Welcome to Laurel Park Elementary Fourth Grade Curriculum Night

1. Welcome to Laurel Park ElementaryFourth Grade Curriculum Night July 22, 2014

2. Parent Information Night • Daily Schedule • Code of Conduct • Student Work • Work Habits • Communication • Report Card • Grading • Curriculum Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies • Field Trips • Wellness • Goals for the Year

3. Daily Schedule

4. Penguin Pledge As a Laurel Park Penguin, I will: • Respect myself, respect others, and respect school property • Take responsibility for my own behavior • Come to Laurel Park ready to learn • Positive reinforcement • Praise • Individual Conduct Chart • Penguin Points • Honor Penguin Club

5. Student Work • Homework • 40-50 minutes • Some may take longer • Some may take less time • Independent Reading • 20 minutes daily

6. Work Habits • Parents, please… • Encourage students to do their best on a daily basis • Check and initial homework planner • Be patient  • Students will… • Record homework assignments in their planners each day • Work on time management skills • Know appropriate classroom behavior • Be prepared and ready to learn each day

7. Communication • Monday Folders • Homework Folders • Class Website • Penguin Press Newsletters • Laurel Park Website http://www.laurelparkes.com • Conferences Dates will be announced Sign up for a date/time on Wiki • Email

8. Report Card • Quarterly Grades: • Reading • Writing • Math • Science • Social Studies • Conduct • Work Habits • Specialist grades are given at the end of each semester.

9. Standards-Based Grading 4 Exemplary - Student consistently demonstrates an in-depth understanding of the standards, concepts, and skills taught during this reporting period. 3 Proficient - Student consistently demonstrates an understanding of the standards, concepts, and skills taught during this reporting period. 2 Approaching Proficiency - Student is approaching an understanding of the standards, concepts, and skills taught during this reporting period. 1 Non-Proficient - Student does not yet demonstrate an understanding of the standards, concepts, and skills taught during this reporting period. P = Practice

10. Language Arts Students will be able to… • Read more complex texts and think more deeply about their reading. • Describe basic elements of stories by drawing on specific details in the text. • Compare ideas, characters, events, and settings in stories and myths from different cultures. • Write summaries or opinions about topics supported with facts, details, and examples. • Write complete sentences with correct capitalization and spelling.

11. Home Connect Letters Parents, you will be receiving a mCLASS Literacy Progress Report in your child’s Monday folder in the coming weeks. This progress report will let you know where your child is on important reading skills assessed over the last few weeks as indicated by the running person on the charts. You will also find activities that you can do at home to help support your child. It would be great to share this progress report with anyone else that may be working with your child outside of the school day. Thank you for your help in supporting your child’s reading growth.

12. Home Connect Letters

13. Math Students will… • Develop an understanding of multi-digit multiplication and long division with remainders. • Develop an understanding of equivalent fractions. • Be able to add and subtract fractions with like denominators. • Be able to multiply fractions by whole numbers. • Understand that geometric figures can be analyzed and classified based on their properties. • Develop problem solving skills.

14. Units of Study for Science • Magnetism & Electricity • Animal Studies • Rocks & Minerals • Landforms

15. Units of Study for Social Studies • Geography • History • Government • Culture • Economics

16. Field Trips • NC Symphony November 4th • Agape Center In-House trip • Legislative Building & Capitol Building

17. Birthdays Birthday Wishes: All In Good Health: We all love celebrating kids' birthdays - there's no doubt about that. But a school birthday celebration doesn't need to involve cupcakes or other unhealthy foods. Many families have multiple birthday parties as they celebrate on their own on the actual birthday, with extended family and with their children's friends. Additionally, many students in any given class have birthdays in the same week and sometimes on the same day! That's a lot of cake, cupcakes and ice cream. Plus, many children have food allergies and other health conditions that can cause them to feel left out of such celebrations. So perhaps the school birthday celebration, if there is to be one at all, should focus on the birthday girl or boy, rather than food.

18. Birthdays Here are a few fun ideas to celebrate birthdays in the classroom: • Join the Celebration Book Club! This program allows families to donate a book to our school's library in celebration of their children's birthdays. • Donate items to add to your child's classroom recess bag. Supplies for indoor or outdoor recess would be appreciated by your child's classmates. • Contact your child's teacher to learn about other acceptable ways to celebrate in her classroom.                              Thank you for your support and understanding! We always ask that parents contact their child's teacher before bringing food to school.

19. Snacks/Lunch You may prepay for lunch in the cafeteria. Most parents will pay for a month of lunches at a time. (Please make all checks out to Laurel Park Elementary.) The money will go to an account for your child. Each time your child purchases a lunch, the amount will be deducted from his/her account. On Fridays, your child can also choose a special dessert to purchase from the cafeteria. They usually offer ice cream, cakes, cookies, etc. In order for your child to be able to purchase this “Friday Treat” you will need to indicate “Snack” as well as “Lunch” on the prepaid check to the cafeteria. You are also able to prepay the lunch account online at https://www.mylunchmoney.com/ (it may take 24 hours for the payment to show up in the account). We will have snack each morning. Your child should bring a snack every day. You may send in a water bottle as well if you’d like (we do have a water fountain in the classroom). Please make sure snack is separate from lunch. I suggest putting it in a different area of the backpack. Please make sure the snack is healthy and easy for him/her to open. Candy and soda are not allowed.

20. Goals for the Year We would like to… • Set high academic standards so every child can reach his or her full potential. • Maintain open communication with students and parents. • Instill a love of learning in all of my students. • Reinforce positive behavior. • Nurture responsibility, independence, and team work with all of my students • Have fun while learning! 

21. Conclusion • Thank you for attending this evening. • We are looking forward to an outstanding school year!