4 Grade Parent Handbook

Mrs. Allen, Mr. Brummett, Mrs. Embry 2012 - 2013

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Dear Parents and Guardians, Welcome to the 2012-13 school year at Eisenhower Elementary! We are looking forward to another terrific year. It is our mission to provide your child with a safe, engaging, and stimulating learning environment. We all share a deep, caring commitment to the children in our care, and will always focus on providing your child with successful and positive learning opportunities. The purpose of this handbook is to inform you about your childs classrooms and teachers this year, to make you aware of our classroom policies, and to introduce you to some of the things your child will be doing and learning about in fourth grade. This will be a challenging year as your student has exited the primary program. We strive to help your student develop more independence, as well as prepare them for the challenges of fifth grade and eventually middle school. Educational success for all students cannot be complete without an effective partnership with all parents. You are the most essential part of your childrens education and it is important that we build a strong relationship in order to best serve your childrens educational needs. Likewise, your input and involvement is greatly appreciated as we work to accomplish your students goals. It is our hope that this handbook will help you better understand what your child will be experiencing this year and enable you to communicate with your child and his/her teachers about these experiences. If you have any questions about anything presented in this handbook, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to working with you and your child this year. With your help, we can make this a successful year for your child. We are looking forward to a fantastic 2012-13 school year! Sincerely, Mrs. Allen, Mr. Brummett, and Mrs. Embry

Getting to Know Your Teachers

About Mrs. Allen

Mrs. Allen has been teaching at Eisenhower since 1999. She began as a Prekindergarten teacher and has since taught 3rd and 4th grade. She has been teaching 4th grade for five years. Mrs. Allen earned a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education as well as a Master of Arts in Education from Spalding University. She also holds a Master of Science in Education with a certificate in Professional School Counseling from Indiana University Southeast. Your student will have Mrs. Allen for Science and Social Studies

About Mr. Brummett

Mr. Brummett is a veteran teacher who is new to Eisenhower this year. He earned his undergraduate degree, elementary education K-5, from Indiana University, and has a Master of Education in Teaching, Elementary Education, from the University of Louisville. Mr. Brummett also holds a Post Graduate Certificate of Instructional Leadership Supervision from the University of the Cumberlands. Mr. Brummett will be your students Math teacher.

About Mrs. Embry

Mrs. Embry began at Eisenhower in 2008 as an EBD teacher and has since taught third grade. She earned her undergraduate degree from Bellarmine University in 2007 and is dual certified in Elementary Education and Learning and Behavioral Disorders. Mrs. Embry earned a Master's degree from The University of St. Mary in April of 2010 and is currently in the process of becoming a National Board Certified teacher in the certification area of Literacy. Your student will have Mrs. Embry for English/Language Arts.

Parent Teacher Communication There are FOUR Parent/Teacher Conference dates scheduled for this school year. They are October 8, 2012, November 5, 2012, January 4, 2013, and March 1, 2013. Parents are strongly encouraged to attend. Parents are welcome to call the school to speak with us at 485-8244. It is best to call before 9:00 a.m. or after 4:00 p.m. If you call during the school day, please leave a message with the office, and one of us will call as soon as possible. The best way to contact us is via e-mail. Our email addresses are as follows: Mrs. Allen: Kimberly.allen@jefferson.kyschools.us Mr. Brummett: Bret.Brummett@jefferson.kyschools.us Mrs. Embry: Tiffany.embry@jefferson.kyschools.us Agendas Agendas are an important form of parent-teacher communication. They will be used to write down assignments, reminders, and notes from school. Students are expected to write their homework for each teacher in their Agendas each day and to carry their Agendas to and from school every day. We require that parents check and sign the Agenda each night. This procedure will develop good habits for your child and will provide a daily means of communication between school and home. Please feel free to jot down any notes for us as we check the Agenda every morning. If agendas are consistently not signed, students will owe time during their free/choice time. Notes about absences, doctor appointments, early dismissal, pick-ups, or bus changes should be written on a separate paper so that they can be sent to the office.

Behavior As we are sure you are aware, good behavior and a positive learning environment go hand in hand. Students must feel safe, respected, and valued in order to be successful. For this to be possible, it is important to have rules in the classroom, and consequences for not following these rules. We will work together as a classroom community during the first week of school to decide as a family what types of rules will be important for our safety and what will ensure a learning environment free of distractions. In order to provide an environment that enhances your childs ability to grow and learn, a behavior plan has been created. Our experiences have shown children function best when provided with a consistent set of rules and consequences. We have created a behavior management plan to reward positive behavior and provide consequences for students who choose not to follow classroom and school rules. We will be using a strike system, which is explained in more detail below. Parents will be given a behavior contract, please review and discuss the contract with your student. After doing so, both parent and student must sign the bottom half and return to school. Strike System When a student violates a school and/or class rule the student will first receive a verbal warning. If the student violates the rule again they will receive a strike and will owe time during choice time for reflection on the undesired behavior. Strike # Reflection time owed 1 5 minutes 2 10 minutes 3 15 minutes 4 20 minutes 5 25 minutes and behavior card is sent home **Extreme behavior (fighting, safety concerns, etc.) will result in an automatic Behavior Card. We will NOT send home a note about behavior unless the student has received 5 strikes in one day. If a student has 5 strikes in one day, he/she will receive a Behavior Card. If your student brings home a behavior card, we ask for your support as your students behavior has negatively impacted the learning environment. The Behavior Card must be signed by a parent/guardian. The student will lose ALL privileges until the Behavior Card

is returned, signed. We want to create a safe, welcoming environment for all our students and extreme behavior will not be tolerated under any circumstances. If a student receives 5 Behavior Cards, they will be unable to attend the next upcoming field trip. Homework Homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday. Homework is a very important part of your childs curriculum and will include daily math and vocabulary homework as well as occasional book reports, projects, open response questions, and science or social studies homework. Students will be responsible for writing their homework in their agenda each day. Parents will need to check their childs agendas to make sure homework is complete and sign in the agenda each day. If homework is not complete, students will complete their missing homework during recess. As part of their homework assignment, students will be required to read 20 to 30 minutes per day, write a summary of what they read, and have an adult sign their reading log indicating they have done so. Missing/Late Assignments All missing or late assignments must be turned in within one week of the due date to receive credit. Some late assignments may not receive full credit. If a student is absent, it is their responsibility to contact their teacher for any missing work. JCPS policy states students have the number of days absent plus one to make up missing work. Grading Policy 93 85 77 70 69 to 100 A to 92 B to 84 C to 76 D and below U

Accelerated Reader Students will be responsible for reading and passing quizzes on Accelerated Reader (A.R.) books each grading period as part of their reading grade. The Accelerated Reader program is a reading incentive program. Students read novels from a selected list and then take short computer quizzes to test comprehension. Students earn points based on the difficulty of the book and their performance on the quiz. Incentives are offered to students and classes according to the number of points accumulated. This year, as fourth graders, we are going to focus on choosing challenging, high-quality books. Students will be tested at the beginning of the year, as well as at the beginning of each grading period, to find out their approximate reading level. This will allow us to recommend books in a particular reading range for each student. Your student will be bringing home an A.R. contract each grading period. Please read the contract carefully, and help your child keep up with their A.R. reading. Classroom Libraries All of our fourth grade classrooms have a full library of books on your students level. Students may check out books from their classroom library at any time. However, students are responsible to return the books checked out. If books are not returned in a timely matter, students may lose field trip and/or field day privileges until books are returned or compensated for. Field Trips We strive to provide our students with rich opportunities for learning both inside and outside of school. Excursions away from the school building during school hours may flow naturally from curriculum topics being explored in the classroom. Field trips may also stem from the need to reinforce ideas of cooperation and productive community living. We have many field trips as well as an overnight field trip planned for this school year. More information with a permission slip will come home for each field trip.

Field trips are a privilege, and no student may attend a field trip if, in the determination of the principal or his/her teachers, the students behavior has been so inappropriate as to be deemed disruptive or a safety concern to the planned trip. Important information regarding fee waiver students. Funds are limited with regards to fee waiver money. When fee waiver money is depleted, we will be unable to take anymore field trips. For this reason, we ask that whenever possible, fee waiver families send in payment or partial payment for field trips to help offset the impact on the fee waiver funds. Open House Open House will be on September 18, 2012. We hope to meet with all parents during Open House. We will discuss our daily schedule, curriculum, and grading policy at that time.

Eisenhower Elementary School Fourth Grade Parent Handbook

Dear Parent, After reviewing the information contained in this handbook, please return this page to your childs teacher. Thank you, Mrs. Allen, Mr. Brummett, and Mrs. Embry I have received a copy of the parent handbook. I have reviewed the information contained in the handbook. Students Name _____________________________________ Parent/Guardians Name (please print) _______________________________________________ Parent/Guardians signature and Date ______________________________________ ________________ Please provide the following contact information for each parent/guardian: Parent/Guardian home phone: _____________ Cell Phone: _____________ Parent/Guardian home phone: _____________ Cell Phone: _____________ Email: __________________________ Email: __________________________