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Mrs. King's Back to School Night Presentation
- 1. + Happy Back to School Night 2014-2015! Mrs. King, 4th Grade, Room 502 www.502news.wordpress.com
- 2. + What’s Different about 4th Grade? Your child is now an upper grader! Congratulations!! Class size: 31 in upper vs. 24 in primary Reading Shift: Primary – Learning to Read vs. Upper – Reading to Learn Special Privileges: Riding bike to school, Swimming Lessons, Student Council, Speech Contest, Safety Patrol www.502news.wordpress.com
- 3. + The World is Our Classroom! www.502news.wordpress.com
- 4. + Be the Change! Students become aware of the world around them. Be problem-solvers. Help others and the environment. Recycling Program Challenges – No-Soda Challenge, Reusable Water Bottle, Reusable Grocery Bag, etc. Community Service – beach clean-ups Random Acts of Kindness www.502news.wordpress.com
- 6. + Communication Wordpress Blog at www.502news.wordpress.com Email arlene.king@cvesd.org Phone: 619-422-8329 ext. 696372 Student Planner – initial nightly Weekly Progress Report (Fridays) – sign and return Mon www.502news.wordpress.com
- 7. + What are your Beliefs about Learning? www.502news.wordpress.com
- 8. + Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset Fixed Mindset – believing that you are either born smart or not, that you can’t change. This type has a hard time with the learning process, frustrates easily, and takes few risks. Growth Mindset – knowing that you can fail, but can learn and improve. We need to adopt a Growth Mindset for ourselves and our children. Praise child for effort, for continuing to work at something (perseverance), for improvement and progress (Personal Best). www.502news.wordpress.com
- 10. + Reading is the Key… Preparing for middle school, high school, college and beyond Reading provides access to all other curriculum Accelerated Reader Range Goal: 4.0-4.9 Achieve 3000 Lexile Range Goal: 740-920 Fluency goal is 115+ correct words per minute (cwpm) Reading Stamina goal: 40-45 min by end of 4th grade Read Every Night. www.502news.wordpress.com
- 12. + New Math This Year Common Core Standards emphasize Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Technology. Eureka Math Program a.k.a. Engage New York Conceptual – very different from past Use of different strategies and explain thinking http://commoncore.org/parents www.502news.wordpress.com
- 13. + Parent Keys to Student Success Attendance Stay informed and involved. Volunteer! Check your child’s backpack daily. Monitor homework especially Reading. Attend conferences and school events. Communicate any concerns with an open mind. Let’s work together! www.502news.wordpress.com
- 14. + Thank You! Please sign up for Fall Conferences. Reminders: Book Orders due 9/22 Swimming Permission Slips due 9/26 It’s going to be a great year!! Any Questions? www.502news.wordpress.com
Editor's Notes
- Good evening, Rosebank families and welcome to our new families joining us this year. Thank you so much for attending tonight. Before I start, there’s a sign-in sheet on the clipboard, also sign up for Fall Conferences, if you know your schedule. Again, thank you so much for being here tonight!
- Congratulations! Now that your child is an upper grader, there are a few changes. Class Sizes are bigger. Grades 4-6 can have up to 31 students vs. up to 24 in primary grades. In upper, there’s also a reading shift from Learning to Read to Reading to Learn, going more in depth with their reading. Also, your 4th grader may now ride their bike to school (with signed parent permission slip) and may participate in other special privileges such as swimming lessons, student council, districtwide speech contest in Jan. and Safety Patrol at the end of the year.
- In 4th grade, we learn a lot in the classroom, but our learning isn’t limited to these four walls. The world is our classroom! Some of our field trips this year will include Mission Trails, Indian Hills, Living Coast Discovery, and I would like us to also visit the Cabrillo Monument, Old Town, the Olympic Training Center, and more. If it was up to me, we would have one field trip a month! We also have cool guest speakers like the Raptor Institute and community workers like our School Resource Officer. Our next field trip will be Swimming Lessons at Parkway Pool in a few weeks!
- My philosophy is that we are teaching the future. I want that future to be able to change the world. This year, students will become more aware of the world around them. They will think critically and be problem-solvers. They will help others around them and the environment. All year we will be collecting empty plastic water bottles for our recycling program. We will also participate in Challenges to promote health and ecology. Students and their families will be invited to perform Community Service acts and Random Acts of Kindness. More info on these throughout the year.
- As you can see, many things will be happening in our class, and you’ll want to keep connected to get a peek into your child’s school life. I would prefer to stay connected digitally and reduce paper, so the best forms of communication for me will be the blog and email. The blog takes the place of my former weekly newsletter which I’ve done in past years
- Here are the addresses for the classroom blog and my email. You can also reach me by phone – here is my extension – and by student planner – please initial nightly and if you need to send me a message, just write a note in it. On Fridays, I send home a Weekly Progress Report to be signed and returned the following Monday. I’m hoping to eventually be able to send the Weekly Progress Report via email.
- We talked about the fun things in 4th grade and about staying connected. Let’s shift for a moment to talk about Learning. What are your beliefs about learning? Learning is fun, of course. But real learning, is also work…and tough…challenging…messy…and takes some time.
- Dr. Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, is one of the world’s leading researchers on motivation, and she talked about having Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset. A Fixed Mindset is the belief that you are either smart or you’re not and that this doesn’t really change. This type of person has a hard time with the learning process, frustrates easily, and takes few risks. A Growth Mindset on the other hand is the belief that learning is dynamic, that failure is part of the process and there’s room to grow. Of course, we need to adopt a Growth Mindset for our children and also for ourselves as parents. If learning has been easy for your child, this could be the year they struggle. And that’s okay. If they’re not struggling, they’re not learning. What does this mean for us as parents? We need to praise our child for their efforts, not for being smart, praise them for continuing to work at something when it’s hard (that’s our Core Value Perseverance) and acknowledge and celebrate any improvement they make (Personal Best).
- Here’s a graphic that I think really portrays the Fixed Mindset on the left vs. the Growth Mindset on the right. Fixed Mindset, there’s only two routes, win or fail. Growth Mindset, failure and mistakes are part of learning and success. We want our kids to struggle and make mistakes because in that state, they will grow.
- So just keep Growth Mindset in mind this year, especially with Reading. Reading is the key. In preparation for later school years and to provide access to other curriculum, imagination, and the world, I want to encourage your child to read, read, read. Our AR goal is reading range 4.0-4.9 and above. Achieve3000 Lexile Range Goal in 4th grade is 740-920. Fluency (speed) is important so that your child doesn’t have to focus much on reading the words, but on understanding the content. They need to be reading at 115 or more cwpm. Stamina too is important, and we’re building that from 20 min currently to 40-45 min by end of the year. Reading Every Night will help your child reach their goals, become more fluent (faster) and build stamina for later years.
- Here’s a graphic to illustrate just how important nightly reading is. Those minutes that you’re reading really add up! You can see James on the left, reads every night. 100 minutes per week, 400 min in a month, 3600 in one school year, and 21,600 by the time he promotes from 6th grade. Travis, on the contrary, reads only 4 min per night or skips reading, has completed 20 min in one week, 80 in a month, 720 in one year, and 4320 min by sixth grade. We all know whom we would expect to read and write better, know more, have a better vocabulary, be more successful in school and life in general, and how they would feel about themselves as a learner. So if your child is going to do any homework, at least do the Reading Every Night part.
- Moving on to Math…keeping that Growth Mindset in mind…We have a new math this year, called Eureka or Engage New York. It’s based on the new Common Core standards which emphasize Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Technology. It’s very conceptual, meaning it focuses on ensuring that students really understand the reasons why they are using a math strategy. So, it can be confusing, because real understanding takes time. But again, be patient, keep trying. Students are encouraged to use different strategies (not just one) and explain their thinking. If you’re interested, this website has more information for parents and it’s also on the classroom blog under math resources.
- So essentially, having a Growth Mindset is a key to success, reading is another key, and here are the rest. Attendance, like we said earlier, is, of course, very important. Being here is half the battle. Next, stay informed and involved. If you have the time, I encourage you to volunteer. I will be contacting those of you who signed up next week. Check your child’s backpack. 4th graders are still little kids and depending on your child, may still need you to go in there and dig papers out. Monitor your child’s homework especially reading. There’s intentionally not much homework (we know how busy home life can be), just make it quality homework. Attend conferences and school events, and lastly communicate any concerns, and we’ll work it out together.
- This concludes my presentation. Thank you so much for listening attentively. Again, please sign up for Fall Conferences and turn in any forms in the silver tray. It’s going to be an awesome year. Does anyone have any questions?