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Homework~
Homework is generally assigned on Monday-Thursday. Usually, the
work is due the next day after it has been assigned. However,
there are often long-term pieces of work that will need some
attention each evening in order to complete it on time. Homework
is assigned through the day, each day, and students are to be
responsible to record their homework in their notebooks. The
day's schedule will be on the board each morning. The work that
is due the next day will have a box around it, so it is visually
easy to know what is due the next day. The students will be told
when the work is assigned when it is due, it is on the board,
and they will receive a reminder at the end of the day. Additionally,
the materials that will be needed will be stated for the fourth
graders. One last place to find homework is on the classroom
website. The "Homework" link will have a daily listing
of the homework for the week. There will also be reminders about
other things to keep in mind. Lastly, at the end of the webpage,
there will be a link for downloading certain pieces of the homework.
About 90% of the work is able to be downloaded.
Homework and Absences~
When a student is absent, the number of days absent will be equivalent
to the number of extra days to turn the work in for scoring.
Homework is often able to be downloaded, and many students keep
up with the work in that manner. It is not, however, required
that sick students download and complete homework. The focus
should be on getting well and back to school so more of the classroom
activities are not missed.
Missed Homework~
If a student misses turning homework in on time, s/he will fill
out a form in a binder that is a record for missing work. A notice
will be sent home to inform the parent that an assignment was
missed. It is expected that the form will be returned the next
day along with the completed homework. At the beginning of each
week, a form will be sent home for every student indicating the
student's success in turning work in on time as well as classroom
behavior. That form will need to be returned the next day. Thus,
there should be two ways to find out if a student successfully
completed all his or her work.
Projects~
Projects are longer pieces of work that the students will need
to work on with regularity when they have been assigned. Projects
will often have a handout that states the requirements, but not
always. Students need to learn to listen and record notes on
the requirements when a sheet will not be handed out. There will
always be a rubric given out for projects, so it is easy to see
what the expectations are for the work. Projects will always
follow the completion of our classroom novels. Projects usually
will have one to two weeks for completion. The due dates will
be posted on the "Important Dates" section of the classroom
website. There will always be time in class to work on projects,
but not enough to complete the entire work. Projects will be
given out in nearly all subjects. Careful planning and following
time guidelines will make the completion of this work easier.
Pacing of the work will always be discussed in the classroom.
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Homework and Parental Assistance~
This is a commonly inquired about topic and there really is no
one set answer except for the very blunt response of: homework
is the work of the student and the parent's role should be that
of a guide. If there is difficulty in a subject or even a topic
within a particular subject, then there might be more guidance
needed. However, the goal is for the student to do the work independently
as much as is possible as long as learning is occurring and scores
are acceptable. Sometimes, checking over the work by a parent
is of benefit to a student, but don't fight with a fourth grader
over it as long as the scores are acceptable. It is sometimes
a good idea to give homework a random glance to check for neatness,
thoroughness and accuracy. Homework is returned in a very timely
manner, and most times, there will be comments written on the
work. It is highly advised that the student and parent discuss
the comments together as that is where key learning toward improvement
is gained. The comments are specific pieces of feedback designed
to improve the quality of the work. To ignore the comments would
make it difficult to improve. Thus, a bit of time spent looking
at the comments and then checking to see if the subsequent work
has employed those ideas would be a great way for a parent to
assist with homework. Providing a good timeline and keeping students
working toward the end product on a longer project would also
be a great benefit. Students in fourth grade are learning to
pace themselves to complete long term work. Whereas a guide will
be given in the classroom, it is important that the progress
of the work is monitored at home.
Some parents sit over and
watch their student do the homework and if an error is made,
it is "jumped upon" immediately. A message of dependence
is sent to the student. The student feels that she or he cannot
complete anything without a parent right there. This is not the
goal. Students need to feel that they can successfully accomplish
their work. When assistance is needed, there is no problem, but
the student should make the request for such. A quick examination
of the work at the end might be necessary, depending upon the
student, but the student should still be guided toward the correct
response. It is a fine line for some families, but finding it
is necessary in order to have a successful, independent fourth
grader.
Editing Student Work~
Most of the formal rough drafts of longer writing will be edited
in class by the author and at least one other student. Once the
final copy has been written by the student, a parent might wish
to go over the final copy. Please, if that is done, only point
out errors to the student and guide the student toward finding
the correction to the error. I would suggest saying things such
as:
There is a spelling error in this line; can you find it?
There is a punctuation error in this line; can you find it?
There is a capitalization error in this line; can you find it?
There is a word usage error in this line; can you find it?
This sentence is difficult to understand; can you clear it up?
The goal is for the student
to find and correct the work himself or herself. Giving students
the tools for editing is what is sought rather than simply doing
the editing for the student. Day to day work may need some editing
as well. If a student has a tough time with spelling, or punctuation
or sentence structure, etc. it may be necessary for the work
to be examined by a parent and guidance given to assist the student
in correcting those mistakes. If a problem doesn't exist, then
don't worry about it.
Daily Oral Language (DOL)~
Daily Oral Language is the method
in which the rules of grammar are taught. Each morning, the students
are presented with two sentences which have errors in them. The
errors may range from spelling mistakes, sentence structure errors,
capitalization, punctuation, or word usage errors. The students
are to correctly write the sentences in their spiral notebooks.
We then correct the sentences as a class and discuss the reasons
as to why the items are mistakes. The correct answers are written
on the board for easy copying for the fourth graders. The students
are to check their work and make any corrections that they may
not have made on their own. When we are done correcting the work,
the students should each have two perfectly written sentences
in their spiral notebooks. Every two weeks, there is a DOL quiz
based on six of the sentences that the students have seen. Those
quizzes generally take place on Friday and will be announced
in the classroom newsletter. Over the course of the two weeks,
the students will have 22 - 24 sentences in their notebooks.
The quiz will have six of those sentences. Thus, if the sentences
are truly correct in the notebooks, studying should be relatively
easy. Students are urged to examine those sentence prior to the
quiz. The program begins with a fifth grade series, but by midyear,
the class will be ready to move to a more challenging, sixth
grade program.
Signature Sheets~
On the first day of nearly every
week, the students will receive a half sheet of paper which will
have their behavior score for the previous week and a homework
completion score for the same week on it. There is a place for
comments to be made by either the teacher, student or parent.
If there is any homework still needing to be completed and submitted,
it will be listed on that sheet. The sheet has a place for a
parent signature on it. The expectation is that the sheet will
be returned the next day, with a parent signature on it. The
sheet is a ticket for recess the next day. Attached to that sheet
will be any quizzes, tests or rubrics that were completed the
previous week. Please look through those major assessments with
your fourth grader. If you wish to keep the papers for a day
or two longer to examine them more thoroughly, please simply
send a note with your fourth grader so that recess may be earned.
Look for those packets each Monday with a return date of Tuesday.
If there is no school on Monday, look for those packets on the
first school day of the week. Should there be no packet for the
week, that will be stated on the homework page of the classroom
website. It is rare that there isn't a signature sheet, however.
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Field Trips~
We average about a field trip
a month, yet the past couple of years they seem to have been
bunched together. All of our trips require parent drivers, except
for Del Norte. Approximately 2-3 weeks prior to the field trip,
a flyer will be sent home requesting parent drivers. The permission
slip is also attached to the request. Please return the request
with either a "yes" or "no" checked so that
I know it was received at home. Most of our trips are such that
whoever volunteers can go. Thus, if you volunteer, please watch
for a confirmation note sent home about one week before the trip.
That note will have the details you will need to successfully
chaperone the trip. There will always be a confirmation note
sent home!
Westminster Woods~
We will go to Westminster Woods
from Tuesday, March 23-Friday, March 26, 2010. The camp is in
Occidental which is in the Bodega Bay area. We leave DPM on Tuesday
morning and return to DPM on Friday afternoon. The trip is the
major event of the school year. The focus is environmental education.
We spend a day in Armstrong Redwood State Park which culminates
our redwood report. We spend a day at the ocean in the tide pools.
The actual tide pool time is a little over an hour. We hike at
camp and do stream studies on Dutch Bill Creek. Each evening,
there is an activity and one night during the week, we will have
a night hike. The trip is well run by the camp and we are given
three naturalists who are the students' teachers for the week.
The fourth graders sleep in cabins of about 5-6 students with
1-2 parent chaperones. We are allowed eight chaperones. I will
be asking for volunteers about the time we need a deposit, which
is generally in October. The decision as to who chaperones is
usually made in January. Many times, there are more volunteers
than can attend this trip. Please understand that and if you
volunteer but are not on the trip as a chaperone, it is simply
a numbers game. My goal is to put a good team together that will
work for the students. There are many combinations of volunteers
to accomplish that. Again, we are allowed eight volunteers only.
The cost of the trip is about $260.00 with an additional cost
for parent volunteers. That parent cost is less than the student
cost by about $100.00. The numbers change each year, but those
are close estimates.
Important Dates~
There are many dates about which
students and parents need to be aware. These range from due dates
on projects, test dates, field trips, GATEPOST meetings and GATE
Advisory meetings. The best way to keep up with them all is to
use the "Important Date" link on the website. As soon
as I know of an important date, it will be listed on that page.
The page is updated each weekend.
Backpacks and Water Bottles~
If possible, try to avoid rolling
backpacks; they are just really large. With 34 students and backpacks
in the classroom, there just isn't comfortable space. The students
have a cubby in the classroom in which to store their backpacks,
but the rolling type jut out quite a way and intrude on the walking
space of other students. As for water bottles, it is great during
hot weather for students to have a bottle of water as long as
the top closes and no spills occur. Please limit the contents
to water, however.
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Bringing Books Home~
Fourth graders ask me all the
time if they are allowed to bring their school books home in
order to assist them with their homework. The answer is a resounding
YES! Homework is designed to practice skills and without
the books, it is often difficult to practice. We have many assignments
that require the book-like all of the reading sheets we do. Often,
there will be work done in the social studies book and quite
possibly the science book. The use of the book and knowing how
to find and figure out answers is often one of the skills to
practice. As for math, the students need a spiral type notebook
where they will record important information and practice problems
from the day's lesson. Those should be taken home as well since
practice problems and solutions, that were worked and checked
in class, are in those notebooks. Students will always be allowed
and encouraged to bring the books home with them. In fact, as
I recount the homework for the day, I always state what materials
should be brought home, and the textbook will be listed when
it is necessary, or even helpful.
Class Group Email~
A group email account has been
established for the class for communication purposes. It has
proven to be a very successful way for me to communicate with
all the families with just one email. It also has been successful
for organizing classroom events such as holiday celebrations,
the silent auction event, dance recital apparel and so on. I
will be collecting email addresses on Back to School Night in
order to create this year's email list. You may have multiple
addresses on the group email system. I hope that everyone will
take part as important information is given out through this
system. It is each family's choice to belong or not, but by belonging
to the list, you will be assured of getting all of the information
that is dispensed. You may also post items as well. It is important
to note that if you post anything on the group email, whether
that be an original post or a reply to one sent out to the group,
it will go out to everyone. Thus, keep in mind as to whether
your post should be seen by everyone. The group email is designed
to be a communication tool for the class and its events. It is
not a tool for voicing personal opinions, unless one has been
solicited (say in the case of which type of dance recital T-shirt
we should get). There may be times when your inbox receives a
lot of messages, and you need to be certain you are willing to
accept that. Should you wish to be removed from the list at any
time, that is not a problem. I believe that the families who
had Mrs. Moore in second grade used this exact method of communication
as I assisted her in setting hers up that year!
Expectations~
Students are expected to:
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Be prepared for each day with
the proper books and materials at school |
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Be attentive in class |
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Work their hardest in order to
gain the highest possible education |
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Turn in homework and projects
on the proper due date |
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Be organized so that materials
can be found in a timely manner and learning may begin on time |
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Treat each other with respect
and dignity |
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Be helpful toward each other
and create a strong team within the classroom |
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Participate in the day's events
and be willing to take some risks |
Can we miss a school
day?~
I am often asked that question
when a family wishes to take a vacation during the school year.
I am also asked that question when a family needs to take a longer
weekend and have their fourth grader miss a Friday or a Monday,
or both! The other question that goes along with that is, "Are
you doing anything important on that day?" The answer
is YES! we will be doing something important EVERY day. The Rapid
Learner program moves quickly, and missing a day or more will
cause a student to miss important items. If a student needs to
miss school for whatever reason, he or she will be missing important
instruction. Many of the things we do in fourth grade are done
only in the classroom. Science is hands-on, we do many simulations,
there are numerous discussions. Those are things that
cannot be made up. If a day or multiple days need to be missed,
that is a family decision and not one on which I have input.
In a perfect world, I say don't miss school. However, I know
it's not a perfect world, so if your fourth grader needs to miss
school for whatever reason, that is your decision. She or he
will miss instruction. She or he will miss something important.
Do what is needed for your family, but do know that instruction
will be missed.
Contacting Mr. La Marr~
The easiest and most efficient
way to get ahold of me is through my school email address. There
is a link from the homepage of the website that will bring that
up in your email program. The address is: mlamarr@sanjuan.edu
If you need to set up a time to meet, email would be the best
way to arrange it. If you have a question, again, email would
be the best way to get a prompt answer. Impromptu meetings in
the morning or after school are not recommended. During the morning,
I am preparing for the school day and after school, I often have
commitments. Please don't try to catch me with the idea that
it will be "quick" as it often isn't quick and I cannot
give your concern the proper time it deserves when I am in a
hurry. Thank you~
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