Communication: Your child will have a take home folder and planner that will be needed to be brought to school every morning and then brought home at night. The planner and folder will be our main form of communication. Any homework or papers that need to be completed and brought back will be written in the planner. You may also write any notes in the planner about drop off/pick up, or if your child will be gone. The planner will need to be signed nightly by a parent/guardian as a way to ensure the information is being seen. The folder will have a spot for lunch money, monthly breakfast and lunch menu, and weekly homework. Accelerated Reader (AR): At Tracy Elementary we use the program Accelerated Reader (AR) to help with reading comprehension. We use an assessment called Star Reading to get an individual’s independent reading level. This tells us the level your child should be reading independently. Part of our nightly homework is reading an AR book, so they can take a test on comprehension the following day. Many picture books and early chapter books are worth 0.5 points and should be read in one night. Chapter books may be worth multiple points. We want our students to be earning an average of 0.5 a day, so if your child is reading a book worth 2 points, they would have 4 days to complete it. These books should be read independently by your child. They may read them aloud to you, but please do not read the book to your child first!Goal setting is a lifelong skill that we want our 2nd graders to practice and be successful at. We practice this skill by making AR goals. Each night your child will bring home an AR book that is expected to be read and ready to test on the next day. Your child will get points based on how they did on the test. In second grade we believe students should get at least 15 points per quarter. If earning an average of 0.5 a night, it would take approximately 30 days to reach the goal. (Each quarter is about 43 days). If they reach their goal, they get to participate in a grade level AR party at the end of each quarter! If your child does NOT meet their goal, they will NOT be able to participate in the AR party.