Welcome Back!

WELCOME BACK 4TH GRADERS! 

Hello! My name is Amanda Stemm and I will your child's fourth grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher. This will be my sixth year teaching and my second year at Pickerington Elementary. I am extremely excited to continue my career at my alma mater... Go Tigers!!! This year we have a fantastic team including Mrs. Burre, the math and science teacher, and Ms. Westwood, the Math+ teacher. If your child is in my homeroom, they will be attending Math and Science with Mrs. Burre first thing in the morning. If they are in Mrs. Burre's homeroom, they will be attending my class, ELA & SS, first thing in the morning. In the afternoon, each group will rotate to the other subjects they did not have in the A.M. Please check out the important information listed below. If you ever have any questions about anything, please feel free to contact me via email at amanda_stemm@plsd.us. I hope your child is as excited to start the school year as I am:) 

Important Dates

• August 14th: Meet the Teacher
• August 15th: First day of school! 
• Jim Basketball Jones will be visiting us today. 
• September 5: 2 Hour Delay

Important things to remember: 

• Join Classroom Dojo! 
• This is an application that both Mrs. Burre and I use to keep home and school communication fluid. We will record all behavior's positive and negative on a daily basis as well as post important announcements you need to be aware of. This app also allows us to post pictures to your child's story specifically so you are able to see the work they are completing in class:) 
• Be sure to check your child's purple folder on a daily basis for any graded papers, flyers, or forms. 
• It is your child's responsibility to get their reading log as well as their agenda signed by you each night. I do not do this to be an annoyance, but instead, I am trying to teach your child to be responsible for their own learning. The growth mindset is a very big theme we try to teach throughout the year. Asking your child to keep track of their responsibilities as a student is a huge part of this idea.  

Homework:

Each day, your child will fill out an agenda at school letting you know what homework they need to complete each night. It has always been my thinking that if I am doing work at home, my students will do something to enhance their skills at home as well. Also, if I am not doing any work, it is not fair for me to ask your child to do any work at home either. With that being said, your child will always have reading homework Monday through Friday. I understand that weeknights are extremely busy with other activities, which is why I only ask for them to read 20 minutes a night. Also over the weekend, they can choose to read on Friday, Saturday, OR Sunday. I only require one session of 20 minutes of reading over the weekend. Their other homework is to go outside and play:) 

Your child will have no other homework assigned from me unless there was an assignment they should have completed but didn't. 

Class Schedule 

 

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9:05 - 9:20	Homeroom Time
9:25 - 11:00	Switch Teacher ELA or Math
11:00 - 12:25	E&I w/Switch Science/Social Studies	E&I w/ HR Science/Social Studies	E&I Science/Social Studies	E&I w/ HR Science/Social Studies	E&I Science/Social Studies
12:25 - 1:10	Lunch/Recess
1:15 - 2:10	STemm- Science Burre- Social Studies	Stemm- Tech/Art Burre - P.E.     *Bring Gym Shoes	Stemm- Music Burre - Science	Stemm- Social Studies Burre - Tech/Art	Stemm- P.E.     *Bring Gym Shoes Burre - Music
2:10 - 3:45	Homeroom Teacher ELA or Math  or Math+
3:50 - 4:05	End of day Homeroom time and dismissal

Supplies Needed

This year, the district purchased many of the supplies your child needed but there are still a few items they will need to bring to school. Please refer to the list below for item your child will need. 

• Reusable grocery bag to use as their switch bag. 

• 1 package of colored pencils
• 3 red checking pens (not permanent) 
• 1 pair of pointed scissors
• 1 box of markers
• 2 Zippered pencil bags (no pencil boxes)
• 4 large glue sticks
• 1 box of tissues, large
• 1 box gallon-sized Ziploc bags