Dear Families of Third and Fourth Grade Students,
Welcome to a new school year at Saint Paul’s Lutheran School!
My name is Mrs. Lauren McLaughlin and I will be your child’s third and fourth
grade teacher. I am excited to begin another school year and I know God will immensely
bless our time together!
I invite you and/or your child to meet with me, call me, or send
me an email if you have any questions, concerns, or information you’d like me
to have regarding your child’s needs. The best time to meet with me is after
5:00 p.m. If you must meet with me during the school day, please call or email
me first so that we can set up a time that is convenient with my
teaching schedule and will not interrupt our students’ learning.
If you are interested in getting
involved with our classroom in some way here is a list of various levels of
parent involvement:
*Donations to our classroom:
-Classroom
“Store”: snacks, candy, little trinkets (I’ve had luck at garage sales finding
little toys, picture frames, jewelry, stationary, knick-knacks, etc.) The
students love earning the privilege to “shop” after they’ve accumulated their
stickers for demonstrating good behavior and responsibility.
-Job Supplies:
birdseed, hummingbird feed mix
-Library: books,
old magazines for collage work (check appropriateness)
*Field trip chaperones
*Helping with holiday parties (30-60 min. at end of day):
Christmas & Valentine’s Day
*Speaking to class about a topic or doing a “read aloud” (can
be tied in to certain holidays?)
If you have other ideas or would
like to do one of the above, feel free to email me and we can set something up.
I welcome parent involvement and the kids love it too!
I am here to assist your child in learning and I value your
involvement as your child’s first
teacher. I have been involved with Saint Paul’s Church and School for over 20
years and I feel a deep investment in its future—our students. This school has
blessed me in countless ways and I hope you will join me in feeling the same!
In Christ,
Mrs. Lauren McLaughlin
lmclaughlin@saintpaulstroy.org
(618) 667-6314 ext. 1010
(school)
Classroom Background & Expectations
Take Home Folder
Each child will bring home a
folder daily. Please check it every
evening for important information and send it back to school the following day. Any notes for me or the school that need to
come back to us (i.e., scholastic orders, field trip money, etc.) should be
placed in the left side of the folder and any homework your child will need to
complete or has completed will be in the right side of the folder. This folder
helps me to communicate more easily with families and it helps the children
learn to be better organized.
Assignment Sheet
Your child will write his/her
homework on their assignment sheet each day.
I will initial them at the end of the day and ask that a parent also
initial their assignment sheet nightly. I will check these each morning and
reward a sticker to those students who have their assignment sheet signed. This
lets me know that my students’ parents are informed of their child’s
assignments and allows parents to check on the completion of their child’s
work.
Classroom Rules
- Be respectful to God, others, and yourself
- Be polite
- Be prepared for class
- Make good choices
Behavior Plan
Our classroom behavior plan
uses a card system whereby each card turned will hold a different consequence.
Each child will have a sticker chart that they will be working to fill, and for
every day that they do not turn a card they will earn one sticker. When their
chart is full of stickers, they will earn the reward of “shopping” at the
classroom store or “saving” their stickers to accumulate “interest.” The colors
and consequences are the following:
White: Great job! No problems (earn 1 sticker)
Green: Warning (lose sticker for the day)
Yellow: Lose recess
Red: Lose a second recess and fill out behavior report
for parents to sign
Students who receive a red
card will be required to write a behavior report that is taken home and signed
by a parent. The purpose of the report is to get the student thinking about
his/her actions and to help them learn to take part in solving the problems
associated with their negative behavior. I hope that by working together we can
achieve a more positive learning environment. In severe instances, the student
may be sent to the principal and parents will be contacted. I hope not to take
this last step, but it is important to have a plan if necessary.
Whole class behavior: Our class will be working to “catch compliments”
by showing love and kindness to fellow classmates, teachers, and the rest of
the student body. We will track the compliments we receive in our catcher’s
glove, and the entire class will be rewarded each time we reach 25 compliments.
Curriculum, Routines, and Procedures
Absences: I
will send home the work your student misses the next day that he/she is present
for class. Students will have one day for every day they missed to complete
their work. If your student misses a test, he/she will take it the next day
he/she is in class.
Art, Music, and PE:
Currently, we have Art scheduled on Thursdays with Mrs. Beckemeyer, P.E.
on Tuesdays and Fridays with Mrs. Fischer and me, Music on Mondays and Wednesdays,
and Technology Education on Tuesdays and Fridays with Mr. McLaughlin. Please
make sure your child has a pair of non-marking gym shoes to keep in their cubby
at school and remember to dress appropriately on P.E. days (shorts or pants
instead of skirts or jumpers). Students will also need a paint shirt to keep in
their cubbies for Art.
Book Orders:
Forms for Scholastic book orders will be sent home monthly. If you choose to order books, please send the
money in the form of a check made out to Scholastic Book Clubs. You also have the option of placing your
order online and paying with a credit or debit card. I encourage you to order online because the
book selection is greater and we earn a FREE book for our classroom library
every time a parent places an order online. I just ask that you send me a note telling me you ordered online so I
remember to send the orderJ
Book Reports: The students will have one book report
each month which will cover a different reading genre (i.e., mystery, fantasy,
non-fiction, realistic fiction, biography, etc.) They will have advanced notice
which will give them enough time to read the approved book, write a report, and
make a visual aid. The students will receive several different choices on how
to present their report (write a commercial, interview a character, create a
scene, etc.).
Church & Sunday School Attendance: Every Monday morning I will ask for the
students’ church and Sunday School attendance from the weekend. Worship is such
an important piece of our faith walk and so we encourage you to make it a
priority in your family.
Computers: Each student in 3rd & 4th
Grade will have a laptop to use at school. Third and fourth graders will have a
technology education class twice a week in Mr. McLaughlin’s room while I teach
5th-8th grade P.E.
Current Events:
Each Wednesday students will be responsible for sharing a social studies
related article with the rest of their classmates. Students will have one week
to work on this assignment either at home or during their free time at school.
I will not assign them a specific time to work on it; it will be their
responsibility to finish it on their own time. Every Wednesday morning, we’ll
have a discussion time to share what we’ve found in our research.
Grades:
Homework and class participation is worth 40% of a student’s grade.
Tests are worth 60% of their grade. I will allow students to complete extra
credit if they wish to raise their grade in a certain subject.
Homework: Schoolwork will be given daily and becomes
homework if it is not finished in class; however, students will have ample
class time to work. Memory work and spelling words should be practiced nightly
and students are encouraged to read for a few minutes/night.
Students
should turn in their homework to the appropriate tray each morning when they
arrive at school. I will collect it from the trays first thing in the morning.
If homework is turned in late, the student’s grade will be reduced one letter
grade and they will be expected to finish it during their own time. I will
remind students only once of their late work. It is their responsibility
to finish it and get it to me.
I
will send home graded work on Fridays. Please sign the sheet at the front of
your student’s pile of graded work indicating that you have seen their work and
your student can return the signed sheet to me the next school day. Students
may keep their graded work at home. Students who return their graded work log signed the following school day will
earn a sticker and students who have not returned their sheet to me by the end
of the week will lose their one recess/day until it is returned. I feel it is
important that my students’ parents are aware of their child’s progress and
this system will let me know that you are reviewing their work.
Lunch: Your
child may bring his/her lunch, or he/she may purchase a hot lunch daily. Lunch count will be a part of our morning
routine. Lunch bills are sent home at
the end of the month.
Religion: We
have chapel every Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. The other four days of the week we
have religion in the classroom. Pastor Schuessler teaches religion in our
classroom on Tuesdays. Students will have memory work each week. They will have
the entire week to say it and are welcome to break it up into smaller parts,
but it must be said by Friday morning. Students who are absent on Friday will
be required to say their memory work on Monday morning.
Reading Homework:
Students are encouraged to read every night. We will start the Pizza Hut
Book It and Blues Bookworm reading programs in October and participate in the
Six Flags reading program later in the year. Your child’s nightly reading can
be put towards all of these reading programs to earn rewards like a Personal
Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut, a ticket to a St. Louis Blues hockey game, and a free
ticket to Six Flags.
Snacks: We will
have snack each day after 1st recess. It is up to the student to
bring his/her own snack. I will not provide snacks for them and will not allow
sharing. Only healthy snacks are allowed (fruit, yogurt, crackers, etc.): no
cookies, chips, or candy. Snacks must be kept in your child’s backpack, not in
their cubby. I don’t want any rodent visitors J Students are also allowed to keep a bottle of water
with them.
Spelling:
Students will have weekly spelling tests. They will receive their words
on Monday and keep them in their homework folder. There will be a test on
Friday.
Tardiness: I
start class promptly at 8:00 a.m. Students who arrive after class has started
will be counted tardy. A student who is tardy 4 times in a quarter is counted
as one absence.
Tests: We will
review for all tests the day before they are to occur, but I also encourage the
children to take home their textbooks to study with their parents. You might
ask them the questions at the end of each lesson and the questions at the end
of the unit or have them tell you what the vocabulary words mean.
If you have any questions
please don’t hesitate to contact me! I will be more than happy to discuss them
with you. Let me emphasize again, I am very
excited about the opportunity to have your child in class! I know we will learn
and grow together in Christ’s love and abundance.
In Christ,
Mrs. McLaughlin
