Bonne Année 2014!

Contes Amérindiens.....

Hello students and families of 6th graders....
I am starting to post the audio Keynote projects on our blog page (6ème) - Check it out! (left side)

Up date on Synergy

 Below is the latest grading scale that is available to us by the District (November 23rd), along with the latest descriptors and corresponding letter grades. At this point, I am a bit lost as to what the scores I gave so far mean as the scale has changed quite a bit throughout the term.  The meaning for 4s and 3s has been pretty much consistent, but anything below has changed.

Proficiency (HProf / Prof / NrlyProf / NotProf / I.E.) - District Wide

Score	Low Score	High Score
Highly Prof / 4 / A	3.41	4.00
Proficient / 3 / B	2.75	3.4
Nearly Proficient 2 / C	2.00	2.74
Not Proficient 1 / D	1.00	1.99
Insufficient Evidence 0 /  F	0.00	0.99

  **************************
Below is was the final previous grading scale that is was available to us by the District.

Proficiency (HP / P / NP / DP) - District Wide

Score	Low Score	High Score
HProf	3.50	4.00
PProf	2.50	3.49
NProf	1.50	2.49
DProf	0.00	1.49

I need to readjust my grading scores accordingly. This is the scale I will use to grade assignments / assessments.

4 = Highly Proficient

3 = Proficient

2 = Nearly Proficient

1 = Developing

0 = No Understanding

No score indicates the student did not submit the work or did not address one of the standards/skills in his/her assignment. At the moment "no score" is not punitive, but it might be if student never shows a level of proficiency in one area. We should soon have a NE (No Evidence) available.

The score under "grade" is a composite of all scores. When viewing your student's grades, you can choose to view the standards, which might give a better picture. If scores are low at the beginning of the year, if is important to see a growing trend.
It is also important to realize that some standard are more challenging and students might start at a lower level. Look for formative vs. summative assessments. Formative are smaller assignments from which students should learn (not all formative assessments are graded, many are corrected in class). Summative assignments are longer and are designed to assess students' proficiency to a given standard. Summative assignments should give a more accurate picture of students' learning / proficiency.

Through their classes in French Immersion, your student is assessed in French, Social Studies, Language Arts (reading / writing), Study skills, technology skills.

To access Synergy, click on the link on the right menu. Your student has his/her username + password. I believe parent will receive a notice on how to access Synergy using their own login information.

Open House!

Thanks for coming to Open House!  A few reminders or items I forgot to mention:

House Parents:  
• Our RAD theme is Sesame Street / Stars from TV shows - RAD is next Friday - RAD is one of our biggest fund raisers (without sending kids door to door selling magazines).
• Please send boxes of tissues, pencils, and bottles of hand sanitizer gel before the flu season starts. Pencils are also prized item. 

6th grader parents:
• Although HW is on my blog, the main source for students is their planners. HW is written on the board where it stays until next day. Some students come to my classroom at the end of the day when they realized they forgot to write their HW on their planners. 
• The planner can be a way to communicate when students are not doing their HW efficiently. It is called a "traveler". I can sign a presented planner to confirm that HW was indeed done for the day. Parents will then act accordingly.