Mr. Mendez Headquarters

Dear EKA families,

     Hello and a big welcome to the 2011-2012 school year.  My name is Angel Mendez and I will be the new fourth/fifth grade advisor.  I hope summer brought relaxation and reenergized the minds for a new school year. 

     I am from the Los Angeles area and attended University of California, Irvine for my Bachelors in Psychology and Criminology in 2004.   Education has always been a passion of mine, and later decided to pursue my love of knowledge and teaching as a profession. I then attended University of Southern California for my Masters in Education. I relocated to Las Vegas where I have worked in CCSD as well as another charter school.  This will be my fourth year as an elementary teacher.

Expectations       

I expect students to give maximum effort in all of their work.  I also put a lot of responsibility on students for their learning.  I understand the need for parent help on homework and projects and encourage help as needed.  However, I ask parents to please allow students to complete their own work.  I would rather a student turn in an assignment that they have completed and learned from, than an assignment that was done by a parent, but is complete. 

Respect and tolerance are two other key components of the classroom environment.  I expect that students treat each other, themselves, and adults with these ideals; I will also do the same. 

Discipline Plan

The discipline plan will only be implemented when a student breaks classroom rules.

One strike: warning

Two strikes: letter written home describing actions of student that must be signed by parent and returned to school. 

Three strikes: an immediate phone call to parents. 

Students will be able to reduce their strikes by “getting back on track.” Positive classroom behavior may result in strikes being erased for a student. This way, a student can always strive to correct their mistakes.

Students are models for other students in the class. Therefore, students that model appropriate behavior and attitudes are also rewarded with a “Caught Being Good” ticket to inform parents of their excellent citizenship.

Individually students have cards in which they move up and down on behavior.  Students all start out on neutral area.  If they are doing great and role model to other students they can move to blue “home run” they will earn a ticket in which they can cash in later for goodies. 

They get a verbal warning before moving to yellow “strike one”.  If problems persist they move down to red “strike two” at which point they will need to write a letter that must be signed by a parent. 

As a class students are in a competition against the teacher.  At the end of their time period whoever has the most point wins.  Classes have already decided what they would like to earn(ie party, recess, iPad time). These competitions are on a montly basis. 

Students earn points doing what they should be doing as students.  Listening, following directions, lining up nicely, respecting peers/teacher, completing homework, having appropriate classwork etc.   If teacher needs to remind students of any of these things teacher receives a point. 

Starting this last quarter I am attempting a new way to communicate with parents about missing assignments while still holding students accountable. 

When an assignment is not turned in on its due date a yellow quarter sheet of paper will be filled out by the student explaining the date, assignment, reason why the assignment was not completed, followed by my signature.   The very next day the M.A.R.S is due signed by the parent along with the original homework assignment. 

If the assignment AND M.A.R.S. are not turned in the next day the student will spend their recess time considering their responsbilities as a student and writing a motivational paper.

I hope this will help parents feel better informed and for students to take responsbility in their school work.