Hello!
Welcome to my classroom webpage. Here you will find information about my classroom, ways to contact me, and
also ways to help support your child in their educational growth. Below I will outline what your student can expect in my classroom as well a brief description of the other areas of this site.
My Mission:
Here at Parkside Elementary we are in the business of partnering with parents to help raise healthy, happy, successful children that possess leadership qualities that will allow them to move forward in life with a sense of purpose that will enrich not only their own lives but those of their community and those they love.
It is my hope to play a role in your child's success, however small or brief that role may be, as they take another step towards achieving their dreams. I sincerely believe that learning can be fun and engaging and I hope to inspire your child to realize the same.
My Classroom
In my classroom I have three basic rules that go along with Parkside's character education policy. All of the rules that a student might expect to encounter can be broken down into three categories
1. Be Respectful
2. Be Responsible
3. Be Safe.
These rules cover all of the other rules a student needs to know such a turning in their homework on time, raising their hand, asking permission to leave the room ect.
Grading and Homework
The Transition from 3rd grade to 4th grade is a big one at Parkside. For many students, they will be responsible for the completion and turning in of homework for the first time. Here are my classroom policies regarding homework completion and it's collection.
Generally speaking anything that the student is told is homework will be collected the next day at the beginning of the class period in which it is assigned. For example if I assign math problems during math class it will be collected the next day at the beginning of Math. This gives students and parents an opportunity to contact me and ask questions regarding any assignment. School can be busy especially as students get older and they become involved in extracurricular activities. I am aware of this and am very willing to work with students to help them complete their homework in a timely manner. It is for this reason also that I very rarely homework over the weekends. If I do it is because it is a longer assignment and will require more than one day to complete such as a group project or writing assignment. But again I do try to avoid this. Furthermore, I understand that life can be hectic or busy and sometimes unpredictable circumstances or emergencies arise. Should such a situation arise you can contact me through my school email, send a note with your child, or call the school. Any homework that is not completed because of these emergencies will be excused and the student will be given extra time to complete them.
Beginning in the first quarter if an assignment is late and unexcused the student will make the assignment up for me during recess study hall or one of their extra activity periods such as computers or P.E. depending on our schedule that day. Beginning in the second quarter late assignments receive a ten percent penalty.
An ongoing assignment that runs throughout the year is the requirement to read for the Accelerated Reading program. (A.R.)An online reading assessment program.
Beginning the first full month of school students will be required to earn at least 3 points in A.R. Each month the point total they are required to earn increases by 1. For example by the end of September students are required to have read and tested over 3 points worth of books. By the end of October the total is raised to 4 points for the month. Once they reach six points the total does not increase monthly anymore. They earn these points by reading a book of their choice preferably within their reading range and then taking a brief quiz over the material through an online testing site. This program can only be used at school to test.
The reason I use this program is because, like any skill, reading requires practice. This guarantees that students are motivated to practice reading and it helps me to identify any areas a student may struggle in with reading and vocabulary comprehension. As further motivation I reward my class monthly for those who have met their A.R. goal. I will take one day at the end of the month and allow students to bring a beverage of their choice from home (Soda, Juice, tea ect.) and we have a little mini party to celebrate their success as readers. In addition to this, the top 3 students who have earned the most points by the end of the quarter I will treat to a McDonald's Happy Meal or some other reward if that is not suitable. Each quarter I start the total tally of points earned over to give all students an equal chance each quarter to earn the end of the quarter reward.