August 24, 2006
Dear Parents,
I
would like to share with you how thrilled I am to be teaching your child this year.
I believe education should be exciting! My goal is to show my students learning
can be an adventure of discovery. I believe children are individuals and as
such learn best when exposed to a variety of delivery methods. The students
will be involved in activities that incorporate these methods and utilize
current educational research and learning theory. I believe a classroom should
be a “community of learners” where children feel safe to attempt a challenging
task and even make a mistake. Our classroom will be an environment of mutual
respect. I love teaching children and take great pride in developing and
implementing innovative activities. I enjoy enriching our activities with art,
music, and physical activity. I have a strong technology background and a firm
belief in the value of computer education. Our classroom is fortunate to have
many of the latest technology learning tools.
Therefore, your child will be tapping into the tremendous wealth of
educational experiences available through technology. I am attaching a copy of
my policies and other information you should know as we begin this year.
Because there is a great deal of information included, I have tried to “bold”
words and give “subject headings” to make it easier to find the information you
need! I am looking forward to a great year and encourage you to get involved
with our classroom!
Sincerely,
Beth
Rickert
I believe class time is not only
very limited, but also very valuable. Therefore, I strive to maximize each day
we are together! I feel strongly field trips are a valuable learning
experience. Each field trip is designed with a specific learning objective in
mind, and students will be expected to participate in such a manner as to
achieve that learning objective. They will also be graded on the outcome. I
believe it is important to invite visitors from the community to speak on
topics related to our curriculum. Again, I design these experiences with a
specific learning goal and students will be expected to gain this understanding.
I use every moment we are together, from the first day, until the last, to
provide them with as many learning experiences as possible. I grade every
assignment I give them. I feel strongly, if it is important enough for your
child to spend time doing, it is important enough for me to assess, analyze,
and grade. Your child will be working hard; however, he or she will be excited
and involved in the process! I do not believe in excessive work for work’s
sake; each assignment will be meaningful. I work hard myself every day to
insure their 4th grade experience will be an enjoyable, meaningful,
learning adventure.
I believe communication is a vital
component in providing your child with the optimum 4th grade
experience. With this in mind, I send home a Rickert
Report each Monday. In addition, papers will be sent home in Wednesday
Folders each week. Please discuss these papers and remove them. The
folders should be signed and returned the next day. Papers that have “see me”
on them should be sent back. I will discuss the paper with your child and clear
up any confusion. Assignment journals are an important part of 4th
grade. They help foster a sense of responsibility for class work. These will be
written in Monday through Thursday. Please ask to see it each evening and check
to see the work has been completed. I am committed to keeping open lines of
communication! If you would like to meet and discuss your child’s progress at
any time during the year, a conference can be arranged by appointment in
person or by phone. Please understand it is impossible for me to speak with you
about your child’s progress during instructional time. I will have all your
child’s grades online in a secure grade book program. With your unique access
code and password, you will be able to access your child’s grades and averages
throughout the year. I will be sending a progress report home in the
middle of each six weeks for those parents without Internet access. Our class
is also online. A separate note and permission slip will be sent home. Please
take a moment to review the information about our class web site
and online grade program.
Fourth grade is a busy year!
Students are expected to build upon skills and concepts learned in previous
grades. I will be expecting them to hone their writing skills and communicate
effectively. Students will be expected to apply what they have learned and by
doing so, gain greater insight into the concepts presented in class. I must
provide them opportunities to learn the 4th grade curriculum as well
as prepare them for 5th grade. Please help me provide a positive
learning environment by helping your child check his or her homework, practice
the spelling words, and keep track of long-term assignments. Please make
certain your child knows the multiplication facts. These are only reviewed in 4th
grade and failure to master them can hinder further math objectives. Please
encourage your child to take responsibility for his or her work. It should be
completed on time, turned in when due, and the product should demonstrate
quality. Through out the year, check to insure he or she still has the supplies
required to complete class work. You are truly the Home Team and our
partnership ensures his or her success!
Our Schedule
Our lunch this year will be from
11:30 to 12:00, and you are welcome to join your child during this time. Our
related arts time is from 10:00-10:45 each day. We will rotate the order of the
classes four times. The first rotation will be for each 9 week period. During
this rotation we will go to PE on Monday and Wednesday, alternate Guidance and
Outside Activity Time
I believe children require a time
each day to relax and play. To this end, I endeavor to allow the children a
free time. Weather permitting; we will utilize this time for outside play. If
we are unable to go outside, time will be spent in free time activities in the
classroom. Please understand it is not always possible to adhere to this objective.
A busy 4th grade schedule or class behavior can affect our ability
to allocate this time. Our scheduled time on the playground is from 1:00 to
1:25.
Nannie Berry
Elementary School
The Nannie Berry Handbook has important and
detailed information regarding school policies and procedures. These include
the policy on excused absences, tardiness, early dismissals, lunch money, bus
transportation, toys brought to school, and our dress code. Please become
familiar with these policies. They will increase our success as a learning
community and a home/school team!
The school
hours are
While very necessary, collecting money in the morning can be very time consuming. I would prefer to spend this time with your child engaged in learning activities! I make every effort to keep this lost instructional time to a minimum. You can greatly assist me in this endeavor. Please put any money sent to school in an envelope. On the outside write your child’s name, my name, the purpose of the money (lunch money, field trip, etc.), the amount of money and, in the case of lunch money, how you want the money to be spent. Due to time concerns, this is the only way I am able to accept money sent to school.
Homework
I assign homework as special projects or completion of work begun in class. When I assign a projects, I will send home a project sheet, detailing the assignment, my expectations, and the due date. All class work that can be finished as homework is due the next morning. In addition, I assign math homework Monday through Thursday. This serves as a bridge for the class work of the day. It mirrors what has been done in class, and should take about 15 minutes. I do not feel students should spend their entire evening doing homework. Your child should have no more than 45 minutes of homework each evening, Monday through Thursday. If you find this is taking longer, please let me know immediately. Sometimes there are valid reasons for extended homework (poor use of class time, poor budgeting of independent work time, or failure to stay on task at home); however, I need to know about this lengthy homework so I can determine if modifications should be made.
Because no one is infallible and situations arise from time to time, I allow some leniency with respect to late work. Late work will be accepted no later than Friday of the week it was assigned. However, it will drop one letter grade. I will inform you of any work not turned in by Friday with a Homework Alert. Please sign this note and return it to school the following Monday. Students have one last opportunity to do this work over the weekend and turn it in with the signed note on Monday. It will still drop a letter grade. If I do not receive the late work with the signed note, it will earn a zero. I average these zeros along with the other grades to determine the report card grades. Because the completion of class work is vital to optimum learning, students will be expected to work on unfinished homework during free time. In addition, if I find that late work is becoming the norm and not the exception, a note will be sent home and late work will no longer be accepted. Taking responsibility for assignments is an important skill as we prepare students to move on in school. Students can earn homework passes by consistently turning in homework correctly and on time!
Make-up
Work
Students are allowed the same number of days as the absence for make-up work. However, due to the nature of my activities, many cannot be replicated as make-up and therefore, good attendance is important!
Student Expectations
Again, I believe firmly no one is
infallible. My students are not perfect (nor am I!) and I do not expect them to
be. However, I do expect them to seek quality in their work. I will not accept
messy work. I expect the work to have the proper heading (name, date, subject,
and page number, if applicable). Papers without names will not be accepted. I
want them to take pride in their work. I expect them to keep up with their
assignments, work diligently during the day, and conduct themselves properly!
Grading Scale
The
Discipline Policy
Every student in the classroom has the right to learn
and no student has the right to stop the learning process. Students will be
provided with a list of classroom rules and expectations. They will be given
reminders and warnings as the situation warrants. Students will be able to earn
extrinsic rewards for demonstrating positive self-control and meeting behavior
expectations. However, I feel strongly students should behave properly because
it is appropriate, and so we will be working this year to increase student’s
intrinsic motivation to behave properly. This will be done, through the
building of our classroom community. Students will participate in class
meetings designed to encourage them to take a leadership role in the
functioning of our class. Students will be involved in solving class issues and
concerns as they present themselves.
Student misbehavior is a serious issue.
When a student fails to behave appropriately, it not only affects his or her
own learning, but also impedes the learning for the rest of the class.
Therefore, misbehavior will not be tolerated. After receiving a chance to
improve poor behavior, a student will receive a “logical consequence”. I
believe the consequence for poor behavior should fit the behavior
exhibited.
Many of my learning activities involve group work. I
will be working this year to provide each student the skills and opportunities
required to become successful group members. Learning to work successfully in a
group is not only a valuable school experience; it is also a vital life skill.
Students who are disruptive during group work will be provided with another
assignment. This alternative assignment will contain similar content material,
but will be an individual activity of dramatically
less interest!
Poor behavior or failure to return parent
communication notes will result in a Parent
Alert. Failure to return a Parent Alert with a parent signature the
following school day will result in a detention. Serious misbehavior or
dangerous conduct will also result in a detention.
Spelling
My goal for teaching spelling is to
enable students to incorporate good spelling into their written communication.
Therefore, students will receive spelling grades on written work along with
content grades. In addition, every week students will receive two spelling test
grades. The first will come from the standard spelling list. Students will be
focusing on spelling patterns in order to facilitate better spelling. The
spelling lessons will be presented on Monday and tested on Friday. The students
will have the words given almost entirely as dictation sentences. Students will
have two of the sentences to study during the week as well as the words.
Student activities will be based upon the results of the pretest. The sentences
will include the spelling words and words they should already know how to
spell. I count off on these sentences for the other words and lack of
appropriate punctuation. The second spelling grade comes from our Lifetime
Words. These words are included in the spelling test, should have been
mastered, and are often misspelled by students. I add words to the list each
week. Students will have these words in their spelling folder. The students
will be responsible for spelling these words correctly on all work turned in to me.
Each week your child will begin with a score of 100 for his or her Lifetime
Words. I deduct 7 points from this, each time one of these words is misspelled
during that week. My goal is to provide an environment where students can learn
to communicate more effectively with appropriate spelling.
Social Studies and Science
In science, I will expect students to
gain factual content knowledge, as well as practice the scientific process.
This means making predications based upon prior experience and knowledge,
observing purposefully, collecting important data, and drawing appropriate
conclusions. Students will be expected to articulate the insights they have
gleaned from their experiments in response to verbal discussion prompts,
effectively convey their discoveries via written journal entries and lab
sheets, as well as synthesize what they have learned into projects, examples,
and demonstrations.
In social studies, we study
geography and
As the year progresses, my
expectations for the quality of student performance will increase as students
have the opportunity to practice the skills required to demonstrate their
knowledge. Students will create notebooks for both subjects. These notebooks
will be graded at the end of each unit. They will also be used to study for
written tests. Therefore, the quality of these notebooks will affect all facets
of the social studies and science grades. They will also practice reading
expository text to learn content as well as effective writing conventions to convey
what they have learned. I will use a variety of methods to grade their results.
These include teacher observation, teacher created rubrics (based upon concepts
taught in the individual assignment and cumulatively to that point), objective
tests, student self-assessment instruments, student demonstrations, and
projects.
I will be looking for describing
words, accuracy, and precision of language, effective expression of opinions,
and insights into the concepts covered. I will look for the level of
understanding demonstrated by the correct use of terms. I will look for logical
predications, quality conclusions, and appropriate behavior during experiments
and activities. Each experiment or activity in class will earn a grade along
with each written product. I will also be assigning grades to field experience
work (such as field trips and speakers), projects, and tests. Good attendance is essential since
students do most of the activities in pairs or small groups. In many cases, I
am unable to provide make-up opportunities for the exact activity experienced
by the rest of the class.
Again, I am excited about the upcoming school year,
and thrilled to be involved in your child’s 4th grade year! I know
together it will be tremendous! If you have any questions regarding the
information in this letter or a question perhaps I have not answered, please
feel free to contact me at school (822-3123) or at home.