August 10, 2005



Cotton Indian Elementary School

1201 Old Conyers Road

Stockbridge, Georgia. 30281

Telephone: (770)474-9983

Fax: (770) 474-6959

Natalie A. Metcalf M. Denise McCulley

Principal Assistant Principal

August 30, 2007

Dear Parents,

At CIE, we are continually striving to improve and expand the supports we provide to children. This summer, we have been working hard to come up with new programs to teach and reinforce students for positive behaviors. As part of these efforts, we have several new programs that will be in effect for the 2007-08 school year. We are starting a school-wide behavioral support program. As part of that program, we have defined expectations we have for students. We expect all CIE students to demonstrate the following: Responsible, On-Task, Awesome Attitude, and Respectful (ROAR). We will be teaching students these behaviors and starting an incentive program for students who are demonstrating these behaviors. You will see signs throughout the building reminding students of these expectations. We are very excited about this program as we believe kids want to do what is right and expected of them – so it is our responsibility to clearly explain our expectations.

Also for the 2007-08 school year, we will be operating Z-hall on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons from 2:30-3:30. Z-hall is a program for students whose grades are being negatively impacted by missing work. While there is a “natural” consequence associated with missing work (i.e., a student’s grade goes down as a result of the zero), that consequence has long-term implications on that child’s learning, as the child has not obtained the important concepts or knowledge that were part of the assignment. The purpose of z-hall is to ensure students do not get so far behind in their school work that it negatively impacts their grades and to ensure students are acquiring concepts they will need for their future.

Z-hall will be assigned to a child when the child accumulates four zeros during one grading period. In z-hall, they will be given the opportunity to work with a paraprofessional to complete their missing work, which they will be allowed to turn in for partial credit. When a child is assigned to z-hall, parents will be given advance written notification so arrangements can be made for the child to be picked up after school.

At CIE, we have also been discussing different options for building in time for acceleration and remediation into the academic week for all children. For the 2007-08 school year, each grade level will designate a minimum of a 40 minute time block one day per week (the Achieve Block) that will be used for the purposes of enrichment and/or remediation. Teachers will select an area of focus each six-weeks (e.g., math problem solving or inferring in reading) and will group students based upon their present level of performance in relation to grade level standards. Some children will receive instruction on-grade level while other children will receive accelerated instruction or enrichment in this area, focusing on higher grade level standards. This Achieve Block of time will enable a team of teachers to identify specific instructional needs of a grade level and provide students with instruction targeted to their present level of proficiency.

We are very excited about these new initiatives at CIE as we believe they will help our students be the best they can be. As always, if you have other ideas about ways we can improve what we do for children, we would love to hear from you! It is through working together that we can ensure we are Simply the Best!

Sincerely,

Natalie Metcalf M. Denise McCulley

Principal Assistant Principal

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