Beginning of the Year

Dear Riverview families,

Welcome to our second-grade class. I am very excited to be your student’s teacher this year! The opportunity to teach your student is a privilege and responsibility I take very seriously. I will do my best to motivate, educate and appreciate your student and all the gifts he or she will bring to our classroom. Your help, encouragement and interest in school will also help make your student have a successful school year.

To help me to get to know your student, I am asking for you to write or type a letter introducing your student to me. As the parent, you have a lot of knowledge about your student. The information that you provide will help me understand your child’s needs and interests as well as your goals and concerns. Feel free to either email me at amaat@brps.org or send the letter in with your student when school starts.

Thoughts you could include in your letter:

• Your student’s positive traits

• Your student’s interests and hobbies

• Tips on how to interact with him/her when they are frustrated or upset

• Triggers that may cause frustration

• Types of praise your student responds to best

• Programs/activities he/she is involved in outside of school

• Overall temperament

• Feelings he/she expresses about school experiences

• Strengths and weaknesses (include favorite and not so favorite subjects)

• Concerns you may have

• Anything additional you would like me to know

I am looking forward to getting to know your student this year. Thank you for taking the time to help me get to know your student better. If you have any questions or concerns, please call Riverview at 796-2550 and leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can. You may also send a note with your student or email me at amaat@brps.org

Sincerely,

Mrs. Maat

Homework for our class is a reading log, academic review and to practice spelling. Please read with your student for 15-20 minutes and ask him/her questions. There will also be 5 (one sided pages) of 2^nd grade review material. The spelling list will be attached to the reading log/review material. Homework will go home on Monday and should be returned by the following Monday. Completed and returned homework is part of their grade. Homework packets will not be returned. I recycle the paper after I look at the work.

The spelling list will be sent home on Monday with the reading log. The students will be given a spelling test each semester to determine their knowledge. Based on this information, your student will be put into one of three color groups. I am the only one that knows what ability level correlates with what color. The idea behind a spelling test is so that the student uses the learned spelling rules in their writing not just memorize it for one week. If you feel your student is on too easy or too hard of a group, please feel free to contact me. I will be happy to look at their writing to see if changes need to be made. All lists will be worth 10 points for the spelling and 5 points for common sight words. In addition to the 15 points there will be a sentence. The sentence will not go home with their spelling list. It will be based on spelling patterns he/she should have been previously learned. The sentence will be scored by one point for each word, capitals and ending mark. The spelling test will be on Fridays.

Not all work is graded. Most of the work that is graded is sent home so you can see how your child is doing. You can also check your studen't s grades on Skyward. You can login or apply for access to Skyward by going to brps.org, click on parents and then click on Skyward Family Access

SUPPLIES:

Individual student supplies: Please put your student’s name on items

• One pair of child scissors

• 12 WOODEN pencils (please NO fancy ones with pictures on them – they break the pencil sharpener)

• 4 Large glue sticks 0.77 oz

• 1 - 24 Crayon Box (please no bigger)

• 2 large pink erasers (not pencil tops)

• Small box of colored pencils

• Small box of markers

• 1 small plastic pencil box like the picture

• Backpack

• SMALL Headphones or earbuds in a small zip lock bag with student’s name on it

• 1 - One subject spiral notebook with student’s name on it

• 1 box of tissues for classroom use (I will ask for more when it’s needed)

• No mechanical pencils or handheld pencil sharpeners

Your student will be provided with a 2-pocket folder. This folder should travel from school to home EVERY DAY. Please check it for important notes, homework and completed work. The folder can also be used to put papers/notes to me. Your student is responsible for putting any papers to me in the "Papers From Home" basket. Please replace the folder if the one I provided you gets lost.

During the first week of school, the students and myself will collaboratively decide on behavior guidelines. These guidelines will be posted later in the classroom. If there are no discipline problems, the student stays on proud parking. The folling consequences are for those that still do not follow the guidelines or directions.

1. Move clip to green on the stop light - Warning

2. Move clip to yellow on the stop light - 5 minutes off recess

3. Move clip to red on the stop light - 10 minutes of recess

At the beginning of the year, I like to handle any behavioral problems between the student and myself. He/she needs time to learn classroom expectations. If his/her behavior does not imporve, I will then contact you. If behavior is consistently unacceptable, the student may be sent to the office, I'll email you, or a phone call home may be made.

Transportation Home

School policy states that we need written permission or a phone call to the office for ANY changes in the way your student goes home from school. If I do not receive notice, your student will go home as he/she normally does. We cannot take your student's word that they are going home differently. Please call before 2:30 unless it's an emergency.

Birthdays

If you want your student to celebrate his/her birthday with the class, please provide a store-bought treat. Also, please ask me in advance to ensure that I have enough time to celebrate.

Bathroom Breaks

Due to social distancing, the students will use the bathroom in small groups. I will give the group two times to use the bathroom along with recesses and before school.

Flexible Seating

Flexible seating this year will consist of only the type of seats your student sits in (stool, ball, classroom chair, hokey stool or stadium seat). They will not be changing seats during the day. Adults in the classroom have the right to move seats/students if someone is not following classroom expectations.