Our Classroom Handbook

Our Classroom Handbook Jessica Eggleston Fourth Grade 2016-2017 jegglestoncc@olatheschools.org 913.780.7360

Fourth Grade Schedule A B C D E 820-830 Morning Jobs, attendance and lunch 830-845 845-900 900-915 915-930 930-945 Music/PE Computer ART PE/Music Library 945-1000 1000-1015 1015-1030 1030-1045 1045-1100 Math 1100-1115 Science or Social Studies 1115-1130 1130-1145 1145-1200 Writing 1200-1215 1215-1225 Spelling 1225-1245 Recess 12:20 1245-105 Lunch 12:40-105 110-115 Read Aloud and Journal 1:15-1:45 Counselor 115-130 130-145 1:45-2:00 Shared Reading 2:00-215 Recess 2:15-3:15 Small Group Reading Daily 5/ Genius Hour 3:15-3:30 Agenda/Pack-up 3:35 Dismissal

2016-2017 Classroom Policies and Procedures POLICIES Homework: I follow the Olathe District policy guidelines of having no more than 40 minutes of homework per evening in fourth grade. When homework is assigned, your child will record it in his/her agenda. It will then be taken home for completion. Any homework not completed will need to be completed and will be sent home again that night. Incomplete class work is sent home with the expectation that it will be returned completed the next school day. Homework is an extension of learning in class. If your child is struggling, please send the work back the next day and let me know. Late Work: The homework expectation is that assigned work taken home is turned in the following school day. Work that has a due date other than the following day will be communicated with you through email, a note home, or agenda reminder. Grading: Student grades are available through ParentVue on the first and third Monday of every month beginning in September. If your student did not receive all points on a Math worksheet, they could return it the next day with corrections for full credit. *Students receive a second chance on all work if they take the time to turn in their corrected mistakes. Make-Up Work: Per the district requirement, students are given two days to complete work for each school day absence. You may request assignments for your child by calling the office in the morning or emailing me. You may pick up the assignments at the end of the day or arrange for a friend or sibling to bring them home. If your child is absent for an extended period of time, some work can be given prior to the absence, but most will be given upon his/her return.

Behavior: Students will be expected to follow the Guiding Principles (honesty, trustworthiness, respect, and responsibility). The students will frequently be reminded of what these principles look like, sound like, and feel like when displayed. Positive student behavior will receive behavior specific praise. In other words, the focus of this classroom is on the positive. When necessary, I will privately conference with students about their behavior, and we will develop a plan to help the student exhibit excellent behavior. Individual Incentives: We have a school-wide ticket system in place called STAR Cards. This will be used for individual positive reinforcement throughout the school as well as in our classrooms. Students can earn a STAR Card each day by: recording homework in the agenda and reading minutes in his/her agenda and having a parent signature in the agenda. Students can earn an additional STAR Card weekly by reading at least 100 total minutes. Team Building: We like to start each day off with a morning PowerPoint with positive thoughts for the day and pictures of the class. Please email me pictures of your child in any activities like a dance class, baseball, horseback riding, soccer, etc. Family pictures are also encouraged. This will give your child a chance to shine and share personal information and help with the team building process. Whole Class Encouragement: We also have a group contingency /group reward incentive going every day. This will include positive reinforcements for following the school-wide expectations like: Marble jar (this one is special) Brownie points Ring toss points Mr. Potato Head The point of group contingency/group reward is to focus on the positive behaviors in the room. I believe that where I put my focus is where the energy of the room will flow. If I put my focus on the positive behaviors- the behaviors will be positive.

Team Points: We will use a group vs. group contingency in our room. This is a positive reinforcement. The students are divided into six teams (watermelon, purple, lime, yellow, orange, and turquoise). As I catch teams engaging in excellent behavior, they will earn a clip. The team with the most clips at the end of the day will get to choose the class reward. The rewards will be from ideas generated by the students and will include things like: (a) getting to do an extra daily five, (b) getting to spend time drawing while Mrs. Eggleston reads from the chapter book, or (c) a myriad of other possibilities the students decide would be fun. Scheduling a Meeting with Mrs. Eggleston: If you would like to meet with me, please call or email and we can schedule a time that works best for both our schedules. Although I am here by 8:00 each morning, I will not always be available to meet. I want to be able to give you my full attention as it relates to your question or concern, and scheduling a meeting in advance will help me do so. PROCEDURES Agendas: Each student will use an agenda to record assignments that need to be completed in the evening. This should serve as a valuable tool for communication. Daily Folders: These will go home each day. The folders will include any notes or important information from school, assignments, and class work, as well as homework. Students will also keep their agendas in this folder. Snacks & Water Bottles: Students should bring a snack each day (peanut/tree nut and dairy free). I have provided BPA free tumbler cups with lids for each student. I wash these cups each week. Students can use these, or bring a water bottle from home. If you choose to have your student bring a water bottle, bottles need to have a push top or lid to avoid spills. Frequent water breaks stimulate brain activity, as well as limit the

amount of instructional time lost to leaving the classroom to get a drink at the water fountain. Classroom Visits: Please contact me via email to schedule a time to visit in the classroom. Be sure and sign in at the office when visiting our school. You will receive a visitor sticker to identify yourself; this will assist us in keeping your child safe. Lunch Program: Send money in an envelope with your child s name and my name to be sure the money is credited to the appropriate account. Join your child for lunch by calling the office by 8:45 a.m. for a reservation or you may purchase lunch online at the district website. Paint Shirts: Please send in a paint shirt that your child may use for art and other messy projects. Please send this shirt in a Ziploc bag labeled with your child s name. Birthday Treats: If your child would like to share a treat for his/her birthday, please feel free to send something to school with your child or drop something off in the office. A quick classroom celebration will be held to recognize your child s birthday as the day s schedule allows. If treats need to be cut, please send something to cut them with or cut the treats before you send them in. We can use paper towels here, but if it needs a plate, please provide those. Due to a large number of students in our school that have peanut and tree nut allergies, please provide a treat that is peanut & tree nut and dairy free.

What is Fourth Grade All About? Reading Minutes: Students are required to read 100 minutes a week (20 minutes per school day, Sunday Thursday). It may not always be possible to read 20 minutes each night, therefore, 100 minutes per week. Whatever works with your child s schedule is acceptable. Fourth graders have the responsibility of recording minutes in the agenda and totaling them and recording on Friday s agenda page. I will check for completion of reading minutes on Monday for the previous week. Reading: We will be using our Journey books to focus on our comprehension and other reading strategies. Students will also have a choice in the books that they read independently. We will also have reading groups where I will meet with small groups for more individualized instruction. Students not meeting in groups will participate in daily five rotations. Math: Please help your child master their multiplication facts through twelve (also practicing division). This will help us build on math concepts more rapidly (3x2 digit multiplication, long division, and fractions) throughout the year. Math concepts we will focus on this year include: multiplication and division o meanings and facts patterns place value addition and subtraction of whole numbers multiplication of one and two digits dividing by one digit divisors fraction equivalence and ordering adding and subtracting fractions o mixed numbers with like denominators measurement and unit conversions solving measurement problems

lines, angles and shapes Guided Math-Fourth graders will be involved in Guided Math this year. It is similar to Guided Reading in that the teacher puts the students into small groups and the students work on specific standards being taught in centers around the room. Teachers will have all the centers hitting the same topic. Students are placed in ability level groups and taught the standards of the curriculum. Differentiation is achieved as students are in different groups and instruction is changed to hit the needs of the student. Writing: Students will have the opportunity to have a choice in their writing, as well as practice different styles of writing. Students will write daily in their journals. Writing will focus on the six traits: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, fluency, and conventions. Students will publish one piece each quarter from genres including personal narrative, expository, persuasive and technical. Fourth graders will participate in a district writing assessment prior to Winter Break. Science: We will be studying earth systems, energy, waves & information, and structure & function. As we study structure and function, we will dissect a cow eye. The cow s eye is similar to our own, and it is very large which provides a valuable learning tool for the students. Social Studies: We will be learning about government, geography and different landform as we focus on the regions of the United States. Students will participate in a living history activity as we study immigration of the United States. Spelling: Pretests will be given on Friday, and the lists will go home that day for students to begin studying. Our weekly test is given on Thursday. Students that miss between zero and two on the pretest will qualify for the challenge words. The challenge words are given to these students in place of five words that were spelled correctly on the pretest. Students that receive 100% on the pretest will take the challenge words only on the test. Students should study each night at home as needed. Spelling City website: http://www.spellingcity.com/jegglestoncc/

Star Student of the Week: Your child will be the featured student of the week one time throughout the year. He/she will be displayed on our student board. The information will be sent home on Friday for the student to return on Monday. The student can sit at the special star student desk with computer chair or they can use a computer chair at his or her desk for the week and bring in special pictures or an object to share with the class on Friday along with his/her board. 4 th Grade Website http://teachers.olatheschools.com/4thgradecc/ Visit the website for updated events, login information for envision & Journeys, or to find other activities 4 th Grade is working on.

Mrs. Eggleston s Classroom Wish List Here are some things we could use for our classroom. We would greatly appreciate any donation! Thank you! Sharpies HP 63 ink for classroom printer Colored Copy Paper & Cardstock Expo Marker Books for our classroom library Ziploc Bags of all sizes **Super sticky post-it notes** (we use these daily) Yellow legal pads for editing work Spiral Notebooks Pencils

Welcome Back! Preferred Conference Times (Please circle your preference or choose any day/anytime) I will do my best to schedule your time within your preferred time. Wednesday, October 19 th Thursday, October 20 th 4:30-8:10 11:00-4:00 5:00-8:00 *Any Day/Anytime Parent Name(s): Child s Name: Siblings at CCE Teacher

Dear Parents, I believe one of the best ways to build a relationship with children is to let them know a bit about me as a person. My husband and I have been married for eleven years and we have raised our little dogs Justice and Liberty as our fur babies for those ten of those years. Unfortunately, we lost our little Liberty the summer of 2014 and so I wanted to do something special for Justice. I decided to start the Justice League. Justice will choose a student or a group of students to highlight on the Justice League board each day. The student or students will receive recognition on the Justice League Board and a small token gift from Justice when he catches the children exhibiting excellent behaviors (pencils, erasers, etc.). The STAR student of the week is fun, but it will take 22 weeks for each student to earn a chance to be the STAR student. I think this is a long time to wait. The Justice League will give me the opportunity to make each child feel they earned special recognition more frequently. Who knows, Justice might find that 22 students earned a Justice League Award some days? Two years ago, my husband and I adopted a new dog and we named her Freedom. We wanted to add her into the class. She finds good writing samples once a week and gives awards for students with exemplary writing. As you can tell from my handbook, I believe in accentuating the positive. I think the students will love getting to know Justice vicariously through the notes he leaves for them each morning when they arrive at school. Don t worry, I won t really be bringing Justice to school- but I will be bringing his magic. Freedom won t be visiting either, but she will be helping me grade those writing papers. Sincerely, Jessica Eggleston