Please look for the weekly overview called "The Lion's ROAR" each Monday.
This will have the general concepts we are covering, the test schedule, due
dates for any assignments and projects listed, along with other important
information and dates for upcoming events.
Your child has been given a planner to record his daily assignments and
homework. The TMS handbook is printed in the front for easy reference.
Please read over it with your child and sign the page indicating you have
read and understand our policies.
UNEXCUSED ABSENCES: Please pay particular attention to the district handbook
regarding this policy. Please understand that if you to take your child on
vacation on school days, anything that was GRADED during their absence will
be recorded as an F. Teachers cannot make individual exceptions to this
district wide policy. If you have special circumstances please contact the
district office in charge of attendance.
EXCUSED ABSENCES: If your child is sick, you MUST send a note explaining the
reason for their absence within 2 days of their return to school, or it will
be considered unexcused, and they will not be able to make up graded
work/tests.
If your child is going to be out more than 2 days, please arrange to pick up
their assignments so they do not get behind in their work. Please give us a
few hours notice to gather the materials. The best way to reach us is
through e-mail, as we may not receive office messages before the end of the
day.
MATH: Most of the homework your child will have for math will be to complete
any unfinished work from the day's assignments, make corrections, and to
study for upcoming tests. All daily math work is to be done in the spiral
notebook and not torn out.
This makes it easier to find and correct our daily assignments. It also is
helpful for the parent to see not only what your child is doing each day,
but also their mistakes. Often parents will ask what they can do to
help their child. Checking the daily work gives you the information you need
to provide additional support where needed. There are diagnostic tests
and extra practice problem sets at the back of each chapter as well.
Calendar Math assignments will be updated weekly and graded as appropriate.
SCIENCE: Students are expected to keep all their assignments in their Science
spiral notebook. The notebook is used for vocabulary, daily notes, data from
experiments, and review questions from each lesson. Any handouts or study
guides should be kept in a pocket folder to help prepare for tests.
Notebooks will be graded at least once each grading period.
SPELLING: We will begin a new unit every Monday (or Tuesday if Monday is a
holiday). Pretests will be given on Mondays. If your child makes a 100, then
he/she will not have to retake the test on Friday. However, the assignments
will still be required. Various assignments will be given from the book, or
from the free choice selections. Assignments will be due on Thursdays. SEE
OUR "SPELLING SAFARI" PAGE FOR THE SPELLING CHOICES. Tests are on Fridays.
We will not have spelling tests if there is a 3 day week.
READING: We will use a mixture of the basal and novels. All vocabulary will
be done in the reading folder which may be brought home to study. Study
guides will be sent home in the Daily Folder to be studied.
LANGUAGE: We will keep Star Points (homophones) in our Language Spiral and
add to them every week. We will take a quiz after each Star Point family
has been covered. (ex: to, too, two or there, their, they're) Writing
Journals will be used to plan and write rough drafts. Please do not allow
your child to tear any pages out of this journal (composition book). All
writing assignments will be kept in a Writing Portfolio and sent home at the
end of the year.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Notes and vocabulary words are to be written in the Social
Studies spiral notebook. Any study guides or worksheets should be kept in a
pocket folder so they do not get lost, and can be used to prepare for tests.
Incomplete, late, or missing assignments will be recorded in "The Book",
which is the basis of the homework and work habits grade. The students
start off with 100 points in each subject at the beginning of each 9 weeks.
Five points are deducted each time they have not completed an assignment on
time in that subject. At the end of the 9 weeks, this score is averaged into
the grade for that subject.
