St. Mary's Grade School

Homework Policy

Homework is due at the beginning of class on the following day that it was assigned, unless an alternate date is given to the entire class.

Late work is cause for disciplinary action.  Generally, late work will result in a demerit.  Excessive late work will result in a Think-About-It.  Long term projects that are not turned in on time will result in a Think-About-It.

In addition to the above policy, all missing work must be turned in before a student is able to participate in special events or parties.

Corrections

Only assignments with a 77% or lower (D+ and below) are able to be corrected.  These papers will be marked with "ReDo" or "Correct" next to the score.  Turning corrections back in is up to the student.  I do not require them to be completed, but I do keep track of all students that turn them in, or do not turn them in.  Tests and projects are not able to be corrected.




ISN, Study Guide & Vocab Cards

The 5th & 6th grade SS programs do not have a regular textbook that is used in class.  Therefore we create an Interactive Student Notebook (ISN) as the year progresses.  These consist of articles, worksheets, notes pages, and other items that will be glued into a composition notebook.  Their ISNs are very important as they will use them to fill out their study guides that will be used for test preparation.  Each page/activity is worth 10 points.  These points are a large portion of their social studies grade.

Study guides will be given at least 2 days prior to any test that is given.  These study guides will narrow down the information that they will need to know for their test.  However, students are welcome to study their ISN at any point throughout our topic study.  

As each topic study progresses, we will also be focusing on vocabulary words.  Students are required to create "vocab cards" for their words.  These cards have the vocab word on one side of the card and the definition on the other side.  Students will need to use these along with their ISN and study guide to prepare for each test.

Extra Credit

Extra credit is available through the "Where is Mrs. G" challenges that you will find on the left side menu of my web page.  There are 6 pictures that will be posted each 9 weeks.  Each picture will have 5 questions for students to try to answer.  These challenges may be completed at any time during the quarter and must be turned in by the last day of the quarter in order for me to give credit for that grading period.  Up to 30 points may be earned if all challenges are completed correctly.  

Occasionally I will give out other extra credit assignments to the entire class.  As a general rule, I do not give out individual extra credit assignments as the "Where is Mrs. G" is available for any student to complete at their leisure.




Student Absences

Because much of our content is presented through classroom discussion and conversation, regular attendance is very important.  Those students who are absent may need to come in before or after school to get caught up as we generally do not have time during their class period to complete make-up work. 

Students are given one extra day to turn in their homework for each day they were absent.  If a student receives their homework prior to being gone for a planned absence, it is due when they return.  

Students are responsible for making sure all of their work from any absence is caught up.

Extended absences (3 days or longer) may be handled differently.




Tests & Grading

Tests are given over the information covered in each chapter.  Each test is approximately 20 questions.  Test questions have a variety of formats including fill-in-the-blank, matching, true & false, and short answer.  Students will also answer a short essay question for every test. 

Each test will be entered into the grade book as 100 points possible, and the percentage correct will be the points earned.  For example: 95% would be entered as 95/100 points.  The essay portion of each test will be entered separately. 

ISN pages/activities are worth 10 points each.  The point value of all other assignments will be determined by the number of questions on the assignment.  Most assignments that are not included in the ISN are worth 5-15 points.