Welcome to Second Grade
Mrs. Sanow
September
8, 2009
Dear Parents,
I
can’t believe how fast summer has flown by.
It is hard to believe that we are at the beginning of another
school year.
Below
I will explain the rules and consequences of the classroom as well as
things you can expect throughout the year.
I have also attached a copy of our classroom schedule.
Rules
and Consequences
Rules
1. I will listen and follow
directions from all adults.
2. I will keep my hands and feet to myself and my own property.
3. I will respect others and their property.
4. God has given me
many gifts and I will use them the best I can!
Every
child will begin the day with a green colored card in our Behavior
Chart. If the child chooses to break a rule after a verbal reminder, his
card will be changed to yellow. Continued misbehavior will result in the
card changing to blue and finally red. The student can earn his green
card back by improving behavior for the remainder of the morning or the
afternoon, meaning he will begin the rest of the day. Children
who are doing a GREAT job will have their cards changed to PURPLE for
positive reinforcement and setting an example for the rest of the class.
Every child will start the day with a green card.
Consequences:
Excellent
Behavior: Card will be
changed to PURPLE.
First Offense: A verbal reminder as a warning.
Second Offense: Change card on behavior chart from green to
yellow and a consequence depending on their behavior.
Third Offense: Change card to blue and a consequence depending on
their behavior and a note home that must be signed and returned.
Fourth Offense: Change card to red and parents will receive a
phone call and a meeting with teacher, parent and child will be set up.
We are also
implementing Honorable Character again this year.
Honorable Character is a program with 14 character words that
have a Bible verse to go along with that word.
Each week I will send home a paper for how your child did the
pervious week. One side is
for honorable character in which they were showing good actions.
The other side is defining character in which they will not
following an honorable character word.
The numbers go with the character word they were or were not
demonstrating. Please
initial on both sides for the right week and return it to school the
following day.
1st and 2nd Grade Combining
This is year going
to be different than what it has been the past several years.
As you all know first and second grade will be combined all day.
Attached is a schedule of how the day will be.
Be aware that the schedule may change in the first several weeks
of the school year. Math,
Reading
, and Religion will be by grade level.
During the times that I am teaching first grade your child will
be working on their work or working in centers.
Centers may be a worksheet on a concept we are learning, a game
on a concept we are learning, working in the creation station (art and
writing), reading (alone or buddy reading), as well as other activities.
During this time I will need the cooperation of all the students
so that the environment is still a learning environment.
Art, Social
Studies, and Science will be combined.
This year we will be working out of the Second Grade curriculum
in Social and Science, next year we will be working out of the First
Grade curriculum. My plan
for now is to do Science during the first and fourth quarter and Social
Studies during the second and third quarter.
My reasoning for this is in Science there are something’s that
may be better to do outside and during the second and third quarter that
is hard to do with the weather. Of
course if there are things that need to be touched on from either
subject during the quarters they are not being taught, I will take the
time to teach it.
Reading
We will continue to
use the Language Arts Basil this year at the second grade level.
This book works on Phonics, Grammar, Spelling, Writing,
Reading
and Comprehension. The
format is very similar to first grade and will review many of the
concepts learned last year as well introduce new concepts.
They will have weekly spelling tests beginning within the first
couple weeks of school. This
year they will have 15 spelling words.
Please be sure to study these spelling words with your child for
their Friday Spelling test. Your
child however this year will not be doing Guided Reading.
They will focus this year on AR.
This year for AR they will have Quarterly Goals.
There first goal for Quarter one is 7 books.
They will need to read them and pass the test to meet their goal.
Even though I will not be pulling them aside to read with them
daily, I will pull them aside at least once a week to read with them
individually.
Homework
In second grade the
students will be bringing home homework every night.
It is not a lot homework and should
not take long to do. Students
will bring home math homework. We
will have done the guided practice side of the paper together as a class
and your child will need to do the homework side at home.
The homework side is the same as the guided practice side just
different questions. As we
get further into the math lessons they will also be bringing home math
facts homework. On occasion
there may be reading homework, but for the most part that will be
finished in class.
My
Goal
My goal for the
year is to motivate the students to be lifelong learners and to teach
the students how to use the gifts that God has given them.
I want to teach them knowledge and skills to
reach their highest potential in an environment that feels
welcoming and safe.
I am looking
forward to a fun and exciting school year.
I will be sending home a newsletter every week.
I will also post the newsletter on the St. Mary’s website.
If you have any
questions or concerns at an time feel free to
contact me at the school or you can email me at lisasanow@hotmail.com.
Also if something comes up in the evening feel free to contact me
at home from 5-10 PM, (507)629-9132.
Sincerely,
Lisa Sanow
St. Mary's School
