Basal Reading Program
The Cherokee County School District uses a Comprehensive Language Arts Curriculum which encompasses elements of the Scott-Foresman Basal Reading Series and the Balanced Literacy Model.
Curriculum
At Northwest Elementary, we consider a child’s curriculum to include all the experiences he/she has while attending school.
Subjects taught include:
Reading/Language Arts, Handwriting, Science, Social Studies, Math, Health, Art, Music, Physical Education
The State Department of Education dictates the number of hours per week that each subject must be taught.
Grade Scale
Cherokee County District #1 uses the following grading scale:
A = 93 – 100
B = 85 – 92
C = 77 – 84
D = 70 – 76
F = 69 and below
Guidance
Northwest Elementary has a full-time Guidance Counselor. Each class has scheduled guidance programs. These programs cover subjects such as substance abuse, career awareness, decision making, testing skills, and self-image development. The Guidance Counselor is also available for counseling individual students and small groups.
Homework
Homework is an extension of classroom activity and assignments should be challenging and meaningful.
Purposes of homework are as follows:
- To expand upon work started in class and to develop good study habits by stimulating volunteer effort, initiative, independence, responsibility, and self-direction.
- To allow the student to develop his creative ability.
- To increase and add to the student’s skill level and knowledge.
- To transform worthwhile student activities into permanent leisure interests.
- To challenge the students.
- To incorporate help and resources of the home and family.
In order to become well rounded, students need time to participate in other activities after school; however, they should allow time for reading and/or homework each day.
Media Center
The Media Center exists to meet children’s needs, to help them find possible solutions to their problems, to make them aware of their abilities and values, and to motivate them.
The Media Center is “headquarters” for all teaching materials, books, magazines, pamphlets, pictures, audio recordings, and video. The center enriches classroom instruction and bridges the gap between textbooks and reading materials used in everyday life.
The Media Center helps children learn by:
- Providing books and other media for educational programs.
- Helping students develop an interest in reading, thereby stimulating their interests in others subjects.
- Teaching students how to use the Media Center and become information literate.
The Media Center is open from 7:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. With teacher permission, students may come at anytime during these hours for reference work or for recreational reading.
Students may check out books for one week and renew them, if necessary. The Media Center does not charge an overdue fine, but asks you to make sure your child returns his/her books on time. The Media Center does charge for lost or damaged books.
Elementary Gifted Academics
Students identified as academically gifted/talented in grades 3-5 are served through Project G.O.A.L. (Golden Opportunities for Advanced Learning) resource centers. Students qualify for Project GOAL based on South Carolina State Department of Education guidelines. Students may be nominated for Project GOAL by parents, teachers, or themselves. Qualifications for the program are based on aptitude scores, achievement scores, grades and recommendations.
Parent Teacher Conferences
We schedule two parent-teacher conferences during the school year; at the end of the first and the third six weeks reporting periods. We encourage you to attend these conferences.
You may initiate a conference by writing a note to or calling your child’s teacher. When the teacher observes the need, he or she may ask you to come in for a special conference.
Permanent Records
Office personnel maintain a permanent record for each student in the school. This record is confidential and is accessible only to the school’s professional staff, the student, and the student’s parents or guardian. If you child transfers to a school outside Cherokee County School District One, you must sign a written permission form for your child’s records to be forwarded to the new school.
Placement of Students
The principal is responsible for assigning students to a homeroom class. Heterogeneous grouping is the most desirable method of assigning children to classrooms. Therefore, children are placed with regard to:
- Each individual child’s need.
- A balanced distribution of boys and girls.
- A balanced distribution of black and white students.
- A balanced distribution of children from varying socioeconomic backgrounds.
- Reading and math achievement levels
Progress Reports
Northwest Elementary distributes a progress report (report card) for each child at the end of the nine-week period. The report lists the student’s grades in reading, language, spelling, handwriting, mathematics, social studies, science and health, art, music, and physical education. Students in the Accelerated English Language Arts class (gifted and talented) also receive a grade. If you do not receive a report at the end of each nine-week period, please notify the school office. A midterm progress report is issued every four and 1/2 weeks. This is done to keep you informed of your child’s progress.
Promotion and Retention
You may request a copy of the District Promotion and Retention Policy from your child’s teacher or from the school office.
Related Arts Program
Art, music, and physical education teachers work with each class during the week. Teachers in the regular classrooms provide related instruction to support these activities.
Special Education
The Special Education Program provides individual instruction to help each child reach his or her potential.
We provide two resource classes for students who are educable mentally handicapped, emotionally handicapped, or learning disabled. Students in the resource classes work in small groups with a Special Education teacher for a portion of the school day, but spend most of their day in a regular classroom.
One self-contained class is provided for students who require specialized, individual instruction.
In order to place a child in a resource class, we must receive written permission for a psychological evaluation and placement from the child’s parents or guardians, a recommendation for placement from the staffing committee, and a written educational plan for the student.
Tests
Northwest Elementary follows the District and State Test Programs. We administer standardized achievement and aptitude tests and will release the results of those tests to you, upon request. Standardized test data is never used for grading or placement purposes; but to identify those areas in which students show academic strength or weakness and to improve our instructional program.
Textbooks
The South Carolina State Department provides free textbooks for all students in elementary school. If a student loses or damages a textbook, he or she must pay the assessed amount.
