Dear Families:I am looking forward to this exciting school

year with you! There are so many new things to learn and experience! I have created this packet to inform you of some of the things going on throughout the year!

Physical Education: Please wear or bring gym shoes and girls should wear pants/shorts. Our PE teacher is Mrs. Walby. We have PE on Monday and Wednesday.Music: Our music teacher is Mrs. Carlson. We have Music on Monday and Wednesday. Art: Our art teacher is Mr. Oaks. We have Art on Friday.

Welcome to Second Grade!

Special Area Classes

Guidance: Whole group guidance lessons are done every other week. The guidance counselor is

Mrs. Holle. Our guidance day is Tuesday.Library: Please make sure that library books are returned each week by check-out day. Children are responsible for library books so keep them in a special place. If your child has books at home on check-out day, they are not allowed to take new books. Our library day is Thursday.Lunch: We have a late lunch this year. We will leave our room around 12:25. Please make sure your child has appropriate clothing for a 30-minute recess outside. The children will only remain indoors if there is severe cold or rain. Second graders will eat at 12:30 and play afterwards.

In order for second graders to do their best in school, it is very important that have a great breakfast each morning. Children who eat a good breakfast tend to be more alert, eager, and able to concentrate on their work in the morning. Since our morning is spent on math and language arts, it is

Breakfast

important that their attention is focused on learning. Please be sure they have something for breakfast so they can make it all the way to lunchtime!

If your child is sick and misses school, please make arrangements with me for make-up work to be sent home after the absence. Lessons may not always go as planned and it is hard to predetermine all make-up work ahead of time. In second grade there is more written work the children are accountable for as well as specific goals and vocabulary in science and social studies. There will always be math homework to be made up.

Please send a note if your child will not ride the bus, or will be getting picked up by someone else or dismissed early. Please go to the office and wait for your child when picking up children

Absences

Before School and Dismissal

for appointments. Your child will meet you there. After school, your child will meet you on the playground as all children are dismissed out the playground doors. In the morning, children are to wait in the cafeteria with our class before school with the rest of the class and are not to come to the classroom early unless dropping off a birthday treat or other special item for the classroom.

We do have a snack break in the morning. Again, since we have such a late lunch, I ask that each child come with a nutritional snack each day. There also should be no candy, desserts, any kind of chips, or other foods that have a high sugar or fat content. I feel that this helps to keep the children’s energy level stable to promote optimal learning. The only exception to this rule is birthday and party treats. Healthy suggestions would be: granola bars, popcorn, celery sticks, crackers, graham crackers, fruit snacks, pretzels, apples, cheese, peanuts, raisins, rice snacks, or fruit. Also,

Snack Time

it is important that the snack can be eaten within a 10 minute time period, and not too messy (please pre-peal oranges, cut up apples, etc.) as the children will be working while we have the snack break.

Please make sure that the children wear appropriate dress for the weather. Unless it is raining or very cold, all children go outside. A Cooper School rule is that jackets are required unless the temperature is above 60 degrees. Snow pants and boots are required if the playground is covered in snow and your child wishes to be on the playground equipment. Lunch recess is 30 minutes long.

Lunch money must be sent in a sealed envelope with your child’s name, PIN number and room number on the outside. The kitchen collects money daily. Your child may choose to have cold

Recess

Hot Lunch

lunch during the week. The kitchen also sends a reminder notice for money due. Milk for lunch can be purchased at that time for $0.25. Please do not send lunch milk money to the classroom, but place it inside your child’s lunch box for them to use in the lunchroom. All money that goes to the kitchen should be in an envelope. If you would like to use a credit card for your child’s lunch account you can pay online through Skyward Family Access under the Food Service link.

Please keep your child supplied with pencils and glue. You will be surprised at how much glue second graders feel they need for a project, and how many times they sharpen their pencils. The beginning of the year also brings lots of erasing, so erasers wear our very quickly. There should be no markers or colored pencils sent to school for individual use. If we need these supplies, the children have access to them in the classroom. I will send a note each quarter asking for a renewal of some supplies for your child.

Supplies

Book Club

I will provide the opportunity to order from the Scholastic book club several times this year. If your family wishes to order, please send the money in a sealed envelope with your child’s name on the front. You may send cash or check made out to Scholastic. Items usually take about two weeks from the due date to arrive. You may also order online!

A child’s success in school truly depends on the amount of reading and books a child is exposed to outside the regular school day. Because of this, it is very important that time be spent both reading to your child and having your child read to you. I will quickly begin our small reading groups with books at your child’s reading level and your child will be bringing home individual books in their book bags. I am a firm believer in home enrichment. These books will give you an idea of what skills we are working on at school and give your child important reinforcement at the same time. Please take time to listen to your child read the selection and

Home Reading

discuss our theme activities. It is also important that the books come back to school the very next day! I have a very limited number for use in the classroom. Please sign the book log that is included in your child’s book bag and help them to complete any written work that may be included.In order to better meet the needs of our students in reading instruction, primary teachers may be sharing some children throughout the year. There is a wide range of reading abilities across the primary grades. Therefore, to give the students more time for reading at their instructional level, some of the children may be moving between the second grade classrooms at different times during the school year. This allows us to have fewer levels in each of our own rooms, which means more time for each reading group. We may begin some of these movements amongst the students in the upcoming weeks.

Handwriting

Burlington uses the Zaner-Bloser handwriting program. Our main goal is to help your child write legibly. Many children need to work harder to write neatly and space correctly on the lines. Children will work hard at the beginning of the year to review correct handwriting skills. Cursive handwriting does not start until third grade. Please do not show your child or try to instruct them in cursive until then. Manuscript skills need to be mastered first!

Writing in second grade will focus on skill development. There will be lessons throughout the week on grammar components such as punctuation, capitalization, plurals, homophones, parts of a sentence, etc. Individual mastery of skills is important, but application in writing pieces and in other subject areas is essential. Other writing lessons include forms of writing and the writing process. Mini-lessons also work to help the children use the 6+1 Traits of Writing. These traits that

good writers use are called: Ideas, Conventions,

Writing and Skill Development

Word Choice, Voice, Fluency, Organization and Presentation (or Publication). Writing lessons will include instruction in these traits, and you will notice self-evaluation by the student in these areas.

Each week (usually on a Monday) the students will bring home a spelling list, which is based on our phonics study for the week. It will be attached to Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe which has suggestions for ways to study for the tests. This is homework and is due on the day of the test. Spelling tests will most often be on Fridays.Each reading unit has 5 or 6 vocabulary words that are introduced and used in the selections in the student books. These will be presented on Mondays and your child will be making flashcards (on index cards) in class. These flashcards will be sent home every day so he/she can practice their words before the weekly assessment on Fridays.

Students will also be encouraged to use the words in their writing piece that week.

Spelling and Vocabulary

Compass Learning is an online program meant to increase academic achievement. Students will be allowed to use their “virtual backpack” throughout the week. They can also access their “virtual backpack” at home to complete activities on their own. Activities are sequential, based on their abilities and their MAP testing scores. The website for Compass Learning is: https://www.thelearningodyssey.com/. The children use their lunch pin for a log-in and the password is cooper with the school listed as BASD. Students may also get targeted learning paths as they work more directly on one area in math or language arts and there are additional activities that your child may use in science and social studies. Reports come to me each week indicating progress in each activity they have attempted. An acceptable score is 80% and students with scores below that must repeat the activity showing mastery of learning. Reports you see come home will indicate the

scores on that week’s work.

Compass Learning

Daily 5

Daily 5 is a literacy structure that allows differentiation in the classroom and provides consistency. It helps students develop the daily habits of reading, writing, and working independently that will lead to a lifetime of literacy independence. Children will choose a center such as Work on Writing, Word Work, Read to Self, Read to Someone, or Listen to Reading. I believe that children should read to become better readers and write to become better writers. Children will use these centers during guided reading time. During this time, I will be working with small groups at their reading level on text and skills for the week.

RtI or Response to Intervention is a method of

academic intervention used at Cooper School to provide early, systematic assistance to children who are having difficulty learning or need enrichment activities in math or language arts. RtI seeks to prevent academic failure through early

RtI

intervention, frequent progress monitoring, and increasingly intensive research-based instructional interventions for children. These small intervention groups meet once a day for 30 minutes each for math and language arts. These groups are flexible and constantly changing based on skill needs throughout the year and are integrated into our math and language arts times.

At the end of each week you will receive a newsletter for the next week. This will show the topics that will be studied, test dates, special activities, early release days, days off, and other important information that I am aware of at the time. Please look for it in your child’s folder and look it over carefully!

Weekly Newsletter

If you do not have email you should let the office know, as many notices are sent through email from the office.

Watch for unit newsletters torn from your child’s math book to introduce you to the concepts students will be learning about in school. Due to the hands-on nature of our math program the children complete many game type activities at school and there is homework almost every night. Please be sure to do the homework activity with your child, as it is an integral part of the lesson taught. It is a mirror to the daily classroom lesson. Remember to look at the days class work to help with homework. Please return the math homework to school the next day because we will be doing the “remembering” side of the worksheet in class. Students will pretest at the beginning of each unit, which will help me to place them into math workshop groups for that unit of instruction. Some students may receive challenge work for a unit based on this pretest data. Each unit has unit tests, Quick Quizzes, and Fluency Checks. Unit tests will be preceded with a unit review which looks

Math

exactly like the unit test. Children will be expected to master facts to 20 in both addition and subtraction. Fluency Checks throughout each unit help to demonstrate learning of the facts.

You will notice a big change in the expectations in science and social studies this year. Our units of study have specific outcomes and will look more traditional than the seasons and holidays your child concentrated on in first grade. The children will be expected to learn vocabulary and concepts and will be tested at the end of most units on their level of understanding. Be sure to keep the study guides that come home as well as the newsletters to help keep informed of test dates.

There is reading and spelling homework on a daily basis as well as the need to study for math,

Science and Social Studies

Homework

science, and social studies tests. Any unfinished daily assignments will need to be completed at home as well. As previously mentioned, there is one double sided math homework sheet every night! On average, students should spend about 30 minutes on homework each night. Homework that is not completed will require the student to miss part of morning meeting and will be reflected as missing or late on the report card.

Please check your child’s backpack every night. It is your child’s responsibility to empty his/her mailbox at the end of each day. I provide enough time for the children to do this so there is no reason to find crumpled papers! A take home folder is a requirement. The children may take things from their mailbox and put them in the folder so schoolwork comes home in a neat

manner. On the right side of their folder will be things that should be kept at home, on the left side will be things that should be returned to school (such as permission slips, papers that need signatures, etc.). Feel free to label the pockets

Backpacks/Planners

before school starts (keep at home; return to school)! Please check both sides! We will keep the take home folders in our desks and put things in them throughout the day. The children will also be receiving an assignment notebook/planner in which they will record each day what homework is due for the next day or reminders about tests. I check their entries before it comes home to you, and I ask that you initial the planner every night. This is a good place to write a quick question or note to me as well. Children receive a sticker if your signature is there from the previous day. In addition to the weekly newsletter, other important notices do come home that need your immediate response.

These are the basic rules in our classrooms. These

rules will be in effect at all times: Follow directions the first time they are given Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself No loud noises, name-calling, or teasing Raise your hand and wait to be called on

Discipline PLan

Be quiet in the hallways and bathroomsIn our classroom we will use a clip-up and clip-down system. This chart is at the front of the classroom by the door and each child has their own clothespin with their name on it. If a child chooses to continue to break the rules after they have been given a fair number of reminders, the child will be asked to clip down. If the child is doing things that are positive and help not only our classroom, but our school, become a better place to learn they will be asked to clip up! All students will start on “ready to learn” every day. Here is how the system looks:

Super Student Way to Go Excellent Effort

Ready to Learn Make Better Choices Teacher’s Choice Parent Contact

Teacher’s choice can include: minutes off of recess, time-out in the hallway, apology letter, etc.

At the end of each day students will get a sticker to put on their incentive chart in their binders if they are above “ready to learn.” Once they fill up their whole chart they will receive a prize of their choice. These are the expectations for your child in the classroom. I will be discussing them with the children at school. I need your support for these expectations and I need you to let your child know that you support these classroom rules and standards as well. You are the most important person in your child’s life, and the children need to know we will work together to make school the best experience possible for them.

Visit our class web page! There is helpful information for you including past and present newsletters, all the science and social studies study guides, as well as numerous links to websites the children use! Simply go to the BASD homepage: www.basd.k12.wi.us and click on the

Website News

Schools on the top bar. Choose Cooper, second grade and Ms. Ellerson. Under my photo is a link to my web page.

Conferences will be held for all students during the first and third quarter. At the first conference I will meet with each family and review the second grade report card format as well as share any observations I have made so far in the school year. I may have other evaluation reports from the quarter to share with you. Third quarter conferences will be student led or with me to discuss any academic or behavior concerns before the fourth marking period. At that time your child

will share some of their work and projects with you.You can also check on your child’s progress through Family Access. You should already have received a username and password, or if you have an older student you will be able to see all of your children by logging in with that same password.

Conference and Report Cards

If you would like a conference at any time, please let me know. I consider it a great privilege and responsibility to be your child’s teacher this year, and look forward to a great school year!

Ms. Katie Ellerson