DepartmentalizationQ: HOW WILL DEPARTMENTALIZING AFFECT MY CHILD?
A: Most children will have 2 teachers, as they have in years past. The difference is that the literacy teacher will also teach social studies and the math teacher will also teach science. Departmentalizing will help to prepare your child for 6th grade when he/she will have many teachers. Q: HOW WILL I COMMUNICATE INFORMATION ABOUT MY CHILD? A: Information regarding transportation changes, special events, absences, recess, lunch, etc. can be emailed to the homeroom teacher. Social and emotional information should be shared with all teachers. Academic concerns should be communicated to the teacher who teaches the subject that you have concerns about. Q: WILL MY CHILD HAVE A HOMEROOM TEACHER? A: Yes. Just like last year, your child will start their day with their homeroom teacher (see attached schedule). Homeroom classes will have the following activities/classes as a group: literacy, social studies, science, lunch, specials, recess, special events, and health. Q: WHY DEPARTMENTALIZE? A: Departmentalizing helps to “foster a more authentic and purposeful learning environment” where teachers can become experts in one or two subjects as opposed to six subjects. This will allow teachers to specialize and integrate the content at a deeper level. Departmentalizing also allows teachers to better support and individualize your child’s instruction. Q: WHAT DOES THE DAILY SCHEDULE LOOK LIKE?A: The bulk of the day is broken up into two 2-hour blocks, Block 1 and Block 2. If your child is assigned a “literacy” teacher for homeroom, they will have literacy/social studies Block 1. Math would be the first 75 minutes of Block 2 and science would be the last 45 minutes of Block 2. If your child has a math teacher for homeroom, they will have math the first 75 minutes of Block 1 and science the last 45 minutes of Block 1. Their literacy and social studies instruction would occur during Block 2. Math Flex Grouping: In order to meet the needs of all of our students, we have implemented flexible grouping in the area of Mathematics. We will be working diligently to collect data in this subject area over the course of the school year through the evaluation of common assessments, informal observations, and data collected from the 2016-2017 school year. Throughout the year, we will also have access to the MAPS assessments which will provide us with additional data regarding your child’s progress and growth. We are working closely with all of the support staff including, but not limited to, resource teachers, Talent Development teachers, and facilitators to gather as many resources as possible to use in our classrooms for each child. Students are being grouped based on their readiness with the beginning of the year objectives. As we gather data, student groupings may change throughout the year which is the true flex grouping model. Our goal is to meet the academic needs of individual students and provide learning environments that will ensure success for all. Please remember that it is our intent to provide a rigorous education for all children. We take pride in every child’s efforts and will continue to work collaboratively as a team to ensure their success. Sarah Vanderburg |