MRS. ONSTEAD’S CLASS SCHEDULE (as of 8/4/2025)

7:40-7:50   Announcements & Calendar

7:50-8:00   Morning Meeting                                  

8:00-8:20   Phonics Workshop

8:20-9:10   Reader’s Workshop (Small Groups/Guided Reading)

9:10-9:20   Restroom Break & Snack

9:20-10:10    Writer’s Workshop (Independent Writing)

9:50-10:20    Success Time

10:20-10:40  Recess

10:40-10:50  Daily Numeracy

10:50-11:25   Math Workshop

11:25–12:15  Special Areas

12:15-12:30  Math Workshop continued

12:30-12:40  Building Fact Fluency

12:45-1:15    Lunch

1:15-1:35     Recess

1:35-1:45     Read Aloud (Rest & Digest)

1:45-2:05     Handwriting/Grammar/Interactive Writing/Shared Reading

2:05-2:40     Science & Social Studies

2:40-2:45 Clean/Pack up

2:45-3:00     Reflection/Class Meeting/Read Aloud

3:00              Dismissal 

Special Areas Schedule

Day of the Week                      Special Areas

Monday                                 Rotation beginning on 8/18

Art, PE, Music, PE

Tuesday                           Music

Wednesday                          PE                          

Thursday                               Art

Friday                                    PE                         

          **Please have your child wear comfortable clothes and tennis shoes on PE days: Wednesday, Friday & every other Monday**

Grading & Report Cards

Our grading system is as follows:

3 - Meets Expectations—consistently demonstrates proficient understanding and applies skills independently with minimal teacher support. 

2 - Making Progress—demonstrates initial stages of understanding; applies skills but requires teacher intervention and reinforcement.

1 - Insufficient Progress—demonstrates a lack of understanding; difficulty accomplishing grade level tasks; re-teaching consistently required

Important Information about Snacks

We will have a daily snack time during the day.  Please provide a water bottle for your child to keep in their cubby. Children are only allowed to have water.  

We DO have food allergies in our classroom and any snack sent from home will need to follow the allergy guidelines (no nut products, please).

Parents will be responsible for sending an individual snack for his/her child daily.

A snack should be small and nutritious.  Examples of healthy snacks include:

 o Fresh fruit (bananas, apples, grapes, orange slices)

o Fresh vegetables (carrots, snap peas, celery)

o Cheese

o Crackers

o Raisins

o Pretzels

The snacks need to be easy to open and not require a utensil for eating. Please remember that a snack is not a treat. Cookies, snack cakes, greasy chips, and candy of any kind are not acceptable because they do not give lasting energy necessary for attention and learning. 

Special Celebrations

Class parties will be held 3 times per year (Winter, Valentine’s and End of the Year) and they will be during a designated time slot at the end of our instructional day. We will let you know as we near our celebration times.

Birthdays - We love to celebrate birthdays!  You are welcome to send a treat and I will pass it out after lunch and recess.  If you send invitations to school, please send one to all students in our class.

Conferences

I will be scheduling parent/teacher conferences with each family in October.  You are always welcome to request a conference with me at any time.  Please email me to schedule a conference.  I would love to meet with you during my conference time from 11:25-12:15 or after school.  

Volunteers

For safety reasons, every volunteer needs a criminal background check EVERY YEAR to work at Nelson and to attend field trips.  You can fill out the background check online.  You do not need a background check to visit with your child at celebrations in the classroom. 

Class Rewards

We are focusing on rewarding whole classes for working together for good behavior.  We will have a CHAMPS chart that we can earn stickers for.  Once we filled up the chart (20 stickers =20 class compliments), we will celebrate with extra recess, pajama day or electronic day!

Classroom Virtues & Consequences

We have one main rule in our class: “You may do anything in this classroom as long as it is not a problem for you or anyone else”.  We use virtues as guidelines and decide how to behave based on them.  Our classroom virtues are responsibility, respect, honesty and self-control. 

If a child is disrupting or misbehaving, I use the “Love and Logic” approach, by giving them plenty of choices within limits (i.e. “You can either sit here on the floor quietly or move to your desk quietly”).  I try to give a child the opportunity to make a good choice.  If a child continues to show disruptive behavior, I ask them to move away from the group.   If the behavior escalates, we will follow the school procedures on disciplinary action.  I hope that we can solve our problems quickly and effectively in the classroom, without resorting to outside help. 

We are trying to encourage responsibility for our actions.  If you have questions, just write me a note or send an email, and I will get back with you.  Thanks for all that you do!!