Parents and guardians gathered at Lido School on Oct. 1 to attend various workshops that were designed to help them better understand new practices, standards and ways that they can assist in their children’s development.

Sean Murray, the district’s director of K-5 elementary curriculum, welcomed visitors and he discussed the new report cards, which no longer feature standard letter grades, as well as the new ways each student will be assessed. He said that instead of capturing what happens at a particular moment or during a particular test or quiz, these new methods will help track a child’s development. Long Beach will now be using a grading system of 1 to 4 to measure students’ progress in several areas.

“The focus of tonight is how you as a parent can partner with your school to do what you can to help your child,” Murray said.
District teachers and staff presented the workshops, which focused on reading, writing and math in grades K-5. They used various tools, including PowerPoint presentations, video clips and sample lessons, to illustrate what students experience in the Long Beach classrooms on a day-to-day basis.

Among the featured sessions were “Math Vocabulary of the Common Core,” “Reading in Math, Understanding Word Problems,” “Helping Your Child Read at Home,” “How to Help Decode and Use Other Cues to Support Young Readers,” “Approaching Language Arts Homework with a Growth Mindset: Fostering a Positive Homework Environment” and “How Parents with Limited English Can Still Help Their Children Learn English.”

Special thanks goes to members of the high school’s National Honor Society, who provided volunteer childcare services while parents attended the academy.