Happy Holidays
Wishing everyone a restful and enjoyable break
The Viking Newsletter - Hinesburg Community School
December 18, 2014
'Tis the Season to be Proud
Keeping the feelings of gratitude going, we would like to personally thank PiE and specifically Maureen Blanck for the creation of the HCS student directory. For the first time in many years, HCS families now have access to their child's friends. This wouldn't have been possible without a tremendous amount of work from Maureen and our PiE group. Thank you for making this dream into a reality.
Wishing everyone a safe and merry break!
Happy Holidays!
Jeff and Allegra
School Vacation: December 22nd - January 2nd. First day of school after vacation is January 5th.
New K-4 Report Card
Article #2 of 3
What are the benefits of the new K-4 report card for students and parents? This article is the second in a three part series about improvements and changes in the new K-4 report card. Each of the three newsletter articles will describe new aspects of the K-4 reporting system. In a previous newsletter, the first article explained a change in the times you will receive the report card and the chart below was enclosed.
Dates for the K-4 Reporting Periods:
Fall Parent Conferences: Based on teacher schedule - Around October 17th
January Report Cards: 1st report card sent home on January 23rd
Spring Parent Conferences: Based on teacher schedule - Around May 23rd
June Report Cards: 2nd report card sent home on the last day of school, June 12th
This article focuses on standards, grading and new, detailed guides teachers will use to accurately report your child’s progress.
One significant change in reporting student progress is the use of the Common Core State Standards, standards required by the state of Vermont. These are the basis of our CSSU curriculum and are the standards you will see on the new report card. K-4 teachers will grade students on each standard. Lists of the expectations for each standard, at each grade level, have been developed. They describe what students need to know and be able to do for each Common Core Standard on the report card. The lists (also called Learning Targets) are a teacher’s guide to grading, and are new to our reporting practice. They describe what each number grade (1, 2, 3 or 4) means so that every K-4 teacher throughout CSSU will grade students using the same criteria. This level of detail and understanding among teachers provides consistency in reporting student progress to parents. Each level of proficiency or number grade (1-4) will therefore, provide parents with a more specific assessment of their child’s development on the Common Core State Standards. What one teacher, at one school, determines is a score of 3 will be based on the same standards and grading criteria used by colleagues across CSSU K-4 classrooms.
Below, please find a description of grading improvements on the new report card.
1. Students will be graded on grade specific Common Core State Standards in Literacy and Math. Every K-4 teacher will be assessing students using the same standards.
2. Student progress will be reported using a 1-4 grading system for each standard on the report card. A reference for parents at the top of the report card will define each number grade. The grading scale is also described below in more detail.
3. Teachers will use a guide called Learning Targets to determine a student’s grade (number score) on each standard. Learning Targets provide scoring consistency from teacher to teacher and school to school.
4. Student performance will be reported based on how a student is doing at the time of reporting.
5. Work Habits (transferrable lifelong learning habits) and Citizenship Skills are also critical aspects of student development and growing competence. Since these are such important skills, the new report card will provide a score for each of these transferable skills separate from scores for academic progress.
Grading Scale also called Proficiency Scale
4 = Demonstrating initiative and independence for this time of year.
This means a student is proficient and also applies concepts and skills to new contexts, or uses these skills and concepts to solve new problems in new settings. The student demonstrates flexibility in thinking. Application is the key distinction between a 3 and 4.
3 = Meeting expectations for this time of year. This means a student is proficient with this standard with little or no help needed.
2 = Nearly meeting expectations for this time of year. This means a student is making gains toward the expectations with some help provided. This score is given when a student is almost meeting expectations with support, according to the Learning Targets.
1 = Working toward expectations with additional support for this time of year. This is an indication that a student requires additional help in order to work toward the learning expectations.
NA = Not Assessed at this time of year (NA)
Please look for one more article in this newsletter that will provide you with a summary of the improvements to the K-4 report card prior to receiving it on January 23rd.
Molly McClaskey
CSSU Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
National Geographic Society GeoBee
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/study-corner/
The HCS school level competition will take place at the end of January.
Celebrate the Arts Night at CVU Thursday, January 8th
Mark your calendars for the 7th annual Celebrate the Arts Night at CVU. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the Unified Arts offerings at CVU (visual art, music, fashion design, family and consumer science, technology education and theater arts).
All Evening Over 450 pieces of art work, representing every student currently enrolled in a visual art, fashion design, and technical education class (ist floor hallways)
6:30pm Tech Ed Demonstrations (Tech Ed Rooms)
7:00pm Musical Performance by Men’s Chorus (Science Wing)
7:30pm Madrigal Singers, Symphonic Winds, Symphonic Band, and a sample of performance works from Acting and Public Speaking classes (CVU Theatre)
For more information, contact Abbie Bowker: abowker@cvuhs.org.
Individual Tutoring with a Teen * TeenOpps * After School Mondays -Thursdays
Cost: $180/6 weeks (discounts available) Grade: K-8 (including Algebra 1 coursework)
Hinesburg Community School
Email: hcsviking@cssu.org
Website: hcsvt.org
Location: 10888 Vermont Rte 116, Hinesburg, VT 05461
Phone: 802-482-2106