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The Ollie E. Culbreth, Jr. Elementary School
PROGRAMS
High Scope (Pre-Kindergarten)
· The philosophy behind High/Scope, based on Jean Piaget's ideas, is that children should be involved actively in their own learning. They "learn by doing", often working with hands on materials and carrying out projects of their own choosing. The adults working with the children see themselves more as facilitators or partners than managers or supervisors. High/Scope's approach encompasses all aspects of child development and involves teachers and parents in supporting and extending children's emotional, intellectual, social, and physical skills and abilities.
· In a High/Scope school, different areas of the classroom are designated for different activities, for example water play, reading, sand play, art, writing, dramatic play, etc. Children are intended to be able to access all facilities independently and be able to take some responsibility for use of these areas.
· An important part of the High/Scope approach is the plan-do-review sequence. Children first plan what materials they want to work with and what they want to do (this can be done formally or informally in small groups). Only once they have made a plan, however vague, of what they want to do can they go and do it. Then, after this choice worktime, the children discuss what they have been doing and whether it was successful.
Breakthrough To Literacy
Designed to significantly improve reading instruction for our students in Kindergarten. Students become engaged in language and print, learn letter names and sounds, develop the ability to sound out words and build vocabulary. Interactive software lessons provide customized, individualized instruction, with instant feedback for the student that enables teachers to check each student’s progress at any time.
100 Book Challenge
· 100 Book Challenge, developed and owned by American Reading Company, is designed to enhance students’ reading competencies through use of self-selected reading of materials that are not part of traditional, formal instruction. It includes teacher-training, parent involvement, and student-centered components. The program gives students access to a large numbers of books, leveled for difficulty and stored in libraries that rotate among the classrooms of schools and grades. Students typically read self-selected materials at their independent reading levels for 30 minutes under teacher supervision during the school day and for 30 minutes at home under parent supervision each evening. In school, teachers sign students’ log sheets to confirm the amount of time students have invested in independent reading. Parents confirm that their children have engaged in the home reading component, and schools give students rewards based on the amount of time they have spent reading. The reading materials and the staff development activities were designed to address development of critical reading competencies as recommended by the National Reading Panel (2000): phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Scholastic Read 180
· READ 180 is a reading intervention program for students who are reading below grade level. The goal of the program is to help students achieve grade-level proficiency in reading. READ 180 uses adaptive instructional software, high-interest literature, and direct instruction as the primary tools and instructional strategies. The program focuses on enhancing skills in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, text comprehension, spelling, and writing. Special emphasis is placed on explicit comprehension strategy instruction.
RIGBY (Guided Reading)
The heart of a balanced literacy program and the key to effective reading instruction. It gives the teacher and students the opportunity to think, read and talk their way purposefully through a previously unseen text. It is the approach that helps students become strategic, fluent and independent readers.
Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)
This assessment allows the teacher to determine each reader’s independent reading level, confirm or redirect ongoing instruction, group students effectively for reading experiences and instruction, document changes in students’ reading over time, and identify student’s who may be working below proficiency and need further assessments.
Everyday Mathematics
Everyday Mathematics is a pre-kindergarten through 6th grade standards-based mathematics curriculum developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. Everyday Mathematics is based on a spiral curriculum, where each of the core topics are treated throughout the school year. It relies on the notion that reinforcement of important skills is necessary, that skills should be practiced regularly. The program uses six principles to guide each stage of the curriculum. Like other curriculum systems, it employs multiple practice methods such as review problems, flash cards, games, homework, etc. As much as possible it bases the math problems in real-world examples. Students are asked to explain their problem solving and to listen to other students' strategies, promoting communication and verbal understanding. Students also work in a variety of settings, from individual work to small groups. Class work includes long-term projects and open-ended questions. There are also information sheets that are sent to parents to encourage participation and help them work with their children; homework is structured so that students are meant to rework problems from previous lessons with adults in the home.
Communicator Mathematics (LL Teach)
· Communicator Mathematics™ is a research-based, comprehensive standards-based, constructivist mathematics program for grades 3 through 6 that includes both math content and pedagogy. It is based on the principle that all children can learn sophisticated mathematics and demonstrate strong computational and mental mathematics skills under certain conditions: The material must be presented in a way that keeps children interested and actively involved, the program must build a foundation of conceptual understanding before algorithms are introduced, and the design and implementation of the program must be sufficiently comprehensive to make "test prep" irrelevant.
Safari Montage
SAFARI Montage is a broadcast-quality, plug & play, video-on-demand server for schools that comes preloaded with 1,000 of the best educational programs from the finest educational video publishers in the world. These publishers include PBS, WGBH of Boston, Scholastic, Weston Woods, BBC Worldwide, A&E Home Video, Disney Educational Productions, National Geographic, Sesame Street, Schlessinger Media and the list continues to grow. SAFARI Montage provides educators with a choice of content and is very different from other digital video solutions in the marketplace. What makes SAFARI Montage so different is choice of content – something that is made possible primarily due to SAFARI Montage’s unique lineage. SAFARI Montage stems from three well known, widely respected leaders in education, and the synergy that results is unmatched. The programs on SAFARI Montage are segmented and fully searchable by segment so that teachers and students can access the specific clip they would like to show. The search engine helps educators create dynamic and engaging lessons. Playlists enable educators to string together segments from multiple programs into one sequence or montage and then create bookmarks for convenient playback. And, most importantly, the SAFARI Montage server avoids the problems associated with streaming, since a locally hosted server is a more reliable alternative to streaming video into schools over the web.
Extended-Day Program for NJASK3, NJASK4 and NJASK 5
· Mandatory after-school program for grades 3,4 and 5 which focuses on the various strategies for test-taking as well as reinforcing the elements of Language Arts and Mathematics so that students will be well prepared for the NJASK tests which are dispersed in the Spring.
C.A.S.P.E.R After-school Care
The C.A.S.P.E.R. Program is an after school child care program offered to Jersey City residents for a fee. Children participating may be enrolled in a public or non-public school. Transportation is NOT provided. The C.A.S.P.E.R. Program is available in all the Jersey City Public Schools that have pre-kindergarten through grade four students-ages 4 through 10. The C.A.S.P.E.R. Program operates from 2:45 P.M. to 6:00P.M. on school days which are in full session. The C.A.S.P.E.R. Program does not operate on any scheduled half-days, emergency closing days or elementary open house days.
HOPE Program for Grades 3,4 and 5
The HOPE Initiative offers a dynamic, flexible approach to classroom instruction that provides appropriate learning opportunities to students whose report cards reflect exceptional academic ability and high levels of motivation, organization, and focus. Students are selected for HOPE classes based on past performance as recorded on their report cards and evaluated by their teachers. After determining the students’ scores, each grade level is ranked, putting the top students at the top of the list. The staff at each school then determines the minimum score requirement for admission to the HOPE class at a given grade level. All students with scores above the minimum requirement are invited to participate in HOPE classes. Students must continue to maintain a B average or higher in order to remain in the HOPE class. At the conclusion of the school year, every student is reassessed to determine whether or not they would benefit from participation in a HOPE class the following year.
Supplemental Educational Services (SES) Extended Day After-School Programs
· Parents are given the opportunity to choose a provider to tutor their children after school. In August, prior to the start of school, parents receive an SES handbook at home. Included in this parent friendly handbook are information about the law, an application for services and a list of all the State approved service providers.
Parent Council
· The district firmly believes, and research indicates, that parental involvement in the educational process of their children improves student achievement and benefits the overall development of the child. The goal of the Council is to promote parental involvement and to secure broad commitment to the conception that it takes a community to educate a child. The Council meets monthly discuss concerns, issues and student learning.
Joint Activities
The mission of the Jersey City Public Schools' Joint Activities Program is to provide elementary-level in grades five and six opportunities to interact with children of diverse cultures that comprise their city. The program integrates cultural awareness with the sharing of new and meaningful field trip experiences. The goal for district students is to realize that, despite cultural differences, the similarities they share as city residents and as human beings are most important. Since it's inception in 1980, the Jersey City Public Schools' Joint Activities Program has served over 28,000 children with more than 800 teachers participating. During the past 28 years the program has enabled students to come together with opportunities to discover, learn and enjoy the natural environment.
Reading Recovery Program
Reading Recovery teachers provide individualized instruction to students in Grade 1 at the lowest end of achievement. Its goal is to dramatically reduce the number of First-Grade students who have extreme difficulty learning to read and write and to reduce the cost of these learners to educational systems. Individual students receive a half-hour lesson each school day for 12 to 20 weeks with a specially trained Reading Recovery teacher. As soon as students can read within the average range of their class and demonstrate that they can continue to achieve, their lessons are discontinued and new students begin individual instruction.
Artistically Talented Curriculum (ATC) Grade 5
“Aussie” Literacy Consultants (Grades 3,4 and 5)
21st Century
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