Upper Intermediate

Karen & Marci

Classroom Teachers
Karen Bayert 258.5917
Marci Miles 259.6670

Pod Parents
Daniell Michard 237.5225
Pam Brondos 234.5560
Janet Berg 473.8736

NY/DC Trip Information

• Dear WLC UI Pod Parent
• Item Request Letter
• Item Thank You
• Monetary Donations
• Receipt Form
• Sponsorship
• Woods Procurement

Information and Guidelines

Specials Schedule

• PE/Music
• Monday – 8:45–9:15 and 9:15–9:45
• Wednesday – PE 12:30-1:00 and 1:00-1:30
• Music 1:00-1:30 and 1:30-2:00
• Art/Library
• Tuesday _ Art 9:15-10:15 and 10:30-11:30
• Library 9:30-10:15 and 10:45-11:30
• Instrumental Music
• Monday – 2:00-2:30
• Wednesday 2:00-2:30
• Friday 8:15-8:45 (alternates every other Friday)

Main Thematic Units

• School wide focus Germany and the Renaissance
• Us History and Special Interest Project
• Environments, and Magnetism & Electricity

Math Program
The Investigations© program is our adopted math curriculum at Woods Learning Center. We have separated our students into 4th and 5th grade math groups to assure the scope and sequence for each level is addressed. Supplemental problem solving, math focus groups, computer math, and whole group activities will also be taught throughout. If your child has no math homework, they can always work on multiplication facts.

Spelling Program
Through baseline assessments from Words Their Way, each student has been placed in a developmental spelling group. On Thursday, students will be given their spelling sorts. At this time groups meet and talk about the spelling patterns, group their words into sorts, and take a pretest. The pretest is then scored and sent home in the homework folder or Friday Folder. If you don’t see it in the Friday Folder, check with your child. Students will retest the misspelled words on Tuesday morning. Words that are not spelled correctly on this test (roll-over words) will be carried over to the next week for mastery. Students will be given the option to test on their “roll-over” words before the next sort is given if they would like the chance to eliminate them. They will need to let us know if they plan on doing this.

Reading
The teaching of reading will be facilitated in a variety of ways this year, but mainly through small, guided novel groups. Students will meet with a teacher to demonstrate word attack skills, sequencing, summarizing, author’s intent, and comprehension. Also, students will have independent reading. During this time students read from self-selected literature. It is important that your child have available a good piece of literary work that is not too easy or difficult for them to read.

Homework Folders
Each night it will be your child’s responsibility to have his or her homework folder in order to finish assignments on time. Every folder has a monthly calendar inside, which should be filled out with each new assignment. They will be due on the date the assignment is written. As an Upper Intermediate student your child will be receiving more homework than they have in the past. We believe that each child should be taking more responsibility for their learning at this age, and with that comes more privileges. We feel it is a wise investment on the behalf of all stakeholders (teachers, parents, child) to make education our #1 priority. Please see that your child has a place to work and enough time to be able to turn in their best possible work.

Friday Folders
Friday Folders will go home weekly and are considered to be as important as homework. They will contain corrected homework for you to look over, as well as a number of other items for you to review. Please note; all student work must be returned so your child has multiple samples to choose from when creating their culminating portfolio. Other items you can expect to see throughout the year in the Friday Folders may include, newsletters, book orders, sports notes, or announcements etc. After reading through the material please sign and date the inside cover of the folder. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to note them in the “comment” column. We will also include a missing homework report at that time, giving students ample time to get caught up over the weekend. Please also initial the column designated for “Missing Homework Report” inside your child’s Friday Folder. This serves as an efficient way for us to communicate with you regarding your child’s work habits.

Grading, practice vs assignments. What is Proficiency?
In the past “grades” or “proficiencies” were entered into a grade book and averaged. At Woods we believe that this is not an accurate picture of an ever-changing and growing student. We teach to the standards with the purpose of pushing each child to become proficient at the skills necessary for each benchmark. If they are already proficient our job is to push them to continue growing, to become advanced proficient, if you will. Therefore, much of the homework your child will be assigned, will be considered “practice.” It will have a stamp on it to identify it as a practice page or activity. These will not be scored. The students will also have “assignments” or “assessments,” these will be scored in order to determine each child’s level of proficiency. At the end of a trimester the last assignments and assessments will be weighted while the beginning ones will not. This will show an accurate snapshot of your child’s abilities at that time.

Work Habits Checklist/Conferences
Along with the proficiency reports, we will be including a work habits checklist at the end of each trimester. If your child is meeting our expectations they will be given a “consistently” rating. For example: “Gets his or her homework in on time… consistently.” We realize that some students fluctuate, and they would be given a rating of “inconsistently.” The last identifier will be “Needs Improvement,” which will signify areas that need to be worked on.

Conferences
Our first parent-student-teacher conference will be October 20th 3:30-7:00, October 21 1:00-4:00, and October 24th 8:00-4:00. We will be discussing your child’s work and study habits as well as their proficiencies in each standard at that time. We begin by having your child lead us in a discussion about their adventures and accomplishments in the standards covered over that trimester. We may have them demonstrate some skills to you or share their assessments or assignments. After we go over some paper work with you we ask the student to leave to give you an opportunity to voice any concerns or questions you may have. If there are time conflicts or preferences please let us know early and we will try to accommodate you as best we can. Remember this is not a time to plan an extended vacation. Make up conferences will be scheduled in the event of emergencies only.

Project Change for UI
In the past the students in the Upper Intermediate pod did 2 projects. The first was a group project done to teach the research skills that would be required on their independent projects. Then they would be asked to choose a topic under the theme allowed, to complete their independent project. These took a great deal of time, and tended to be a little taxing on the students and teachers. =) Therefore, the decision was made this year to revamp this practice a little. We will be teaching research skills through mini lessons throughout the year. Their independent project will be a long-term project, which starts earlier and ends later. In addition the will be asked to do a small project at the end of the year, without the requirement of a research paper component.

Learning Logs
WLC has made the commitment to set up notebooks for each student, which will serve the purpose of communicating goals. The students will be setting goals with the guidance of the teachers. We will also be using assessments and data. Students will use the Learning logs in order to demonstrate their personal proficiency in the standards and their progress towards learning goals.

Student Dismissal
UI students will leave the building through the south end exit and wait in the fenced/grassy area on the south side of the building for pickup. The only students who will be allowed to wait at the North end of the building will be those with Middle School siblings who have a note on file at the office with a parent signature. Remember your child’s school day does not end until 3:15 Monday through Thursday and at 12:15 on Friday. Every minute is important to the school day.

Snacks
Brain research tells us that nutritious foods are essential for good brain functioning and development. For that reason, we feel especially lucky this year to participate in the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program. Each day a snack is delivered to the building. Their goal is to encourage children to eat more healthy foods, and expose them to new and different (or exotic) fruits and vegetables. Their only request is that we ask all students to give the food a chance by tasting it.

Traits to Live By
Academic content is not our only focus at Woods Learning Center. We believe it is also imperative to foster global, caring citizens who will be equipped to flourish in the 21st century. Therefore one of our goals is to nurture the following attributes in our classroom.

• Respectful
• Caring
• Cooperative
• Honest
• Open-minded
• Risk-takers
• Curious
• Independent
• Reflective
• Responsible

We will encourage students to recognize others who are displaying these traits by adding “Drops in the Bucket.”