For Parents

what you need to know

In an attempt at keeping communication consistent and at making information accessible, below you will find electronic copies of the Parent Night presentation and the Classroom Handbook.

» Classroom Handbook (also below)

» Parent Night Presentation



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WELCOME

Welcome, Champions! I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with, teach, and learn from your child every day for the next nine months!

The theme for our class this year is “CHAMPIONS”. We’re going to work hard this year to learn about the characteristics of champions and how we can make those characteristics part of our lives as students and people. It’s my goal to help each student become the Champion they can be so when they leave here they are well-prepared to carry on! Let's work together to make this an awesome year!

This “Gold Medal Guide” has been created to help you understand some of the routines, procedures, and "stuff" about our class. Please refer to this often, as it will answer many of your questions. Please also refer to your Prairieland Handbook, as it goes into greater detail about many things mentioned in these pages.

Undoubtedly there are errors within, and items missing from, these pages. Should new information arise, or you have any questions, please ask your child first. They are here every day and generally know the answers to how things work. Trust them! However, you may contact me at the school at 309.888.6838 or via e-mail at mattheba@unit5.org. Please also check the website at www.thechampions.us. You can also send a note with your child or stop by the school.

I’m looking forward to a wonderful, fulfilling, successful, and exciting year with this group of Champions!

Sincerely,

Ben Matthews, 5th Grade Teacher
www.thechampions.us
www.mrmatthews.net
mattheba@unit5.org

MISSION STATEMENTS

Prairieland (adopted August, 1999)
To work together with the help and support of parents and the community to provide a safe and nurturing environment. Children will learn to access, use, and apply information through educational experiences that promote excitement and enthusiasm for learning. We will develop and continuously strengthen educational programs to help each child grow academically, physically, emotionally, and socially in order to prepare them to be responsible, respectful, life-long learners.

We Believe:

Every child can learn. It is our responsibility to make accommodations to meet their unique styles of learning.
Students are the most important people in our profession and school exists for them.
Education comes in many forms and is a lifelong journey that will provide many wonderful opportunities.
In creating a learning environment that is child centered, stimulating, current and innovative, and most importantly, enjoyable.
High expectations, appropriate for each child, instill a sense of goal, responsibility, accomplishment, and pride.
Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect, building an individual's self-esteem and worth as a person.
Children must take ownership of their actions, and through self-discipline be responsible for their behavior.
Change is inevitable. Everyone should strive to learn to accept, prepare for, and learn from change.

Our Class
To help all students achieve their highest potential as they strive to be Champions in learning and life.

PHILOSOPHY

To help prepare you for what you and your child will encounter as a part of the class this year, I want to share with you some of what I believe about education.

I believe that all children can learn. However, all of us learn best in different ways and at varying speeds. I therefore believe that information should be presented in as many ways possible to meet the needs of all students.

I also believe that people tend to meet the expectations set for them - both set by themselves and others. Therefore, I have very high expectations for your child. I want them to be stretched to reach their highest potential. I want to do more than present a simple curriculum to them - I want to provide them real life projects and activities to expand their experiences and help them to see things in a new way. I want them to enjoy learning, but also to be frustrated in order to grow.

I want every child to walk out of the classroom every day having accomplished three things. I believe all of us every day should:

Learn something new
Laugh
Look at ourselves, or the world, in a different way

I believe if we all do that, we have had a successful day

Finally, I believe we as educators and people have a choice - we can tell children what to think or teach them how to think. I tend to believe it is more important to teach children how to think, and the following quote essentially summarizes my teaching philosophy:

Tell a child what to think, and you make him a slave to your knowledge.
Teach a child how to think, and you make all knowledge his slave.

Henry A. Taitt

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Obviously teaching is more than philosophy. There must be a practical application of the philosophy. Therefore, I pledge to you and your child the following:

I will put my time in effort into creating new and fresh lessons and experiences.
I will present information in a variety of ways to meet the needs of diverse learners.
I will trust, care for, and respect your child as an individual and a member of this class.
I will treat every child equally as a human being, and uniquely as a person.
I will attempt to provide opportunities for real-life application of classroom lessons.
I will make every attempt to model what I teach.
I will teach your child how to think and challenge them to grow, mature, and develop.
I will hold your child accountable and responsible for their actions and learning, and be accountable and responsible myself for my actions and my teaching.
I will keep your child's best interest in mind.
I will love your child.

Hopefully, together, by putting this philosophy into practical application, we'll all have a wonderful and exciting year as Champions!

RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES

We have drafted and adopted a Classroom Constitution. This constitution states what we as a class believe to be our rights and responsibilities, as well as the consequences. This operates in our class in addition to, and along with, the School Behavior Management Plan.

We, the members of 5M, do hereby establish this classroom constitution. We believe we have certain rights as members of this class. These rights help to make this class the best possible place for everyone involved. These rights include: the right to be safe, the right to be trusted, the right to be treated fairly, equally and respectfully – and to treat others the way we want to be treated, the right to have a voice and to share our ideas and opinions, the right to be paid attention to, the right to help others and to ask for help when we need it, the right to ask questions, the right to use classroom resources, and the right to make choices during our free time.

We also believe that these rights need to be protected. Therefore, there are certain responsibilities that each of us has in order to help guarantee these rights. These responsibilities can be summarized as:

1. Respect ourselves
2. Respect other people
3. Respect property/stuff/things

Should someone's rights be violated or someone not fulfill their responsibilities, there will be certain results and consequences. We have decided to adopt the Prairieland consequences as our own. Therefore, anyone who violates these rights or does not fulfill their responsibilities will:

1. Receive a warning from the teacher
2. Have a one on one conference with the teacher
3. Miss five minutes of recess and have their parents notified
4. Serve an after-school detention until 4:00 and have their parents notified
5. Be sent to the principal's office, have a conference with parents, and serve an in-school suspension.

We are looking forward to a great year! It is our desire that each member of 5M will feel valued, respected, and safe. We pledge and promise to protect these rights and carry out our responsibilities in order to make that happen. Therefore, we agree to the above rights, responsibilities, and consequences, and will live by them every day in the classroom and at school, and whenever and wherever we are representing 5M.

BEHAVIOR & DISCIPLINE

In addition to, and along with, the classroom constitution we have adopted, our class follows the Prairieland Behavior Management Plan. Every student is expected to always Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Ready. Students may be rewarded for meeting the expectations, or they may suffer consequences for failing to meet the expectations. A clipboard follows them around the school to every class they go to. Students are allowed a maximum of 5 checks per day, with an ascending list of consequences for each check. Students receiving 0 or 1 check in a week and month have a chance at various incentives and positive consequences! The sequential system of consequences is as follows. . .

1st Check: warning by teacher
2nd Check: conference with the teacher documented parent contact
3rd Check: loss of recess, parents contacted
4th Check: detention until 4:00 pm (parents pick up)
5th Check: principal's office, parent conference
scheduled in-school suspension

These consequences also cost students Matthews Money (1 dollar per check.). The money system is explained in more detail within this handbook.

MATTHEWS MONEY

Part of our regular classroom procedure and behavior plan involves "Matthews Money". Students receive a weekly “salary” and then can earn more money for doing jobs, helping out, getting good reports from other teachers, etc. They can also be charged or fined for not meeting expectations. At least twice a year (end of 2nd and 4th nine weeks) we will have a classroom auction, at which the students may spend the money they have earned by bidding on various items and opportunities. Donations of items for the auction are always welcome and accepted! The Matthews Money will be handled through checking accounts this year. Each student will maintain a check register throughout the year. They will be given checks to use during the auctions as well.

ATTENDANCE

It is very important that your child is in school every day that they are healthy and able. While there will be circumstances that arise, please make every effort to have your child in school on time every morning.

Much of what we do in 5M occurs in class. While I can give "make-up work", I cannot create "make-up learning". Our discussions in class and the time that is provided are not reproducible. Your child's regular attendance is very important!

TARDINESS

Students are to be at school by 8:15 every day. While tardiness does not affect their grades, it directly affects their learning. Walking in late never puts us in the right frame of mind to learn and usually means we are not awake and alert to the degree we need to be. Please make every effort to have your child arrive at the school sometime between 7:55-8:10 so they can get to class and begin the day on time!

MAKE-UP WORK

When your child is absent for any reason, they have twice the number of days they were gone to make up the work. For example, if they were gone for 2 days, they will have 4 days to get the work turned in. However, it is preferable that the work is completed sooner so that your child does not fall behind and that the information and concepts are fresh and relevant.

If you know your child will be gone, please let me know in advance. I can give them at least a good idea of what we will be doing during that time so they can stay caught up. However, I will probably not be able to provide them with all of the work they will miss. Please keep in mind that they may be required to take previously announced tests even if they are absent. Please also keep in mind that it is impossible to reproduce a day in the classroom. Much of what we do is not textbook/workbook type material that can be sent home. Some of the work your child misses will not be able to be made up. While it will not adversely affect their grade, chronic absences will affect their learning and likely their success.

HOMEWORK

Homework is an important part of the learning process. However, homework should help the learning process and not hinder it in any way. Your child should not have more than an average of 30-40 minutes a day of homework. If they are consistently having more than this, then it is likely they are not using their time wisely in class or not seeking help when they need it. I will give them time to begin their work during the day so I am available to answer questions while it is fresh for them. I will often provide them a short "work time" at the end of the day to complete some of the tasks they have started as well. I believe that if your child uses that time wisely and asks questions in class when they need to, that they will rarely have even 30-40 minutes of work to take home at night. I would prefer that the time they spend at home be spent either proofreading and correcting work they have completed, reading a book, or going over something with you pertaining to the concepts we are covering. School should not take away from the time you have as a family.

Homework is to be turned in to the appropriately labeled hanging folder every morning by 8:15. Every item should be neatly done and have a proper heading. Typing is never required or rewarded, but it is encouraged and in some cases (i.e. a job resume) preferred. Those without word processing access at home are allowed to use the computers in our classroom before the others in order to publish their work.

A proper heading looks like this and should be placed in the top right hand corner of every paper that is turned in:

# First and Last Name
Subject
Date

Please also keep in mind that many of the activities we will be completing are ongoing projects. Time is allotted in class to work on these projects and often the only work that needs to be done at home is "finishing touch" work or catch-up work when one is behind. It is vitally important that your child learn to manage their time, set goals, and work with a deadline. It is also important that all work completed is completed by the student!

Homework will also be posted regularly on the classroom web site. You can find the homework page (bookmark it or add it to your favorites!) at www.thechampions.us or www.mrmatthews.net.

PINK SLIPS

When a homework assignment is not turned in or it is not completed on time, your child may be asked to get a "pink slip". This slip must be filled out and signed by you and then returned with the completed assignment. I am willing to give some grace on assignments if I am alerted to a situation ahead of time and asked for an extension. Homework is due first thing in the morning and any time after that it is considered late. Late homework is one letter grade off per day until one week, at which time it becomes a zero. Homework must still be turned in even if it has received a zero.

EXTRA CREDIT

I do not offer extra credit. However, I do reward effort. Many of the things your child turns in are simply marked with a check or an “ok” for effort and completion. At times they may receive a different mark or note to signify less than best effort. At the end of the nine weeks and when grades are calculated I look at these effort points and to see if they have completed all of their work on time. Often, the extra effort will pull someone over the hump, while a lack of effort will leave them at the lower grade. For example, if a student has an 89% at the end of a nine weeks, but has completed all daily work with consistent and excellent effort, they will likely receive an A instead of a B.

I believe that if your child does not complete the work they are given when they are supposed to, they should not be rewarded with extra credit at the end. I offer several opportunities to get the work in and be reminded to complete it, and offer so much time in class to work that extra credit is not a realistic option for this class. Extra effort is!

RESEARCH

We will be completing a variety of research projects this year. Your child will be exposed to a variety of resources, both technological and print. It is vitally important that you work with me in teaching your child the importance of copyright and "intellectual copyright" issues. Please help your child to put information into their own words and to avoid any appearance of plagiarism. The best way to do this is to keep track of all of the resources used, including websites and their publishers (the entire URL or address as well as the name of the company, organization or individual responsible for the site). This will lend credibility to their research and product, as well as teach them a lifelong skill! They will usually be provided with very specific guidelines for keeping track of and “citing” the sources they use.

TECHNOLOGY

Technology will play a role in our classroom. We attempt to use it effectively and efficiently. In addition to having a web site for our class, your child will become familiar with Microsoft Office products this year, including Microsoft Office 2003 productivity tools (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel). If you have these at home your child can do their work at home and then either print it out, save it on disk to print out at school, or email me the document as an attachment! This would give them some good practice at applying their technology skills!

CURRICULUM

The fifth grade curriculum expectations are available at parent night. They are also available online on the Unit 5 website (www.unit5.org/curriculum). Should you have questions regarding the specific content of the curriculum, please contact me.

In the past few years, Unit 5 has done a good job of revising it’s curriculum to best meet the needs of students, to challenge each student to achieve personal excellence, and to align our curriculum with State standards. This year we will begin a new science curriculum to help achieve those goals. I’m excited about the curriculum, but you may notice some changes.

TEXTBOOKS

Your child has a textbook for every subject. They also have two consumable journals for math. These books are all kept in one location in the room and the books are numbered to correlate with the students' numbers. They are responsible for their book. They may take them home at any time, but need to bring them back.

We rarely rely only on the textbook and sometimes may go for a few days without using them. However, they can be a good resource and you should see them from time to time at home. If you don't see the textbooks for awhile, don't worry. We are learning - we just are learning using authentic activities, primary sources, and a variety of other resources. We do a lot of research on the Internet and using encyclopedias and other books, and we will do a lot of hands-on activities in other subjects that may or may not require the use of the books. The math resource book (the hardback book) is very helpful for you and your student in understanding the Everyday Math material. You should see that book come home nearly every time math homework is sent home! The Language Arts handbook is also a useful tool.

DAILY SCHEDULE

We are fairly flexible with our daily schedule in 5M. Depending on the day and the week, and even individual circumstances, what we do and when we do it may change daily. However, we do basically follow the following schedule.

Morning

PE (from 9:25-9:55 daily)
Math
Language Arts (Reading, Writing, Grammar, and Spelling)

Afternoon

Lunch/Recess – 11:30-12:20 daily
Art/Music/IMC (times vary for each ... typically one per day for 20-40 minutes)
Science
Social Studies

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

As mentioned earlier, our schedule is fairly flexible. However, we do have some things that occur on a regular basis throughout the week.

Monday:
PE 9:25-9:55 Lunch/Recess 11:30-12:20 ART 9:55-10:35
Tuesday:
PE 9:25-9:55 Lunch/Recess 11:30-12:20 MUSIC 12:30-12:55
Wednesday:
PE 9:25-9:55 Lunch/Recess 11:30-12:20 NO SPECIAL
Thursday:
PE 9:25-9:55 Lunch/Recess 11:30-12:20 IMC 12:35-1:10
Friday:
PE 9:25-9:55 Lunch/Recess 11:30-12:20 MUSIC 12:55-1:20

IMC (LIBRARY)

Our IMC day is Thursday. Your child will be checking out books from the IMC. These books must be returned or they will not be allowed to check out more. If the books are lost or not returned you will be charged for the price of the book. Please be careful if you also use one of the public libraries, as it is very easy to return books to the wrong place! We also have a classroom library that students may check books out of to read at home. Please watch for these books as well and make sure they get back! The IMC time is split between technology instruction and book check-out.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

We have PE every day for 30 minutes. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately as they often go outside. It is also very important that your child have appropriate gym shoes. They may keep a pair at school if they do not often wear gym shoes to school in the morning. Girls should also wear shorts under their skirts/dresses for PE.

LUNCH

Lunch begins everyday at 11:30. If your child eats sack lunch, they should be sure to have that with them every morning and to take the container home (if it is not disposable) every night. If they eat hot lunch, tickets are $1.55. Students should buy lunch tickets before school on Monday’s! Please make sure they put their first name and room code (5M) on all of their tickets (in ink!) when they get them! At times students will be allowed to eat lunch in the room and even have the opportunity to go out to eat with me (with your written permission, of course!). You are welcome to join your child for lunch at school anytime, just make sure you purchase an adult guest ticket in the office. Please also note that milk purchased in addition to, or separately from, the hot lunch costs $.35. If you will be eating lunch here, you may call the kitchen to let them know you will be eating here (prior to 9:30 am) at 862-5062, or let me know ahead of time.

GADGETS, GIZMONS, AND STUFF

No toys are allowed in the classroom unless given specific permission by me. This includes trading cards, video games, desk decoration, electric pencil sharpeners, gadgets, gizmos, etc. If it is not part of the school supplies list and I have not asked for it or given permission for it to be here, please keep it at home. Thanks! Items that are deemed inappropriate will be confiscated by me, and either returned home at the end of the day or later (up to the end of the year), depending on circumstances and number of occurrences.

COMMUNICATION

I welcome your communication. I firmly believe that open and honest communication from the beginning can help to solve, and even prevent, a lot of problems later on. I welcome your comments and questions, and of course your concerns. Compliments are always nice once in a while too!

I will try to communicate with you on a very regular basis. You will receive regular updates and newsletters from the class. I will highlight students, activities in class and announcements and updates.

I may send home other notes and handouts as well. Your child is responsible for checking their mail every day before they go home. Things that do not get home are your child's responsibility!

Should you need to contact me, I prefer that you do so via e-mail. I check my e-mail on a very regular basis throughout the day and often in the evening. If an emergency should arise or you do not have e-mail, you may call me at school at 309.888.6838 or at home. You can communicate through a letter sent with your child or dropped off at the school. I also maintain a classroom website that is updated daily with homework and other information – www.thechampions.us or mrmatthews.net.

CONFERENCES

You may sign up for a conference time by the office during curriculum night. Conferences are scheduled during the day for the most part, though there are some evening times made available. I would like to make more morning and/or evening slots available for you. Therefore, I am making myself available during the mornings before school and evenings after school for the entire week preceding conferences.

If you would like a 15 minute slot during one of those mornings or evenings, simply email me or send a note to let me know and then look for a note coming home later that lists available times. You will still only have 15 minutes, but those days and times may be more convenient for you - let me know! More information is available about additional conference times on parent night, and a letter will be sent home with available dates and times.

VOLUNTEERS & VISITORS

Volunteers and visitors are always welcome at Prairieland and in 5M. We do, however, ask that you always sign in the office when you visit for any length of time and for any reason. We need to protect the security of our school and students, so we ask your cooperation in this. Don't be offended if someone asks who you are, asks you to check in the office, or offers to help you find whom or what you are looking for!

We do not do a lot of workbook work, copy art activities, or reproducible work sheet activities so we do not need a lot of copiers or paper cutters. However, if you are interested in working with an individual student or small group in some subject area, we would love to have you. We would also like to have you visit us and share your expertise with us -- be it your career, hobby, or whatever! Just let me know your interests and we will try our best to get you plugged in! And of course, you can always stop by just to watch and see how things work in our class. Again, we ask that you simply check in the office before coming down to the room. You may want to check with me first as well to see what our schedule for that day and time looks like. We can always use volunteers who would like to read with students, play math games with them, or help them word process, etc. on the computers.

FIELD TRIPS

We will plan a couple of field trips this year. All of our field trips will directly correlate to our curriculum and goals. At times there may be a cost to you, though this cost is very minimal and help can be provided for in special circumstances. Some field trips will allow for volunteers and chaperones. Should these trips arise, you will be notified in writing and asked to respond in writing if you commit yourself to going with us on the trip. This can be done via e-mail at mattheba@unit5.org or you can send a note with your child. Field trip transportation will always occur by bus and all children will be required to ride the bus, even if their parents are chaperones and are driving separately.

PARTIES

Various classroom parties are scheduled throughout the year. You can sign up to help with one of these parties either by organizing one, being here in person, or simply by bringing something that is needed. These parties will be announced ahead of time and will be posted in the school calendar that comes home in the Prairieland Press. You can sign up at Parent Night as well. Periodically our class will set goals for ourselves as well that will possibly lead to parties. Information about these will come home when those times arrive.

REPORT CARDS & PROGRESS REPORTS

Report cards are sent home at the end of every nine weeks. The report card should be reviewed by you with your child and then signed by you and returned. Please be sure to return all of the subject area report cards but keep other information that is sent to you. It is also helpful if you complete the “home” section on the card and write any comments you have!

Progress reports are generally sent home midway through each quarter. The progress report will include various topics and concepts we have covered and an indication of the progress I see your child making. The will not include letter grades! I will also write comments to help give you a big picture idea of how your child is doing and what their strengths and weaknesses are. The progress report will have a portion that you can fill out and return to let me know you received it and to ask any questions/make any comments you might have.

Please remember that Progress Reports and Report Cards are but one glimpse of your child. They are an attempt to show you and your child how they are progressing. Straight A's are not the standard, though they may be a personal goal. The important thing is that your child is learning, progressing, growing, maturing and developing. If those things are happening and they are meeting or exceeding the expectations, then they are where they need to be! Be proud of your child for giving their best effort and continue to encourage them to give their best!

BIRTHDAYS

We will celebrate each child's birthday this year. If you do not want your child's birthday celebrated for any reason, please let me know via e-mail or a note. You are welcome to bring treats to class on the day of your child's birthday. However, I do ask a couple favors if you are bringing or sending treats: please make sure the treats are store-bought and come in packaging that makes it clear they do not contain peanuts and were not made in a facility that may have contained peanuts. This should be easy to find on packaged items from stores. Please do not send homemade items or items from bakeries. Secondly, please have your child check with me or send me an email at least a day in advance to let me know when you are sending the treats and what you are sending. This will help me plan and prepare, and will also help me guarantee I don’t have something else scheduled for that day. We will generally have birthday parties at about 2:30, so if you need anything refrigerated or frozen you will need to bring it later in the day. There is very little room in the school refrigerator and freezer.

I also play my guitar and the class sings during the parties. If you want anything special done for your child's birthday or if you would like to be here during the celebration, just let me know and then be sure to check into the office!

If your child has a summer birthday and you want it celebrated as a half-birthday, just let me know what day you want to celebrate it. Just be sure to communicate the date to me!

Should your child's birthday be on a weekend or holiday, they can decide if they would like to celebrate it on the day right before the weekend/holiday or right after. Again, just let me know.

BOOK ORDERS

I will be sending a book order home periodically. Please do not feel obligated to buy from these, though they often provide great books at very reasonable prices. When book orders are sent home, they will be due three school days later. Therefore, if they are sent home on a Friday, they will be due on Wednesday of the following week.

Please look carefully at the orders and mark them completely. Please make the checks payable to the company that the order came from as well. DO NOT SEND CASH!!! Orders typically take a couple weeks to come in and some items are on back order. Remember that the orders come in a couple weeks after all of the orders are turned in to me and I can send the order in. If we all follow the three-day guideline we should get our books back fairly quickly. Your ordering from these book orders also earns our class bonus points to acquire additional books and materials for the classroom!

Information about ordering for these online will be available on the class website as well!

BUDDY CLASSES

Every week we will be going down to work with a second grade class in the building (we actually have 2 classes this year!). We will participate in a variety of activities with them, including reading, playing math games, etc. This is a great experience for all involved and provides your fifth grader an opportunity to teach, which really is the best way to learn!

SUPPLIES

You should have received a supply list when you registered. You may have received one from Unit 5 and a separate one from last year's fifth grade teachers. Be looking for updates throughout the year on supplies that are needed or that need to be replenished!

READING

Reading is very important in 5M. Your child will have Independent Reading Time every day. They will also read and complete activities on a variety of novels throughout the year and I will be reading aloud a variety of books. Your child is also expected to read for at least 60 minutes every week outside of class. The minutes should be recorded on the Reading Log and then initialed by you. I encourage you to set aside a family time nightly or weekly that you all spend some time reading. This is a great example for your child and is a nice opportunity to spend some time together as a family! The reading logs are part of the language arts grade!

GRADING

We follow a very simple grading scale in 5M. The scale itself is below and is followed by some more explanation:

A 90-100 %
B 80-89 %
C 70-79 %
D 60-69 %
F 00-59 %

I truly believe that if your child puts forth their best effort in all they do that they should rarely, if ever, receive below a C on any given assignment, project, or grade report.

Essentially, the only way to fail in 5M is to not do the work or not put forth the effort needed.

Much of the work that is done simply receives an effort grade. Homework is practice and should be graded primarily on effort. At times, daily work that is turned in will be given a score of 0-10. These go in the grade book and are added to the final grade and included in the percentage. Tests and projects will receive a percent score and corresponding letter grade. I do not give +'s or -'s with letter grades - it will always simply be a(n) A, B, C, D, or F. Some grades are weighted and this will be clearly indicated on progress reports and with report cards.

TESTS

At times, tests will be used as an assessment tool. Tests serve as an opportunity for your child to show what they have learned and what they know. Test will always be announced and will generally be preceded by a study guide. Tests In 5M have no time limit and may be retaken as many times as necessary until the student is satisfied with their performance. Retakes must be scheduled by your child with me at least a day in advance. Students receiving D's or F's are required to retake, others are not. I will always take the best score.

RESPONSIBILITY

Your child is primarily responsible for themselves. Whether it is homework, attitude, behavior, or whatever, your child is responsible for the choices they make. With this is mind, I encourage you to not always bring things to school when they forget. Sometimes it is better for them to experience the consequences than to be bailed out. Encourage them to be organized and take responsibility for themselves! Help them develop a routine that works for you and them.

Your child is responsible for staying organized and keeping track of assignments. They should record assignments in their assignment book every day, check with you each evening, and mark assignments as complete only AFTER they are turned in! I strongly encourage students to take work home, even if it is complete, so that you may see what they have been doing and they can double-check their work.

INTEGRITY

One of the characteristics that I stress for your child is integrity. Basically, I want your child to do what they say and be who they are supposed to be. If they get in trouble in another class, I want them to tell me without me asking. If I ask them about an incident I want them to tell me the truth. If they are given an assignment I want them to do their own work and not take someone else's as their own. This trait is extremely important in a world that seems to have a growing lack of honest, genuine people. Please help me encourage your child to show integrity in what they do. I once heard integrity described as an onion - "an onion is an onion, is an onion . . . any way you slice it!" I want your child to be the same no matter what, even if no one is watching! Honesty and integrity go a long way in the classroom and even further in life.

TRUST

Trust is crucial to life, to education, and to our class. I simply ask a few things of you . . .

Trust yourself - Sometimes when children fail or don't meet our expectations we begin to doubt ourselves as parents (and teachers). Trust that you have raised your child well and know that they will make mistakes as they grow - they are not all your fault. You've done a good job and can be proud of your child! Continue to teach them, raise them and encourage them.
Trust your child - Your child is a good child. When they tell you they have no homework, trust them. When they say they need another box of Kleenex for the class, trust them. When they say they had a good day at school, trust them. They may lie to you, and they may simply not remember what they really were supposed to do. But, they need to know that you trust them. So, if they said they had no homework and they really did, don't beat yourself up doing it for them or helping them make it up - let them learn. We all need to learn from our mistakes and our frustration!
Trust me - I may do some things differently than you are used to. Whether it is the way I teach a certain concept, topic, or subject, or they way I communicate, or what I expect from your child. I ask that you trust me as a professional and as a person. I am always happy to explain why I did something the way I did or why I said or did anything at all, but I ask for your trust as you entrust me with your child. They are your treasure and I promise to only do things that have their best interests in mind. I want what is best for them just as you do!