Report Cards
It is that time of year…report card time! Students in Grades 1 to 6, along with junior kindergarten, will be receiving their first term provincial report card next Tuesday February 9th.
The report cards are written for parents. The report card marks (Grade 1-6) and comments indicate how students are doing in relation to the curriculum expectations for their grade and the work done since the fall, not only since the progress report.
The first, and most important section of the report card, comments on students work habits and learning skills. This year, since the progress report card was distributed in December and teachers began writing the Term 1 reports in the middle of January, the learning skills comments will not have changed greatly.
Students’ skills develop at different rates and they demonstrate understanding in different ways, with varying levels of independence. Marks on the report card can sometimes be discouraging for students who are working hard and/or are receiving support in specific subjects and although they are making significant progress, their performance doesn’t yet meet ministry expectations.
This can be especially true for students in grade one who are receiving marks for the first time. Students in the junior grades will have had more experience with and understanding of report card comments and achievement levels than children in the primary grades. As a parent, you know your child best and you are the best judge of how to share the information in the report card with your child. Students will be asked to take home their report cards in sealed envelopes for parents to open.
Students can add comments to the third page of the report card and return it to their teacher to be included in their OSR (Ontario Student Record). This is a great exercise in goal setting.
Parent-Teacher Interviews
Classroom teachers will be arranging interviews with all parents over the next week before and after school in addition to Thursday February 11th in the evening and Friday February 12th in the morning. Our HSP and ESL teachers will be joining classroom teachers at the interviews for the students that they support. If the HSP teachers are double booked they will connect with parents to schedule another time to meet.
Many teachers are using doodle.com (shared with them during our ‘tech ten’ in our monthly staff meeting) allowing parents to sign up for their interview online. Regardless of the format of booking interviews, I ask parents to please write the interview time in their calendar to avoid calling the office to confirm, with 800 students the office is a busy place.
Would you like to connect with your child’s specialty teachers? This year specialty teachers will be in the library on Thursday evening from 4-6 pm and Friday morning from 9-11am, allowing parents to touch base with specialty teachers without the need to book many separate interviews. Half-time specialty teachers will be available on Friday morning only. If you do have a concern that requires time and privacy, please contact the specialty teacher to schedule a specific time, otherwise just drop by the library to connect with them. Below is a list of the specialty teachers available in the library:
Thursday and Friday
- Mario Galofaro, Physical Education
- Tim Leaney, Physical Education
- Alison Bannerman, Music
- Veronica Lucero, Core French
- Jeffrey Osborne, Library and French
- Alanna Julian, Library and Special Education
Friday only
- Evra Trought-Pitters, ESL and Math
- Caroline Dobkin Kurtz, Drama and Dance
- Caroline Rosta, Math
- Erin Silbiger, Kindergarten Music, Art and Inquiry
Individual Education Plans (IEPs)
Updated IEPs will be sent home along with the Term 1 report cards on February 9th. IEPs outline the supports and curriculum expectations (for modified IEPs) that will be put in place to support students in Term 2. IEPs are working documents so if parents have any input for the IEP please share with the homeroom or special education teacher. Two copies of the IEP are sent home, one for parents to keep and the other to be signed and returned to be kept in your child’s OSR (Ontario Student Record). Please return this copy as soon as possible to your child’s teacher.
Long Range Plans
Teachers will be sharing their long range curriculum plans with parents (the completion of which was delayed with job action in the fall) over the next week in a format that works for their classroom (posted on website or blog, handed out at interviews, emailed to parents). The classroom is a dynamic environment and long range plans can and do change over time based on learning experiences, student performance and student interests. However, these plans will provide parents with an overview of the curriculum expectations and learning opportunities taking place in their child’s classroom.
Tracey O’Toole