/     August 30, 2017

     Dear Parents

     Welcome to a new year.  I am looking forward to teaching your child and I will work very hard to maintain       a    good relationship with you and your child.  If there is anything you need to talk to me about please don’t hesitate to contact me. 

Grading:  I use a 50/50 grade weight for their averages.  50% of their grade is daily work and 50% is the test grade.  As they get older more weigh will be put on test scores and less on daily assignments.  If you have any questions please let me know.  I have addressed assignments below, but students may also retake a test and get an average of the two grades if they wish to better their grade.  If they get a lower grade I take their original.  I leave that up to the student to decide whether they will retest or not.  I do not have a time limit on retesting except that it must be done before the end of the quarter!

Our Grandparent mass will be  October 6th.  We have discussed it in the classroom and the students should contact all grandparents . Please let me know if your child’s grandparent is able to make it as soon as you know so I can write the mass parts.  We will be having a reception after mass and activity after.   

The Sioux Falls trip will be decided soon.     I will be needing drivers for this trip.  We usually visit the St. Francis home for the homeless, Ronald McDonald House and the Cathedral.  At Cathedral we go to the noon mass.  I will have a snack for the students to eat so they are not starving.   If you are interested in this trip as a driver or rider please send a note with your child.  I don't consider it official until I have received a note from the family member.   More information will be coming as we get closer.

Concerning Late Work:  Please ask your child if their work is finished.  School is their job and it is important that students learn to be responsible concerning their obligations in the classroom. If your child has a continuing problem with late work we may need to schedule a conference and possibly detention.  It is the student’s responsibility to get their work done and a consequence for not doing their job is likely.   I try to stress on the children that school is their job and if we didn't do our job we would be fired.  If there are problems please contact me.

 The assignments are to be written down in their assignment notebooks, please check them out from time to time.  I have put them on my webpage in the past, although I don’t know if anyone ever looked at them.  I will attempt it again this year, but just to warn you, if there are changes in the assignments IT GENERALLY IS NOT  UPDATED!!  My website is:  http://pr024.k12.sd.us  and I have some vocab games and quizzes made just for their test and that might be helpful.  Reviews for Social Studies are on the page named Social Studies.  It can be very helpful when studying for a test.  Go to the navigation page and click on the appropriate link.  If parents want an assignment page I will try to keep it current (things change fast around here!)

I allow students to correct failing assignments but they need to do it and hand it back in.  I won’t keep on them (even though I sometimes do nag them about it).  If you see a failing grade, lower than a 70%,  please encourage them to correct it and hand it back in.  They can raise their grade if they do this.  I also send midterm grades to each student this is to keep you informed on your child's progress. Tests are filed until the end of the quarter and they will then be sent home.  If you wish to see a test please let me know and I will arrange to send it home.

I do Accelerated Reader as a part of my Reading program.  I give the students time to read in class.  The students have taken the Benchmark test that  evaluates their reading level and points are assigned according to their level.  I took a very good training class on AR and it was very beneficial.  AR is actually a very structured program and I feel a good way to evaluate comprehension.  The goal is to achieve 80% accuracy on each quiz.  AR and Reading plus are graded.  The tests they take in AR are part of their test grade. 

If there are any questions please do not hesitate to ask.  I try work a lot on responsibility of the student and independence.  It will help them as they get older.  We also really work on treating each other with respect.

 If there is anything you need, please let me know.   

                                                Sincerely,

                                               Mrs. Rausch

 P.S.  Here is my website:

http://pr024.k12.sd.us/

 Email address:

 My State email:  Paula.Rausch@k12.sd.us   or

 (this is the one I check the most) omegaisetter@ymail.com