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April Bertoli » Mrs. April Bertoli

Mrs. April Bertoli

Welcome to Fourth Grade!
 

I am excited about the upcoming school year. We hope the information below will prepare students and parents for a great year!

 

Preparing for the First Days of School
  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.
Math – The Sadlier-Oxford Progress in Mathematics series covers concepts such as place value, money, time, data, graphs, addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, fractions, measurement, probability, geometry, and decimals. Each concept emphasizes fundamentals first. Supplemental materials are utilized as well.
 
Science – The McGraw-Hill series covers life, earth, and physical science age-appropriate realms.  In 4th grade we will focus primarily on life and earth sciences.
 
Religion – Faith and Morals are taught according to Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition faithful to the Magisterium of the Church. We use the Sophia Institute Press series.  Fourth grade title is Spirit of Truth: Jesus Teaches Us How to Live.  www.SophiaInstitute.com
 
Classroom Rules and Consequences
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.
Consequences
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. 
 
Grading System 
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

Please let us know a couple of days in advance if you want to bring in a treat for your child to share with the other students.  All edible treats MUST BE STORE BOUGHT (pre-packaged items only.)  Other ideas, such as erasers, pencils, stickers, bookmarks, etc. would be great as well.

 

Book Club Orders
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.
Contacting Teachers

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.  Email is the best mode of communication; however, we typically check emails after 3 p.m. most days as we are continually teaching your children throughout the day.  Thus, calling the main office will ensure that your important messages will be delivered to us. 

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