6th Grade Anderson Elementary Student Handbook

2018 - 2019

FRIDAY FOLDERS: Friday folders will contain district and school notes. These notes will be sent home in the student’s yellow folder. Review any graded papers located in your child’s folder. Compliment them on their handwriting, grades, neatness, original ideas, and areas where improvement has been shown.

ABSENCES: The majority of the learning that takes place at school is through teacher instruction and classroom discussion/activities. Therefore, it is extremely important for your child to be at school and on time. For safety purposes, students may not be dropped off prior to 7:30 am. Students meet in the gym until they are picked up by their teacher and school will begin promptly at 7:50 am.

In the event of an absence, parents should call the school office prior to the start of the day. Messages can be left on the school answering machine before and after office hours. A handwritten note with parent signature should be sent with your child within 3 days upon returning from any absence. If a note is not received within 3 days, absences will be considered unexcused.

MAKE-UP WORK: When your child is absent, please have him/her check with each teacher about the assignments missed in class, to prevent getting too far behind. Make-up work can be requested by 10:00 am on the 2nd day of an absence. Please call the office and the teachers will have work in the office by 3:00 pm. Students will have one day for every day absent to complete make-up work.

DRESS CODE: Please refer to the Allen ISD Student Handbook for the full dress code. This is available online on your teachers’ website or you can request a hardcopy from your classroom teacher. Some of the specific requirements for shirts and shorts are detailed below.

Shirt and Dress Tops

  • Undergarments should not be visible.
  • Tube tops, halters, midriffs, fishnet tops, spaghetti straps, spandex/leotard tops, off the shoulder or tank tops are prohibited.
  • Shirts must be long enough to cover the midriff, even when arms are raised over the student’s head.

Pants, Shorts, Capris, Skirts, Skorts, or Dresses

  • Shorts, skirts, skorts, or dresses must read mid-thigh or longer. The same standard applies to slits or slashes in skirts or dresses. No athletic shorts.
  • All pants, shorts, capris, skirts, and skorts must fit over the hips at the waist.
  • Undergarments should not be visible.
  • Pants must be naturally fitting at the waist and at the crotch. Pants may not sag or bag at the waist or drag on the ground.
  • No tight or form fitting pants, stretch pants, yoga or leggings may be worn unless worn under a skirt, dress, or skort that complies with the dress code.
  • Spandex material, biker shorts, and cutoff are prohibited.

BIRTHDAYS: To avoid hurt feelings among classmates, party invitations should be provided for every student in class, if invitations are going to be distributed at school. Otherwise, the invitations need to be distributed outside of school hours. Parents are encouraged to include their address in the PTA directory as teachers are not able to give out family information.

SNACKS: Students may bring a healthy individual snack and water bottle. Some examples of good, healthy, dry snacks are pretzels, animal crackers, and goldfish. Please avoid snacks containing peanuts, pecans, walnuts or almonds as well as sticky fruit cups, candy, chips, and yogurt tubes.

LUNCH: Students should take their lunch money to the cafeteria manager before school starts. Three entrees will be offered each day. It is helpful to review these with your child prior to school as they will need to tell their teacher their choice when lunch is taken. Because the cafeteria line is cash free, your child will use his/her PIN number at the end of the serving line.

Lunches delivered to school will be placed in the grade level bucket in the foyer. To minimize classroom disruptions, students can find their lunch in the designated bucket. Parents are welcome to eat lunch with their child beginning the week of September 4. Please eat on the stage with only your child. To avoid hurt feelings and to be considerate of others, your child may not have friends on the stage. Also, please understand that you may not bring lunch for another student.

YELLOW FOLDERS: Each student has a yellow folder that contains their agenda, homework, Friday folder information, and graded papers.

COMMUNICATION: Email is the best way to contact us and the easiest way for us to respond. You may also call us directly at the number below. Phone calls and email responses will be returned within 24 hours.

Email addresses: Phone Numbers:

(972) 236-0600,ext. 8211

(972) 236-0600,ext. 8162

(972) 236-0600,ext. 8209

(972) 236-0600,ext. 8190

GRADING: All assignments are late if not turned in on the due date. District regulations state that 10 points will be taken off per school day for late work up to three school days. Students will be expected to record assignments in their yellow folder. Please check your child’s yellow folder for graded papers. We strongly encourage you to sign into Family Access to view all your child’s grades. You can also set up email notification for failing grades and missing work.

DISMISSAL: Car riders: K-2 (and older students with siblings in K-2) will be organized by grade level outside by the gym. Grades 3-6 will be on the east side of the building.

Daycare riders: Students will be organized by daycare and dismissed from the cafeteria outside door.

Walkers and bike riders: Students will be escorted and supervised out the side doors by the cafeteria. Bike riders are to walk their bike, along the sidewalk and meet the walkers, as they are escorted across the crosswalk. For safety purposes, all students should go straight home. If you are picking up your child in a car, please use the carpool line.

TOYS OR ITEMS FROM HOME: We cannot guarantee the safety of your child’s possessions. These items may be collected by the teacher if seen.

PHONES: Phones are expected to be turned off and kept in backpacks until students are off school property. If phones are in use during school day, they will be turned in to the office to be collected by a parent.

CLASS PARTIES: There will be two designated parties a year: Winter and End of Year. The 6th grade room parents are collecting money from every student to cover expenses.

ASSESSMENT: Please do not schedule any appointments on days designated for benchmark, simulation and/or STAAR testing days.

Benchmark: Reading, Math and Science - Week of November 5-9

Simulation: Math - February 19

Reading - February 20

STARR: Math - May 13

Reading - May 14

SCA: Science - May 22

GRADE LEVEL T-SHIRTS: Grade level shirts should be worn on Monday Rally days. Rallies will be held in the gym, on the last Monday of the month, from approximately 7:50-8:05 am. Grade level shirts will also be worn on field trips. Order information for these shirts has been communicated from our 6th grade room parents.

CLINIC: All medication should be dropped off with the nurse. No medication should be kept in the possession of your child including cough drops and throat lozenges.

SIGNING IN AT THE FRONT DESK: When visiting our campus, you will need to ring the bell outside the front door. After ringing the bell and being “buzzed” into the building, visitors will next approach the receptionist window in the office to show ID and receive a visitor’s badge, to enter the hallways or the cafeteria for lunch.

VOLUNTEERS: Let any sixth grade teacher know if you are interested in volunteering. You will be put in contact with the lead volunteers. A background check is needed if you plan to volunteer. Please allow at least 2 weeks for approval. A background check can be completed on line via Allen ISD website.

SPECIAL EVENTS/FIELD TRIPS: Our end of year field trip will be held sometime in May. We are currently exploring various venues to determine what activity would be the best experience for the students. Sixth grade graduation will be held on May23 here at Anderson Elementary. Finally, the last day of school we will be carrying on the tradition of our 6th grade walk. It usually begins at 11:30 am. We encourage you to come and be a part of the final activity of your students’ elementary experience.

CONFERENCES: School conferences will be conducted throughout the school year, usually within the first semester and you will be contacted by your child’s teacher to set up a time to meet. Conferences can be requested at any time.

TUTORING: Tutoring will be offered daily Monday – Thursday. Students are responsible for bringing work or specific questions to receive help from a teacher. Afternoon tutoring will be from 3:00-3:30. Tutoring will begin at the end of September.