Welcome to my class! I am excited to get to know you and your child. You, your child, and I are a team. As a team, I hope that we can work together on your child’s educational goals and personal development. The theme for my classroom is “Do Your Best”. I expect every member to make an effort and do their best work, be on their best behavior and be the best that they can be. It is important that we have open communication and focus on solutions instead of problems. Please come to me if you ever have any questions, needs or concerns. The quicker we can address them, the happier all of us will be. Please feel free to email me at[email protected]or call me on my cell phone 801-244-9957. Information is also available on our class website located athttp://olsenclass.weebly.com/ . I look forward to a wonderful year! Mrs. Olsen Classroom Rules
RESPECT is our primary rule.
This includes rules like: 1- Do your best. 2- Be a good friend. 3- Respect others and their things 4- Listen and follow Directions the first time.
Behavior Plan Teachers need to be allowed to teach and students need to be allowed to learn. It is not appropriate for anyone to interfere with this process. I am confident that through a positive relationship, we can resolve any discipline problems. Some children need extra reinforcement to learn how to follow rules and be considerate. My goal is to help the students make good choices and evaluate their own behavior. If the students are not quite ready for this self-evaluation process, I will implement my gem board: When a child makes a choice that is not beneficial to him/her or our class, I will use a gem board. Everyone starts each day with his or her gem on the green “Ready to Learn” paper. If an infraction occurs there will be 1stoffense – verbal warning. 2nd offense- verbal warning, move gem from green to yellow “Thinking about it” and the student will take time to think about what he/she has done. Student writes in his/her own planner to let parents know what has happened. 3rd offense – gem moved to orange “Teacher’s Choice” where the student will write what happened in his planner. The teacher will then decide what the appropriate action should be for the infraction. 4th offense- the student will move their clip to red “parent contact”, student may be removed from the group until the student and teacher can talk. The student will miss a privilege and a note will be written in the planner by the teacher to make parents aware of the challenge. 5th offense – Sent to office until parents and teacher can communicate. ** For severe infractions it is possible to go directly to red or the office. On the positive side, if a student is behaving appropriately or does something kind or of benefit to the class, this student will be asked to move their gem up to the blue section that says they are doing a “Great Job”. If it happens again the same day, their clip will be moved to purple, “Super Student”. Each student will record in their own planner where their behavior is each day.
Rewards of good choices 1- Self Respect. 2- Praise and recognition 3- Positive contribution to our class 4- Everyone has a win/win 5- Recorded in planner- praise at home
Curriculum We teach the Common Core and Utah State Core which can be found on the USOE website. If you have any questions please ask me. We will correct the student’s seatwork and send it home on Mondays in your child’s docket. Please go over the work with them. Praise them for work done well. If there are many errors, please review the work to help your child understand the concept. Unless there is a specific note to return, these papers can stay at home. Please clean out this pocket each week as well as the pocket in the planner. Inside the docket there is a folder for unfinished work, or work that needs to be redone and sent back to school the next day. Please check it daily as you sign the planner.
School Schedule I welcome the students into class at first bell at 8:20. Students are marked tardy if they are not in their seat, ready to work at 8:25. Mon-Thursday 8:25 am-3:10 pm Friday 8:25 am -1:00 pm
Lunch/Snacks ELA is now part of the National School Lunch Program. Look for information from the office. Have your child come to school knowing which lunch choice they will be eating each day. Lunch brought from home is also a choice. It is stated in the charter that ELA is a healthy food school. This means that our snacks/lunches need to be nutritious. Each child should bring a lunch each day or have one purchased through the school system. We will also have a snack right after 2nd recess. Make sure that your child brings one to school. I can not distribute food to students. I will inform you if we have some students with allergies so we can work together to keep everyone healthy.
Planner The school has provided a planner for each student. The planner will be our working communication log. Please initial it each day where it says PI. This way I will know that you have read what is there. Notes will be sent home in the planner. Behavior will be marked by your child each day. If necessary, I will include any behavior issues or other information that you need to be aware of. I go through planners and grade them with each child on Mondays (or the first day of each week). We will work to make this a valuable tool this year. The planner needs to be placed on the student’s desk each day. It is the student’s responsibility to have it available each day.
Docket Each student needs a docket. These will be used to organize papers and transfer papers to and from home. If your child loses or can no longer use his/her docket, another one can be purchased in the office or at an office supply store.
Homework Homework packets will be sent home on Monday and due on Friday. It will be checked for completion and a homework grade will be given. In addition to the homework packet, each student is expected to read 15 minutes each day Monday-Thursday. A student can be read to, you can read with them, or they can read by themselves, with a sibling, or online. Please try to do all three ways within a week (to, with, by). These minutes need to be recorded in the planner and totaled each Friday.
Reading We have been very lucky to have the school pay for our subscription to raz-kids.com. It is a wonderful site that turns kids on to reading. I will be able to put in the kids reading level and they can read to earn different things on their own page. Each year the students love it. The kids are also able to read and record their voice. The site allows me to listen to their reading and see how many books they have read. Thank you ELA!!! Login information can be found in the front of your child’s planner after the first month of school.
Water bottles I encourage you to send a water bottle with your child’s name on it. Only WATER is allowed in these bottles. While selecting a water bottle please make sure it doesn’t leak or spill, otherwise you may be replacing planners and dockets. The student will be allowed to fill them from the drinking fountain or breakout room at appropriate times. If this becomes a time waster, or an issue, I will reevaluate to find a better solution.
Birthday Celebrations Birthdays provide us with the opportunity to celebrate each child. On their “special day” I would like them to bring their favorite picture book that we will read to the class. I will make a big deal about them. We will sing “Happy Birthday” and give them a little something. We are not able to have treats brought to school because of the healthy food policy. I know it is sometimes tempting to want to bring birthday invitations to certain members of the class. Unless you plan to invite the whole class, I would prefer that you keep this private and do this outside of the classroom. I also understand that it is sometimes hard to make contact with others. I am hoping to publish a phone number list so that this will be easier for you. I am concerned about hurt feelings for those who may not be invited.
Food for our 3 parties Only store bought and prepared foods can be brought to school for the consumption of others. Remember the healthy food policy as well. There will always be a choice of foods. Students can choose whether they want to eat it or not. I will notify to let you know if the students will be eating any food in class. You will have the option of telling me that you do not want your child to consume that item.
Field Trips We are planning on going on fieldtrips this year. We usually welcome 5 parents to come with us each trip to help with groups of children. Unfortunately, younger siblings can not come on field trips with chaperones. More information will come as the time gets closer. If you have any questions please feel free to email or talk with me. I am always happy to help.