Dear Room 102 Families

Dear Room 102 Families,

Welcome to second grade! I am excited to have you as part of our learning community this year. Together we will help one another achieve lots of great hopes and dreams. In our classroom, we will foster a learning community based upon the Responsive Classroom approach. It is an approach where social and academic learning go hand and hand. Each child’s ideas, creations and discoveries are valued and appreciated. I will seek to find your child’s strengths and their most valued learning style.

My name isAmber Watt. This is my third year of teaching second grade and I am so excited to be teaching your child this year! I am a graduate of Millersville University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education.In addition, I have been a substitute teacher in multiple classes and grade levels for three years.Together we will instill upon your child the importance of being a life-long learner.The most important tools in your child's toolbox are a growth mindset and a positive outlook. Second grade is all about exploring, experimenting with new strategies and ideas, making mistakes, and working on how to overcome mistakes.I look forward to an amazing adventure this school year with you and your child!

I teach using the Responsive Classroom approach. The Responsive Classroom approach to teaching and learning fosters a safe, challenging and joyful classroom. I believe in bringing together social and academic learning throughout the school day. Children will be engaged in active learning, they will have opportunities to experiment, solve problems and make rewarding mistakes. Each child will make choices about learning each day and they will learn to treat each other with care and respect. In our classroom your child’s ideas, creations and discoveries are valued and displayed around the room.

In our second grade class, we are all important, valued, and respected. Anyone who enters gives and receives respect and is entitled to a positive and productive learning environment. We will work together to improve our minds, reach our goals, follow our dreams, and share in the learning process. Plus, we will have fun along the way!

Children learn best by being involved in the learning process. We will do many different activities each day to engage your child. Please take the time to ask your child, “What did you do in school today?” and “What important questions did you ask today?” To help us track our learning goals in reading, writing, and math, we will keep a portfolio which we will share with you at conferences. Each child will chart his or her progress in reading and math throughout the year.

Maintaining each child’s self-esteem and building a secure foundation for future growth will always remain a priority in our classroom. Here are some ways you can help:

Celebrate your child’s success, no matter how big or small. This will keep your child enthusiastic about learning and proud of their work.

Read to and with your child every day. The more your child is exposed to language, the easier it will be for your child to incorporate new skills in reading and writing in the classroom.

Communicate any concerns that you may have with your child. With us working together, both at school and at home, we have a greater chance of helping your child achieve success on accomplishing their hopes and dreams.

Thank you for your support and involvement in your child’s education! Please do not hesitate to write me a note, call or email me with any questions or concerns. My email is . I am excited to be working with you and your child this year!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Amber Watt

Here are some additional points of important information to get us on track for a fun, successful year!

Communication

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns regarding your child. I will do the same in touching base with you if there is any issue pertaining to behavior, homework, or just to let you know when your child is doing an outstanding job! Written notes in their agendas or on paper, emails, phone calls, scheduled conferences, progress reports, and report cards are all great methods of communication. My contact information is as follows:

E-mail address:

OR call the school office to be connected to Room 102 (540)-373-7458

* It would be best to reach me either before or after school hours *

Our classroom website also contains lots of helpful, important information:

Responsive Classroom

TheResponsive Classroomapproach is a widely used, research-backed approach to elementary education that increases academic achievement, decreases problem behaviors, improves social skills, and leads to more high-quality instruction. We will begin each morning with a morning meeting where students will greet each other, share, be active in an activity, and talk about our day during the morning message.

Morning Meeting

Birthdays

We welcome birthday celebrations in our class. If you plan on sending in a special treat for your child’s birthday, please contact me ahead of time via email, note or phone call so we can prepare for a little celebration. Healthy treats are best. Having a non-food item (a bookmark or school item) or craft for the students to make would also be good alternatives. If you do wish to send in cupcakes, please make sure they are the small ones.

We are a peanut-free classroom this year, so we need to make sure it is peanut free! Please look for the “Made in a Peanut-Free Facility” logo on store-bought foods.

Snack

To help energize our brain during the long school day, students are encouraged to bring a snack to school. We will have one snack time during the day and sharing snack between students will not be allowed. Please help remind your child to bring a snack and water bottle and remember the healthier, the better!

Classroom Responsibilities

Every student will have a different classroom job that will rotate weekly. This gives the students a sense of responsibility in the classroom community.

Home-School Binder and Homework

To keep track of papers going back and forth between school and home, your child will have a Home-School binder. Please return the binder daily to school. Inside, you will find a place for notes to go home, the Monday folder, an agenda, and other important information. In addition, students will keep track of their homework assignments in their agendas. Homework for second grade will consist of an Ultimate Genre Book Challenge and Unhomework choices. Students will be able to practice math facts and concepts through math games and playing on First in Math on the computer which can be accessed through Clever. Your child’s username and password is located at the beginning of his or her binder. Students will also be able to look over their word study words. Please read the agenda nightly and sign or initial. I will stamp your child’s binder each day to show how their behavior was for the day. There is a chart found at the front of the binder that explains what each stamp represents. Please feel free to write any notes, concerns, or questions in the agenda. Agendas will be checked each morning for any notes, questions, or comments and parent signatures.

Our Weekly Encore Schedule

Monday

Music
/ Tuesday

Library
/ Wednesday

P.E. / Thursday

P.E. / Friday

Art

Reminders:

Art – Expect to get a little messy so dress appropriately.

P.E.– Please wear sneakers and appropriate clothing for activities.

Library – Library books are due every week.

______

UnHomework

______

Many families today have increasingly less time to spend together due to busy work, school, and extracurricular schedules. To combat this growing problem, second grade will participate in Un-Homework. Un-Homework is a friendly homework alternative that offers the following:

•Student Choice (Un-Homework is not gradedor mandatory)

•Incentives (Students are not punished for not doing homework; in fact, they earn chances for reward by choosing to do the work)

•Saved Time (Choices offered are brief, hands-on, explorations that will eliminate frustration and encourage empowered learning!)

•Family Participation (Many choices encourage discussion and collaboration with others)

Students will receive 5 choices per week.

Students can choose 0-5 choices to complete weekly. Each time a choice is completed, he/she will fill out a raffle ticket along with parent initials.

Students will bring in all raffle tickets every

to be entered into the Learning Lotto.

Winners pulled will roll dice to choose from the prize menu.

School Attendance/Changes in Transportation

Your child’s daily attendance is very important to his/her success. In order to mark the absence as excused, the office must have a note. You can also report your child’s absence on the FES webpage.

If you need to pick up your child early, you must sign them out in the front office. They will then call your child to the office. If there is a change in your child’s transportation home please call the office and send in a note to notify me. Bus changes must also be done by written notification through the office. A child will not be permitted to get on a different bus without doing so. If no written note is sent in or the office does not receive a phone call from you, your child will be sent home by his/her usual method of transportation.

Belonging + Significance + Fun = Positive Classroom Climate

I believe that when children feel a sense of belonging, significance and are having fun, misbehaviors do not occur. I will provide your child with opportunities to meet these needs in order to maintain a positive classroom environment. To help smooth transitions and allow for planned movements throughout our day, we participate in class energizers which help us reenergize our brains and bodies. Planned energizer breaks help refocus the class and keep us on track for a successful day. If, however, misbehaviors arise, I will respond using a range of strategies: visual and verbal cues, reminding and redirecting language, increased teacher proximity and logical consequences.

Classroom Management

Our classroom is structured around the students to create a safe, nurturing environment for learning. We have discussed and practiced, as a class, the important rules and procedures of the room that should be followed. We encourage each other to always doour best, display good citizenship, work cooperatively together as a team, be bucket fillers and to set and accomplish goals.

As a class we created our classroom rules. We started our journey talking about why we come to school and what some of our personal hopes and dreams were for the future and this school year. Based on these hopes and dreams, I asked the students what we needed to do in order to make sure we all could achieve our goals. Answers varied and we ended up with a huge list of potential rules. We worked hard on changing the negative rules, like “Don’t run,” into positive rules, like “Walk in the school.” We want to keep our classroom a positive place!

After the students finished brainstorming rules, we consolidated the huge list into 7 general classroom rules that covered everything. Here they are:

Be nice and respectful.
Use the POWER to CHOOSE to always try to make good choices and stay in control.
Keep hands and feet to yourselves.
Use tools correctly.
Take care of yourself, others, and the classroom.
Focus on your work.
Follow directions the first time.

For the past two weeks we have discussed what each rule looks like and sounds like. I encourage you to talk about the importance of these rules with your child. I truly feel that these rules will create a safe classroom environment and help each child achieve his/her hopes and dreams!

Logical Consequences and The “Take A Break” Chair

Logical consequences are respectful, relevant and realistic in response to misbehavior. For example, if a group of children are supposed to be working together on a project but spend more time talking about their weekend, a logical consequence would be that they do not get to work together anymore that day. If a child needs help regaining control beyond the mentioned logical consequences, I will have them “take a break” in the “Take a Break” Chair. The “Take a Break” Chair is not a punishment, but a useful way to teach children to refocus and return to successful participation in class activity. Sometimes we all need to step away for a few minutes to refocus our attention on our work and that is what the “Take a Break” Chair is used for.