• Welcome to AVID Elementary!
     
    AVID Elementary is a program that we are introducing this year for all of our 4th and 5th grade students.  It focuses on college readiness and the idea that all students can go to college.  In the middle schools AVID can be taken as an elective class, but in elementary school it is embedded in all 4th and 5th grade classrooms.  It is not changing the curriculum we already teach, just adding best practices and organizational structure into the classroom day.  The framework for AVID Elementary includes Organization, WICOR, Student Success Skills, and Partnership.  While we will be introducing all these components to the students throughout the year, our primary focus for this first year will be organization. 
     
    As we are focusing on organization and levels of questioning this year, all students will have a notebook that they are expected to use and maintain.  Part of the enrollment cost is to pay for your student’s AVID notebook.  You should have noticed your child bringing home a white, 3-ring notebook every evening.  In the notebook includes a pencil pouch, their agenda, and all the notes and other important papers we have asked them to keep.  It is vital that notes are not removed from the notebook.  We are asking that they keep them in there all year and we will be doing regular notebook checks to make sure they are present and organized.  In the front there is a pocket for important papers they are bringing home and need to return to school.  In the back is a pocket for papers coming home that need to be cleaned out every night and left at home.  The teachers will be checking daily to make certain the papers have been removed from the back of the notebook.  Your child spent a good amount of time putting together this notebook and learning all about it, so please spend some time tonight talking to them about how to use the notebook and how to properly maintain it, as they will only have one to last the entire year. 
     
    Attached to this letter is a contract that needs to be reviewed by you and your child, signed by both of you and returned to school tomorrow.  It is a contract for success that highlights the student’s goals and responsibility that will be expected of them. 
     
    This is a lot of information in a very short time, so please don’t hesitate to call the school, or stop in and talk about it if you have any questions.  More information will continue to come home about AVID and how we are using it in the classroom. 
     
    Thank you for your support,
    Washington Elementary 4th and 5th Grade Teachers
    316-973-1150