

12. Best Practice:Monitor Your Progress! • Correct homework answers • Correct warm up answers • Check Parent Portal • Review nine-week progress reports

13. Best Practice: Communicate! • Use email – it is the most effective form of communication, and it is hard for teachers to get to phones. • Protocol for communication: • Student to Teacher (self advocating) • Parent to Teacher • Parent to Dept. Head • Parent to Administrator/Counselor

14. Content Team Information Math Tracy Braun Literature Angela Satterfield Science Melissa Smith Social Studies Rebecca Hewitt World Languages Maggie Gustavus Special Education Mark Swanger

15. Mathematics Information and Resources • itsLearning • Mathispower4u.com • Patrickjmt.com • Khan Academy • Mu Alpha Theta • Saturday Academy • Instructional Focus

16. Get Connected Research Shows that students involved in school sponsored activities are: • more successful academically • significantly more likely to graduate college

17. Let’s get involved! • Students need to be involved in a club, sport, and/or an organization. Be a part of the SFHS family!

18. Get Connected Wednesday Aug 20th during Instructional Focus

19. Honors & Academic Recognition Forsyth County Schools has set standard criteria to become a member in honor societies and to be named an Honor Graduate.

20. Honor SocietyPreliminary Requirements for Membership

21. Graduation Requirements Students planning to enter/transfer into a 4 year college/university must take a minimum of two units of the same world language.

22. Promotion? Credits • How many credits are required to be in the 10th grade? • 5 credits need to be earned by the start of the 2015/2016 school year for students to be in the 10th grade. • If a student does not have 5 credits then the student remains in a 9th grade Instructional Focus. • How many credits are required to be in the 11th grade? 11 credits need to be earned by the start of the 2016/2017 school year for students to be in the 11th grade. • How many credits are required to be in the 12th grade? 17 credits need to be earned by the start of the 2017/2018 school year for students to be in the 12th grade.

23. Required High School Assessments • Must pass the GHSWT to be eligible for diploma • Are not required to take or pass GHSGT • Required to pass EOCT courses with the End-of-Course Test contributing 20% of course grade • Are not required to pass EOCT

24. 9th Grade Courses Requiring an EOCT • 9thGrade Literature (Honors) • Coordinate Algebra(Accelerated) • Analytic Geometry (Accelerated) • Biology (Honors)

25. PSAT Administration • Math/Critical Reading/Writing • Test Date—October 15th • Registration information will be available soon

26. Why Take the PSAT? • Prepares students for SAT—On average, students who take the PSAT/NMSQT score 145 points higher on SAT than those who don’t take the PSAT • Supports college and career planning—My College Quickstart provides an interactive score report, personalized SAT Study Plan with hundreds of questions, personality inventory, and personalized list of colleges; • Provides entry into scholarship programs—National Merit Scholarships are awarded on PSAT scores from 11th grade ONLY; • Provides information to colleges when you select “Yes” to question about Student Search Service.

27. What Colleges (AND Employers) Are Looking For • GPA (academic core GPA) • Curriculum rigor—Can a student do well in rigorous courses? • Test scores (SAT/ACT) • Extracurricular activities **Depth versus breadth • Well rounded citizens

28. Georgia’s HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarship • Eligible students receive financial assistance covering partial or full tuition • Qualifications • - U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen • - Legal resident of Georgia • - Graduate of an eligible GA high school • Valid Social Security # Selective Service Males must register with the Selective Service no later than 30 days before their 18th birthday. HOPE eligibility will be delayed until this requirement is met www.sss.gov

29. Hope Scholarship

30. Zell Miller • Major premise of the program is that a student must meet all the requirements to be eligible for the HOPE Scholarship, plus: • Graduate from an eligible high school with a grade point average of at least a 3.7 as calculated by GSFC and having received a score of at least 1,200 combined critical reading score and math score on a single administration of the SAT or an ACT score of at least 26; or • Graduated from an eligible high school as the valedictorian or salutatorian For more information, visit http://www.gacollege411.org

31. Administrator, Counselors, and Staff Tracy Verrigni, Assistant Principal Grade 9 Administrator tverrigni@forsyth.k12.ga.us (770) 781-2264, ext. 101132 Dr. Jamie D. BrownStacye Fickle Head Counselor (A – B) Counselor (Kou– Nor) jabrown@forsyth.k12.ga.usfickle@forsyth.k12.ga.us (770) 781-2264, ext. 101105 (770) 781-2264, ext. 101118 Edward Fernandez Michele Vargas Counselor (C – Gah) Counselor (Nos– Smi) efernandez@forsyth.k12.ga.usmvargas@forsyth.k12.ga.us (770) 781-2264, ext. 101121 (770) 781-2264, ext. 101116 Corinna SpurlockShari Frankel Counselor (Gai– Kot) Counselor (Smj– Z) cspurlock@forsyth.k12.ga.ussfrankel@forsyth.k12.ga.us (770) 781-2264, ext. 101113 (770) 781-2264, ext. 101119 Kristi Hall, Adminstrative Secretary khall@forsyth.k12.ga.us (770) 781-2264, ext. 101101

32. Changes to Schedules • I need to ADD A COURSE because I have an empty spot in my schedule. • I need to DROP A COURSE because I have already taken and passed a course I have. • I need to DROP A COURSE because I have not met its prerequisites. • I need to DROP A COURSE because I need another course to graduate (Math, English, Science, Health & Personal Fitness).

33. Closing Curriculum Night • Thursday, August 14th 6:00pm-8:30pm. • If you attended today’s session, you can report to campus @ 6:30pm to begin your tour. • The 6:00pm session will be a short re-cap of today. Parent Rotations PAC move to WH Café WH Café to EH Café EH Café to PAC **If you have other questions I will be available here for a town hall style Q & A at 9:45 for about thirty minutes.

34. Stay Connected to SFHS For tons of information please log on to our website: http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/sfhs Q & A’s