Welcome Letter

Post date: Jul 31, 2017 9:35:57 PM

               Welcome to the 2017-2018 School Year

Dear Second Grade Families,

This year will be a little bit different for all of us as many of us already know each other and know the expectations. This will help to get our year off and rolling even quicker than usual. This is a rather long message, but please read all of it so we are all on the same page. All of my newsletters (usually posted on Friday night or Saturday morning) will be posted on this website and will not be sent home in paper form (if you do not have internet access please let me know). It is very important that you check this website every weekend so you know what is going on in our classroom.

Here are a few things to know (or remind you of) about my classroom:

*Students should not be bringing toys of any kind to school. If for some reason they must be brought to school they are to stay in the backpack all day.

*Students should bring a water bottle back and forth to school everyday!! This is very important as students need to stay hydrated and leaving the classroom frequently interrupts the learning that is going on.

*School starts at 7:55 and it is very important that students are not late if at all possible.

*Students should know each day If they are having lunch from home or what choice they will be having from the school lunch. Please make sure your child knows each day what they are having.

*Students should bring a snack to school each day. Please try to have snacks be healthy in nature as that will help students to have good energy for the day. No candy or soda please.

*Please make sure that your child has sneakers on PE day and appropriate outside gear for the weather.

*Parents should not be walking their student to the classroom in the morning. I know all of these students well enough to know that they are capable of independently coming in and getting ready for the day.

*Please send a note or call the office if there is going to be a change to the normal routine (bus home, parent pick up etc) at the end of the day.

*If you are going to send birthday invitations to be handed out at school you will need to invite all students in the classroom. If that isn’t something that you want to do then you will need to find a way to invite people outside of school.

*Please do not send in any birthday cupcakes or other whole class snacks to school without checking with me first.

*Volunteers- I have had great the fortune to have wonderful volunteers in the past. This year I will again to be asking for volunteers (after the first few weeks of school or once we have settled into a routine). This year my focus for volunteers will be prep work (you know all the copying, cutting, and laminating that I would be doing outside of normal school hours). I may occasionally ask someone to help with an in-class project or something, but most of the time it will be prep work. So if you are interested in helping out please send me an e-mail and once we are up and running I will be in touch.

Behavior Plan: This year I am going to start the year with a less formal behavior plan (no clip chart or dojo etc). I believe that students have “jobs” to do and it’s important for them to understand it’s an expectation that they are doing their job. Students who are not following the classroom rules will be prompted to make better choices. If they continue with the behavior that is interfering with their learning or the learning of others they will be asked to think about making better choices during our afternoon activity break/recess. If students are struggling with behavior consistently (more than once or twice in a short period of time) the parents/family will receive a note home from me. I like to give students one or two chances to change their behavior on their own before bringing parents in. The note going home will tell parents the specific behavior(s) that I have been seeing and will ask that you talk with your student about making better choices. I am hopeful that any undesired behavior will subside after this, if not I will be in close contact with parents to make a plan for how to help the student do their job.

So what about students who aren’t having difficulty following the class rules? Well, in the past I have had a treasure box and at the end of a week if the students had earn a certain amount of points they got a prize. The tracking of points and time that it takes can be cumbersome so this year I am not starting off this way. This year I will still have a treasure box, but prizes will be awarded at random times to students who are exhibiting behavior that shows they are doing their jobs. This will allow me to reinforce positive behavior expectations in a less rigid way.

So my goal with this less formal behavior plan is that students get what they need both to extinguish any undesired behavior and reinforce positive behaviors. This plan is only for our classroom rules. Any infractions of our school rules will follow the school behavior rubric.

Supplies list: These items will be shared within the classroom unless noted otherwise

*Either a small binder or sturdy folder to be used as a home/school folder that will go back and forth each day. This is where you should put any notes or lunch money that needs to get to me. (this will not be a shared item)

*Yellow regular boring old pencils – Ticonderoga’s are the best but any will do

*a box of tissues

*a container of Clorox or Lysol wipes

Optional Supplies: (basically things that we use a lot and often run out of or things that I don’t buy with budget money)

*Individually packaged snacks (in case someone forgets theirs). Please keep in mind we do have a peanut allergy in our classroom.

*Expo Markers- Black is the best, but I never turn down expo markers

I am sure I have forgotten to tell you something, but I think this was a good start. Please email me if you have any questions. I am VERY excited for this new school year I hope you all are as well. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

~Mrs. Gower