Dear Families,
Welcome to the fourth grade! I will be your teacher this year. My name is Mrs. Sarah Smith. I am writing this letter to introduce myself, my procedures, and my rules. I am so happy to be teaching at Jerry Ross, and I want your fourth grade year to run smoothly. Please keep in mind that this is an outline of my class, and I will explain more to the students during class time.
Discipline: As you have noticed, our classroom has a sports theme. Our discipline is also centered around sports. There is a target bulletin board in our class. Everyone has an arrow with his/her name on it. At the beginning of each day, everyone will start in the center, the green area. If a student makes a poor choice they will be asked to move their arrow to the next outside color. The colors found on the target are green, yellow, orange, and red. If a student gets to orange, they will owe me five minutes of recess. If a student gets to red, the guardian will be contacted. You will find the target behavior color on the bottom of your student’s planner each day.
Homework: I will send home a homework packet on Fridays, which will be reinforcement work for the next week. This homework packet will contain four days worth of homework (Mon., Tues., Wed., and Thur.). The packet is a nice way of keeping homework together, so your child does not have a lot of loose papers in their folder. I like sending the packet home over the weekend because I know everyone’s schedule is different. Some families are extremely busy during the school week. You do not have to work on the packet over the weekend because it is meant for homework during the week. The packet is due first thing Friday morning, and then a new packet will be sent home with them on Friday. As fourth graders, your child is expected to write in their planner every day. If there is class work that your child does not finish, they will also be asked to take that home for homework. This year Jerry Ross is adapting a new homework policy for late homework. I will keep you informed of that new policy as soon as it is implemented.
Science and Social Studies: I will teach both science and social studies. We will work on social studies for about two weeks and then science for two weeks. In science, we will use a lot of hands on material. In social studies, we will be learning about our great state of Indiana.
Birthday Treats: Birthday treats are welcomed and will be enjoyed at the end of the day or during the children’s lunch period. Please contact me to arrange any special drop off times for treats.
Teacher/Home Communication: When your child comes home, please look for the ALL-STAR TEAM PLAYBOOK. This will contain notes for you, their planner, and a folder for work. There is also a spot in the back of the binder for you to put notes for me. If you have questions you can call me at school at (219) 663-3010 ext. 18126, or you can email me at sarahsmith@cps.k12.in.us. Please do not hesitate to contact me. We are here to work together for the success of your child.
This is just a small glimpse into fourth grade. If you need more information on anything in this letter please contact me!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith
