 These are the guidelines for my room. All students and their parents have a copy. 1. Feel free to call me before nine in the evenings for help or general questions - Pam Bales 785-765-3633. Leave a message and I’ll call you back if I get home before nine. Please don’t call me at home before school. I will be in my room by 7:45 each day and you are free to drop in or call until 8:05. After that you’ll need to leave a message or stop in the library to see when I’ll be free. 2. Students with late work will be expected to stay for After School Learning Opportunity on the ASLO day following the infraction. 3. Come to class prepared. Always bring your AR book, textbook, paper, writing instruments, and planners. Bring a novel to each class 4. Leave personal audio equipment, hand held games, other valuables and toys at home or locked in your locker. 5. Students are not to sit on top of desks. 6. Students will not go to other classrooms for “forgotten” items while other classes are in session. 7. Papers with no name are marked down a letter grade. If students fail to identify their no-name papers a late paper is recorded. Such papers, if not identified will have to be redone on the student’s on time. S/he may be requested to attend the After School Learning Opportunity. 8. It is the responsibility of the student to have a pencil at all times. Work other than compositions done in pen receives a zero. Colored pencils and pens other than those with blue or black ink are to be used only when called for. If they are used at any other time, the work will receive a zero. 9. All paper is to be full sized notebook paper. Wide-lined paper is recommended. It is the student’s responsibility to have paper at all times. Half-sheets are unacceptable and will be recorded as a late paper. Spiral edges must be trimmed. 10. Papers with the following errors will have their grades lowered one letter: No margin, spiral edges, incorrect heading (no page number, class, or grade), failure to use complete sentences when appropriate, messy work 11. Students must have permission to use the phone. 12. All tests or quizzes should be taken home, signed by a parent, and returned to school the next school day. All such tests receive extra credit and will be kept in the student’s file. Papers must be returned within five school days. 13. Do not throw anything to anyone: paper, pencils, airplanes, books, notes, trash, etc. 14. Stay in your seat during lecture or class discussion. If you are going to need a tissue, get it before class starts. 15. Do not deface school property. If the desk in which you sit has markings, notify the teacher at once. 17. Please help keep the school neat. If you find trash, put it in the trashcan. 18. Most classes require homework. Time is allowed in class to start work, but students are expected to finish their work at home. 19. Students are to be courteous, raise their hands and wait for recognition, walk in the hallways, and keep their hands to themselves. 20. During SSR all persons in the room will be reading a novel or non-fiction book. No one will work on homework. No one will be excused from the room until the bell rings. 21. Cellular telephones may not be used during the regular school day and are to be kept turned off and in the locker. 22. When changing classes students are to wait quietly until the other class is out of the way. 23. Information sheets with parent signatures returned on time will be given extra credit points. 24. Spelling lessons are handed out in a packet with several weeks’ worth of lessons. Please do not throw them away. Students are to study their words at home. The pre-test will be the first day of the week. Get 100%? Student does not take the post-test. Miss a word? Write it correctly five times before leaving for the day and receive one-half point extra credit per word. The spelling lesson is due on Thursday. It may be turned in after the pre-test for extra-credit. The post-test will be the last day of the week, which is usually Friday. Please help your child study for the test. After every five lessons there is a review test. It will cover forty of the words from the previous five lessons. 25. Planners are to be kept in good condition. Do not tear out the pages. There will be periodic planner checks in the classroom and at lunch. There may be rewards for carefully kept planners. 26. Once in a great while a student will cause a disruption in the classroom. I will warn them at least twice and then I’ll put their name on the “disrupter” list. On the list once? Last to lunch. Twice in one day – Silent lunch. Three times – loss of “GAP” – stand by the wall or since they could use the fresh air and exercise – walk the fence. If it ever gets to four there will not only be a referral, but parents will have been contacted. 27. The only extra credit I offer besides turning in papers early and getting things signed is having a parent sign and return notes from school. If the signed portion of the note is returned the next day – five points, then four, etc. I will give a half point if the note is returned late. The extra credit may be given to either English or reading and sometimes both. Please check to be sure notes are delivered, read, signed and returned in a timely fashion. 28. VPL – Most students will be in a Virtual Prescription Learning Class two days a week. This is considered assessment practice. Lessons are assigned from a pre-test which will be given as soon as the computers are up and running. Each ten lessons passes will earn an apple to be posted on our orchard in the hallway. Successful completion of the review test over the material will earn a larger apple and a treat of some kind. (The treat traditionally has been a full-sized candy bar, but might change according to the student’s desires.) Students will keep track of their accomplishments in their “VPL” notebook kept in the library. Most of the emphasis in VPL will be on reading and math. Science and social studies assignments are available as well. Students will work with this program throughout the year. Grades are based on number of lessons completed during the week. Credit will be given in reading and social studies as well as the technology class. 29. Accelerated Reader (AR) goals. Goals will be assigned as early in the quarter as possible. Goals are based on a lot of things – scores on Star Test, previous goals, and conversations with students. I may lower them before the quarter is over, but not until the student’s had every opportunity to succeed and not after midterms. 12.5% of the goal is due at the end of the first week. This means if your goal is 50, you need to have 6.25 points by August 27 and then so on until you reach 100% by the end of the quarter. There will be a learning celebration at the end of each quarter. There is an additional handout with details of the learning opportunities. Those who don’t make it will sit and read while those who did reach their goal will participate in the celebration. Each quarter will count separately so students who don’t make the first quarter celebration will be eligible for the reward for the following quarters. Rewards will vary as the year progresses.
30. Students are to average at least thirty minutes of reading an AR book every day at home and will keep track of daily reading on their log.
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