CLASSROOM
HANDBOOK

 

Welcome to 4th grade and Mr. Rowen’s classroom!  I am so glad that you are here.  I look forward to working with you in educating your child.  

Fourth grade is an exciting and GIANT step for your child.  New concepts are introduced and work responsibilities are increased.  Your child needs your support and encouragement for this to be a productive year.  I am very excited to help your child GROW into bright young 4th grader and a life long learner. This year your child will learn and do many exciting things. I encourage you as parents to take an active roll in our daily school happenings.  

Please refer to this handbook throughout the school year. If you have any questions or concerns that cannot be answered here, please feel free to contact me. Again, with your cooperation and support, I know we can make this a successful school year!

 

With School Spirit,

Mrs. Rowen

 

ABSENCES

Regular school attendance is critical to the learning process.  When your child is absent, he or she misses valuable instructional time.  Please call the office or send a note in advance if you know your child is going to be absent.  Your child will be required to make up any work that he/she misses during their absence.  They will have the same amount of days they were absent to complete the work.  If you can pick the work up in the office that is a great way to get it and get a jump start on it.

 

 

ACCELERATED READER

The Accelerated Reader program is a reading incentive program. Students read novels from a selected list and then take short computer quizzes to test comprehension. Students earn points based on the difficulty of the book and their performance on the quiz. Incentives are offered to students according to the number of points accumulated. Although students may participate in the AR program at any time in order for the students to participate in an end of the quarter Accelerated Reading party, at the end of each quarter, the students must have at least 10 Accelerated Reading points.  This year we are going to focus on choosing challenging, high-quality books.  Students will be tested at the beginning of the year to find out their approximate reading level. This will allow me to recommend books in a particular reading range for each student. Students will record their books and test results in their AR Logs. 

If you are interested in checking to see if books you have at home may be AR books, please click on our O. M. Tiffany AR Quiz List.

 

 

BIRTHDAYS

Birthdays are a special time for students and we will celebrate them in our classroom.  If your child would like to b ring a special snack to share with the class please have them individually wrapped or pre-cut.  Also, please be sure to provide napkins or plates and forks if necessary.

 Please do not send personal birthday party invitations unless your child has one for every student in the class. Students who choose to not hand out party invitations to everyone will be asked to take them home and deliver them via "snail mail". (Please refer to the OMT Handbook under the heading Birthday Invitations.) Each student must clear them through me before passing them out.  I will not allow a student to go to another teacher’s classroom to pass out any invitations.  Invitations can become a major disruption to the educational setting when some students are left out.  If you have any questions, please contact me. 


DISCIPLINE

Our classroom discipline plan can be found by clicking here.



  GRADES

My grade book consists mainly of test scores.  We go over the majority of class work assignments during the day.  Students will make corrections to their own papers with their red pens.  Students will make corrections to their assigned homework the day after it is assigned. Graded papers that will be entered into the grade book will go home throughout the week in the blue Communication Folder. Corrected class work/homework will be sent home daily in the Communication Folder.  Please go over your child’s graded papers and class work papers with your child frequently.

Grades are available to view on the internet via Parent Portal.  Grades will be entered on a regular basis.  I encourage you to view your child’s grades regularly. This will keep you up to date on your child’s progress and will alleviate any “surprises” when progress reports and/or report cards are sent home.  If you have a question about a grade, please do not hesitate to contact me.




GRADE SCALE

93-100      A
84-92        B
75-83        C  
67-74        D
0-66          F


              HOMEWORK/CLASS WORK      

In fourth grade, students are allowed to be assigned up to one (1) hour of homework nightly. Math homework will be assigned almost every night.  It will be written in the homework section of the student planner.  Students will also highlight any unfinished class work in their planner.  Any unfinished class work must be finished for homework unless otherwise noted.


MEDICATION

Children should not bring any medication to school at any time. If your child needs to take medicine at school, you will need to bring the medicine to Mrs. Prehn's office.

 

MONEY

Occasionally, your child may need to bring money to school (i.e. lunch money, book orders, etc.). Be sure to put the money in a sealed envelope with your child's name on the front. Please put the envelope in your child's blue Communication Folder.

 

PARENT PORTAL

You can view your child’s grades online.  I have a link from my homepage to the parent portal.  If you have not signed up please get a form from the office, fill it out, and send it back to the school.  This will need to be completed before viewing any grades online.   This will give you complete access to view the grades online.  I will post grades once a week.  Call if you have any questions. 

 


PLANNERS

Every day the students will be filling out daily planners.  It is the child’s responsibility to have this completed before they go home each night.  I try to check them before they leave for the day.  The students are to take them home each night.  This is also a good way to communicate and ask any questions you may have.  The kids need to become responsible for these because when they get older they will be adding more responsibilies. 

 

RULES

1. Show respect towards others and their feelings.

2. Be responsible.

3. Be kind to all members of our class.

4. Keep safety a priority.

5. ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST!!!

 


SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUBS

Once a month your child will bring home different Scholastic Book Orders. Please take the time to browse through the orders and think about purchasing some books or other educational items. This is a great way to get new books and educational resources at a VERY reasonable cost. Books also make GREAT gifts! And when you order from them it helps our classroom earn new books.

If you choose to order from any of the book orders, please send cash or check made payable to Scholastic Book Order. If you would like to send cash, please make sure it is for the exact amount and in a sealed envelope. 

 

SNACKS

We will have a morning snack in our classroom.  It will be after morning recess.  I will send home a monthly snack calendar.  This will allow everyone to bring snack for the whole class about once a month.  We have 20 students in our class.  Any leftovers will be used if a student forgets to bring snack on his or her day.  Please send individual/pre-packaged items to make distribution easy and fast.  Also try to keep in mind some healthy snacks.  Some ideas are fruit or vegetables, applesauce, yogurt, cheese sticks, crackers, or juice. Please DO NOT send items with lots of sugar in them (no candy, chips, soda, etc.) Thank you!


SPECIALS

Our classroom special classes will be held on the following days:

PE-Monday and Wednesday 10:00-10:30
Art-Thursday 8:10-9:10
Music-Wednesday 1:15-1:45 and Friday 8:40-9:10
Library-Tuesday 2:10-2:40

 

Tests

Students will be evaluated every week on tests.  Weekly tests include a spelling test on Friday as well as a Reading test.  Other subjects like Math, Science, Social Studies, etc., I will let you know on our Friday newsletter what will be coming up the next week.  The night before a test I will always send the students' books home so you can study with him/her.


VOLUNTEERING

If you are interested in volunteering in our classroom, please let me know in advance when you would be available and what you would like to help with.

We will have periodic classroom celebrations in which we will need volunteers as well.  All volunteers must always sign in at the front office!

 

               WATER BOTTLES   

Water bottles are welcomed in the classroom. Please make sure the water bottle your child uses has a spill-proof top to limit spills.  If having a water bottle becomes a problem for your child I will ask that it is taken home.

 

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