Every week I send out a "2nd Grade Weekly News & Notes" email which includes important upcoming information going on in our classroom and at school. If you are not receiving my emails please email me so I can make sure the correct email address is on file for you. melanie.lewis@oside.us
In our classroom we use a colored card system (Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Blue) to monitor behavior. All students start each day on "green" and the idea is to maintain a green level all day by being a good role model and showing good citizenship. When students make poor behavior choices they will need to take ownership and "change their card" to the next color. A card change from "green" to "yellow" means more than one warning was given to change the undesirable behavior. A card change from "yellow" to "orange" resulted from multiple warnings/continued poor choices and students will have a loss of 5 minutes of purposeful play time in the afternoon to reflect on their behavior and how to change it. Changing a card from "orange" to "red" or to "blue" means the student has received multiple warnings/reminders about his/her behavior throughout the day and continues to make poor choices and/or was physical/had to be removed from the classroom; parents are notified by the teacher or administration under these circumstances and students lose all of the day's purposeful play time. If a student is going above and beyond by demonstrating our 8 Character Keys then he/she will receive an honor ticket. The student(s) with the most honor tickets at the end of the week will get to choose something special from the "treasure box."
Every Wednesday, a Santa Margarita "Wednesday Folder" will be sent home with your student. This folder will include important information from the school, along with classwork, assessments, and book order forms. Everything that is sent home is for you to keep and review with your student unless specified otherwise. Please sign the sheet attached to the folder and return your student's Wednesday Folders on Thursday morning along with student homework and homework notebooks.
Once a week, our class will have the opportunity to go to the school library. Students will listen to a read-aloud from our school librarian, and then they will have the opportunity to check out or browse the books. A parent consent form needs to be signed before a student can check out a book. This consent is taking responsibility for the book's condition and to make sure it doesn't get lost. If books are damaged or lost, the library may ask for a replacement fee. Each student can check out/renew one book per week, until a bit later in the year (when we increase privileges to two books per week). Books need to be brought back on or before the day we visit the library, otherwise students can not check out a new book that week. *Our library day/time on Friday Mornings*
Fun Friday is a weekly reward provided for students who have completed their homework. Fun Friday takes place during the last hour on Fridays where students can earn classroom free choice time with lots of options for play (art activity options, games, puzzles, building blocks, device programs, etc...). Students who fail to turn in their homework, or do not complete the minimum requirement, will not be able to participate in this fun weekly event and will instead complete their missing homework during this time.
Scholastic book orders are a wonderful resource if you would like to purchase books for your student to read at home. There are a multitude of different types of books, both fiction and non-fiction, which can interest all readers - at all reading levels. I have an account set up through Scholastic to make this process quite simple. Scholastic Book Orders will go home in the Wednesday Folders, but all orders will need to be placed online using our class code NJFWF. At the end of each month, I will submit the class book order; your student's books will arrive within the next week. The reason I place book orders only once a month is so that we can accumulate the most points. Every dollar spent will give our class points which can be redeemed for more books for our classroom library that students want to read. Ms. Lewis' Classroom Book Club
I always love having consistent weekly volunteers help out in our class, along with parents who are interested in attending future field trips and helping out with special events, celebrations, and special class projects. I will have a sign up sheet at our Back to School Night, and volunteers can usually begin in mid-September, otherwise please email me regarding volunteering. For parents who are interested in volunteering, the school has a strict policy that younger children may not accompany the parent when they are volunteering. This is to limit classroom distractions and for safety concerns in the Teacher Workroom.
**If you are interested in volunteering at Santa Margarita School, please click HERE for the requirements/forms needed to do so.
Birthdays are always an exciting time for elementary students and we love to celebrate each student’s birthday at school during the year. If your student would like to bring in a treat for the class on his/her birthday, please let me know so that I can be sure to plan that into our day. Due to current health concerns/precautions, our student birthday treat celebration procedure has changed just a little bit. According to our district policy, all snacks need to be ordered through our school cafeteria (we can no longer allow store-bought treats on campus). Ordering treats this way is very easy to do and our school cafeteria has some great options such as: ice cream sandwiches, cookies, cupcakes, and other options available for purchase at very reasonable prices. Ordering from the cafeteria is also a great option for treats in order to ensure that even students with particular allergies can have an appropriate treat to celebrate with the class. Please click HERE to visit our school cafeteria’s homepage for more information on what is available and how to order.
Summer Birthday? Don't worry! If your student's birthday falls between June 10, 2026 and the the first day of school in August 2026, then we will plan to celebrate those students during the last week of school in the 2025-2026 school year. More information will be provided as we get closer to the end of the school year.