Mrs. Maria Borchardt

1. Supplies: List was received before school started and is also on school website.
2. Mark all clothing, including uniforms, belts, and book bags with your child’s first and last name. It is best to use a black permanent marker and/or markers designed specifically for labeling clothing materials.
3. Arrival and dismissal procedures: All students are to enter at the Holy Spirit entrance, which is adjacent to the cafeteria. Classes begin promptly at 8:00 A.M.  If arriving before 7:45 am, students go directly to the cafeteria, and will be dismissed to  their respective homerooms at 7:45 am.  Students arriving after 7:45 am should report to their homerooms immediately. Students are dismissed from the yellow building, and will exit through the Holy Spirit entrance at 2:45 P.M.  For more detailed arrival/dismissal information see the VMA handbook.
4. Visitors: All visitors to the school must sign in at the main office. 
5. Communication: We communicate with parents through the student planners, notes/letters, telephone, and e-mail.

English – Mentor sentences, Writing Workshop, and the Write Source and Grammar Workshop will be used for lessons in various writing and grammar skills.  Students will journal, write letters with penpals, craft personal narratives, create poetry, pen opinion pieces, compare/contrast pieces, and write research-based pieces in 4th grade. 

 

Spelling/Vocabulary – We will use Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop - Level Orange on-line version.  Work will rotate between spelling and vocabulary bi-weekly.

 

Social Studies – Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Social Studies Alive, Regions of Our Country, and The Kentucky Adventure, along with supplementary materials, will be used to study the five themes of geography (region, place, human/environment interactions, location, and movement). There will be an emphasis on regions of the United States and Kentucky history.

 

We strive to assist students in achieving high standards in terms of both educational accomplishments as well as Christian behavior. We encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviors by administering the following conduct policies. Students of VMA are expected to follow the VMA Code of Conduct, all VMA safety rules, and the posted classroom rules.

Conduct points will be deducted by any teacher or staff member’s discretion. Students may lose one or more points based on the severity and/or repetition of the misbehavior.  Students will be required to complete a conduct form online when points are deducted.  The form will generate an email to the student’s parents. 

 

To achieve a grade of 100% students need to have a perfect paper. First, the content of the answer must be right. All work should be turned in neatly, have the name, date, and subject headed correctly, and turn in the paper on time. Points will be taken off of assignments for the following:

 

• No name, date, number, or subject heading on paper 

• A paper that is sloppy, written in something other than pencil, blue or black ink, or an assignment turned in one day late (illness or excused absence not included) will be lowered 10%, second day late lowered 20%, and a zero will be given for assignments more than two days late. Students will be required to fill out an online form when an assignment is late.  This form will generate an email which will be received by the student’s parents. This does not include projects where definite due dates are to be adhered to with no exceptions.

Since students have many assignments in each subject area, they will have numerous opportunities to achieve good grades. One or two low grades will not cause the student to earn a poor grade on his/her report card. A lot of low grades will have an effect. Graded papers will be going home each week and may be kept at home. Tests will also be sent home and will sometimes need to be signed by a parent and returned to the teacher. These papers should keep the students and the parents informed of their child’s progress throughout the year. We will give about one week’s notice on any big test. All material will be reviewed in class. Students will need to study notes, guides, and/or graphic organizers for the tests.

Birthdays

Throughout the year we will be sending home a variety of book club orders. If you are interested in purchasing an item(s), please use the easy on-line ordering code listed on our websites.

We feel confident that God will bless us with a great school year and we look forward to teaching your children.