Absences
Please be reminded that SAIL is a language immersion school.
Daily attendance is very important for your child’s language acquisition success.
Should your child be sick, please send in a note of excuse so that your child will be marked as excused!
If you do not send in a note, your child’s absence will be counted as unexcused.
For trying to get longer absences excused, like traveling to a German speaking country for educational purposes, a request form, available at the front office, needs to be filled out and be approved by administration.
Please email your attendance absence to: attendance.sail@cms.k12.nc.us
Bathroom
We will be taking scheduled restroom breaks throughout the day. All children will use the bathroom before dismissal.
If your child has a medical condition requiring her/him to go frequently, please let our school nurse and me know.
Behavior management
EE Waddell Language Academy uses the PBIS approach to manage student behavior. Please refer to the EE Waddell Language Academy website for information on PBIS.
We will be using ClassDojo as well.
Expect emails and notes from me with updates on how your child is doing behavior-wise in class.
Birthdays
Birthdays are special days and we celebrate each child’s birthday.
Parent(s)/guardian(s) are encouraged to bring in a special birthday treat and join our birthday celebration. In order to protect instructional time, please bring the birthday treat at lunch time or at snack time. You can also drop it off in the morning in the office. Please make sure that you do not bring any homemade and nut containing items in as treats. For more information, please visit the EE Waddell Language Academy website and check out the rules and regulations under “Celebration Policy”.
Bringing in mascots, clowns, etc. is not allowed.
Red Folder
Your child will receive a red folder, the parent/guardian communicator. That folder will contain homework and important information. Please check the folder daily and return the folder every day to school.
Book bags
Please no book bags with wheels.
Bus riders
Arrival:
In the morning, bus riders will walk to the cafeteria and wait there until they can come to the classroom at 7:45.
Car riders
Arrival
If you child is a car rider, please follow the signs to visitor parking, park your car and walk your child to the classroom.
Once your child wants to come to the classroom by herself/himself, drop your child off at the designated drop- off location. Your child needs to be in the classroom by 8:15.
Departure
Car riders will go to the cafeteria and wait for their number to be called. If you need a number for your child, please talk to the secretaries in the front office.
Classroom Rules
Be a respectful, a responsible and a polite kind student.
In order to learn best, you need to be an attentive listener during instruction.
Treat others nicely.
Do not tattle. Learn working out problems amongst yourselves.
Do not interrupt a person who is talking. One person at a time talks.
Share materials nicely with other students.
Always raise your hand and wait your turn if you want to make a contribution.
Always give your best and take your time.
Work quietly during independent work
If the teacher gives a quiet signal (clapping sequence, triangle or hand in the air signal) you need to stop, look and listen.
When done with work at the table or in centers, it is expected, that you first clean up after yourself before moving on.
For everybody’s safety, walk in the classroom and refrain from running.
Obey school and classroom rules.
Conferences
After the first quarter, a parent/guardian- teacher conference is required by CMS. Closely monitoring your child’s academic and social- emotional development, I will invite you for a conference as soon I observe any problem in above area. In order to maximize your child’s learning and ensuring emotional well-being in the school environment, I build on your cooperation and openness. We both, parent(s)/guardian(s) and teachers need to be partners in your child’s educational journey.
Dress Code
SAIL requires wearing a school uniform every day, including Friday. Acceptable colors are khaki, navy and red, as well as SAIL Spirit Wear.
Please no sweatpants and shoes with wheels, open-toe or shoes that light up!
In the event your child is not in a uniform, your child will be sent to the office to get an appropriate outfit.
Drills
Students and staff need to be prepared for situations, which hopefully will not occur. The children will need to practice what to do in the event of a fire, a tornado or a lockdown. Lockdown drills are always a very sensitive issue, but we are living in a country where people are allowed to wear firearms and we all need to know what to do in a situation requiring a school lockdown.
Homework
On Mondays your child will receive homework. Homework will be checked weekly on Fridays. A very important part of homework is daily reading. Please log your child's reading in the reading log in in the red folder. Please write how many minutes your child read and title of the book.
Instruction/Instructional time
Instructional time starts at 8:15 and ends at 3:00 for 1st grade. If your child is a car rider, make sure your child is in the classroom by 8:15. German Immersion in 1st grade at SAIL Academy is a full immersion program. Your child will be taught the North Carolina Standard Course of study in German for the full day, except during specials. For detailed information on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study contents and objectives for 1st grade, please visit www.ncpublicschools.org. English will be taught from 3rd grade on.
Lunch
Our school rule is, that the first 10 minutes are reserved for eating; talking is not allowed. Should a student continuously talk or play during those 10 minutes, she/he will be seated away from the group for silent lunch.
After 10 minutes of silent lunch, the students may talk quietly.
You are invited to join your child for lunch. Please allow at least 4 weeks into the school year to do so until the students are familiar with the lunch routine. When joining your child, please come to the cafeteria and not to the classroom.
Medications
Please let the school, the school nurse and me know about any medical condition your child has, which might requires her/him to take medication/receive medical treatment during school hours (e.g. asthma inhaler). Any medical condition is important for us to know, so that we can ensure your child’s safety and well- being.
Reading/Writing…How can I help my child?
Any educational activity you do with your child in English benefits your child in the foreign language. If it is math, science, reading or writing. What you do with your child impacts your child’s performance in school. Not only must your child learn the language, but your child also needs to learn and to understand concepts in a foreign language!
If you work on math concepts with your child, or you work on science concepts with your child, e.g. the cycle of a butterfly, your child will then already know the concept and clearly can make connections to the new vocabulary, since she/he already knows the vocabulary and the concept in English!
Reading to and with your child is very important. In order for your child to develop strong English literacy and language skills (spelling, vocabulary, etc.), which then have a positive effect on the immersion target language literacy, provide your child with daily reading experiences. Read to your child and talk about the story with your child. Once your child has learned to read in English, practice reading fluency! Besides providing your child with ample reading experiences, make sure to also provide your child with writing experiences of all kinds (labeling items in the house, writing a shopping list, writing a thank you note, responding to a story, etc.)
Rewards
Most importantly, positive reinforcement and ongoing, encouraging and supporting verbal praises
Treasure box at the end of the week
a shopping store reward system starting with the 2nd quarter (students will learn about money, coins, coin value and change). Students will receive play money at the beginning of the week. They can earn more during the week and use it on Fridays to buy things from the class store/treasure box.
Show and tell
I encourage “show and tell” as a way of practicing communication/language skills as well as a way for a child to express her-/himself in different ways. I encourage students to bring in things like nature items for raising awareness of nature and things surrounding us, or self made creations/artwork, etc. Friday’s is show and tell day.
Snack
We will have an afternoon snack every day. If you want your child to have snack, you need to send in snack from home with your child. I do not have parent(s)/guardian(s) provide weekly snacks for the whole class. If you would like to donate snacks for emergencies (a student who forgot snack), I'd appreciate it very much.
Toys
I kindly ask you to not have your child bring in any toys from home. Toys can be a distraction from instruction. Toys might get lost or broken, causing upset to the child who brought in the toy. Furthermore, a toy can become an object of jealousy for the other children.
Transportation changes
If your child needs to go home in a way that is different from the usual way, (e.g. your child is usually a bus rider and needs to go home as a car rider), you need to send a written change in transportation note. Please send in a written note in the blue folder, email me AND the office, or call the school’s office. If the office or I do not receive any written change in transportation notice, your child will be sent home the usual way! The email for transportation changes is: carbus.sail@cms.k12.nc.us
Visitor Sign- In
In order to keep our children and our school safe, you need to sign in in the front office with LobbyGuard every time you enter EE Waddell Language Academy (morning drop- off at the classroom, joining a celebration, pick- up, lunch visit, etc.). You will receive a visitor’s sticker, which you need to wear visibly.
Volunteering
I welcome volunteers to the classroom. Volunteer activities range from chaperoning on field trips, being a room mother/father, being a garden volunteer, making copies, reading books to the students, helping teaching small groups, making teaching materials, help with projects, etc. In order for you to volunteer inside and outside the classroom, you need to receive CMS approval. In order to register as a volunteer, visit www.cms.k12.nc.us, click “Departments”, click “T-Z”, and click “Volunteers and Partnerships”.