March 29, 2016
The teachers have been very busy throughout the school year updating our district’s curriculum. This is an endeavor for this school year towards which we have been designating much of our professional development time. Once the first stage of the curriculum is completed, we will then be looking at mapping it out to see where there might be gaps and overlaps within it. From there, we will refine it even further to be sure your children are receiving the most productive and efficient instruction they can possibly receive from one year to the next.
Mr. Kornegay and I are meeting with the Rutgers’ Literacy coaches to discuss future plans for language arts instruction. I am looking forward to the meeting, as it should be very productive. One goal of ours for next year is to purchase additional libraries for each of our classrooms. We will be adding both fiction as well as non-fiction selections so that our teachers have a wider variety of different genre based texts to utilize within their guided reading groups and learning centers, and our students will have a much more diverse set of literature and informational texts with which to peak their interest levels.
Teachers are now three quarters of a year into using the new math series, Go Math. They are very pleased with the series and have expressed that the series is rigorous and is certainly aligned to the Common Core State Standards within our math curriculum. I am confident with the continued use of this series, the spiraling that takes place with it, and the manner in which our teachers present the material, that it will have long lasting positive effects with our students’ math prowess moving from one grade level to the next.
Our Council of Instruction has been meeting throughout the year to discuss various educational topics. Over the past three years, we have developed a new technology plan, reworked the school report cards to reflect a more current standard based approach, updated the math program, continue to work on refining our literacy instruction with Rutgers, and continue to update our curriculum. We are currently in the process of looking at our school instructional schedule for next year. Along with the schedule, we will be looking at overall grading policies as well.
As one of our district’s goals, we have been in close contact with the PTA in bringing your children special learning opportunities. Thanks to the PTA’s efforts, we are pleased to be bringing Bricks4Kidz to Califon. We will be running this program during the month of April and are pleased to be offering model building for students in grades 1 through 4 and robotics for students in grades 5 through 8. This is an excellent opportunity for us to provide STEM activities for your children. Moving forward, in conjunction with the PTA, we are researching the possibility of providing additional instruction in May on the use of our 3D printer in our media center for 7th and 8th grade students.
As always, thank you for your continued support and if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us in the office.
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