Helpful and Interesting ABC’s of 4th Grade!
Agendas - Students will be responsible for completing an agenda each day. In this agenda, students will highlight or write down any work they need to complete. Your child is responsible for sharing the agenda with you and asking you to sign it every day. We will also include a monthly School to Home Responsibility goal. For the month of September, our goal is to MTB. MTB stands for ‘Make the Bed’ and they should respond with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ at the top of their agenda indicating whether they made the bed that day. You may suggest other tasks that they may perform to transfer the idea of being responsible both at home and at school. Students should average reading 20 minutes per night. This does not include weekends, as they are considered a bonus. You may make suggestions to alter this requirement; however, the idea is that this requirement will help them reach their AR trimester goal (11 points/1st trimester). Also, we have an end of the month open notebook quiz that covers the information that is placed in the agenda, monthly notebook, and accordion folder. Reading Minutes (RM’s) are to be added to the bottom of the agenda and verified a parent.
Blog - We have information and links on our blog (http://mrkrupafourthgrade.blogspot.com) or link to it from the district website. Be sure to check it, especially when the agenda says, ‘Blog Alert’. If you don’t have internet access, let us know so we can send a copy home.
Conferences - We will be meeting two times this year for Parent-Teacher Conferences. Our first meeting is in October which gives you the opportunity to learn about how your child’s year has been progressing. I look forward to working closely with you to assure that we are doing our best to meet the interests and needs of your special learner. Please check the Conference Schedule located on the chalkboard to verify your scheduled time slot.
Different end of day schedule - If for any reason your child has a change in their routine at the end of the day, we are required to have a note from you or we will have to send them to their regular place/bus. If it’s a sudden change, please call the office or call me and talk directly to your child and myself. Our Discipline Policy allows for a ‘cooling off’ period if your child is making inappropriate choices. In addition, I provide the student with the opportunity to complete a ‘Write the Rule’ activity which gives me a chance to discuss the situation in further detail with your child. Sometimes consequences need to be enforced immediately and your child’s behavior warrants a parent phone call. I would really appreciate your support in this situation and hope to use the parent phone call option only when the your child is not responding properly with my attempts to correct their behavior. I incorporate a ‘Krupa Dollar’ system which rewards and encourages good behavior. These tickets may occasionally be used as ‘fines’ for repeated inappropriate behavior. If late work becomes an issue, the fourth grade staff may provide ‘Choice Time’ activities that are additional learning opportunities for those that complete their work on time. Students that have late work will not be able to attend, as their time will be spent completing their work or assessing their poor judgment.
Exciting Extras - Field trips provide a wonderful opportunity for learning outside the walls of the classroom. You will hear more about these field trips as they approach. Students will also have the chance to participate in various lyceums and mini field trips around the school grounds throughout the year. Please let me know if you would like to attend as a chaperone as the event nears. You are ll welcome to join us for our Bowling field trip in December!
Focus Events - All of our late starts will be two hours long. School will begin at 9:40 on these days. Each of these days will be a ‘Focus Topic’ day, where the entire school will have activities focused on a certain topic. The first 2 hour late start will be Friday, October 7th.
General Mills Box Tops - Remember to bring in all of those box tops, milk lids, soup labels, etc. that you’ve been saving. Again this year,, we’ll participate in the programs that donate to our school. The money from these program has helped fund many special events at Pleasantview. The Growing Healthy video will be shown in May. Parents will be given an opportunity to view this material before the students. It stresses the importance of good personal hygiene.
Handwriting - We will spend the first few months of school reviewing the individual letters and connections in cursive. After we have reviewed all letters, the use of cursive handwriting will be encouraged, with most assignments being required to be written in cursive during March.
Individuality - Each learner is special and unique in his/her own way. During the day we will strive to offer a variety of activities which will challenge and stretch each learner to his/her potential. Motivation to accept and respond to a challenge is something which must be supplied by the learner. We will be identifying our preferred Multiple Intelligence's throughout the year. I ask that all students participate with their best effort. The Invention Unit begins in December. All students will be required to make and invention, complete an Invention Packet, and share their invention, display board and display board in a presentation to the class. Our Inventor's Congress will be on the last Friday in January.
Join Us for Lunch - Join us for lunch sometime when you are available. Our lunch time is 11:40- 12:35 PM each day. Students will also have the opportunity to apply for monthly and trimester jobs such as Caretaker, Line Leader, Social Committee member, etc. Be watching for the applications.
Keeping Track of Progress - There are several ways we’ll keep track of progress throughout the year. Progress reports will be sent home 3 times during the year, but watch for corrected assignments to come home too! You may want to have your child bring home their accordion folder, three -ring binder, or notebook on occasion to check their progress and view what we having been studying. We will use Krupa Dollars to pay for ‘fines’ and for completing tasks. So far, we have fees for the following situations; Piranha, Blurting out Responses (not allowing others the opportunity to think), excessive bathroom breaks, and loss of materials. We have the opportunity to reward ourselves for bring back sign papers (PS), completing classroom jobs, mastering educational games, and successfully completing the end of the month open notebook quiz. In addition, we utilize a Reward Punch card for participating in classroom discussions and games; such as I Am the Greatest, Dice Endeavors, etc.
Language Arts - Our language program coordinates reading (comprehension, reading strategies, and fluency), word study (decoding and grammar), and writing skills. Throughout the year students will learn about the Six-Traits approach to writing. A variety of reading materials will be used to further develop vocabulary and comprehension skills. There will be time each day for silent reading, this helps develop independent reading skills and allows the students to read something of interest to themselves and at their level. There will be regular Friday spelling tests, however; misspelled words will be written in the student’s Agendas for you to practice with them at home. We will take a pretest at the beginning of the week which will only include a portion of words on Friday’s final test. The philosophy behind the idea of only pretesting a few of the word on the word list, encourages students to actively use the strategies that we have learned throughout the year to spell the additional words not found on the pretest. Also, giving out a list of words at the beginning of the week, encourages students to develop a weekly study habit. All spelling tests will be returned corrected with ‘parent signature’ (PS) stamped on the test. Students are encourage to take home these tests, along with all the others, show them to their parents and return them for Krupa Dollars.
Mathematics - We will complete the Math Expressions curriculum program. It allows for ‘different’ ways of solving problems. We expect all Fourth graders to have mastered the basic facts by the end of the year! Refer to the Math Fact Requirement expectations in our child’s PIN folder. Our plan is to send home math homework every Monday and Thursday night. However, there may be other nights that we have math homework depending on how well your child performed that day. These homework sheets will be printed on blue paper.
Night Of the Twisters - We began the year reading a very exciting and interesting novel. Your child will be taking their first Accelerated Reading test sometime next week. Please discuss the story with your child. We believe that communication between school and home is important for the success of this school year. Always encourage your child to be reading AR books to themselves or aloud and taking AR tests to improve their comprehension and fluency. I often list the current book that your child is reading on the blog. Also, I send home frequent reminders of how many AR points your child has earned. Please sign these record sheets and have your child return them for Krupa bucks.
Other Teachers - During each school week, your child will work with specialists in the areas of Physical Education, Music, Art, Computer, and Media. We also do some activities with the other classrooms (Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Bakke, and Mrs. Burski). We may also have a student teacher that will deserve the same respect and appreciation that is given to the regular classroom teachers.
Peanut Allergy - We do have students with peanut allergies in our school and classroom, so please be careful about which snacks you send to school. You can get a list of peanut safe snacks from the school website, or let us know if you need one.
Questions and Answers - Should you at any time have any questions about your child’s progress or any concerns you wish to discuss, you may contact us by writing a note in the agenda or on another piece of paper, or telephoning Pleasantview Elementary School at 253-0506. We can also be reached by e-mail at david.krupa@isd47.org . If we don’t reply to an e-mail in 24 hours, please give us a call - we have had some trouble with our out of district e-mails. Please put srrstudent in the subject line to be sure your e-mail gets past our filter.
Reading - It is very important that students spend some time reading at home. Research has shown that this is one of the biggest contributors to success in reading. I expect them to set and meet a reading contract goal each month! They will be expected to turn in the record of their reading minutes (RM’s) on September 15th. This reading contract should be signed by you and returned no later than Tuesday, September 20th. Their AR goal for this trimester is 11 points and most of my students easily meet and/or exceed this goal. The list of AR books can be accessed through the Pleasantview media link at www.isd47.org or I have a copy in our classroom that all students have access to and may browse to find a book.
Snacks - We will have some time set aside for a snack each day between 9:40 and 10:00 AM. Students who wish to bring a snack for themselves should bring a small, nutritious snack. I allow plastic water bottles in our classroom as long as they do not become a distraction.
Time to Complete Assignments - Homework assignments will usually be the result of work not completed during class time or a special project to be completed at home. If at any time there is a problem completing the assignment or a question arises, please feel free to contact me to discuss the matter. Late slips may be given for work that is not turned in on time or not completed. The personalized poster was due on Wednesday, September 14th. I try to post all due assignments on the blog. Also, we will have Monday and Thursday math homework. Spelling tests are at the end of each week. Usually, I have a Made In A Minute (MIM) activity at the end of each week that students may participate in, if their assignments have been completed. Those students that are not finished with an assignment will be missing the activity to complete their uncompleted work. Students may take AR tests at almost any time of the day.
Unique - Each year of your child’s life is a time of exploration and experimentation. Please remember that your child’s year should be a journey and not a race. Your child will set his/her own pace. He or she may stumble and may even fall a time or two. It is through our combined encouragement, guidance, and support that your child will achieve his/her greatest success. I often mention the term, Valley of Confusion, and use this terminology to discuss moments that your child may feel frustrated or be contemplating with the desire to quit. All of this emotion is natural when learning something for the first time/new. These discussions are meant to help your child overcome these negative feelings and assist them in getting back on the track with a positive attitude; a willingness and eagerness to learn.
Voice Mail - If we’re teaching or not in our classroom, the office will connect you to our voice mail. We’ll return your call as soon as possible.
Weekly Book Check-Out - Our scheduled day for checking out books from the media center is Day 3. I really encourage students to check out books to have for our Read To Self time and to read at home. Hopefully, they’ll discover or expand their interest in reading this year!
eXtra Credit - Many opportunities will be given for the students to stretch above and beyond the required objectives. We’ll have incentives available for going that extra mile!
You and Your Special Child - You are a very important teacher for your child. We look to you for any information you may share that will help us identify your child’s individual interests and learning needs. I look forward to working with both you and your child throughout our year together.
Zeroing in on Successes - During the year we will be celebrating the many good things about being part of 4th grade at Pleasantview Elementary! Please check the blog daily for pictures and words of interest and encouragement!
