Teachers:  4D Mrs. Dwyer, B.S., M.Ed.

                         4W Mrs. Wellman, B.A., M.Ed. 

Dear Parents,

Welcome to fourth grade!  We are looking forward to an exciting school year with your child.  We know you may have many questions, so we hope to answer the most often asked ones in this outline of fourth grade. 

Villa Madonna Academy Mission Statement

Our school’s mission statement is to educate students in grades K-12 for full Christian participation in 21^st century life.  Villa is committed to forming students who seek God in the Benedictine tradition of reverence and peace, scholarship, service, and community. 

Preparing for the First Days of School

1. Important Date: School begins Thursday, August 16, 2012.
2. Supplies: List was received before school started/also on website
3. Mark all clothing, including uniforms, belts, and book bags with your child’s first and last name.  It is best to use a black permanent marker and/or markers designed specifically for labeling clothing materials.
4. Arrival and dismissal procedures:  All students are to enter at the Holy Spirit entrance, which is adjacent to the cafeteria.  Classes begin promptly at 8:00 A.M.  Students who arrive before 7:45 A.M. are to go to the cafeteria and remain there with the supervising teacher.  Students are dismissed to the cafeteria at 2:40 P.M. and are to wait quietly until their car/carpool is called.  Please be sure your child knows their car number.  For more detailed dismissal information see page nine in the VMA handbook.
5. Visitors: All visitors to the school must sign in at the main office; no one can just stop in at the Center Building without first signing in at the office.
6. Communication:  We communicate with parents through the student planners, notes/letters, telephone, and e-mail.

Subject Matter

Religion – Faith and Morals are taught according to Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition faithful to the Magisterium of the Church.  We use RCL Benziger Blest Are We: Faith and Word series.

Reading – Trade books are our main focus in learning and expanding reading skills.  Various genres will be used to expose students to a variety of literature. Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), guided reading, and literature circles will be used during the year.  The goal is to help students develop into fluent, lifelong readers and articulate, effective communicators.

English – Daily oral language (DOL) practice, journal writing, and the texts Write Source and Grammar Workshop will be used for lessons in various writing and grammar skills.

Spelling/Vocabulary – We will use Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop, LevelOrange  and Loyola Press Vocabulary in Action. 

Math – The Sadlier-Oxford Progress in Mathematics series covers concepts such as place value, money, time, data, graphs, addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, fractions, measurement, probability, geometry, and decimals.  Each concept emphasizes fundamentals first.  Supplemental materials are utilized as well.

Social Studies – Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Social Studies Alive! Regions of Our Country  and The Kentucky Adventure along with supplementary materials will be used to study the five themes of geography (region, place, human/environment interactions, location, and movement).  There will be an emphasis on regions of the United States and Kentucky history.

Science – The McGraw-Hill series covers life, earth, and physical science age-appropriate realms.

Handwriting – Handwriting will be integrated into the Language Arts curriculum. 

Classroom Rules and Consequences

We strive to assist students in achieving high standards in terms of both educational accomplishments as well as Christian behavior.  We encourage students to accept responsibility for the progress and their behaviors by administering the following conduct policies.  Students of VMA are expected to follow the VMA Code of Conduct, all VMA safety rules, and the posted classroom rules. 

4th Grade Rewards

Every day that the entire class has completed their homework they will earn a letter taken away from the work HOMEWORK.  After all the letters have been removed, the class will receive a reward such as extra recess or a “no homework” pass at the discretion of the teacher.  Also, if the class as a whole is observed following the rules in an exceptional manner or generally working well they will earn a class reward such as free time to enjoy board games, read, draw, or play group games. 

Consequences

Conduct points will be deducted at any teacher or staff member’s discretion. Students may lose one or more points based on the severity and/or repetition of the misbehavior.  Students will be required to complete the conduct record form and have this signed by a parent. 

Morning Meeting – The purpose of these meetings are to serve as a transition from home to school, help students feel welcome and known, set the tone for the day, increase climate of trust, increase student confidence, encourage cooperation and inclusion, and improve students’ communication skills.

Grading System – To achieve a grade of 100% students need to have a perfect paper.  First, the content of the answer must be right.  All words should be spelled correctly, use of complete sentences (with correct punctuation), be neat, have the name, date, and subject headed correctly, and turn in the paper on time.  Points will be taken off of assignments for the following:

• No name, date, or subject heading on paper
• Incorrect spelling, sentence does not start with a capital letter, sentence has no ending punctuation, incomplete sentence structure, incorrect homonym
• A paper that is sloppy, written in something other than pencil, blue or black ink, or an assignment turned in one day late (illness or excused absence not included), will be lowered by a letter grade.  Late assignments will not be accepted any later than one school day after the due date and will merit a zero.

Since students have many assignments in each subject area, they will have numerous opportunities to achieve good grades.  One or two low grades will not cause the student to earn a poor grade on his/her report card.  A lot of low grades will have an effect.  Papers will be going home each week and may be kept at home.  Tests will also be sent home and need to be signed by a parent and returned to the teacher.  These papers should keep the students and the parent informed of their child’s progress throughout the year. We will give about one week’s notice on any big test.  All material will be reviewed in class.  Students will need to study notes, guides and/or graphic organizers for the tests.   

Birthdays

Please let us know a couple of days in advance if you want to bring in a treat for your child to share with the other students.  We will celebrate birthdays during morning snack time. 

Book Club Orders

Throughout the year we will be sending home a variety of book and/or software club offers.  If you are interested in purchasing an item, or items, please be sure to make your check out to the corresponding book club.  This assists us in keeping orders organized.  If you ever want to purchase items for birthdays, Christmas, or other special events, and you do not want your child to see them, just write us a note and place it with your order stating the instructions of who will pick up the items and how we can contact them to arrange delivery. 

Contacting Teachers

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at school during the hours of 8:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.  The school number is (859) 331-6333 and our voice mail extensions are:  Mrs. Dwyer: 417, Mrs. Wellman: 419.  Our e-mail addresses are listed in the school directory.  We will make every attempt to get back with you as soon as possible.  We feel confident that God will bless us with a great school year and we look forward to teaching your children.