Frequently Asked Questions
What time does the school day start and end? |
The students come into my classroom no later than 8:00. We start getting ready for our day immediately. I ask the students get to school no later than 7:55 if they have eaten breakfast at home or 7:40 if they are eating at school. I use every minute for instruction, so any delays make it hard for your child to catch up. Of course, everyone has bad days when the alarm doesn't go off, or the car won't start, so when that occurs, i will work with your child to not feel rushed. But, please help me help your child by ensuring his/her great start to the day by being at school on time.
The grand majority of the days we end instruction at 2:45. The latest you can check your child out from the class is 2:15. This is a district rule which helps us ensure the children's safety. Occasionally, we have half days. Dismissal on those days is 11:30. Those days are marked on the calendar. |
How can I get information about services like bus and reduced lunch? |
These websites can help:
Bus-https://www.richland2.org/Departments/Operations/Transportation Lunch-https://www.richland2.org/Departments/foodservices/Pages/mealapplications.aspx |
How are grades determined and how can I see them? |
I strongly believe the purpose of grades is to show how well a child can demonstrate understanding of a learning objective. Also, students need opportunities to practice what they've learned in a nurturing environment. Therefore, I will only assign grades to student work after a child has had many chances for teacher feedback. I do not grade effort, participation, homework, or attitude.
If a child wants to earn (yes, earn, not get) a higher grade, he/she can talk with me on how he/she can show me how he/she has learned from the mistakes or misconceptions. It may be retake a test, redo parts of a project, dicuss with me the problems on the assessment...it just depends on the child and the assessment. But, I will not start any conversation about earning higher grades...your child needs to take responsibility for his/her achievement. I will update Parent Portal frequently. If you haven't already signed up, please do ( https://psapp.richland2.org/public/home.html). You can get emails as frequently as you like, updating you with your child's progress. If I see your child slipping, I will call. If I see great improvement, I will call. If I see no improvement, I will call. That said, if you see any of these things, and I haven't called...call me! Sometimes I get behind, just like any person. Graded papers go home Thursday. Students can correct all assignments for half points. Corrections are due the following Monday, and must have an explanation as the mistake and why it was wrong/the new answer is correct. |
What does typical homework look like and how long should it take? |
Students will need to study Word Work and multiplication facts daily until they know each fluently (can recall with 5 seconds.) Additionally, students need to read weekly for 100 minutes. This can be an audio book, a book read with the child, a book read to child, and/or read by themselves. Finally, the last regular piece of homework is to exercise 20 minutes, preferable outside when the weather permits.
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How do you manage your classroom and behavior expectations? |
I strongly feel students will do the right thing with guidance and guidelines.
Every day is a new day. We use a color coded behavior chart. Every day the students start off with SCH (in red), O, in grey, and can earn LAR (in green). If a child has a regular day, no issues, but nothing exceptional, he/she will have a grey O in their agenda book. If a child goes out of his/her way to help, to be kind, to makes plans, to prioritize, etc., he/she will receive a positive point and will have a green +1, +2 or +3. Positive points at the end of the day will be recorded, and the student will have opportunities to "spend" the points for special privileges. If a child has needed several reminders about poor choices, he/she will have a red -1, -2, -3. Consequences are given for negative points:
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What does a typical day look like? |
This is a "typical" day. Of course, sometimes we have Picture Day, or some other wonderful experience that may disrupt our regular schedule. Or, we may have a fantastic, engaging project and I may choose to, for example, double up our science time and do scheduled math lesson the next day. But no worries, I will be sure to teach all the standards!
8:00-8:30 Unpack, lunch choice, Morning Meeting 8:30-9:10 Guided reading (all students reading the same text and using it to learn skills like compare and contrast, author's purpose, etc.) 9:10-9:40 Math fluency and review 9:40-10:30 Math (new skills) 10:30-11:20 Science or Social Studies 11:25-12:15 Related Arts 12:15-12:30 Word Work (Greek and Latin Stems) 12:30-1:00 Writing 1:00-1:25 Lunch 1:25-1:50 Recess 1:50-2:20 Independent Reading (small or individual group work) 2:20-2:30 Pack up, sign agendas, etc. |