4th Grade Welcome Packet

2019-2020

Welcome to 4th grade! We are looking forward to working closely with

students and parents/guardians to create a challenging and exciting year for
our students. The Fourth Grade team consists of Mrs. Schefke, Mr. Finger and
Ms. Rasho (Mrs. Schefke’s student teaching intern.) We are very excited to have
you join our 4th grade family!

We believe that students, teachers and folks at home must work as a team to
provide the highest quality education for learners. You are strongly
encouraged to contact us if you ever have any ideas, questions, comments, or
concerns that we can help with. We utilize phone calls, letters and e-mails to
ensure that everyone is informed and knows what is happening at school.
Volunteers in the classroom, on field trips, or for school events are welcomed
throughout the year. District policy requires all volunteers to complete a
background check prior to working with children, as a precaution to ensure the
safety of all students. Once this form has been submitted, you are welcome to
schedule a time to come in and volunteer in whatever capacity works best for
you.

We are looking forward to working with you this year! Our contact information
can be found on the final page of this packet, but is also listed below for a
quick reference.

School phone: (517) 333-7930

e-mail: Marc.finger@elps.us, lauren.schefke@elps.us
 Classroom and School-Wide Expectations
In order to maintain a safe and friendly learning environment where success can be achieved,
students must learn to manage their own behavior. There are 3 school-wide expectations that
we will meet:
We will…
…be responsible for our work, our belongings, our areas, and ourselves.
…be respectful of ourselves, our classmates, and all others.
…be safe.
Positive and Negative Consequences:
This year, students will be discussing/creating classroom expectations and consequences. The
following are examples of positive consequences that we have previously used. However,
students may come up with different positive consequences this year.

*Praise- verbal and written *Reading passes

*Prizes *Lunch with the Teacher
*No Homework and Computer Passes *Classroom Privileges
*Privilege Coupons (i.e. extra recess time, free time, leading
activities)

If a student has an ongoing behavior or academic issue, we will meet with the student,
parents/guardians and create a behavior or academic plan that contains both positive and
negative reinforcement.
(**Note: These consequences serve as a guideline and can be modified to meet the needs of each individual
student and situation.**)

Homework Policy
Our expectation for homework is that students will spend approximately 40 minutes per night
working on homework, ideally with an adult. 20 of these minutes should be used for completing
assignments, with the additional 20 used as a minimum amount of reading time. We want
students to enjoy reading and view it as a fun activity that is built into their daily lives. It is very
important that students establish good study habits starting at a young age. These habits
include having a set time and place to do homework as part of the daily routine. However, we
understand that many families are busy and doing homework sometimes does not fit into your
schedule. To address this, we will be sending home a packet of the homework for the week on
Monday. Students will have all week to complete homework, and all assignments will be due back
on Friday morning. While we believe establishing good study habits is important, we do not think
young students should be burdened with an excessive homework load. If you find your child is
spending too much or too little time on homework, please contact us and we would be happy to
adjust the type/amount of homework to better meet the needs of your child.
 Snack
Students will have a snack time each day in the afternoon. When sending snacks or treats to
school, please provide healthy food and beverage options. Children learn best when they have
healthy snacks to help them grow and stay healthy. Children may bring a nutritious snack such as
fruits, vegetables, nut free granola bars, or crackers. Please refrain from sending candy, cookies
and other snacks that have high sugar content. We would appreciate your help in this matter.

We will be nut free classrooms this year as we have students with severe allergies. We ask that
you do not send snacks that have nuts in them. Please note, this is not a lunchroom
procedure and your child can bring any type of food to the lunchroom. We realize that helping
us to maintain an ALLERGEN-FREE classroom takes a certain amount of effort and diligence on
your part; we thank you in advance for your cooperation in helping us maintain a safe, healthy
environment for all of our students. If you would like to donate snacks to our classroom for
students who forget/need a snack, it would be greatly appreciated.

If you would like to celebrate your child’s birthday by sending in a snack or treat for the class,
please contact your child’s teacher at least 24 hours in advance. We also ask that you adhere
to our grade-level policy regarding nuts and other allergens.

Volunteering
If you are interested in volunteering, please let us know! We will need chaperones for our field
trips throughout the year, and will ask for volunteers as the trips approach. We would also love to
have volunteers helping in our classrooms by working with small groups, organizing grade level
parties, or doing other small tasks around the room. Volunteers will not be needed for a few
weeks so that we have had time to settle into our classroom routines. If you would be interested in
helping us out, you will need to fill out a background check form in the office. Once you have
completed that, please let us know!

Communication
We send home an electronic or hard copy of classroom newsletter called, “The Fourth Grade
Post” every Monday. This newsletter contains information about what we will be doing each week
as well as dates of upcoming events that may be of interest. Reading the newsletter is one of the
best ways to stay informed about what is happening in our classroom. Please let us know if you
are not receiving a copy of the newsletter.

We will be using our grade-level website to communicate important information. This site will also
provide a resource to assist in student learning. Website: http://glencairn4th.weebly.com.

In addition to the newsletter and website, we may also call home periodically to touch base. This
provides an informal way for us to check in and update you about how things are going in
school and answer any questions you might have. Please feel free to contact us anytime you
have a question (no matter how trivial you think it is). We truly enjoy talking to/hearing from you,
and having students know that we are communicating with each other has a positive impact.

Contacting the Teachers

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. We check our email
(Marc.finger@elps.us, lauren.schefke@elps.us) at the beginning and end of the school day, and it
is probably the easiest and fastest way to reach us. If phoning is easier, you may call us through
the school office at (517) 333-7930 during school hours. You are able to leave a message on
our voicemails and we will call you back as soon as possible. If you have a question and it is
after school hours, please feel free to call Marc or Lauren on their cell phones. (602) 689-8256
(Marc), (517) 755-7466 (Lauren). We wouldn’t give out our cell phone numbers if we didn’t want
people to use them, so call any time before 8:00 P.M. and leave a message if we’re unable to
answer the phone.

If you would like to discuss your child’s progress throughout the year, just let us know and we will
gladly set up an appointment to meet and talk. We are looking forward to working with you to
make this a successful and enjoyable school year for our students!

Sincerely, The 4th Grade Team