Mrs. Kalmink’s 4th Grade Classroom Policies and Procedures
Welcome to Mrs. Kalmink’s fourth grade GT classroom! Below are some of the policies and procedures that we will be following this year to help our classroom run smoothly. Please review them with your child, and feel free to ask any questions.
Classroom Management: To provide a safe and effective learning environment for my students, students will be expected to follow classroom rules at all times. I utilize Jim Fay’s Love and Logic approach to classroom management. This approach allows students to be responsible for their actions by having a part in solving their own behavior problems. The teacher acts as a mediator to help the child create a plan to “fix” problem behavior or to face a consequence established by the teacher.
Agenda: I have purchased a Planner/Agenda for each student this year. Students will come home each school day with his/her Agenda. Your child will list his/her homework in the planner each day, and I will write notes to you as needed. Please initial this each evening to indicate that you have seen it, and that your child has completed the homework. This is not meant to be cumbersome to you, but rather to keep your child accountable both at home and at school. Cost for each child’s Agenda is $3.00.
Homework: To help teach responsibility and to enhance learning, homework will be sent home on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. While the assignments vary somewhat, they should not take more than 30-45 minutes to complete. If you feel that your child has spent that amount of time and is still not finished, you may write this in his/her Agenda, and s/he may hand in what was accomplished in that time. Obviously, if this happens often, we will have to address the underlying causes of the problem.
Points: To reinforce positive behavior, I will offer various rewards for students who display responsibility, good behavior, and good work ethic and effort. Students will be able to earn “Kalmink Cash” (our classroom fake cash) both individually and as a part of a team for various games, assignments, homework, etc. Every Marking Period, we will have a class auction in which students may purchase items with the “Kalmink Cash” they have earned. This year the Kalmink cash will be in the form of a "debit card".
Class Website: We have a classroom website this year that will display a great deal of important information, and it will also include homework assignments and any relevant news and happenings. To access this website, simply type: kalmink4.weebly.com. As the year progresses, I will be adding further information to this site, including class pictures. However, for safety purposes, pictures will only be able to be viewed with a password.
I will link student assignments and parent notes to our classroom website. There are also some resources for students on there. I typically will not attach parent ‘newsletters’ preferring to email updates and information in a group email.
Parties: During the school year, students at Woodbridge typically celebrate Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Day. If your family does not celebrate these holidays, please let me know so that we can discuss an alternate plan.
Birthday Treats - Students are allowed to bring in birthday treats this year, but they must be a store bought pre packaged item.
Book Orders: I will send home Scholastic Book Orders throughout the year. Please make out your check to the book club so that I can save trips to the bank. You can write out one check for all of the book clubs...all money goes to the same place. OR, you will have the opportunity to order online from the website and pay with a credit card. Go to:
https://clubs.scholastic.com/home and our Class Activation Code is: DVQVN.
Contact Information: On the inside cover of your child’s agenda I will tape my cell phone number, my email address, the website password and the book order code for easy reference throughout the year.
Student of the Week: To recognize each student in our classroom, I will be highlighting a different student each week to be the “Student of the Week”. There is a separate page on this website which will have a list of which week your child will be featured. During a student’s “week”, he/she will be able to take in pictures of him/herself to display on a bulletin board. When the Covid situation permits, I will also welcome the student’s parent/s to come in as a guest speaker that week – to either share something about the parent’s job, or to read a story (or anything else you would like to share).