**Please Note, information on this page may change before the start of the 2025/26 school year. The updated information will be sent to you by email and will be updated here at that time. **
School hours are from 8:35-3:30. It is important not to drop your child off too early because there is no adult supervision outside the building before the doors open at 8:25 for our soft start. Second graders enter the building by the lower playground. If you arrive after the 8:35 bell rings, be sure to have your child check in at the office before coming to the classroom. The students are directed at the end of the day to leave from the same doors they enter through in the morning. Be sure that you and your child identify a regular meeting spot outside of the school. If your daily plans change, be sure that your child is aware of these changes and please email me or send a note of any special or different arrangements on a specific day. That way I can help him or her remember. If you have a change that your child does NOT know about, please notify the office directly as I often do not have a chance to see emails during the school day.
8:25-8:40 Soft Start activities and explorations
8:45 - 11:50 Literacy Block: We follow the Wonders literacy program for reading, writing, and phonics instruction. We will also be introducing the UFLI program in literacy this year.
11:50-12:30 Lunch and recess
12:30-1:10 - Specials rotates weekly in this order Music, Art, PE. Enrichment Class occurs once a week following specials on Tuesdays. Enrichment includes Library, Tech/STEM, and Councilor lessons.
1:10-2:10 Math: We use Ready Math for math instruction. Weekly letters are sent home with detailed information about the content begin covered.
2:10-2:30 afternoon recess and snack on the lower playground.
2:30-3:30 science and social studies: Topics explored include: civics, history, geography, economics, matter, land changes and land forms, and life sciences.
Because our lunch is early in the day, students are welcome to bring a light snack to eat at afternoon recess. Be sure that it is easy to eat and it is something that is healthy and will help provide energy for the rest of the day.. Please send a water bottle each day that has been cleaned and filled. It is extremely important to have a top that is tight to prevent leaks while it is in the backpack to prevent damage to school materials, library books, and Chromebooks. It is also important that it has a lid that covers the mouth opening in order to keep it safe from germs in the classroom.
Be sure that your child’s clothing follows the Cougar Run dress code. Also, don’t forget Colorado has wild weather so expect the unexpected. Your child should always have a sweater or sweatshirt at school because the temperature in our room is often quite cold. During the winter months your child is welcome to bring snow boots so that he or she can play in the snow during recess.
Birthdays are special occasions and we will celebrate everyone’s birthday together as a class. Every classmate will write your kiddo a birthday letter and we will bind it into a book. If you would like to provide treats for your kiddo's special day you are welcome to,but it is not an epectation. We ask that you only send store made food items or nonfood items. Donuts or cupcakes are always a hit. We will take the treats out with us for our 2:15 recess and enjoy them during snack time before we play. If your student has a summer birthday, we can coordinate a different day to celebrate. Some families like to do it as a "half" birthday and celebrate on their 6th month mark. Others like to pick a day just before school ends in May to celebrate.
If you and your child are planning on having a birthday celebration outside of school we do ask that you not send invitations to school to be passed out, unless you are inviting the whole class. If you have a link for a birthday evite, I can pass the email along.
Other celebrations for holidays and events will occur through the year and emails will always be sent to keep you in the loop.
Each student will have a Chromebook checked out and it will remain at school. A permission form and responsibility contract will be signed before your child receives a Chromebook.
During our first weeks of school, we will not have formal homework sent home. Instead, we will start the school year with a focus on building a love for reading. Please spend some time with your child reading together each day. Later in the year a weekly homework packet will be sent home on Mondays to be completed and returned on Fridays. This packet will be very simple and straight forward. It will correlate with the topics we are exploring in Ready Math and in Wonders. This is a good way for parents to see what skills we are working on. Your student will not be penalized for not completing work, but they can earn stickers for their reward chart for completing it. I also accept late homework. More detailed information will be sent home in my weekly communications when we start homework after Labor Day.
Book orders will come home every few weeks and they are a great and affordable source for reading materials to have at home. I will usually send them home either in the Friday Folders or with the weekly homework. If you wish to order, you are also able to order online. It is easy to do! You can find more information on the link from our home page for book orders. Please be sure to always tell me that you have ordered online because after you place your order it will be in a pending status until I manually send it through. Books usually arrive within about two to three weeks. I also encourage students to order books from the book club because we get free books for our classroom when they do!
Dimino Class Scholastic Code: HK892
I use many different rewards systems in the classroom to reinforce positive behavior. These include team points, classroom points, and individual rewards.
Class points are earned when the entire class is right on task. When we earn 25 class points, the class will then vote on a way to celebrate all of their hard work.
Team points are earned when the table group is doing a particularly great job. The group who earns the most points by the end of the week will get to pick a treasure from the treasure chest.
Individual students work hard to show respect, responsibility and safety. I will recognize students individually with stickers. The students can save their stickers and purchase an activity or item from our rewards chart menu.
I send out a weekly classroom update. This typically will be sent home on Monday. I will share about upcoming activities and events, our weekly learning objectives, and I almost always include some highlights from the week. These updates usually include classroom pictures of the fun and learning we are doing. If you do not want your child's picture sent in our weekly email, please let me know immediately.
Communication is key. Please always feel free to email me.