FHSD Elementary Newsletter
August 2017
Important Upcoming ELA Dates
Assessment Wall: October 2-13
Aimsweb: August 21-September 1
ELA Benchmark Pre-Test (Optional): August 14-September 1
ELA Benchmark (2nd-5th, Required)-October 2-13
Mastery Connect Data Entry for ELA Writing Assessments: October 2-13
Kindergarten & First Grade Reading Summative: October 2-13
Gates Reading Assessment: October 24-27
Elementary Writing Workgroup Update
The workgroup completed the genre writing scoring guides and the student friendly scoring guides. The group made revisions to the scoring guides using the following resources: Lucy Calkins, Fountas & Pinnell, and ELA standards.
Some changes to note are: the merging of columns 2 and 3 to create a mid-year point and grammar/mechanics have become checklists instead of behaviors that build upon one another quarterly. These changes have overall simplified the look of the scoring guides and reduced the number of pages within the documents.
The scoring guides are on HowellNET in the report card resources folder. If you have any questions, contact your building representative, Carrie Hepburn, or Melinda Scheetz.
Units of Study-Lucy Calkins
- the need to teach the units with fidelity by following the unit order
- and all lessons within the units of study need to be taught.
Those who are piloting Lucy Calkins writing program need to understand the writing assessments may look different than what is written in the curriculum, writing assessments will still be given quarterly, and when an assessment is required for entry into Mastery Connect, it still needs to be completed. All writing assessments (Lucy or within the curriculum) will assess the same standards, the grade-level writing priority standard plus Language standards 1 and 2.
An example is second grades first quarter writing assessment has students writing an informational piece about the life cycle of an animal. Unit 1 in Lucy's units of study is narrative writing. Therefore that teacher (or PLC) would either give students the "on-demand" piece explained at the front of the unit, or allow students to choose a piece to publish for the assessment. The teams/teachers who are not implementing Lucy's writing units of study will assess students by writing the informational piece about the life cycle of an animal. Either way, standards W.2.5, L.2.1, and L.2.2, will be assessed.
If you have any questions regarding curriculum, instruction, or assessment and this pilot, please contact Carrie Hepburn.
Benchmarks-Grades 2-5
Spectra
- Is the curriculum is being implemented?
- What types of instructional strategies are being used?
- How is the pacing of the curriculum implementation?
New curriculum maps have been developed in Mastery Connect and are ready to be used to develop trackers for each grade level. The performance tasks will be pushed out as benchmarks through Mastery Connect and with the newly revised scoring guides.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Carrie Hepburn
ELL Teachers
Elementary Guidance Counselors
An application will come out in the next couple of months; we would like to have five curriculum writers from various buildings on the team. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Carrie Hepburn.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten 1st Quarter ELA Assessments
- First Quarter Sight Words: October 2-13
- Aimsweb: August 21-September 1
- Assessment Wall: October 2-13
First Quarter Writing Summative at the end of Unit 2. Write about a personal event in their life. (required for MC entry, assessment may look different if you are piloting Lucy)
Kindergarten's ELA Assessment and Cheat Sheet Document-Document includes a direct link to the assessments within Mastery Connect (no searching required) and outlines each assessment by quarter.
First Grade
- First Quarter Reading Assessment: October 2-13
- Aimsweb: August 21-September 1
- Assessment Wall: October 2-13
First Quarter Writing Summative: Write a narrative about a time you had a lot of feeling about an event. At the end of Unit 2. (required for MC entry, assessment may look different if you are piloting Lucy)
First Grade's ELA Assessment and Cheat Sheet Document-Document includes a direct link to the assessments within Mastery Connect (no searching required) and outlines each assessment by quarter.
Second Grade
- Pre-Assessment Reading Benchmark: August 14-September 1 (optional)
- Second Grade First Quarter Reading Benchmark: October 2-13 (required)
- Aimsweb: August 21-September 1
- Assessment Wall: October 2-13
- First Quarter Writing Summative: Students will write a multi-paragraph informational book explaining the stages of an animal life cycle including text features. (required for MC entry, assessment may look different if you are piloting Lucy)
Second Grade's ELA Assessment and Cheat Sheet Document-Document includes a direct link to the assessments within Mastery Connect (no searching required) and outlines each assessment by quarter.
Third Grade
- Pre-Assessment Reading Benchmark: August 14-September 1 (optional)
- Third Grade First Quarter Reading Benchmark: October 2-13 (required)
- Aimsweb: August 21-September 1
- Assessment Wall: October 2-13
Third Grade First Quarter Summative Writing: (at end of Unit 2) Unit 2 Summative Writing 5 Paragraph Nutrient Informational Essay (required for MC entry, assessment may look different if you are piloting Lucy)
Gates Reading Assessment: October 24-27
Third Grade's ELA Assessment and Cheat Sheet Document-Document includes a direct link to the assessments within Mastery Connect (no searching required) and outlines each assessment by quarter.
Curriculum Writing Grades 4 & 5
With the new curriculum cycle, Units of Study for fourth and fifth grade are in step 1. Step 1 involves reviewing best practice research, analyzing district data, examining the standards, identifying priority standards, determining common instructional units and performance events, along with updating the course description to prepare to write new curriculum the next year. This is a two-year commitment for curriculum writers. The second year will include utilizing step 1 work to write the Units of Study curriculum. This process will include four release days throughout the course of this year and 8+ release days next school year.
The dates this year are September 19, February 28, March 14, and 15. If you are interested in participating in the Units of Study curriculum writing team, please fill out an application via the Google Form (must be logged in district Google account) by August 31st.
Please let Sherri Lorton or Carrie Hepburn know if have any questions!Fourth Grade
Fourth Grade 1st Quarter ELA Assessments
- Pre-Assessment Reading Benchmark: August 14-September 1 (optional)
- Fourth Grade First Quarter Reading Benchmark: October 2-13 (required)
- Aimsweb: August 21-September 1
- Assessment Wall: October 2-13
First Quarter Writing Summative: Informational writing (feature article) with a clear organizational structure and strong elaboration of a topic using details, examples, facts, technical vocabulary, and transitional words. At the end of Unit 2. (not required for MC entry, assessment may look different if you are piloting Lucy)
Gates Reading Assessment: October 24-27
Fourth Grade's ELA Assessment and Cheat Sheet Document-Document includes a direct link to the assessments within Mastery Connect (no searching required) and outlines each assessment by quarter.
Fifth Grade
Fifth Grade 1st Quarter ELA Assessments
- Pre-Assessment Reading Benchmark: August 14-September 1 (optional)
- Fifth Grade First Quarter Reading Benchmark: October 2-13 (required)
- Aimsweb: August 21-September 1
- Assessment Wall: October 2-13
- First Quarter Writing Summative: Socratic Circle Reflection (end of Unit 2, not required for MC entry, assessment may look different if you are piloting Lucy)
- Gates Reading Assessment: October 24-27
Fifth Grade's ELA Assessment and Cheat Sheet Document-Document includes a direct link to the assessments within Mastery Connect (no searching required) and outlines each assessment by quarter.
Take 20 and Read Library Program
A program through the St. Charles County Library that encourages students to take 20 minutes a day and read. Students log their reading and are entered into a drawing to win a Kindle Fire. At the end of the year, each student who participated in the program receives a book. If you would like to receive more information about this opportunity for your students please contact:
Erica Land
Executive Director of Foundation
St Charles City-County Library District
77 Boone Hills Dr, St Peters MO 63376
636-441-2300, x1582
Teachers College Resource
Elementary ELA Content Leader
Email: carrie.hepburn@fhsdschools.org
Location: 1405 Hwy D, Saint Charles, MO, United States
Phone: 636-851-6341
Twitter: @CarrieHepburn