1. Welcome to Curriculum Night!

2. Welcome to Room 178 My name is Robin Millner and I am thrilled to be your student’s Fourth Grade teacher for the 2015-16 School Year!

3. Biography: New Lenox resident, teaching in and out of the public school system for over 20 years. Started with District 161 in 2008. Married mother of four and grandmother of two.

4. Leilah Liam

5. Education: ~Undergraduate -Northern Illinois University ~Teaching certificate -Trinity Christian College ~ Post graduate -Saint Francis University- LBS1

6. DJR Family Values Acceptance Belonging Community

7. How we will Celebrate the Child *Star Student of the Week *Birthdays *Positive behavior reward system *Positive and encouraging language *Providing a safe, bully free classroom School and classroom rewards End of the year awards ceremony

8. CLASSROOM EXPECTATIONS 1. Be Responsible- This includes coming to school on time, using your time wisely, coming prepared, competing homework, staying on task, taking care of classroom materials, etc. 2. Be Respectful– Treat others as you would like to be treated. Use respectful language and good manners. Be a good listener, raise hand silently, be a good friend. 3. Be Safe - Conduct yourself in a manner that is safe for you, those around you and our school, keep your area clean, keep hands, feet and objects to yourself, use supplies and materials appropriately.

9. Classroom Behavior Accountability Procedure Blue: Role Model Student is going above and beyond classroom behavior expectations. If students ends their day on blue they receive a blue classroom ticket. Green: Ready to Learn Starting place, student is following all classroom expectations and given directions after teacher’s first request. Yellow: Yellow: Make Better Choices Student is not making following classroom expectations, this serves as a warning. Orange: Think About It If poor behavior choices continue students will be moved to orange “Think About It” and be required to complete a Behavior Reflection Form that will be kept on file. Red: Contact Home If poor behavior choices continue students will be moved to red and be required to bring completed Behavior Reflection Form home and teacher will call home to discuss the issue with the student’s family.

10. Classroom Management: Teacher vs. Student Game The objective of this game is for the students to spell out the word ‘TEAMWORK’ This game is played every day. The class earns a letter by gathering more tallies at the end of each day that the teacher has earned. The way students earn tallies are by meeting behavior expectations in the hallway, quieting down quickly, getting learning materials ready after one directive, etc. Mrs. Millner can earn the tallies when the class continues talking after the ‘quiet down’ bell has rung one time, talking in the hallway, etc. When the students spell out ‘TEAM WORK’ they get to have a classroom ‘Party’.

11. Healthy Kids HAND SANITIZER There is hand sanitizer for students to use as needed. Please emphasize the importance of clean hands and covering coughs with your children. FOOD/DRINK Students may bring in a small, healthy snack for their morning break. Also, students may bring a water bottle to school for use in the classroom.

12. Weapons Policy Illinois law requires school officials to expel a student who is determined to have a weapon at school or any school-sponsored activity or event that bears a reasonable relationship to school. Weapons include not only guns, but also look-a-likes and any object used to cause or threaten injury. The expulsion from school must be for a period of not less than one year except that the Superintendent or the School Board may modify the expulsion period on a case-by-case basis. Student threats to use a weapon, even if intended as a joke, will also be dealt with severely in order to maintain the safety of students and District 161 employees. All teachers must explain this policy to all students on the first day of school.

13. Parent Communication  Phone/email rmillner@summithill.org  Teacher Page Website www.summithill.org  School and district newsletters and emails  Progress reports  Notes  Monday Folders

14. Parent Communication MONDAY FOLDERS Every Monday your child will bring home a folder containing all the graded papers from the week before. Please look them over and discuss good performance and areas that need improvement. Also, please check for papers that require a parent signature. Any paper that receives a grade of D or F will require a parent signature. Then sign the enclosed form and have your child return the folder with any signed assignments and the signed form on Tuesday. Please keep the papers from the week at home.

15. Homework District Policy

16. Homework HOMEWORK/ASSIGNMENT NOTEBOOKS Homework is an important extension of the concepts presented in the classroom. Homework needs to be turned in on time and done neatly. Each student will have an assignment notebook. Students will be given one at the beginning of the year and another one half way through the year. Assignments will be given orally as well as written on the assignment board in the front of the room. Students should write down what they see to ensure they are doing the correct assignment. Your child will bring home their assignment notebook each night. Please check to see that all work is completed and sign his/her notebook. I stress to the students that it is their responsibility to remember to do all their homework. If you see that your child is not bringing home his/her assignment book filled out or bringing home the incorrect books, please notify me. ROGUS HOMEWORK INCENTIVE Students will be rewarded for turning in their homework on time. At the beginning of each quarter, they will receive the letters ROGUS. These will be placed in their assignment notebook. For every missing assignment, one letter will be removed. At the end of the quarter, students who have at least one letter left will take part in a fourth grade celebration.

17. Reading Calendars At the beginning of each month, your child will be given a monthly calendar. They are required to read for 20 minutes each night (Monday through Thursday). The title of what they read and parent initials will be recorded for each day. One homework pass will be given for every completed Reading Calendar. At the end of the month, calendars will be placed in a box and two will be drawn for prizes from the prize box. This is a requirement not an option.

18. ELA English Language Arts We will be fully implementing the new reading curriculum Journeys. This includes novels studies as well as our Reading textbooks. My reading classroom uses the Daily 5 structures to ensure plenty of small group attention for the students as well as differentiation. We will have weekly spelling tests as well as weekly Languages quizzes from our Daily Language Review DLR practice sheets.

19. Daily Five The Daily 5 is a series of literacy tasks (read to self, read to someone, meet with teacher, writing and word work) that students complete each day while the teacher engages in small group instruction. This framework helps students develop the daily habits of reading, writing and working with peers. The goal is to foster these good habits and develop lifelong skills of independent literacy. This structure is interspersed with large group teaching each day.

26. ELA English Language Arts Students will be reading a wide variety of literature outside of just their reading stories. Some selections may be fiction, nonfiction, poetry, myths, mysteries, folktales, and much more. In addition to this, we will be reading several novels that go right along with our themes. Some of the important skills taught in Fourth Grade are Main Idea, Cause and Effect, Summarizing, Context Clues, Making Inferences, and Determining Theme.

27. Bookmarks Students will be required to complete one Reader Response Bookmark per quarter. They will need to read a novel at their reading level. These levels will be determined through STAR testing. The levels will be sent home. The quarterly bookmarks will be part of their reading grade and are required.

28. Spelling Every two weeks your child will be given a spelling pretest. These words go along with the story or theme (20 - 25 words). In class, we will grade the pretest. Throughout the two weeks we will review the words using various strategies. At the end of two weeks the post-test will be administered.

29. Social Studies Our Social Studies curriculum is theme based. We will be covering Westward Expansion, The Underground Rail Road, The Civil War, and Illinois History. A variety of historical fiction and non-fiction will be used with each of these themes. At the end of the year, students will complete state reports and state float.

30. Social Studies New this year – Daily Geography Daily geography exercises will be given with each day’s morning work and will be followed up with an open book quiz each Friday.

31. Science Students have a Science Textbook. This textbook can be accessed online through Think Central. Science will be taught through the textbook chapters and note-taking. Students will also engage in a variety of scientific experiments. Some units that will be covered include: Getting Reading for Science, Space, Weather, Simple Machines

32. Math Our math curriculum is Go Math by Houghton Mifflin. It is aligned to the common core and offers a wide variety of technology components to support student learning. Students will receive books by chapter. My website will contain links that can be used at home to support student learning. Students are also encouraged to practice their math facts regularly. Mastering Math Facts (Rocket Math) quizzes will be given several time per week. New this year will be Math Workshop rotations

33. Specials The specials include: PE – five days per week Computers Art Music Library

34. Parent-Teacher Conferences Monday, November 23 Monday, November 23 Tuesday, November 24 Tuesday, November 24 Please sign up for a conference time tonight.Please sign up for a conference time tonight. Please use a Post-it to write down your day and time.Please use a Post-it to write down your day and time. I will send home a reminder closer to P/T Conferences.I will send home a reminder closer to P/T Conferences.

35. THANK YOU FOR COMING. It is going to be a great year!!