September 2008

Chancellor Caldwell throws the die as he works on an assignment.

Program provides new ways for you to help your child learn math
Most Jefferson County public elementary schools started the school year with a new program called Math Investigations 2. It not only helps students master basic skills but also engages them in creative problem-solving, facilitates classroom discussions, and offers new ways for parents to get involved in their children’s math education.

Breckinridge-Franklin Elementary teacher Katie Byron, who used the program last year, says it builds a “solid mathematical foundation.” It includes manipulatives (objects such as cubes and pretend money) as well as engaging math games that are organized in a student handbook that, Byron says, “helps provide a school-to-home link.” Parents of elementary students can expect their child to bring home the handbook and other material they can use to reinforce classroom learning:

• Letters from teachers will provide homework tips, suggest family math activities, explain what students are learning, and recommend children’s books that support math instruction. (See sidebar.)
• Besides playing math games with their children, parents will be able to use the Student Math Handbook to review lessons and to refresh their understanding of math terms and concepts they might have forgotten.
• Homework and Daily Practice Pages, which connect school math with everyday life, will include a “Note to Parents” section that references relevant pages in the handbook.
• The publisher has created a Web site for parents that includes an overview of the program and tips for helping your child: http://school.familyeducation.com/math/new-teacher/55249.html.

Math Investigations 2 is funded for Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) students through the GE Foundation Developing Futures™ in Education program as part of the districtwide Add it up—Math+Science for All initiative. (See www.addituplouisville.com.)

A GE steering committee selected Math Investigations 2 to recommend to district schools after a lengthy evaluation process that considered three other programs and gathered feedback through focus groups and math open houses that involved parents and other community members.

According to feedback from a focus group of 65 teachers from 50 JCPS schools, Math Investigations 2 best captures the spirit of the JCPS Vision for Teaching Mathematics because it encourages student-centered inquiry through problem solving. It also received the highest rating in such categories as encouraging student discussion and use of technology.

Seventy-six of the 90 JCPS elementary schools chose to use the program during the new school year. Teachers attended workshops during the summer to learn the best ways to present it. Schools that chose not to use it this year may decide to use it beginning with the 2009-10 school year.

• Kindergarten and first grade: Ten Little Rabbits by Virginia Grossman and Ten Flashing Fireflies by Sturges Philemon
• Second and third grades: 12 Ways to Get to 11 by Eve Merriam and One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes
• Fourth and fifth grades: The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis and If You Made a Million by David M. Schwartz

Teacher Hicham Roida uses a Tablet PC at the English as a Second Language (ESL) newcomer Academy at Shawnee High.

JCPS teachers know tech
All 5,700 JCPS teachers are now fully equipped with the latest educational technology. During the summer, the district completed the Technology Integration Project, which equips teachers with multimedia projectors and Tablet PCs. “The Tablet PC is an ideal tool for teachers because it provides all of the capability of a standard laptop computer while also providing the journal functions to support instruction,” says Sharon Shrout, director of JCPS Computer Education Support. “And the mobility of the Tablet PC gives teachers anytime, anywhere access to resources to plan lessons and perform other job-related duties.”The Computer Education Support Unit provided training to teachers and will offer follow-up support in the classroom. The unit completed the Technology Integration Project two years ahead of schedule to ensure that all teachers were equipped and trained for the start of the 2008-09 school year.

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Brian and Noah Wampler kept the campus clean at Middletown Elementary on a rainy day last spring.

This is good news for JCPS students because, during the past few years, district dads have been getting more involved. For example, Middletown Elementary started a club two years ago that welcomes fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, uncles, and other male guardians and relatives.

“Since the inception of the Men’s Group, there has been increased involvement of men at PTA [Parent Teacher Association] functions,” says Brian Wampler, who led the group during the past two years. “Middletown has also seen more men step into leadership roles in the PTA as committee chairs and volunteers.”
 
The Middletown Men’s Group has completed several projects, including cleaning up the campus, creating a backdrop for the school’s weekly TV program, and installing shelves in the cafeteria to display awards.
 
If your child’s school doesn’t have a men’s group, consider starting one. For tips on getting dads to join, visit www.pta.org/documents/How_To_Guide.pdf. Here’s a preview of the tips you’ll find:

• Emphasize that getting involved doesn’t necessarily involve a large time commitment.
• Keep meetings on track, move them along at a good pace, and keep people on topic. Start and end on time.
• Ask men what skills they would like to share with the school and the PTA. Then use those skills in the roles you offer them.

Why wouldn’t you go?
Special events at JCPS schools focus on family fun
Sometimes you get a free dinner. Sometimes you see a show. Sometimes you get tips on how to help your child with homework.

Always, you and your child have a good time when you go to a family fun night at a JCPS school. Consider just a few of the events held during the last school year:

The Pfeister family and a few friends read together on Blue Lick's Literacy Night.

• Instead of a science fair, Chancey Elementary held a math fair. Parents learned about fun math games, and fifth-graders displayed projects they had created. For instance, Jenai Howard’s display explained how to calculate the cost of owning a dog for 12 years (up to $29,332 with invisible fencing, $33,322 with traditional fencing). “Chancey students put a lot of thought and creativity into showcasing their talents,” says Principal Ronda Cosby. “Parents, teachers, and students loved the math fair aspect of math night, and it brought a huge crowd of visitors to our school.”
• “On most nights in the Kerrick Elementary woods, you’d just hear the chirping of crickets or the hooting of an owl,” says Principal Maria Clemons, “but on Family Reading Night, there was a whole chorus of voices.” Besides sharing stories in the woods, Kerrick families listened to John Gage, a Louisville musician and host of WFPK’s Homefront program. Many families even recorded their own stories for StoryCorps, a national oral history project.
• Scrambled eggs for dinner? That’s what Blue Lick Elementary families got last year on Literacy Night. Students wore pajamas and read Green Eggs and Ham and other Dr. Seuss books. “Many times families ask us what they can do to help their children learn,” says Blue Lick Principal Melody Raymond. “Our Literacy Nights have provided them with the answers. They learn strategies from our reading experts. We give them the chance to practice here, and then they make a toolkit they can take home. We make it a fun learning environment.”

Throughout the new school year, watch for announcements of family fun events at your child’s school.

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File photo: Mike Ice works with Sanders Elementary students.

Top teacher tips:
Use TV to increase your child’s reading skills
“There are so many kids in our community who don’t have a book to call their own,” says JCPS resource teacher Mike Ice.

He has helped many Louisville children get their own books, and he has several ideas for helping them learn how to read them.

A few years ago, when Ice was a teacher at Sanders Elementary, he launched a drive that brought in more than 1,300 books. It was such a success that Metro United Way asked him to lead an effort to get other schools involved. His work ultimately helped the organization collect more than 14,000 books. Because of his efforts and his teaching skills, Ice received a 2008 Excellence in Classroom and Educational Leadership (ExCEL) Award and a 2007 Ashland Inc. Kentucky Teacher Achievement Award.

To help young children learn to read, Ice suggests turning on the closed captioning on the family TV set. “This will encourage your child to read along with his or her favorite shows,” he says. “Many children’s shows also display song lyrics, and turning on the closed captioning helps your child understand the connection between written and spoken—and sung—language.”
Here are some more of Ice’s reading tips:

• Review sight words (also called Dolch words) with your child. Lists of frequently used sight words are available for each level through the third grade. For example, the first-grade list includes such words as after, an, ask, fly, her, him, open, over, and stop. A Web site that offers ready-to-print flash cards is www.mrsperkins.com/dolch.htm. You could use these cards to play such games as Go Fish.
• To increase comprehension skills, simply ask your child to tell you about one of the books that he or she has read at school. Ask questions that encourage your child to give you details. Make sure to ask about characters, setting, the central problem in the book, and the solution to it.
• Another way to increase comprehension skills is to encourage your child to relate life experiences to stories in books. For example, if your child reads a story about an elephant, ask him or her how the elephant in the story compares to an elephant that he or she saw at a circus or the zoo.

Let’s make sure Every 1 Reads
Every 1 Reads is a Louisville literacy initiative that’s helping many students boost their reading skills. If you’re interested in reading with a student for a half-hour a week at a school near your home or workplace, call 625-0004 or visit www.every1reads.com.

Morgan Shaffo (a duPont Manual High student), Allison Kennedy (Butler High), and Addie Rosenberger (Pleasure Ridge Park High) pose in front of the Matterhorn.

How I spent my summer vacation: Making Europeans cry
By Allison Kennedy

Allison, a Butler Traditional High student, was among the students selected to participate this summer in the 16-day Kentucky Ambassadors of Music Tour of Europe. Students were selected for the tour’s 120-piece concert band or its 80-voice choir because of their musical talent, leadership, and character. Allison, a singer, wrote a 20-page journal during the trip. Here are a few excerpts:

Day 2: England—We arrived around 9 a.m. We went through security and passport check and then went to get our luggage. I was a little nervous because I didn’t see mine for a while and other people’s luggage was coming out with shampoo all over it. But I finally got my bag.

Day 3: England—We saw the Changing of the Guard outside Buckingham Palace. It was awesome. Their fuzzy hats weigh 15 pounds and are made out of grizzly bear fur. .... We went to a pub down the street to eat dinner, and I got to have fish and chips for the first time. Yummy.

Day 4: England—Today we had our first performances overseas. I thought the concert was more difficult because we were singing outside and our voices weren’t bouncing back at us off of any walls, so it was a lot harder to hear. But the London people seemed to like both the choir and the band.

Day 6: France—We stayed for two hours at the Louvre Museum, which isn’t enough time to go through even one of the sections. But I got to see the Mona Lisa, which was the size of a poster, and it looked even smaller because of the way it had been blocked off and because of how many people were looking at it. But it was all right. After we left the Louvre, we went to St. Severins Church and had our second concert. It was a lot better than the first one.

Day 7: Switzerland—Do you know how scary it is to be on a bus going up a huge hill on skinny roads where you could possibly fall off the side of the cliff and die? EXTREMELY SCARY! But Switzerland is beautiful.

Day 12: Austria—The Swarovski store was AMAAAZZINNNGGG! I had never seen so many beautiful pieces of jewelry and home decor and fashion accessories made out of crystal. I bought a pair of crystal earrings and a necklace that has a large crystal heart and a key, lock, and heart all covered in crystals (pink and clear). I spent a whopping 160 euros at this one store.

Day 13: Italy—The choir got to sing in St. Mark’s [Cathedral], which was awesome. We made one woman cry, and she told Dr. [Kent] Hatteberg [the U of L choral director who conducted the tour choir] that she had never heard anything so beautiful.

Day 15: Germany—The choir performed at the Franziskaner Kirche (Franciscan Church). This concert was our last, and it was kind of sad. Still, I’m really excited to be going back to Louisville.

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Getting ready for CATS:
Are you as smart as a JCPS fifth grader?
The following math questions have appeared on the fifth-grade Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) assessments. The first three parents who send the correct answers to the Parent Connection office via e-mail and the first three who send the answers via regular mail will receive a free JCPS T-shirt. Please include the name of your child’s (or grandchild’s) school with your answers.The e-mail address is thomas.pack@jefferson.kyschools.us. The regular mailing address is Thomas Pack, C. B. Young Jr. Service Center, Building 4, Communications and Publications North, 3001 Crittenden Drive, Louisville, KY 40209. You don’t need to write out the questions or the answers. Just send the question numbers and the letters representing your answers, or if you send answers via regular mail, you may mark them on this quiz, cut it out, and mail it.

1. David put these cards into a box.

If he draws one card out of the box without looking, the number on the card will most likely be:
A. an even number
B. an odd number
C. a number greater than 4
D. a number less than 4

2. Which is the BEST estimate of the volume of the fish bowl shown below?

A. 10 milliliters
B. 50 milliliters
C. 2 liters
D. 50 liters

3. The mean (average) age of Mary’s scout troop of six girls is 10 years old. If two girls are 9 and two girls are 11, which statement could be true about the ages of the other two girls?

A. Both girls are 11.
B. One girl is 8 and the other girl is 12.
C. Both girls are 9.
D. One girl is 9 and the other girl is 15.

4. Find the rule for the table shown below.

A. T = S
B. T = 2S
C. T = 2S + 1
D. T = 3S - 1

Get ready for the Fun Run
The 20th annual JCPS Family Fitness Fun Run and the 5th Annual Fun Run Classic will be held on Sat., Sept. 13, at Iroquois Park. The Family Fitness Fun Run is open to all JCPS students, their family members, and district staff members. The Fun Run Classic offers competitive races for district staff and for JCPS students (kindergarten through high school). For more information and an entry form, visit www.jcpsky.net and click the Fun Run links on the home page.

Your child’s best year ever
How can students make 2008-09 their best school year so far? Here are a few suggestions.

Encourage your child to:

• Speak up. Is your child eager to join classroom discussions and to take part in other opportunities to think and learn with other students? If not, help your child develop the skills and confidence to become a more active participant. Family discussions offer an ideal environment for nurturing your child’s ability to evaluate and build on others’ ideas and to reach consensus on the ideas that seem most productive.
• Get involved. School sports, clubs, music programs, and art activities give your child a chance to explore talents and develop skills in a fun, supportive environment.
• Develop organizational skills. Students who learn to budget time, keep track of papers, and break down big assignments into small steps will be prepared to manage projects when they enter college and the work world.
• Become a leader. Encourage your child to volunteer to lead class projects, prepare presentations, and teach other students what they’ve learned.
• Engage in service learning. Community-service projects help students make connections between subjects they study in school and social, political, economic, and environmental issues in the larger world.
• Ask for help. JCPS schools offer not only caring teachers but also counselors, Family Resource and Youth Services Centers, Extended School Services, and many other programs and resources that meet an array of student needs.
• Set long-term goals. In addition to helping students measure their success, long-term goals can help students explore their ability to make a difference in the world and to create a positive vision of their future. Encourage your child to take advantage of all the college- and career-preparation opportunities offered at JCPS schools.

Attend free college workshops
College 101, a free workshop for middle school students and their parents, will be held on Sat., Sept. 20, at the U of L Student Activities Center, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Breakfast and lunch will be provided, and free parking will be available in the Floyd Street garage. Workshop sessions will include Financing College, Study Skills, and Expectations for College Preparedness. Students will take a campus tour and participate in a session led by U of L students. Although College 101 is free, registration is requested. Call 852-8917.

A free How-to-Pay-for-College Workshop for JCPS high school seniors and their families will be held on Tues., Sept. 16, at Atherton High from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The featured speaker will be Gen Tanabe, author of several books about paying for college. For more information, contact Dana Shumate at 485-3995.

Direct comments about Parent Connection to the editor, Thomas Pack, at 485-6315 or e-mail him at thomas.pack@jefferson.kyschools.us

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