Mr. Keafer's Website

What To Expect for 2023-2024

Mr. Keafer’s Classroom

We are incredibly excited to be able to share this year with your children and your family.  We will have a lot of stimulating opportunities for students to engage, learn, and grow throughout the school year, and we look forward to seeing what they will be able to accomplish!

Your children will have a homeroom teacher in their grade level, and they will spend the majority of the day in that classroom. They will come to see me for primary reading, writing, and/or math instruction, depending on their needs and their Individualized Education Plan. I will also be co-teaching some lessons alongside the classroom teachers.

Mrs. Baker:  Mrs. Baker is new to us as of October of this year.  She is excited to be a part of the classroom to assist students in their learning journeys. 

Reading: We will be using the Wonderworks curriculum for our main reading program, with a focus on increasing sight word recognition, vocabulary, reading fluency, and comprehension. We will also have a heavy emphasis on phonics and the science of reading, where we will utilize either the Phonics Blast or HD Word phonics curriculum from Really Great Reading. 

Writing: For writing we will be working on various skills throughout the year with the goals of increasing spelling skills while being able to create excellent paragraphs that include clear and complete sentences. We will use the SRA Language for Writing curriculum as well as the Wonderworks writing components, Daily Language Review, and the Four Square Writing Method.  

Math: For math, we will utilize Connecting Math Concepts and some components of Everyday Math, with a focus on the important benchmarks, while providing foundational lessons to help increase students’ understanding and build independence. 

Website: I will post weekly lesson plans, homework, and practice pages each session to my website.  The practice pages are very helpful in giving an opportunity to utilize weekly skills at home independently.  You can access my website through the CT website, the link at the top of this paper, or I will share a link in the weekly Remind post. 

Remind: Second and Third grade teachers utilize the Remind app frequently in order to communicate important information.  I will also be utilizing Remind this year to post homework and other communications. I will post to Remind the week before a new homework session starts, so you will have some early access to upcoming content.  Please see the attached sheet for information on how to sign up for Remind.

Homework: Students will be asked to review weekly vocabulary, spelling, and sight words each night of the week using different techniques provided by the teacher. This practice will culminate in a spelling, sight word, and/or vocabulary assessments most Fridays. For weeks where we miss days, the homework/testng window may be extended out to the next Friday to give more time and opportunity to build skills. Students may also receive math homework to enhance our daily lessons. Homework for my room will not begin until the week of 9/5/2023.

Homework is a tool for enhancing learning and making connections throughout the day.  It does not need to be a daily battle.  If your child is having difficulty completing the homework load, please contact me and we can discuss some strategies and options.

A paper copy of the weekly homework will be sent home in an ORANGE homework folder, but it can be accessed any time on my class website as well as in my weekly Remind post. The only item that needs to be returned is the checked/completed homework sheet with your signature.

**Students may also be given homework in those classes that I am not their primary instructor. Please refer to grade level homework policies for questions regarding homework in other classrooms. Please check student agendas daily for homework in other classes.  Please feel free to discuss these assignments with that teacher, or do not hesitate to come to me with any concerns.

Spelling and Vocabulary: Spelling and vocabulary assessments will take place on each Friday when homework is due. While we do cover these skills extensively throughout the week, the homework packet is also designed to help increase these skills and prepare for these assessments. I have found that most students who work to complete the homework packet also tend to have increased success on these assessments.  

Accelerated Reader: All CT Elementary students participate in Accelerated Reader (AR).  In our classroom, AR books and quizzes are not used as grades, but as continued motivational tools and reading fluency and comprehension practice.  Each week students will choose 2-3 books from our AR library.  They will then read those books throughout the week. I am a firm believer in the importance of repeated reading in building fluency and comprehension, so students should read each book several times throughout the week.  

AR books will be able to be sent home as part of our classroom homework folder.  Please feel free to have your child read them on their own, with you, or you can read to them.  The goal is to become as familiar as possible with those books. On most Fridays, students will then have the opportunity to take comprehension quizzes on those books to earn AR points towards rewards and prizes.  Please be sure to put the books back into the homework folder EVERY DAY so students will have access to them both at home and at school as much as possible.

If your child reads other books at home, or if you read to them, be sure that they write the title into their AR book log. That way they can also try to take comprehension quizzes on those books during our Friday AR time in order to earn as many points as possible. Students in my room have the opportunity to earn rewards at the end of quarter awards assembly for hitting certain AR points benchmarks throughout the year.

Accelerated Reader books will also begin to come home the week of 9/5/2023 with homework folders.

Meetings and Paperwork:  I will be available to meet during any non-instructional time. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns with the information listed on the top of this sheet, and I will return your contact as soon as possible.  All paperwork needing to be signed will be sent home in a manilla envelope to ensure privacy.  Please return paperwork as soon as possible in order to help facilitate scheduling of meetings and reaching deadlines.  

Behavior: Please review the school-wide behavior expectations below.  These are also the expectations that I will have in the classroom. I am extremely excited to be able to give recognition to all of the strong choices that we will be observing throughout the school year!