WELCOME TO 4TH GRADE



WELCOME TO 4TH GRADE!

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Miss Daniels

Classroom #403

Parent Packet

Legacy Traditional School

Maricopa Campus

2011-2012

Dear Parents,

Welcome to an exciting year in 4th grade! My name is Mackenzie Daniels and I will be your student’s teacher for the 2011-2012 school year. I am eager to meet your student and I look forward to the wonderful memories we will make together this year!

In an effort to get to know your student personally, I believe it is important to let you get to know me. I am a native Arizonan, born and raised in Chandler, Arizona. I attended Arizona State University were I graduated Summa Cum Laude from The Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education. Prior to my start at Legacy, I was a substitute teacher for the Kyrene School District. I was able to work with grade levels Kindergarten-5th Grade as well as long-term sub in two fourth grade classes. I had such a great experience working with fourth graders and am grateful to be given the opportunity to work with fourth graders again.

When I am not in the classroom I enjoy spending time with family and friends, shopping, watching movies, going to various sporting events, scrapbooking and dancing. 2011 has been such a great year and I am honored to spend such an exciting time in my life with you and your family!

Well, enough about me. This packet contains important information that will help you and your child start 4th grade on the right path. Please read through it with your child, sign, and return the Parent Teacher Communication Sheet/Student Survey and last page to me the first week of school. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. My e-mail address is mackenzie.daniels@. I believe that communication is key to helping your child have success. It is my goal to establish a positive, working relationship with you as well as your child to allow for a year full of accomplishments. Thank you in advance for your support. I look forward to the year ahead!

Sincerely,

Mackenzie Daniels

Homework Policy

Fourth Grade will demand a lot of study time at home. I will be assigning homework Monday through Thursday because we believe that homework is important that students begin to develop good homework habits in early grades. Also, homework provides a way for students to practice what is taught in class. In addition to Math and Spalding we require students read 30 minutes each night.

The homework assigned will be extensions and reinforcements of what we are learning in class. Therefore, the assignments will be meaningful to your child’s learning and will require that they are completed by the given due date. Parents, siblings and other family members are encouraged to help but only after he/she has attempted the assignment independently with their best effort.

In their homework folder each night, you will find a homework sheet complete with their homework and reading minutes that must be signed off. If it is not signed, your child will not receive credit for their homework. On average, students will be assigned 15 math problems, 10 spelling words three times each, and a few phonograms at the beginning of the year. Throughout the year, homework may change to incorporate various projects, research reports or writing compositions.

Please keep in mind that if homework is late students will be required to finish it at recess. Students will lose 10% for the first day it is late. On the second day it is late, the same assignment will receive a 69% if the work is of C quality or better. After two days, a 0% will be given. For long-term assignments such as our science fair project it needs to be turned in on the date otherwise the student will receive 0%.

For students that are absent we still require all work to be turned in however, they will be provided with one day for every day that they were absent, not including long-term assignments. Work not completed by the assigned time will be considered late; however, teachers will use their discretion to determine guidelines in acceptance of late assignments due to extenuating circumstances. Homework can be requested by emailing your child’s teacher, if they have been called in sick. I know that every student will be capable of completing the assignments given and will work hard to better their education!

Curriculum Overview

Phonograms:  Spalding phonograms are practiced daily.  There will be a written phonogram test every Friday on phonograms studied that week as well as a written test of all 70 phonograms every six weeks.

Spelling: Spalding spelling words (30 in all) will be taught and worked with each week.  Students will be dictated a test each Friday, along with spelling dictation sentences. A pretest will be given each Thursday.  Every six weeks, a Morrison McCall test consisting of fifty Spalding words, of different levels, will be given to monitor progress in spelling throughout the year.

Math:  The Saxon math curriculum is a spiral-based program.  After a new concept is taught and practiced in class, students will also work with concepts previously learned.  Fourth grade students will be instructed from the fifth grade textbook and the students perform at grade level or beyond.  Students are given cumulative assessments and fact tests through the Saxon program after every five consecutive lessons.  Math facts will be reviewed daily.  100 basic math fact tests will be given every six weeks, to monitor progress with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.

 Reading:  We read weekly stories from our basal reader program, Imagine-It.  Assessments on comprehension and vocabulary for these stories are given each Friday. McCall Crabbs reading passages are used to teach students various literary elements and comprehension strategies. Comprehension assessments will also be taken using these passages. Throughout the year, we will read from literature sets and hold literary discussions as a class.

Grammar:  Students will work on written language development by learning parts of speech, sentence structure, capitalization, and punctuation rules. Grammar lessons are taught each day using the Spalding method, teacher made materials and supplemental materials from Imagine It. A test is given weekly on skills covered throughout the week.

Writing:  Our writing lessons and instruction are formulated around the Spalding writing program in conjunction with the Six Traits to Writing: ideas, organization, conventions, sentence fluency, word choice, and voice. Students will be graded using rubrics to match each assignment.

Science/Social Studies:  This curriculum will be rotated every six weeks for sixty minutes each day.  In Science, each student will be responsible for taking part in our annual Science Fair. Projects will be graded.  In Social Studies, our curriculum focuses on Arizona History from ancient civilizations through modern times.  Students will be required to complete an Arizona Cities Project. Projects will be graded.

Specials:  The special courses provided for your child include:  P.E., Music, Art Masterpiece, Computers, and Library.

4th Grade homework includes:

• Math— approximately 10 to 20 problems.

• Spelling– write 10 words 3 times each.

• Phonograms— 5 minutes of practice in early months of schools year. Science & Social Studies— study weekly for quizzes/tests.

All homework assigned is review and extension of concepts learned in class. Homework assignments are due for full credit the very next school day. Missing homework assignments will be made up at recess. Students will lose 2pts credit for each day the assignment is missing. In the case of an absence, a student may turn in homework upon their return to school without penalty. Students will also be required to read for 30minutes each night. A reading log will be provided to record the student’s reading and a parent signature for verification.

Additional: Students will complete a book report each grading period. A schedule of the genre and style of report is included in this packet. Details of each report, due date, and grading rubrics will be sent home at the beginning of each grading period. Poem recitations are also part of the curriculum at Legacy Traditional School. A poem packet containing a choice of 2 poems, instructions, and grading rubric will be sent home for students to study from and prepare for recitation each grading period.

Report Cards: Progress reports will be sent home after the 1st three weeks of each grading period. Report cards will go home after the 6th and last week of each grading period. A parent-teacher conference will be scheduled in the fall. A student led conference will take place in the spring.

Classroom Management

An organized and structured environment is essential for maximum learning to take place. I will work diligently to help students learn and follow classroom procedures that accomplish this goal. A safe and welcoming classroom community is just as important for learning to take place. With this in mind, our classroom rules follow the six pillars of character celebrated on campus. They are as follows:

Be Trustworthy

Be Respectful

Be Responsible

Be Fair

Be Caring

Be a (Good) Citizen

We will be discussing these rules as a class and brainstorming together what each rule might encompass and what each might look like. I will also be having students sign the class rules poster to hold students accountable for the rules that are implemented within our classroom. It is vital that each student do their part to follow the rules to ensure a safe and successful learning environment for everyone.

Positive Reinforcement

Good choices will be recognized with positive reinforcement: praises, cheers, and compliments. I will also recognize students with notes home, emails, or phone calls to parents. Occasionally, I will reward students with a treat (starburst) for a correctly answered question. This is usually done during review activities. If your child has dietary restrictions, please let me know so other arrangements can be made. As part of a class incentive, students will work together to earn points (need to beat teacher points) toward an activity of choice at the end of each grading period. Some activities in the past have included educational games, read-a-ton, treats such as otter pops, etc. Points can be earned for following directions, demonstrating the pillars of character and/or receiving a compliment from another staff member.

Consequences

Displayed in my classroom will be a purple sign, green sign, yellow sign and red sign. Each student will have a clothes pin (labeled with their name) that will be clipped on purple each morning. The goal at the end of the day is to have your clothes pin still clipped to purple. However, if a student violates a rule, the consequences will be given as follows:

1st infraction: Verbal Warning

2nd infraction: Clip is moved from purple to green, teacher and student have a short discussion along with 5 min loss of recess.

3rd infraction: Clip is moved from green to yellow, 10 min. loss of recess, think sheet is filled out and parent is notified.

4th infraction: Clip is moved from yellow to red, isolated from class participation and a conference with parent, student and teacher.

5th infraction: Clip is taken off red, student is sent to principal’s office and conference with parent, student, principal, and teacher.

(Steps may be skipped if an infraction is serious enough to warrant such action.)

In addition, daily behavior will be recorded on the homework slips. The teacher and parents may communicate through these slips as often as needed to ask/answer questions, and to help guide the student in making good choices.

|Miss Daniels' Weekly Schedule |

|  |Monday |Tuesday |Wednesday |Thursday |Friday |

|7:55-8:05 |Flag/vocab |Flag/Vocab |Flag/Vocab |Flag/Vocab |Flag/Vocab |

|8:05 - 8:20 |Reading |Reading |Reading |Reading |Reading |

|8:20 - 8:35 |  |  |  |  |  |

|8:35 - 9:00 |  |  |  |  |  |

|9:00 - 9:15 |  |  |  |  |  |

|9:15 - 9:30 |  |  |Spalding |  |  |

|9:30 - 9:45 |Spalding |Spalding | |Spalding |Spalding |

|9:50-10:00 |P.E. |Math |Math |Computers/ |P.E. |

|10:00-10:20 |  |  |  |Library |  |

|10:15-10:20 |Math |  |  |Math |Math |

|10:20-10:45 |  |  |  |  |  |

|10:45-11:00 |  |  |  |  |  |

|11:00-11:20 |  |  |  |  |  |

|11:20-11:35 |  |Journal |Journal |  |  |

|11:35-11:55 |Lunch |Lunch |Lunch |Lunch |Lunch |

|1:55-12:10 |  |  |  |  |  |

|12:10-12:30 |Grammar |Grammar |Grammar |Grammar |Grammar |

|12:30-12:40 | | | | | |

|12:40-1:00 |Writing |Music |Writing |Writing |Writing |

|1:00-1:20 |  |(12:50-1:20) |  |  |  |

|1:20-1:25 |  |Writing |  |  |SS/Science |

|1:25-1:40 |SS/Science |  |Music |SS/Science |  |

|1:40-1:55 |  |SS/Science |  |  |  |

|1:55-2:15 |  |  |SS/Science |  |Art |

|2:15-2:35 |  |  |  |  |  |

|2:35-2:40 |Close |Close |Close |Close |Close |

Parent to Teacher Communication Sheet

Student Survey (On-Back)

Student Name: __________________________________________________

• Goes by: ______________________________________________

Date of Birth: ___________________________________________________

Parents’ Names: __________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________

________________________________________________

Phone Numbers:

• Home Number(s): _________________________________________

• Work Number(s): _________________________________________

• Cell Number(s): __________________________________________

E-mail: ___________________________________________________________

How Does your Child Get Home? _______________________________________

Emergency Contact Information:

Name: ___________________________________________________________

Phone Number: _____________________________________________________

Siblings: Name Age Teacher

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Is there anything I need to know in regards to your child’s health?

Please tell me a few of your child’s special qualities, strengths and interests.

Do you have any special concerns regarding your child and/or areas you feel your child will need special attention to work on?

Is there any other information that you believe would be helpful in assisting me meet the needs of your child?

Parent Volunteers

Throughout the year, there are many opportunities to complete the 12 volunteer hours required of all Legacy parents. Volunteering in the classroom is beneficial for teachers, students, and parents.

• In addition to accomplishing the volunteer requirement, parents get a first-hand look at what their child experiences in the classroom daily. The parent becomes familiar with rules and procedures their child follows as well as the curriculum they are learning.

• The students love to see their parents on campus making education a priority. They also see their parents in a helpful volunteer role setting an example of a good citizen.

• Teachers benefit from the extra help. There are so many details that go into the managing of a well-run classroom. Parent help and support is much needed and very much appreciated.

Below is a list of different ways to volunteer this year. Please, sign your name and provide your contact information next to the activity you are able to help. Thank you so very much for your support!

Art Masterpiece__________________________________________

Grading/Filing Student Work_________________________________

Making Copies_____________________________________________

Changing out Bulletin Boards__________________________________

Planning Class Parties________________________________________

Chaperoning Fieldtrip________________________________________

Tutoring/Reviewing/Reading with students__________________________________________________

I have read and understand the content of this packet.

Parent Signature: _____________________________

Child’s Name: ________________________________

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