Welcome To Mrs. Barney's Class

Hello Students and Parents!

This week begins a brand new school year for all of us and I am so excited to be able to welcome you to the fourth grade and to our classroom! While this school year is going to be a little unconventional and different, I am confident that our classroom will be a place of safety and learning for your student.

The following pages are goals and expectations for my class as well as information regarding you and your student so that we can become better acquainted. If you need to contact me, I would prefer email or a text through the Remind App if possible, however, you are welcome to call me at school and leave a message (801-567-8950) and I will return your call as quickly as I can. My email address is emma.barney@jordandistrict.org. I will check my email each day, so you will receive a response from me within 24 hours, if not sooner.

I’m looking forward to a great year with your student! Thank you for supporting your child in their growth and learning this year!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Barney

Get To Know Mrs. Barney!

Hi! I am so excited to be your teacher and can't wait to get to know all of you and your families! This is my 2nd year teaching 4th grade and I absolutely love it! I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. I am the 2nd oldest of 5 kids. I have lived in New York, Israel, and Idaho but Utah is my favorite and I never want to leave! I went to school at BYU even though my husband, Chase, is the biggest Utah fan! We have been married for 2 years and he is the BEST! I have a dog named Chewy (yes, he was named after Chewbacca) and is the cutest thing in the whole wide world.

Some of my favorite things are Disneyland, traveling to new places, boating, playing board games, spending time with my family, peanut butter ice cream, and of course, TEACHING!

My Family

Me and Chase

Chewy

My niece and nephew

My Mom and Dad

My Siblings

Get To Know The 4th Grade Teachers!

Mrs. Tovar, Mrs. Clayton, Mrs. Barney, and Miss Amis

We can't wait to see your smiling, masked faces!

Classroom Expectations

-Come to school prepared to work hard and learn!

-BE KIND to yourself & to others

-Participate in class and share your thinking

-Be respectful to all students and teachers

-Be responsible

Positive Rewards
Each student will work to spell the word GROW. When they make good choices, they will move their clip on a letter. When they reach the W, they will earn a ticket and work towards a special reward.

Consequences
Each student starts everyday with his/her paper clip on green on a tracker in their pencil box. Breaking a rule or disrupting learning results in moving their paper clip down. They could move several times throughout one day.
Green= Start
Yellow= Warning
Red= Time to Think (report to “Think-Time”) Parent will be notified

Homework

Throughout the past few years there has been a lot of research done on the effectiveness of homework in elementary schools. Through research synthesized by John Hattie, a researcher from the University of Melbourne, he found that homework’s effectiveness at the elementary school level has a limited effect on student’s growth. For this reason, I have decided to only send home reading homework. I am glad to share the research if you have any questions.

On the next few pages, I will give you more information about how homework will look this year.

Reading Minutes

I will send home a calendar the first week of school to keep track of your child’s reading minutes. Because your child will only be required to read each week, I expect them to read five days a week for a minimum of 20 minutes. Students may read anything to receive their reading minutes (e.g. magazine, novel, short stories, etc.) Please sign on the line at the end of every week and return the calendar inside your student’s homework folder every Thursday.

Lexia Units

Lexia is an online reading program that the entire school implements in the classroom. All students must meet their Lexia units each week. The amount of units your child is required to meet each week is based on the number of minutes your student is assigned. Minutes are assigned to students based on reading level, comprehension skills, and decoding skills. Students will have the opportunity to complete most of their Lexia units at school. However, any additional units that your student does not meet at school will need to be done at home. If your child consistently struggles to meet his or her Lexia units each week, we will create a personalized plan for him or her together.

Spelling

Instead of traditional spelling words, this year we will be focusing on decoding multisyllable words. We have found this skill to be difficult for many students this age and have found that difficulty decoding multisyllable words impacts reading comprehension. I will be implementing a 5 minute routine, daily, in our classroom. This routine will focus on syllable types and patterns and the vowel sounds that are associated with those syllable types. This understanding will provide students with greater ability to decode words that are more than one syllable. There is nothing required at home for this program. I will not be sending home a spelling list and there will not be weekly spelling tests. However, I feel this program will be very beneficial for your students and will provide them with skills that will ultimately improve both their spelling and comprehension skills.