Give Me Five! Ways I describe myself as a teacher:

1. Welcome to Mrs. Breitsameter’s 4th Grade Class!Click to hear a special message from Mrs. Breitsameter

2. Give Me Five!Ways I describe myself as a teacher:

3. The following is a brief overview of classroom information: Rules & Discipline: The school rules are to be respectful, be responsible, and be safe. My class is divided in teams 1-6(Their team number is hanging above their desk). I have a group discipline system. If a team is showing great behavior and completing what I ask, I walk to the front of the room, pick up their team number on the card hanging on the wall and place them on first base. As students improve, their numbers will get onto 1st, 2nd, 3rd base, and then home. If there are any teams on home base at the end of the day, I keep track and they receive a husky buck. At the end of the week, the students can cash in their husky bucks and pick from various prizes, such as classroom helper, homework pass, lunch with the teacher, prize jar(candy, pencils, erasers)etc. *If teams are misbehaving, they can go back in bases. We also have a class behavior party each month for the students who consistently behave well AND bring in their homework assignments on time. *If one particular student is consistently misbehaving and/or not turning in assignments, I have individual behavior/homework cards for each student. They all start out on one color(green) and if they don’t bring in their homework and/or misbehave, they move to another color. First color change is a warning, and as they move onto more colors, they will miss extra recess time, parents will be notified, and if need be, the principal is involved and/or detention will be served after school for 1 hour with me.

4. Birthdays: When a child celebrates a birthday, they fill out the birthday board located in the class. They present their board, receive a free homework pass from me, and Happy Birthday is sung to them by the class. For those of us that have summer birthdays, we celebrate their half birthday(six months after their real birthday). Students who have birthdays on days that we are not in school, we either celebrate it right before we leave or when we come back. We do allow birthday treats if you choose to bring something. Please no peanutrelated treats and it needs to be something that is able to be passed out and eaten easily(no big messy foods). Please have your child let me know at least a day in advance if they are going to bring in a treat. Thanks!

5. Snacks: Each day, we will have a snack time during our read aloud. I only allow nutritious snacks during this time. Some healthy snacks might include granola bars, fruit, string cheese, etc. (I want the students to be able to have great “brain food” to help them stay focused.) No chips or things on that field. I will be talking to the class on many options that they may bring. *Note: If a child forgets a snack for the day, we will have a communal “snack bag” to pick a snack from. If a child chooses to take a snack from this bag, I will write their name down to show they took one, and they are responsible for bringing an extra snack the next day to put back into the communal bag. If a student takes a snack and doesn’t replace it the next day, I treat this as a forgotten homework assignment, and their color card will be flipped until it’s brought in.

6. Daily and Nightly Reading: I believe that the more exposure students have to literature, the more they will enjoy reading. Reading is an exciting and educational experience, and one I hope your child will take part in for 20 minutes each evening. There will be a reading response journal in the near future that the students will be doing each week for a reading grade/ handwriting grade. (The journal response will be homework and it will be about the book that they are reading nightly.).We will also spend about 15 minutes each day reading “books of choice” during SSR( Self Selected Reading). Read & Enjoy!

7. Graded Papers & Homework Policy: Communication between home and school is vital to your child’s success in the classroom. To keep you informed and aware of what we are doing, I will send most graded papers home in their Friday Folders. This is a folder that will be going home every Friday with the most important things I want you to know about(graded papers, tests, field trip forms, or any other important forms). When you receive the folder, please look through it and sign it. This tells me that it’s been looked at. You may also see grades or comments written inside of it from me from time to time on your child‘s behavior and academics in the class. I will also send home some papers done in class through their regular mail everyday, but the items in their Friday folders will be the most important.

8. Communication: If you need to reach me, you can either call the school at 815-886-7581 or you can email me at breitsameterae@vvsd.org . I also check your child’s assignment notebook everyday so you can always write me a little note in there as well when you are checking/signing off on their homework.

9. Daily Schedule 9:00-9:15 Attendance/Lunch Count/Morning work 9:15-9:45 (Monday-Thursday)Students are doing their morning work (math, daily oral language, and writing). We go over answers together. *P.E special on Friday is from 9:15-9:45. 9:45-10:15 Specials: Monday-Library, Tuesday-Art/Music, Weds- PE, Thursday- Art/Music *Friday special is P.E from 9:15-9:45, so students will be doing morning work on Friday during this time. 10:15-10:45- Journal Writing/Revising/Spelling(grammar skills) 10:45-11:00 Read aloud/Snack Time, I allow my students to have a nutritious snack. 11:00-12:00 Math(Mental math/basic facts, daily problem solving activities, and estimating activities) 12:00-1:00 Reading(Comprehension strategies and writing activities). 1:00-1:30 Lunch/Recess 1:30-1:55 Extra Recess(Mon, Tues, Thurs) or Self Selected Reading(Weds, Fri) 2:00-3:00 Science/Health/Social Studies(4 ½ weeks each/per quarter) 3:00-3:15 Organizational Skills(Gather all homework and check mailbox. Fill in assignment notebooks.)

10. Grading Scale A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F 00-59