Email to Parents

This was sent this evening. It was bounced back from a couple of email addresses so I will do my best to get it out there. It's important!

• Hi Fourth Grade Families,
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• Hope you all have enjoyed such a beautiful weekend. It's nice to see that fall has finally arrived.
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• As we head back into another week of school, I want to talk this time to explain a classroom wide incentive program that I have developed with the help of Dr. Teri Brooks, school psychologist for WSESU.
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• Last week, Dr. Brooks and I spent a great deal of time discussing the fourth graders and the needs that are specific to them. We agreed that the fourth grade needs more positive experiences at school - with staff and each other. With the assistance of Dr. Brooks, I took the classroom rules and assigned a pattern block to each. During the day, the students earn a pattern block anytime they are demonstrating one of the classroom rules. The rules include, be safe, be kind, be responsible, and be respectful. 
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• On Thursday, 10/13, the class completed an anonymous survey about the classroom climate. I took the information gathered and presented it to the class on Friday morning before I rolled out the incentive program. The class was a bit surprised to see that as a whole, they don't believe that they are kind or respectful towards each other, teachers, or visiting adults (subs and parents). They also found out that they don't feel emotionally safe, but do feel mostly physically safe. Once this information was shared, I was able to share the classroom plan. From 9:30 until the end of the day, EVERY student seemed to do a complete turn around- the classroom was buzzing with excitement! We have two reward times built into our day (students must earn 160 blocks for each reward time) and as long as students have had no visits to the planning room, they are able to participate in the reward. 
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• The rewards are selected randomly and include suggestions from the students and me. On Friday, at the first reward time, the students chose "theme party" and voted to have a PJ day on Monday. Some students were a little disappointed that their theme was not chosen, so students were given the option to participate. They also earned a reward at the end of the day and were able to select a small treat, 1 Hershey Kiss or Reese PB Cup or 2 Mints. We have many more rewards to work towards, and if their are any suggestions for rewards that you may have, please let me know.
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• As the students become more confident and skilled with the classroom expectations, it will become more challenging to earn blocks. The rewards will become less frequent, but will increase in desirability. This will not happen for at least a month.
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• If you have any questions or thoughts you'd like to share, please email or call me at school.
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• Thanks for the support,
• Karyn Tyler