Second Meeting, April 7, 2008

April 7, 2008 Transition Team Meeting

Present at Meeting:

Ann Frye, Kathryn Corrigan, Sue Fedorwich, Kelly Simmons, Joann Byrne, Marisa Potter

Grouping/Transition (continued from last meeting):

Timeline is based on administrative decisions concerning special education and AIS.

Timeline is also based on the Middle School schedule.

Groups are made by the third grade teachers and changes to class lists should be minimal.

Need to consider additional support services needed and support staff that is available.

Use the old pink and blue sheets now called student profile sheets (SPS), add the question, does the student have a behavior intervention plan and does the student have a 504? Pink and blue sheets will be to third grade by the beginning of June.

Behavior Plan, Student Profile Sheet, and Benchmark Sheets will be sent over by the third grade teachers to Fourth Grade AIS teacher. Fourth Grade AIS will sort and distribute the information.

Behavior:

Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP) will be sent over in the summer to the fourth grade teachers (along with benchmarks and SPS).

Student/Family Transition

Things we do:

3rd comes over for a visit to classrooms and take a tour.

Learning Links-4th grade teacher comes over to explain to the 3rd graders.

Parent Information Night
-should fourth grade be earlier in the school year, September?
-ease anxiety for students and parents.

Open House
-3rd graders are personally invited to Open House by 4th graders.
-3rd grade students come to MS and tour the rooms.

Fourth grade does E, S, and U for first report to ease the transition.

Fourth grade sends home a packet to families at the beginning of the year.

Known Parent Concerns

Grading, homeroom, specials, policies.

Ideas

New fourth graders have one day over the summer to come in and look at the school. They have a folder with a scavenger hunt to search out important rooms in the school.

Send out fourth grade homeroom information to parents/families earlier in the summer so families know their child’s teacher.

Change Fourth Grade Parent Information Night so that it is earlier in the school year such as September.

Parents

· Volunteering

-3rd and 4th grade have the same policies about unplanned visits to the classroom. Unplanned visits are not allowed.

-Possibly have a sign up sheet at Parent Information Night for the times when parents/families are needed to come in to the classroom.

· Plan for Success

-The parents will come in and attend a session on helping their child to succeed in the Middle School.

Pre-skills for Fourth Grade

· Fourth grade would like third grade to focus on multiplication, and we will work on starting with basic conceptual division in fourth grade. Third grade does a basic division introduction at the end of the year.

· Ann Frye may make a calendar with the days that the various multiplication numbers are due for the rest of the year and when the tests are until the end of the school year and all the other 3rd grade teachers do a timed test (50 in 3 minutes). 3rd and 4th grade send home multiplication flash cards.

· New 4th grade students should know how to form all their letters.

· 3rd and 4th grade are concerned with writing and spelling and the consistency among the grades. 3rd and 4th grade struggle with a writing and grammar program and fitting the writing, grammar, and written expression into the daily schedule.

· Fourth grade notices that students struggle with math concepts, grammar, and forming sentences. 3rd grade notices that students struggle with forming sentences and grammar topics. Both 3rd and 4th grade agree that there needs to be a plan for writing, written expression, grammar, and spelling.


Questions:
-Fourth grade would like a better understanding of CST/SST and why do MS teachers not participate in the SST meetings?
-What is the computer capability of transferring computer data from ES to MS?

Things We Need:

4/3/08
-Some kind of data chart to know what interventions a child has received.
-Sue will share IEP summary sheet with Chris for help with CSE students.
-Transition information for families (possibly a transition pamphlet): grading systems, recess policy, homework, learning links.
-Time to meet with each other as a whole grade level.

4/7/08
-3rd grade teachers would like New York State ELA and Math Tests from the 4th grade. Fourth Grade AIS will provide the scores to the 3rd grade teachers.
-Fourth Grade Information Night should be earlier in the year to accommodate the transition.
-Third and Fourth grade transitional meeting between all teachers at the end of the school year.
-Current ELA curriculum maps that include writing, spelling, written expression and grammar and is aligned throughout the grade levels.