Classroom Information
Grading Rationale
A = 90 – 100%
This is reserved for excellence, a step above everyone else. The student performs well above average. Works hard and work is always complete.
B = 80 – 89%
Consistently strong performance. Work is completed.
C = 70 – 79%
Average. Learns new concepts through many repetitions. Student completes work.
D = 60 – 69%
The student is working below grade level. Student performance is one year (or less than one year) below grade level. Work may be incomplete.
F = 1 – 59%
The student is working more than one year below grade level. Student work is usually incomplete or not turned in at all.
S = Satisfactory
U = Unsatisfactory
I = Improvement Needed
This is the grading scale that is used in grades 1-6 at Butler Elementary. Please encourage your child to always put forth his/her best effort. My greatest wish is not that all of my students will achieve As, but that all of them will try their best!
Attendance
Attendance at school is important for every student. Frequent absences from school significantly affect your child’s performance and academic success. Please make every effort to have your child present and on time each day.
Conferences
Please make an appointment in advance. I will be available to meet with you to discuss your child’s progress between 7:45 – 8:20 a.m. and 2:50 – 4:30 p.m. My home phone is 868-5478. If calling my home, please do not call after 10:00 p.m. If these times are inconvenient for you, please contact me via note, and I will gladly make other arrangements.
Homework Assignments
Assignments that are not completed in class are to be taken home as homework. It must be returned to school the next morning. After that it is considered to be late.
There will be math homework approximately four times a week. We will have already covered the material in class; therefore, the homework should only take about twenty minutes to complete. If the work takes your child much longer, please contact me. Also, please circle any problems that your child seems to be struggling with. This will alert me to the specials needs your child may have.
Spelling words will be sent home on the first day of each week. This year the students will not be tested on spelling the words correctly. Instead, we will focus on word origins, meanings, and using the words in sentences correctly. In addition, we will work with synonyms, antonyms, syllabication, alphabetical order, and dictionary skills. The words will be the vocabulary words from Language Arts, Math, Science, and History. There will still be spelling grades, points will be deducted for misspelling, but no spelling tests will be given.
There will be reading homework twice a week. The students need to read the assigned story on the first day of the week. They will again bring home their books later in the week to study for the test. Students will be required to read a book from each genre that we study. They will also be expected to complete a book report once a month. The style of report will vary: oral, written, an illustration, a diorama, book talk, and etc. It will be counted as a project grade.
Homework in Science and Indiana History is not as frequent. Students will bring home study guides to help them study for the tests. There may also be projects for the students to work on occasionally.
Homework assignments will always be listed in the assignment notebooks. Please check it daily to find what work your child needs to do, and be sure to sign it.
Late Work
If an assignment is not completed and turned in within a day of being assigned, it will be considered late. Late work will be accepted; however, the grade will be lowered by 10% for each day that it is late. For example, if a child received 100% on an assignment but turned it in two days late, the grade entered into the grade book would be 80%. The assignment will not be accepted after the grade has reached 60%. Exceptions will be made for extenuating circumstances. In the event of illness, the student will be allowed the same number of days that they missed to make up the work.
Graded Papers
I will usually send your child’s graded work home each Friday. It is important that you see what your child’s progress has been during the week. Please go over the papers and discuss them with your child. Be sure to sign and return the verification sheet that is attached to the papers. This will assure me that the graded papers are indeed making it home.
"Do Overs"
Students who receive D or F letter grades are given the opportunity for additional instruction and are allowed to do the assignment over in an effort to raise their grade. The original grade and the second grade will be averaged together to determine the grade that will be entered into the grade book.
Extra Credit
Students may ask to do extra credit assignments for the purpose of improving low grades. I require that all assignments have been turned in before allowing extra credit work. If a student’s grade is low as a result of not turning in work, I will not permit extra credit work.
Cursive Writing
Our focus will be on learning to form cursive letters properly and neatly. Cursive handwriting will be required on all assignments beginning with the second grading period.
Book Reports
Each child will be expected to read books for pleasure at home. They will be required to submit one book report per month. The report may be written, oral, a diorama, an illustration, etc. The first report will be due near the end of October. Forms and guidelines will be given at a later time. In addition, the students will be required to read at least one book from each of the literary genres during the school year. Parents are encouraged to read with their children on a daily basis.
Behavior Management and Rules
In order to provide the students with the excellent educational climate they deserve, the children and I have developed a Discipline Plan that will be in effect at all times.
Class Rules:
1. Be a Friend!
· Treat others as you would like to be treated.
2. Be a Helper!
· Do your best at all times.
3. Behave!
· Do the right thing.
Behavior will be monitored using a color coded behavior card system.
Green Card: each student begins the day on the green card. The goal is that students stay on the green card for the entire day.
Negative Consequences
Yellow Card: signifies that a student has had one behavior infraction. The infraction will be recorded on the card. The student will be required to fill out the “Behavior Think Sheet” and sit at the teacher table during lunch where we will discuss the behavior, why it was inappropriate, and what the student can do instead the next time. The remainder of the lunch period will be spent in silence, and the student will be charged a $25 fine (payable in Weaver’s Wages).
Pink Card: a second behavior infraction has been committed and will be recorded on the card. The student will complete an additional section on the “Behavior Think Sheet,” which will now be sent home for the parent’s signature. The student will also spend 15 minutes of the recess time walking laps inside the classroom and pay a $50 fine.
Blue Card: a third infraction will necessitate a phone call to the student’s parent whether at home or at work. The entire recess time (30 minutes) will be spent walking laps inside the classroom, and a $100 fine will be imposed along with the “Behavior Think Sheet." (If the third infraction takes place during the afternoon, the student will forfeit the next day's team building time, instead of the last fifteen minutes of recess.)
White Card: a fourth behavior infraction indicates that the student is willfully breaking the classroom rules; therefore, the student will be sent to Mr. Pierce and placed in the isolation room. The student will be assessed a $200 fine.
*Other appropriate consequences may be added.
**Severe infractions (any behavior that endangers another person) will result in immediate removal from the classroom.
Positive Consequences
1. A happy teacher!
2. A fun learning environment!
3. Rewards!
*Students who stay on the green card for the entire day will earn a positive punch on their Behavior Matters card.
Behavior Matters Card
Each student will be issued a Behavior Matters Card. Students who remain on the green behavior card will receive a punch on their card at the end of the day. When a student has earned five punches in a row, they will be allowed to choose a prize from the WOW Box. The prizes are incentives such as: sit in the teacher chair, stocking feet in the room, game time on the iPad, wacky pencil, paper airplane challenge, sucker draw, bubble gum blow, etc.
*If a student’s behavior card changes color during the day, the positive punch is not given for that day and the accumulation process starts over.
Classroom Economy
The classroom economy is a form of economics instruction in which students participate in a mini-economy in order to simulate real world economic activity.
In a mini-economy, students earn play money in a variety of ways and spend it at a class store, class auction, or at stores operated by their classmates. The students will apply for classroom jobs (for which they earn a salary), run businesses, pay taxes, rent property, make investments, use coupons, and learn about inflation.
Participation in the mini-economy helps students learn:
~ Important money management skills
~ That one must work to earn income
~ How to stay within a budget
~ How to save money for future purchases
~ That bills and taxes must be paid before other consumer purchases are made
~ That “supply and demand” have a direct effect on prices
Weaver's Wages
Weaver’s Wages is the name of the play money used in our mini-economy.
Earning Weaver’s Wages
There is a variety of ways for students to earn classroom money:
· Classroom Jobs
· Rewards
· Game Prizes
· Graded Papers
A+ $5.00
A, A- $3.00
B+, B, B- $2.00
C+, C, C- $1.00
· Graded Tests ~ Double the above rates
· Caught Being Good
· Attendance/Behavior
Penalties
Students will be required to pay fines for:
· Breaking classroom rules ($25, doubles with each infraction)
· Breaking playground rules ($25, doubles with each infraction)
· Loitering in the halls, cafeteria, restrooms, or classroom ($10)
· Assignment notebook not signed by parent/guardian ($10)
· Assignment notebook not filled out ($20)
· Excessive restroom use {excludes emergency situations} ($10)
· Late library books ($10 per day)
· Missing textbook at lesson time ($20)
· Late homework ($20 per assignment)
· Missing supplies {pencil, eraser, paper, scissors, etc.} ($10)
· Messy desk ($20)
· Messy cubby ($10)
· Messy floor ($10)
· Late rent ($10 per day)
· Disorganized BOBCAT Binder ($20)
· Tipping back in chair ($50)
· Speaking disrespectfully to the teacher ($100)
· Physical altercation with another student ($200)
* Additional fines may be added, as the need arises.
Pay Day
Students will be paid for classroom jobs and graded papers each Friday afternoon. Classroom checks will be issued, which the students will need to endorse and deposit into the classroom bank. Each student will be responsible for their own bank account by adding deposits and subtracting expenditures themselves. The classroom banker will check their work. If a student loses his/her account sheet, the money will be forfeited. The same applies to any classroom cash that the student’s may lose. Class cash and account sheets should be stored in the zipper pouch in the BOBCAT Binder.
Classroom Store, Auctions, Shoebox Mall
The students will have numerous opportunities to spend their Weaver’s Wages.
Classroom Store: The store will be open each Friday afternoon. During this time the students will be able to buy classroom supplies (pencils, cap erasers, paper, etc.) and other inexpensive items.
Auctions: On the last Friday of each month (starting in September) there will be a classroom auction. Each student may bring in one inexpensive item to auction off to the highest bidder. The students will keep the money that is raised by their item. Mrs. Weaver will also provide several items for the auction.
Shoebox Mall: All of the fourth grade classes will participate in a shoebox mall at least four times during the year (usually Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter). Students who choose to participate are required to decorate a shoebox (or other small box) and fill it with items to sell to other fourth grade students. The items should be inexpensive or gently used trinkets, toys, books, games, school supplies, stickers, candy, treats, (must be individually wrapped), raffle tickets for an item, tickets for a service (such as, listen to a story being read by the student or watch a magic performance), homemade crafts, etc. Be creative!!!
All items must either be priced individually or on a printed price list. Pricing must be done at home.
All fourth grade students are encouraged to participate!
Additional Information
Newsletters: A newsletter, Weaver’s Word, will be sent home on a weekly basis to inform you of the activities that have taken place in our classroom and to appraise you of coming events. Homework assignments for the week will be listed in the newsletter. A behavior report and late assignment report will also be included. It is a good idea to read over the newsletter with your child. Be sure to sign and return the bottom portion of the letter.
Birthdays: We will celebrate each child’s birthday in class. Children with summer birthdays may celebrate their “half birthday,” which is the day when he/she turns 9 ½ or 10 ½. You may send a treat if you wish.
Lunch Visitation: Please feel free to come and have lunch with your child. However, if you bring in fast food, you will be asked to eat in the multi-purpose room. It is helpful if you inform the teacher prior to your visit.
Change in Transportation Home: If your child is to go home a different way than usual, I MUST receive a written notice. If you are unable to send in a note, you must contact the school and the office staff will make sure I receive a written message. If your child does not have a note, he/she will be sent home the usual way.
Early Pick-Up: We are very busy all day in our class. Please try to arrange doctor/dentist appointments outside of school hours. Any time your child comes in or out during the day, go to the office. The office staff will call for your child to come to meet you there.
Party Invitations: If you are having a party for your child outside of school, school is not the best place to pass out invitations unless every child in class is being invited. Your child needs to bring all invitations directly to me to be distributed discretely, including to students in other classes.
Contacting Mrs. Weaver: Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns. I want to work with you for the benefit of your child! I do ask that you call before or after school. My school number is 868-2123, ext. 2507, my home number is 868-5478, my cell number is 645-0852 (please only use for emergencies), and my e-mail address is [email protected]. I do not mind being contacted at home.