Classroom Info
Home/School Communicators – Children are responsible for bringing these folders to and from school every day. These folders are vital to parent-school communication. Please make time to go through this folder each night to check for papers that may need to be returned and those that can be left home. On the front cover is a sheet with information you may find useful.
School Work – Please take time to go over your child’s school work and ask your child questions about what was completed and learned. Invite them to explain it to you! Children love being the expert! Give lots of specific praise and show sincere interest. Class work will generally come home in your child’s Home Folder, soon after it was completed.
Homework – Your child will have homework every night. On most Mondays through Thursdays, homework will include one high frequency word activity and a “Math Homelinks” (a part of our Everyday Math program). In addition, your child should read or be read to about 15 minutes each evening. Please do not skip this important reading practice. Make it a fun part of your child's routine! Homework should not be difficult or too time consuming. If your child is struggling with homework please let me know so we can best serve your child's needs.
High Frequency Words – Each week your child will have six new words to learn through fun activities. These words will come home each Monday with an activity sheet. Please cut apart the words at home and keep them in a bag in a safe and easy to access place at home. You will accumulate nearly two hundred words over the school year and will want to keep them together for future practice. I recommend clipping together old words that the child already knows and clipping together words that still need practice within the bag. The activity sheet must be signed by a parent or guardian and returned by the following Monday. This will begin approximately the third week of school. Weekly words are posted on the homework page for your reference.
Snack – We have snack time each morning. Please send a nutritious snack with your child each day. This is in addition to his/her lunch. In the past I have had parents send in a large bag of pretzels or something nut free that we keep in the classroom in an event that a child forgets their snack, but do not count on this. Please do not send candy, gum, or any liquids. Suggestions include: raisins, cheese and crackers, vegetables, fruit, popcorn, pretzels, goldfish, cheese sticks, etc. We have a water fountain in the classroom for drinks and water bottles can be kept in the child's schoolbag.
Attendance/Dismissal Procedures –
- Absences – a dated note is needed when your child misses school or needs to leave early.
- Tardiness – children must first “check-in” at the office to get an admittance slip before reporting to class.
- Dismissal – a note MUST be sent in if your child is to go home a way other than his/her normal way (i.e. with a friend, a grandparent, etc.). If something arises during the day and you need to change the way your child is going home, you may email me, if it is before 2:00. If this happens after 2:00, please call Mrs. Smith in the school office and she will get the message to me.
Birthday Celebrations – We love to celebrate birthdays in our classroom!
It is a very special day for your child and we want to be part of it. Many parents send in a birthday snack and we sure love that! May I suggest cupcakes, cookies, brownies, munchkins, rice krispy treats (no cakes, please), or non-edible treats such as pencils, bubbles, etc. (Please send in napkins with edible treats.) Birthday treats can be dropped off at the office for us to enjoy at snack time.
Mystery Reader-
The kids really look forward to mystery readers! I typically will take one mystery reader a week. Please email me a few days and times that you would like to come in a week or more in advance and I will work with you to schedule a time. Choose one or two books that will take a total of 10-15 minutes to read to the class. Typically I have mystery readers come in either right before recess at noon, right after lunch at 1:15 or at the end of the day at 3:00.
Volunteers-
Please email me if you are interested in volunteering. I can take volunteers throughout the year for some science lessons, but it is rare that we need them as we already have an aide in our classroom full time. Another way you can volunteer is by sharing some expertise that you have; for example, last year I had a parent do a lesson on Chinese New Year with the students. Please contact me if this is of interest to you. Volunteering as a mystery reader is always welcome. I will also need two volunteers to chaperone our field trip to the Schuylkill Nature Center in the Spring. I will send out an email asking for chaperones about a month prior to our trip and choose two people randomly.
Behavior System-
We have a clip chart system in our classroom. If a student misbehaves I tell them to clip down to the "slow down" section of our chart. If the behavior continues to occur they clip down again the the "teacher's choice" section and must miss recess time to write and have a discussion with me or walk laps for part of morning recess. If the behavior occurs again they will clip down to "contact home" and a note or phone call with go home, as well as, a discussion with the teacher, guidance counselor, or principal and loss of recess.
We also have positive reinforcement systems in place! Ask your child about our warm fuzzy jar in which the entire class must work together to earn pom-poms that lead to a class party when the jar is full. Soon students will also have the opportunity to move their clips up on the behavior chart for kindness and/or acting as a role model for others.
Thank you for all your help and support.