Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire Freshman Parent Orientation Wednesday, August 6, 2014 South...

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Freshman Parent Orientation

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

South Forsyth High School

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

How a 9th grade parent feels…

Don’t worry, take a deep breath, and everything will be okay… Your students are in great hands!

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

SFHS Counseling Staff

• Dr. Jamie D. Brown, Dept. Head A – B

• Eddy Fernandez C – Gah

• Corinna Spurlock Gai – Kot

• Stacye Fickle Kou – Nor

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

SFHS Counseling Staff

• Michele Vargas Nos – Smi

• Shari Frankel Smj – Z

• Kristi Hall Administrative Secretary

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Student Schedule

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Grading Scale

On-Level &Honors

Advanced Placement (AP),International

Baccalaureate (IB), Dual Enrollment (DE)

A (90 – 100) = 4.0B (80 – 89) = 3.0C (70 – 79) = 2.0

A (90 – 100) = 5.0B (80 – 89) = 4.0C (70 – 79) = 3.0

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Academic Support

• Teacher Extra Help Sessions

• Instructional Focus (IF)

• War Eagle Learning Center

• Instructional Extension (if funding is available)

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

War Eagle Learning Center

EAST HALL

(Room 1130 across from East Hall Counseling Office)

Open daily before school 7:45-8:23am and after school 3:45-4:15pm.

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

First Steps for Students

• Stay organized

• Communicate with your teacher

• Attend teacher extra help sessions during IF, before or after school, and participate in Instructional Extension

• Be proactive not reactive

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Best Practices for Success

• Complete homework nightly, “There is no such thing as no homework,” except for on the last day of the semester

• Turn in assignments on time! If not on time, still turn them in, because 0’s destroy your average

• Use itsLearning

• Ask questions

• Use good study habits, pick at least 3 classes to review every night even its only for 15 – 20 minutes

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Sycamore Learning

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Best Practice:Monitor Your Progress!

• Correct homework answers

• Correct warm up answers

• Check Parent Portal

• Review nine-week progress reports

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Best Practice: Communicate!• Use email – it is the most effective form of

communication, and it is hard for teachers to get to phones.

• Protocol for communication:1. Student to Teacher (self advocating)2. Parent to Teacher3. Parent to Dept. Head4. Parent to Administrator/Counselor

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Content Team Information

Math Tracy Braun

Literature Angela Satterfield

Science Melissa Smith

Social Studies Rebecca Hewitt

World Languages Maggie GustavusSpecial Education Mark Swanger

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Mathematics Information and Resources

• itsLearning• Mathispower4u.com • Patrickjmt.com • Khan Academy• Mu Alpha Theta• Saturday Academy• Instructional Focus

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Get Connected

Research Shows that students involved in school sponsored activities are:

• more successful academically

• significantly more likely to graduate college

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Let’s get involved!

• Students need to be involved in a club, sport, and/or an organization. Be a part of the SFHS family!

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Get Connected

WednesdayAug 20th

during Instructional Focus

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Honors & Academic Recognition

Forsyth County Schools has set standard criteria to become a member in honor societies and to be named an Honor Graduate.

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Honor SocietyPreliminary Requirements for Membership

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Graduation Requirements

Requirements Credits

Language Arts 4

Mathematics 4

Social Studies 3

Science 4

Health/Personal Fitness 1

W Lang and/or Fine Art and/or CTAE

3

Electives 4Students planning to enter/transfer into a 4 year college/university must take a minimum of two units of the same world language.

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Promotion?

Credits How many credits are required to be in the 10th grade?

5 credits need to be earned by the start of the 2015/2016 school year for students to be in the 10th grade.

If a student does not have 5 credits then the student remains in a 9th grade Instructional Focus.

How many credits are required to be in the 11th grade? 11 credits need to be earned by the start of the 2016/2017 school year for students to be in the 11th grade.

How many credits are required to be in the 12th grade?

17 credits need to be earned by the start of the 2017/2018 school year for students to be in the 12th grade.

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Required High School Assessments

• Must pass the GHSWT to be eligible for diploma

– Are not required to take or pass GHSGT

• Required to pass EOCT courses with the End-of-Course Test contributing 20% of course grade

– Are not required to pass EOCT

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

9th Grade Courses Requiring an EOCT

• 9th Grade Literature (Honors)

• Coordinate Algebra(Accelerated)

• Analytic Geometry (Accelerated)

• Biology (Honors)

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

PSAT Administration

• Math/Critical Reading/Writing

• Test Date—October 15th

• Registration information will be available soon

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Why Take the PSAT?

• Prepares students for SAT—On average, students who take the PSAT/NMSQT score 145 points higher on SAT than those who don’t take the PSAT

• Supports college and career planning—My College

Quickstart provides an interactive score report, personalized SAT Study Plan with hundreds of questions, personality inventory, and personalized list of colleges;

• Provides entry into scholarship programs—National Merit Scholarships are awarded on PSAT scores from 11th grade ONLY;

• Provides information to colleges when you select “Yes” to question about Student Search Service.

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

What Colleges (AND Employers) Are Looking For

• GPA (academic core GPA)

• Curriculum rigor—Can a student do well in rigorous courses?

• Test scores (SAT/ACT)

• Extracurricular activities

**Depth versus breadth

• Well rounded citizens

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Georgia’s HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarship

Eligible students receive financial assistance covering partial or full tuition

Qualifications

- U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen

- Legal resident of Georgia

- Graduate of an eligible GA high school

- Valid Social Security #

Selective ServiceMales must register with the Selective Service no later than 30 days before their 18th birthday.

HOPE eligibility will be delayed until this requirement is met www.sss.gov

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Hope Scholarship

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Zell Miller

• Major premise of the program is that a student must meet all the requirements to be eligible for the HOPE Scholarship, plus:

• Graduate from an eligible high school with a grade point average of at least a 3.7 as calculated by GSFC and having received a score of at least 1,200 combined critical reading score and math score on a single administration of the SAT or an ACT score of at least 26; or

• Graduated from an eligible high school as the valedictorian or salutatorian

For more information, visit http://www.gacollege411.org

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Administrator, Counselors, and Staff

Tracy Verrigni, Assistant PrincipalGrade 9 Administrator

tverrigni@forsyth.k12.ga.us(770) 781-2264, ext. 101132

Dr. Jamie D. Brown Stacye FickleHead Counselor (A – B) Counselor (Kou – Nor)jabrown@forsyth.k12.ga.us fickle@forsyth.k12.ga.us(770) 781-2264, ext. 101105 (770) 781-2264, ext. 101118

Edward Fernandez Michele Vargas Counselor (C – Gah) Counselor (Nos – Smi)efernandez@forsyth.k12.ga.us mvargas@forsyth.k12.ga.us

(770) 781-2264, ext. 101121 (770) 781-2264, ext. 101116

Corinna Spurlock Shari FrankelCounselor (Gai – Kot) Counselor (Smj – Z)cspurlock@forsyth.k12.ga.us sfrankel@forsyth.k12.ga.us(770) 781-2264, ext. 101113 (770) 781-2264, ext. 101119

Kristi Hall, Adminstrative Secretarykhall@forsyth.k12.ga.us

(770) 781-2264, ext. 101101

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Changes to Schedules

1. I need to ADD A COURSE because I have an empty spot

in my schedule.

2. I need to DROP A COURSE because I have already taken

and passed a course I have.

3. I need to DROP A COURSE because I have not met its

prerequisites.

4. I need to DROP A COURSE because I need another

course to graduate (Math, English, Science, Health &

Personal Fitness).

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Closing Curriculum Night • Thursday, August 14th 6:00pm-8:30pm.

• If you attended today’s session, you can report to campus @ 6:30pm to begin your tour.

• The 6:00pm session will be a short re-cap of today.

Parent RotationsPAC move to WH CaféWH Café to EH Café

EH Café to PAC

**If you have other questions I will be available here for a town hall style Q & A at 9:45 for about thirty minutes.

Connect to Achieve; Lead to Inspire

Stay Connected to SFHS

http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/sfhs

For tons of information please log on to our website:

Q & A’s