Instructor: Carol Ferguson, PhD, Supervisor of Instruction, NCLB Coordinator
2009-2010 Curriculum Update from the Supervisor of Instruction - Dr. Carol Ferguson
Language Arts Curriculum
Last year and this past summer have been a productive year in the curriculum office. The Language Arts Curriculum draft was completed in August 2009, thanks to our curriculum committee, which was comprised of Andrea Vicente (K), Laura Levy (1), Michelle Seals (2), Michelle Gano (3), Bryan Levy (4), Christianne Strang (5), Carol Willett (6), Lisa Carlton and Kim Harris (7), and Lynn Smith (8). The curriculum is truly a working document and it will be implemented and revised as we go through the year. Everyone’s input is needed to make this a useful resource. The curriculum is written in Understanding by Design format, with particular attention paid to the NJ Focus Areas. Key Understandings, Essential Questions and Performance tasks are emphasized for greater depth of knowledge and understanding.
Community of Caring
We are in our second full year of implementation of Community of Caring. In June, MS teams set up bulletin boards with a special message for their core value: Caring, Family, Respect, Responsibility and Trust. These boards will welcome back our MS students and get them psyched to implement Community of Caring. This summer, as part of our Caring School Inclusion Project grant, Lisa Harvey, Maria Caiafa and I (Carol Ferguson) went to a Community of Caring Conference in Florida, where we created our 2009-2010 action plan for implementation! We certainly came away with a lot to share with the MS this fall.
The Science Curriculum, grades K-8 (original date 2004) will be revised this year in Understanding by Design format.
New Math S.E.A.R.C.H. Pre-Algebra Textbook designed by our teachers: Mrs. Karen Casselman and Mrs. Carleena Supp!
(information coming soon)
K-5 StoryTown Reading Series
StoryTown Reading Program is Adopted for Grades K‐5
The StoryTown reading and language arts program, developed by Harcourt School Publishers has been adopted for students in grades K‐5. StoryTown features an organized, direct approach to teaching reading that is aligned with the New Jersey State Curriculum Frameworks. The program emphasizes explicit, systematic instruction in the five essential components of reading that include phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.
is the result of extensive and confirmed research that is based on best instructional practice in the teaching of reading. Following are several key components of the program:
a high‐quality collection of classic and contemporary literature designed to foster a love of reading in school and at home
three tiers of intervention strategies, targeted materials, and classroom management tools that match instruction to meet the different needs of students
integrated language arts lessons planned to help students develop and practice writing forms, grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling skills
a program of various assessments to ensure mastery or diagnosis of reading difficulties throughout the year
Additionally, StoryTown provides extensive online resources at ThinkCentral that allows families to access stories, practice readings, and reinforcement materials at home.
K and 1 Implementing SRA Reading Program
Kindergarten and 1st grades are implementing the McGraw-Hill SRA reading program that uses the highly explicit, systematic approach of Direct Instruction to accelerate reading and helps students achieve a high rate of success. SRA:
Addresses the five essential components of reading as identified by Reading First: phonemic awareness, phonics and word analysis, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
Provides spelling instruction to help students make the connection between decoding and spelling patterns
Develops decoding, word recognition, and comprehension skills that transfer to other subject areas
Using SRA, teachers will provides small group instruction for each child on his/her level on a daily basis. Kindergarten will be receiving SRA instruction for 30 minutes daily, and Grade 1 will be receiving SRA instruction for 60 minutes daily.
Professional Learning Community (PLC) Lab School Northfield Community School has been chosen to participate as a Professional Learning Communities Lab School, which will help to improve professional development and will lead to the enhancement of student learning.
Northfield Community School (K-8) is one of just 33 schools chosen out of 70 applicants in the New Jersey State Department of Education and Educational Information and Resource Center project.
Through the PLC, Northfield will have a team of three that will attend three training sessions throughout the year. The three teams members are Mr. Joe Campisi, ES Principal; Dr. Carol Ferguson, Supervisor of Instruction; and Mr. Kevin Jarrett, ES Computer Teacher.
In a letter sent to the district regarding Northfield being chosen, it stated the school was chosen because of their interest, commitment, and willingness to improve upon their professional development and instructional practices at Northfield Community School.
Through the PLC, schools will learn ways to bring more collaboration among teachers instead of teachers working independently.The point of the PLC is for the schools to impact classroom practices in ways that will lead to better results for the students.
Technology
In technology, every classroom has 5 Dell, Pentium 4 computers. In addition, we have three computer labs, two dell laptop carts, 1 Apple laptop cart, and 5 desktop macs in the library and computer labs. Furthermore, we will continue with our web-based test prep service, Study Island, which will be used to prepare our students for the NJ State Assessment tests. Our school website is updated daily and continues to be a great source of information for students, parents and teachers, powered by SchoolFusion. We will continue with our web based lesson planner for teachers called OnCourse. This year we will implement Genesis, our new student information system; MyLearningPlan, our new professional development; and in late September, our Lunchbox online payment system for school lunches.
Elementary Technology Projects
Professional Development Committee
Our professional development committee has been working hard. Last year, we continued our work with the Olweus Bully Prevention Program for all grade levels 3-8. This program has proven through extensive research to be a universal intervention for the reduction and prevention of bully/victim occurrences, which have been increasing among students here in our district. With this program in place, we saw a reduction in bullying incidents among our grade 3-8 student population. We will also continue our character education program entitled Community of Caring. "Community of Caring was founded in 1982 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver and has been adopted by almost 1000 schools nationwide and in Canada. It is research-based and has a proven record of accomplishment. Community of Caring believes that the universally accepted ethical values of caring, respect, responsibility, trust and family are the foundation on which responsible decisions and behaviors are based. Community of Caring schools weave these values into every aspect of school life."
Professional Development Opportunities for teachers this year included:
Please note: some of the links on this website will let you leave our site. These linked sites are not under the control of our school district. The district therefore is not responsible for the contents of any such site, or any link contained in those sites, or any changes or updates to those sites. The district is providing these links to you as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement of the site by the district.
Recent Activity
Last year and this past summer have been a productive year in the curriculum office. The Language Arts Curriculum draft was completed in August 2009, thanks to our curriculum committee, which was comprised of Andrea Vicente (K), Laura Levy (1), Michelle Seals (2), Michelle Gano (3), Bryan Levy (4), Christianne Strang (5), Carol Willett (6), Lisa Carlton and Kim Harris (7), and Lynn Smith (8). The curriculum is truly a working document and it will be implemented and revised as we go through the year. Everyone’s input is needed to make this a useful resource. The curriculum is written in Understanding by Design format, with particular attention paid to the NJ Focus Areas. Key Understandings, Essential Questions and Performance tasks are emphasized for greater depth of knowledge and understanding.
StoryTown Reading Program is Adopted for Grades K‐5 
Kindergarten and 1st grades are implementing the McGraw-Hill SRA reading program that uses the highly explicit, systematic approach of Direct Instruction to accelerate reading and helps students achieve a high rate of success. SRA:
Northfield Community School has been chosen to participate as a Professional Learning Communities Lab School, which will help to improve professional development and will lead to the enhancement of student learning.
In technology, every classroom has 5 Dell, Pentium 4 computers. In addition, we have three computer labs, two dell laptop carts, 1 Apple laptop cart, and 5 desktop macs in the library and computer labs. Furthermore, we will continue with our web-based test prep service, .gif)
Our professional development committee has been working hard. Last year, we continued our work with the Olweus Bully Prevention Program for all grade levels 3-8.