Special Areas

Art
Media
Music
Physical Education
Accelerated Academic Progress
Computer Technology
Early Identification and Intervention Program
Title1
Extended Elementary Education Program (EEEP)
Integrated Language Arts Resource Program
Special Education
Pupil Services
Counseling Services
Kindergarten and Grade 1: Learning About One's Self
Grades 2 and 3: Learning to Get Along with Others
Grades 4 and 5: Learning to Make Decisions and Choices

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Art

The purpose of the Carroll County Public Schools' Art Program is to prepare each student to be discriminating and sensitive to things he or she sees, uses, and creates. It is recognized that aesthetic experience should be a vital ingredient in the lives of all people. The values and perceptions developed as a result of training in the fine arts have a lasting impact on our community and culture.

The art program is designed to help children experience a variety of media and participate in creative endeavors that lead to aesthetic appreciation. Experiences provided by the art specialists are developed into five areas of focus: line/shape, form, color/value, texture, and space. To insure balanced experiences, each focus area is sub-divided into six categories: drawing, painting, print-making, lettering, sculpture, and crafts.

In the primary grades the emphasis is on a variety of experiences with various media. In the upper elementary grades the art projects emphasize various concepts of form, line, color, and mood.

The elementary school teachers provide opportunities for additional follow-up activities and use the art media to help enhance other subject areas. They insure that each student has balanced and varied art experiences.

Essential Unit Outcomes

Students in grades K - 5 will:

1. Develop an awareness and an understanding of how visual art is created.

2. Develop an awareness that art is an integrated part of our environment.

3. Develop an understanding that art is a reflection of man's presence throughout history.

4. Develop skills that will be used in the production of art.

5. Develop skills and sensitivity to apply aesthetic criteria to works of art.

6. Demonstrate how visual art relates to other arts and subject areas.

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Media Program

The school media program supports the educational goals of the school by providing an organized collection of materials complemented by instruction in their use. The media collection offers a wide range of print and nonprint formats, including electronic databases and networks. Materials are selected to supplement all curriculum areas and address varied student learning modalities and interests. Central to the media program is the instructional component that correlates student media skills with classroom learning experiences. Instructional emphases include locating and selecting materials, applying research and critical thinking skills, retrieving and managing information, developing life-long reading habits, and creating print and nonprint materials.

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Music

The purpose of music education is to help the student develop an increased sensitivity to music and to respond in ways which are personally and socially satisfying. The program provides opportunities for engaging in music activities appropriate to each student's interests, abilities, and maturity level. Lessons in rhythmic response, listening, reading music, and playing of formal and informal instruments allow the individual to show musical expression in different ways. The music specialist provides students with music experiences which are sequential, developmental, and appropriate. In the primary grades, the emphasis is on rote singing, playing rhythm instruments, and learning to identify orchestra instruments. In the upper elementary grades, the emphasis is on reading music, singing in harmony, and creating. In the fourth grade, students may begin to participate in an instrumental music program. Elementary teachers provide students with opportunities to participate in follow-up activities and use music to enrich other subject areas.

Essential Unit Outcomes

Students in grades K - 5 will:

1. Recognize the basic elements of music, i.e., melody, harmony, rhythm, and form.

2. Through repertoire, identify a wide variety of representative musical styles and genres.

3. Master the art of singing, part singing, and performing on a simple instrument, using music drawn from man's multi-cultural musical heritage.

4. Develop a perspective of music's role in reflecting and influencing historical eras.

5. Read, write, and perform musical notation involving simple rhythmical patterns and melodic patterns derived from the pentatonic scale.

6. Create and assess musical compositions using melodic and rhythmical patterns in simple forms.

7. Analyze and respond to musical sound through movement.

8. Recognize the influence and interactions of music to other fine arts.

9. Enhance skills through the use of materials from other disciplines, i.e., poetry, foreign language texts, art works, and social and ethical issues.

10.Orally and visually identify orchestra and folk instruments from Western culture and various world cultures.

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Physical Education

Physical fitness and a healthy functioning body offer continued potential for a happy and productive life. The physical education program in the Carroll County Public Schools is an integral part of the total education program aimed at developing the whole child. The program is designed to help students develop motor, mental, and social capabilities which permit them to respond and to act effectively and efficiently. Instruction provides experiences which develop skills and attitudes and maximize body efficiency to meet motor demands at work and play. Socially acceptable and well-rounded behavior skills are achieved by proper balance between group and individual activities. In the primary grades, the emphasis is on motor development and activities that develop strength, coordination, and agility. In the upper elementary grades, the emphasis is on stamina and games as preparation for group activities and team sports. The classroom teachers provide daily opportunities for additional follow-up activities and use skills to enrich other subject areas.

Primary Level Essential Unit Outcomes

Students in Grade 1 and Grade 2 will:

1. Demonstrate developmental competency of basic motor skills and fitness in individual, partner, and group activities.

2. Demonstrate fair play, good sportsmanship and positive behavior towards others in active group settings.

3. Explore creative movement experiences.

4. Develop an active desire to participate in physical education and recreational activities.

5. Demonstrate fair play, good sportsmanship, and positive behaviors toward others in active group settings.

6. Develop the ability to recognize and apply concepts of time, force, space, and flow to movement patterns/skills.

Intermediate Level Essential Unit Outcomes

Students in Grades 3, 4 and 5 will:

1. Apply motor and fitness skills to various cooperative physical education activities.

2. Demonstrate leadership, good sportsmanship and positive behavior toward others.

3. Develop an active desire to participate in physical education activities.

4. Develop tolerance toward others of different ideas and abilities.

5. Demonstrate fair play in active settings.

6. Identify personal strengths in the areas of physical skills and fitness.

7. Demonstrate developmental competency in basic motor skills, rhythm, and fitness.

8. Develop fundamental offensive and defensive strategies in physical education activities.

9. Acquire a fundamental knowledge base of sound physiological principles for skill and fitness development.

10. Demonstrate safety towards self and others in active physical education settings.

11. Demonstrate proper and safe use of physical education equipment.

12. Identify skills and skill components in various physical activities.

13. Recognize the value of physical activity as part of lifetime wellness.

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Accelerated Academic Progress

Providing a challenging program for children who learn at a faster rate requires special planning. Highly able students are provided challenging experiences both through acceleration and enrichment. They may be identified as early as kindergarten. Through regrouping and individualizing, these children may advance from one grade to another, and/or they may be given new or additional content to study at the present grade level. Carroll County Public Schools meets this need by providing opportunities for highly able students to move through the academic experience at a rate that continues to be challenging. This approach also makes it possible for the highly able student to achieve beyond the regular curriculum through enrichment.

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Computer Technology

All elementary school students will be provided opportunities to use computers. These opportunities will be tied to the following instructional processes: reinforcement of instructional materials, accessing information, problem-solving, decision-making, and production of solutions for identified problems. Elementary school students will be exposed to and use computers in their regular classroom activities. There will be instructional uses of multimedia applications integrated into the regular classroom instruction of students by their teachers. Opportunities will be available for all students to work in networked computer laboratories with instructional software much of which will have the capability of identifying student areas of strength and weakness. Information will be available to students through the media center which may only be accessed with the use of terminals or stand-alone computers. Information access, retrieval, and application will be used to provide the student with data for making informed decisions relating to their instructional programs. Technology in our elementary schools is becoming more available to the staff and students.

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Early Identification and Intervention Program

The Early Identification and Intervention Program, mandated by Maryland law and implemented by the Carroll County school system, is designed to help improve learning opportunities for all children. All of the students who enter kindergarten and/or first through third grade in any Maryland public school for the first time are evaluated through this program. The purpose of the program is to identify the areas of strengths and the needs of each child early in his/her school life so that an appropriate instructional program may be designed.

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Title 1

Title 1 is a federally funded program designed to narrow the achievement gap between children in different schools with varying income groups. Funding is used to maximize the time spent on teaching and learning the core academic subjects. The program provides direct services to children and their families and training for teachers and support staff.

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Extended Elementary Education Program (EEEP)

The Extended Elementary Education Program (EEEP) is a state funded pre-kindergarten program. It is designed to provide four year olds with experiences that enable them to learn, grow, and succeed at their current developmental levels. The program helps them become self-confident and self-directed children. Through the children's involvement, they will be curious about their environment and able to find joy and satisfaction in learning.

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Integrated Language Arts Resource Program

The integrated language arts resource program consists of three components: resource, direct instruction, and evaluation of individual needs. The ILA specialist who provides the program in each building acts as a resource for the classroom teacher. Services may include helping teachers identify and try new approaches, coordinating reading incentive programs, providing assistance related to ILA in the content areas, demonstrating techniques, and passing on information concerning ILA from the central office and other sources. In some cases, direct instruction is also provided as part of the resource program. ILA specialists may work with groups in the classroom or team teach with the classroom teachers. They may also conduct enrichment groups and short-term workshops. The ILA resource program also offers evaluation services to identify specific strengths and needs of individual children. These assessments consist of miscue analysis, classroom observations of youngsters, and when necessary, commercial tests.

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Special Education

Special education services and related services are available to all students with disabilities through a variety of programs designed to address each handicapped student's unique needs. Most students with disabilities have their needs met through the special education resource program. These needs may require a combination of remediation of basic skills, adaptations to regular instructional demands, and supplementary skill instruction in areas such as study and organization. The resource program is designed to provide supplementary support and services to those students with disabilities who can be successful in regular classes for most or all of their instruction. An array of support services is also available. These include, but are not limited to speech therapy, occupational/physical therapies, counseling, and services for vision and hearing-impaired students. Students who are eligible for special education services will receive needed services within their home school when possible. When programs and/or services are not available in the student's home school, he/she will receive these programs/services in the least restrictive environment available to the Carroll County Public Schools. Parental involvement is an important part of planning and reviewing for the individual educational needs of students with disabilities and involvement is actively encouraged. The school provides written notice inviting parents to all meetings in which special education decisions are being made. Special education services for students are developed or changed only after an ARD (Admission, Review and Dismissal) meeting which involves the parent in the planning and decision process. At that time the parent and the teaching staff meet to review a child's needs, approve an IEP (Individual Education Program), and to develop a plan appropriate to meet those needs.

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Pupil Services

There are a variety of services available at the school and central office levels to help students who are experiencing problems. At the school level, the teacher, counselor, school nurse, and administrators assist students with their everyday problems. In addition, there are specialists such as pupil personnel workers and school psychologists who visit schools on a regular schedule to help with more complex problems and to provide advice and assistance to the school staff. The goal of Pupil Services is to help students enrolled in the Carroll County Public Schools make the most of their potential and take advantage of all the educational opportunities available to them. Pupil Services workers deal with teachers, parents, and community agencies to help students who:

are not meeting with success
attend school irregularly
show withdrawal tendencies
have poor peer relationships
need individual testing
have behavioral problems
are in the custody of some agency
have met with unusual circumstances or
problems in their school work
have emotional or psychological problems
may need an alternative program
are requesting out-of-district placements
are attending as non-residents of the county
are subject to home and hospital instruction

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Counseling Services

The role of the elementary counselor is to guide, advise, recommend, consult, and assist with the near limitless variety of concerns that students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the community at large may have. Specifically, the thrust of the counseling program in Carroll County is defined by three major goals:

1. To assist students with personal and academic concerns such as coping with stress, learning to study, and behaving appropriately in class.

2. To help students develop educational and career decision-making skills including knowing how to make decisions, developing individual interests and abilities, and learning about jobs and careers.

3. To aid students in developing interpersonal skills such as resolving conflicts, communicating with others and understanding how their behavior affects others.

Guidance services are provided by counselors through individual and/or small group counseling, classroom guidance lessons, full school guidance programs, parenting classes, appointments with parents, and discussions with teachers. The elementary guidance program is developmental in nature. It focuses on identifying and teaching students those skills that are appropriate for their age that will help them successfully solve problems. An example may be teaching third and fourth graders the steps in making good decisions and communicating their thoughts and feelings clearly, thus laying the groundwork for enabling them to deal with peer pressure. Counseling offers a means for the student to grow in knowledge of self and others, thus enabling the student to develop a sense of responsibility needed to live effectively in today's world. The counselors' functions are varied as they help students better understand themselves in the world around them and be more receptive to learning in the classroom.

Helpful Parent Tips:

The role of the parent is monumental. It represents a lifetime career marked with the greatest of responsibilities. Yet very little preparation is provided. Parenting is the only role of consequence that requires no tests, training, course work, interview, or general preparation. It is with this in mind that we offer guidelines to better understand the parenting role in dealing with childhood behavior. If we, as parents and educators, are to better prepare ourselves for our roles, we need to address our children's basic emotional concerns. Children must feel good about themselves in order to move effectively through life's transitions. To ignore the importance of self-esteem is to ignore the foundation for achievement and success. One stage becomes the base for the next; the process is on-going. The following is a list of developmental stages and tasks exhibited by children through the elementary school years, addressed by the elementary counseling program at each school.

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Kindergarten and Grade 1: Learning About One's Self

The primary task during this transitional period is to build a positive self-concept that enables children to feel comfortable in leaving the security of home for a new environment. To accomplish this task children must begin to experience the following:

Accept and value themselves as worthwhile.
Recognize their capabilities and achievements.
Recognize and accept limitations.
Cope with rejection.
Act on their feelings with self-confidence.
Try new or challenging tasks.
Accept mistakes and failures as learning experiences.
Accept responsibility for their actions.
See the need for rules and agreements.

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Grades 2 and 3: Learning to Get Along with Others

In this next phase, children continue to develop their self-concept and move further from the influence of the family circle. Building peer relationships and learning skills of tolerance and patience become paramount. Children continue:

To develop awareness of growing capabilities and achievements.
To develop self-acceptance.
To develop self-confidence to be imperfect.
To accept the consequences of their behaviors.
In addition, children begin to explore the following tasks:

To become more independent.
To set goals.
To develop effective work habits.
To face and cope with new situations.
To recognize when persistence and patience are needed to reach a goal.
To see cause and effect relationships.
To see alternatives.
To become aware that behavior has a purpose.

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Grades 4 and 5: Learning to Make Decisions and Choices

In this final stage of the elementary school years, children build on previous experiences. Based on their sense of self-worth and emerging independence, the children prepare to take responsibility for personal decisions and choices. This task becomes increasingly more difficult at this stage as parental influence diminishes and peer influence escalates. If children possess a poor self-image, coupled with an inability to stand up for themselves, they become more vulnerable to the impact of peer pressure. The following tasks are fundamental for growth to occur at this time:

To recognize and make effective choices.
To recognize how values affect choices.
To appreciate individuality in others.
To understand the effects of group pressure on personal values.
To begin realization that parental values may conflict with peer values.
To develop feelings of belonging with the peer group.
To recognize behavior that is acceptable or unacceptable in various groups.
To function responsibly without supervision.
To recognize their role in creating or reducing conflict.
To develop positive behavior for resolving conflict.
To evaluate the relevance of school tasks for present and future goals.