What is the Common Core Curriculum?

The Common Core Curriculum is a national curriculum in the areas of language arts and math.  North Carolina has adopted the Common Core Curriculum, and we will be utilizing it's standards next school year in our planning.  It provides a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn based on their grade level.  This enables teachers and parents to know exactly what to expect and prepare for in order to help facilitate student learning.  The standards in the Common Core are designed to include relevant, real world concepts, and to include reflecting the knowledge and skills needed in order to obtain success in both college and careers.  The intent of the Common Core is that all American students leave school fully prepared with 21st century skills and are prepared for the future to compete and survive in a global economy.

We will be using the Common Core Curriculum and the North Carolina Essential Standards in order to plan instruction.  The Common Core addresses learning objectives in language arts and math and the  North Carolina Essential Standards address learning objectives for science and social studies.  We are excited to utilize this new set of standards to guide our classroom instruction.  Our county has set up a variety of Common Core resources on Symbaloo.  Symbaloo is an internet webpage that can be customized to include important links. In addition to these resources, we have been looking for a variety of additional resources by subject area for you to utilize at home with your child. 

This year in language arts we will be focusing on a variety of different literature pieces and will be focusing on the following in planning and instruction:

• theme and point of view
• summarizing and inferencing
• comparing and contrasting
• text complexity
• figurative language and vocabulary
• text structure

This year in math we will be focusing on the following concepts in our planning and instruction: 

• writing and interpreting numerical expressions
• place value
• whole numbers
• decimals
• fractions
• geometry
• problem solving

This year in science we will be focusing on the following concepts in our planning and instruction:

• forces and motion
• weather patterns
• human body systems and genetics
• ecosystems and biomes

This year in social studies we will be focusing on the following concepts in our planning and instruction:

• United States history
• economics
• government

Classroom Technology Resources

The world as we know it is changing.  Our children need to be prepared with 21st Century skills to prepare them for the future.  Our classroom is full of technological resources that we will be utilizing on a daily basis in order to facilitate their learning. Why Use Technology in the Classroom

We are very fortunate in our classroom to have access to a variety of technology resources. Our classroom is equipped with the following resources, which will be utilized in our daily lesson planning in order to facilitate your child's learning:

•  Classroom computer lab: equipped with 4 computers and a printer
• Laptops (6)
• Document Cameras (2)
• Projectors (2)
• Calculators (class set)
• Smartboards (2)
• iPads (6)  

Using iPads in the Classroom

We will be using technology on a daily basis in our classroom in order to communicate both academic and behavioral progress.  

We will be utilizing Edmodo this school year for academic communication.  Edmodo is an online system that provides a way for our class to connect, share, access homework, grades, and assignments.   Each day, we will post the days learning objectives in each subject area and the homework for the day.  Students will also be required to complete and submit homework through this system.  A complete overview of Edmodo and how to use it will be given at our open house in the fall.

In order to monitor classroom behavior we will be using Class Dojo.  Class Dojo is an online system that allows us to track your child's classroom behavior.  This system creates behavior progress reports that we will be sending home weekly via email.  A complete overview of Class Dojo will be given at our open house as well.

We are very excited for your children to learn new information this school year as well as access the variety of technological resources that we have available to help facilitate their educational experience.  We are available to assist you with learning how to use the technology that your child will be exposed to.  Technology is fun and a wonderful tool to assist in the learning process!  We look forward to working with you this school year.

What is Inclusion?

     Inclusion is a term which expresses commitment to educating each and every child, to the maximum extent appropriate in order for them to access their grade level academic curriculum.  In an inclusive classroom support services and specialized instruction are brought directly to the students in the classroom.  An inclusion classroom is staffed with a regular education teacher and a special education teacher.  The two teachers work together to plan and implement differentiated lesson plans in order to meet the needs of all the students within the classroom.
     

           There are five basic teaching methods, or ways that curriculum are delivered to the students within an inclusion classroom.  The key to all of the methods listed below and to the success of the inclusion classroom is collaborative planning and the production of lesson plans that detail the responsibilities of each teacher and how instruction will be differentiated to meet each students individual needs.

• One teach, One Observe/Assist: in this method, one of the teachers handles the instruction while the other teacher circulates the class in order to make observations and or help individual students as necessary.
• Station Teaching: in this method, each teacher is responsible for a different part of the lesson.  Student will be provided instruction from each teacher in small group format.
• Parallel Teaching: In this method, the class is split in half and each teacher will teach the same lesson plan.
• Alternative Teaching: In this method, one of the teachers teaches the concept to the whole group, while the other teacher is responsible for instruction of a small group on a different lesson that is geared at their instructional level.
• Tag Team Teaching: In this method, both teachers plan and deliver instruction to the whole group.

      Inclusion benefits everyone, from children to parents, and the school staff.  Some of the benefits of having your child in an inclusion classroom include: 

• Classroom environment embraces communication skills
• More stimulating environment
• Differentiated and more individualized instruction
• Acceptance of individual differences
• Fosters leadership skills
• Encourages cooperative learning
• Access to additional instructional and technological resources
• Fosters parental involvement in the learning process

     

Welcome to Mr. Miller and Ms. Woodrum's Fifth Grade Class!

Welcome to the Fifth Grade!  We are very excited to be working with you this school year.  We are very excited to announce that this school year our classroom will be an inclusion classroom.  We are looking forward to a very educational school year and the opportunity to get to know each of your children.  Go Bobcats!

• Mr. Miller has been teaching fifth grade four fourteen years.  He started his career at Fairgrove Elementary and moved to Brier Creek Elementary when it opened.  He found his passion for teaching in Africa when he was a member of the Peace Corp.  He is the proud papa of a beautiful little girl and two foster children.                                                                                                         
• Ms. Woodrum was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to North Carolina to fulfill her teaching dream in 2001.  She double majored in elementary and special education and is currently working on her administrative masters at High Point University.  She has been teaching for eleven years.  The first nine years of her career were spent as a special education teacher at Brown Middle School.  She has been teaching at Brier Creek for the last two years.  Ms. Woodrum is the proud mother of one very energetic little girl.