Rules:

BE SAFE – Examples: hands to self, use tools appropriately, walk in hallways

BE RESPECTFUL – Examples: positive language and gestures, active listening, raise hand and take turns, include others in games

BE RESPONSIBLE – Examples: clean up after yourself, always stay on task, follow directions the first time, turn in work that is neat, thorough, on time and good quality

Behavior systems:

Home support: I ask your support at home by backing up decisions I make regarding your child here at school. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I want your child, and all children in our class, to reach their full potential.

Proactive: I strive to proactively minimize misbehavior in the classroom through:

• building a relationship with each child and family
• stating clear behavioral and work expectations
• supporting each child to be challenged appropriately and to succeed
• positive behavior reinforcement with intermittent individual and group rewards
• following through consistently with the behavior systems in place

Awesome Adjectives: I’ll be giving out these classroom reward tickets to reinforce good listening, transitions, on-task work, cooperation, and other behaviors that help the classroom run smoothly. Students will have the opportunity to cash them in in various ways throughout the school year.

WOW tickets: School-wide positive slip earned when students are caught doing the right thing. Usually accompanied by verbal affirmation, these tickets can be entered in drawings for prizes.

Whoa tickets: School wide behavior ticket for minor misbehaviors (running in halls, etc.) Periodically, students earn a “No-whoa recess.” Students who earn a whoa often write a brief reflection on their behavior for me.

Incident Reports:  For major infractions of school rules (example – stealing, bullying, property destruction), the principal gets involved and families get a call home.

Conflicts between students: I facilitate these discussions as necessary. Students use respectful words, “I statements,” cool down time and other conflict resolution strategies.

Box of Distractions: This is for toys and other things that distract a student or her/his neighbors. I will direct a student to put the thing in this box and pick it up at the end of the day. No toys allowed at school. Cell phones must remain in the backpack with the ringer off.

Absences: Notify the office if your child will be missing school.  Missed work or homework will be made up when the student returns to school.

Tardiness: Help your child start the day off right by making sure he or she gets to school on time.  Our day starts at 8:35, but it is most helpful if your child can be here by 8:25 when the doors open.  If your child is late, he or she needs to get a tardy slip from the office.

Nut-Free/Peanut-Free Classroom: To protect students with life-threatening allergies, please do not send products with tree nuts or peanuts for snack. If your child brings these products for lunch, they must be kept in the lunchbox and only taken out at lunch time. Thanks for your help keeping all the children safe and healthy!

Snack: We have snack each day after morning recess. I ask that students bring a healthy snack, following the 4j Healthy Snack Guidelines. Examples of this would be fruit, granola bars, whole grain crackers, cheese, veggies, yogurt, etc. Please do not send chips, cookies, corn nuts or candy. It has been proven that proper nutrition enhances academic performance. If you are able, consider making SNACK DONATIONS throughout the year for the whole class. Not all families are able to send a daily snack with their child, and these donations really matter for the kids. Typical donations have been bags of pretzels, big boxes of Ritz or saltine crackers, big bags of string cheese, gold fish crackers, cuties, apples, or graham crackers.

Birthdays: Birthday celebrations at school are optional – we’ll sing “Happy Birthday” to students during snack, if they request.  If you would like to supply a special snack, please follow the 4j Healthy Snack Guidelines.  As an alternative you could donate a book or game to the classroom in acknowledgment of your child’s birthday. Following 4J policy, we do not allow cupcakes, cookies, doughnuts or other dessert items. Please do not send these with your child as they will not be served.

Permission slips for bus riders/pick up/walking: For students who don’t usually ride the bus, or who will be getting off at a stop other than their usual stop, need a written note of permission from their parent or guardian. The note needs to be given to the bus driver after being signed by the office and seen by me so I know how your student will be getting home that day.

Desk inspections: Each student puts everything on top of the desk and organizes it. Extra papers and things must go. Only the necessary school supplies remain in an organized pile. We’ll start the year by doing this daily, and then as needed later in the year. This procedure helps students keep organized and makes for quicker transitions.

Partner work: Your child will be a partner with every other child in the class sometime during the year. Please work with me to support her/him in doing her/his best, no matter with whom they work. Please encourage them to develop flexibility, politeness and good manners when working with others.

“I’m stuck” strategies: Students should not just sit with their hands up when they need help. In class, when a student is “stuck” I ask he/she to do one of the following as they are waiting for help:

• re-read the directions
• study the example on the board or in the book
• underline key vocabulary words; look up the unfamiliar ones
• copy down the problem, prompt or question
• re-read the reading passage
• make a try at a first step

Juggling: Students will learn to juggle scarves, beanbags and perhaps even rings and clubs in class. This is a fun routine that helps develop gross motor skills, self-discipline and provides a “brain break” from academics. I’ve been teaching juggling to students for almost 20 years and I’m convinced that each child can learn this skill with their effort and my guidance. When I run into my former students now as adults, juggling is all they seem to remember about our time together. We’ll probably start juggling after Winter Break.

Classroom library: I loan out classroom library books to students so they have something to read while they are at school. I would like students to try and keep a book at their desk that they can read when they are done with an activity early or for silent reading times. The books in the classroom library should stay in the classroom. If they would like to take a classroom library book home, they need to come and ask me if it would be possible to check it out.

Book orders: Every month or so, I’ll send home Scholastic book order flyers. You can submit them to me or set up an online account for ordering. Scholastic provides many good books at reasonable prices and when you spend money on book orders, I get points towards free books for the classroom. Most of our classroom library was acquired this way. Our classroom code for Scholastic online book orders is JDNF6.

Monday papers: Monday (or the first day of a week) is the day I aim to have students bring home school announcements and returned work.

Homework: Your child should read 100 minutes per week. That’s 20 minutes/day on most days. Optional online math work through the “Dreambox” site will be available and there will be ocasional special project homework, like the 5 Things in a Bag. I’ll send home directions ahead of time for projects. Later this year, I may try a recoring sheet for keeping track of reading minutes. Outside of school, music, sports, cooking, gardening, hobbies and engaging with family activities are really the best enrichment for children at this age.

PE is on Monday and Thursday – your child should wear appropriate shoes!

Music is on Tuesday and Friday

Library day will be Wednesday