Welcome to our

CTL Parent Orientation!

Please sign in and grab the handouts on the
front table.
Materials Needed Daily

Book
Pencil Bag
Planner
Take-Home Folder


*Folders, Notebooks, and Journals
stay in the classroom!
Student-Led Conferences
and Portfolio Preview
Parents will be asked to attend three
scheduled student-led conferences
(SLCs) during the school year. We are happy to
schedule additional specific conferences upon request.
Students lead a conference with teachers and parents
and present their portfolios for parents to preview.
Formal discussion of your childs progress may be
requested at any time during the year.
The first scheduled SLCs will take place in October.
More information will be emailed to you prior.


Friendly Reminders
Please ensure that your child is at school by
8:00 a.m. every morning for our Morning
Meeting! Absences and tardies are documented!
Please ensure your child has a snack, lunch, and
water bottle every day!
Please visit our CTL website and click on the
Staff Directory to find staff emails & websites!
Please encourage your child to wear
his/her CTL shirts on Friday!
Angela Bailey
Jennifer Chamberlain
Linda Ellis
Reading Workshop
Daily read-aloud to model fluency and good reading strategies and to
teach comprehension
Reading mini-lessons addressing strategies, skills, and tools
Independent reading from self-selected books in various genres
Traditional, Poetry, Fantasy, Modern Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction,
Informational, Biography
Reading teacher/student conferences for individual instruction and
assessment
Group shares/Book talks
Book projects
Author studies/letters
Reading response letters
Reading self evaluations and assessments

HOMEWORK: We encourage students to read 30 minutes every day
and students create Book Projects multiple times throughout the year
VARIATION IN AMOUNT OF
INDEPENDENT READING
Percentile Rank Minutes/Day Words/Year
98
th
67.3 4,733,000
90
th
33.4 2,357,000
70
th
16.9 1,168,000
50
th
9.2 601,000
30
th
4.3 251,000
10
th
1.0 51,000
2
nd
0.0 ------------
Anderson, R., Wilson, P., & Fielding, L. Growth in reading and how children
spend their time outside of school. Reading Research Quarterly (1988).
Writing Workshop
Writing mini-lesson addressing strategies, skills, and tools
Independent Writing from self-selected topics in various genres
Personal Narrative, Memoir, Persuasive, Poetry, Fantasy, Research, Informative
Writing teacher/student conferences for individual instruction and
assessment
Group shares
Carrying pieces through the writing process to publication
Pre-writing, Drafting, Revision, Editing, Publication, Assessment
Authors celebrations
Writing self evaluations and assessments

HOMEWORK: Students publish pieces of writing multiple
times throughout the year.
Math Workshop
Small group mini-lessons addressing previous
activity, strategies, and new concepts
Small group practice using games and hands-on
activities
Activity choice time to reinforce skills
Math journals to record notes, work, and
thinking
Ongoing assessment (through
observation, journal entries, and
discussion) and a periodic formal
assessment (indicating mastery level
on specific skills) guide instructional
decisions

Science Lab
Small group experiments and
class demonstrations for
students to explore science
concepts
Class discussions to address
questions and misconceptions and to extend
learning
Science journals to record notes,
experiments, and thinking
Project-based tasks and research projects
Ongoing assessment through observation,
journal entries and discussion



Curriculum Overview:
Investigations-Based
learning
Active research and project-
based assignments
Individual Projects and
Group Projects
Student-Produced Works
Use books and literature as
writing and thinking
mentors
Student-presentations

Academic Student Goals:
Develop a strong sense of
self as they discover more
about who they are as
individuals and what makes
them unique
Discover more about the
world they live inthe past,
present, and future
Produce work that they are
proud of and eager to share
with others
Love learning