Hello Parents!
I really enjoyed meeting parents and students at our last open house, and I am
looking forward to a wonderful year with a fantastic group of students. I
have a new device attached to my Activ Board which allows me to project any
paper or overhead onto the screen. I started using it last May and found it
to be of tremendous value for all students.
I would like to keep you informed about some of my classroom policies. All
papers collected over the course of the week are filed and sent home on
Friday. Any papers that are graded 76 or below can be redone for half credit
with the exception of obvious answers like true or false, or tests. These
corrected papers should be handed in the following Monday. It is not a good
idea to wait several weeks to pass by before doing this.
Completing homework on time is imperative, due to frustration levels that may
arise if the amount of work increases in size. I have established a system to
help my students organize themselves with their work. Each child has an
assignment book exactly like the one Sister Karen used in third grade. I
specifically inform the class to record homework assignments as they are
written on the board. If a paper is not completed during class time, it must
be finished at home, and returned to me the following day. I may want parents
to sign the assignment book for the first two weeks or so. You may also want
to check on your child's folder on Friday's to observe the progress being made
with corrected papers. If an emergency situation arises such as illness, or
even if materials are accidentally forgotten at school, a note signed by mom
or dad will serve as a valid excuse, but the work must be returned the
following day.
Spelling tests are given every Friday, unless a scheduling problem develops.
The list will be taken from the spelling textbook. Every Monday a pretest is
given, and those who receive 100 do not have to take the final test on Friday.
Those who misspell one or two words have to write the correct spellings on
Friday. Mrs. Ouelette and Mrs. Parks will be teaching grade 4 reading, and I
in turn will be covering the grade 6 math curriculum.
Each month a library book is assigned. A specific book report format is
required for each reading genre. I usually schedule the last Wednesday of the
month as the book report due date unless some unexpected event interferes.
I use a ticket system as an incentive for fostering responsibility.Each child
receives 10 tickets at the beginning of the week, but may lose tickets for
various reasons such as a failure to pass in homework on time, forgetting to
write ones name on a paper, causing distractions during class, etc. After 25
tickets have been collected, the student may earn a "free homework" pass.
which means an automatic 100. These "free" options must be approved by me
first due to the importance of the work at hand.
I believe I have covered the important issues for now, but if you have any
questions, feel free to use my school e-mail.
Sincerely,
Aleta Campbell
