SECOND GRADE

INFORMATION PACKET

This packet contains just about everything you and your student will need to know to have a successful year in second grade! Read throughthe information carefully and review the material with your student.Please make sure to sign and return the bottom portion.

Welcome:

Welcome to Second Grade at Hesse School! I am Amber Jackson. I will be your child’s teacher for the 2015-2016 school year. This is will be my 6th year teaching here at Hesse. I am excited about this school year. I graduated from Armstrong Atlantic State University in 2010 with my degree in Early Childhood Education. I, also, earned my Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, as well as my Reading and Gifted Endorsements. I have been married for almostsix years. I do not have any children, but I hope to one day! I have a dog named Freckles. I love to be outside and love to spend time with my family and friends. My job is very important to me, so I will do my best to be the best!

Please feel free to contact me through e-mail or phone. The best time to reach me (through phone) is before or after school (7:15-7:45 or 3:00-3:15). You can reach me through e-mail throughout the day. My email address is . If you need to schedule a conference, please contact me and we will arrange a time that is best for both of us. I look forward to working with you and your child this year!!

Expectations:

What you and your student can expect of me is to provide a safe, positive, and caring environment as the setting for an exciting educational experience. I expect my students to always come to school prepared, ready, and willing to learn. Also, my students will always have to try their best! Nothing less is accepted in my classroom. I expect parents and guardians to take an active role in their student's education. This includes helping your student with the responsibilities of turning in ALL homework, assignments, and projects on time.

Your cooperation is an imperative part in my teaching, and your child's success!

Uniforms/ Dress Code

See attached Uniform/Dress Code Sheet

Arrival and Dismissal

  • 7:15- Children may begin eating breakfast
  • 7:40- First homeroom bell.
  • 7:55- Homeroom begins. Children are considered tardy if they arrive after this point.
  • 2:40- Pre-K, K dismissal
  • 2:40- Grades 1-3 dismissed
  • 2:55- Grades 4-8 dismissed

During arrival time, please do not park and leave your car. Doing this will stop the flow of traffic. If you need to enter the school during arrival time, please park your car in the parking lot.

At dismissal time, if your child is a car rider please wait in the carpool line in the front of the school. If your child is a bus rider, please help them to memorize their route and address.

In order to pick your child up from the carpool line a carpool tag must be visible in the vehicle.This will help ensure your child’s safety and will speed up the carpool line. Carpool tags should include child’s name, grade, and teacher’s name. If a carpool sign is not displayed in the vehicle, you will be required to show identification in the office.

It is our responsibility that all children get home safely. Please remember that any inconvenience you may experience in showing proper identification is ensuring your child’s safety.

Arrival and dismissal are both busy and hectic times of the day. It will be difficult for me to talk with you during these times. If you need to discuss something with me at those times, I may have to ask you to wait before I have the opportunity to speak with you.

Pick Up

If you are going to pick your child up early from school, you must first go to the office and sign him or her out. Also if your child is to leave school with someone other than you, please send a written note with your child and make sure that person is listed on the filed registration form. Your student will not be released otherwise, no exceptions. If your child has a change in transportation on a certain day we MUST have a note. ALL NOTES SHOULD BE IN THE MAGIC BINDER! If we do not have a note, we dismiss them to their usual transportation.

Your note and communication with us will eliminate confusion at dismissal time!

MAGIC BINDER:

The MAGIC Binder is a daily communication binder. The MAGIC Binder consists of a notebook that will be put together hopefully by the second week of school. It is very helpful in managing homework, money, newsletters, parents/ teacher communication, behavior, etc.It is important to check the MAGIC Binder EVERYDAY. Your child is responsible for bringing their MAGICBinder to school EVERYDAY. Please refer to the Binder instruction sheet for more clarification.

Code of Conduct:

The Code of Conduct will be enforced in the classroom, as well as the rules we will create together on the first day of school. Please read and be familiar with the Code of Conduct and our classroom rules. Please sign and return the Student/ Parent Handbook acknowledgement form.

Behavior Sheets will be sent home every Monday for the week and must be kept in the MAGIC Binder. This will notify you of your child’s daily behavior choices and will also serve as a reminder for snack, specials, and other various reminders. Each move to orange or red equals 1 check. Please check and sign the behaviorSheet DAILY. Students will not be able to participate in Fun Friday if they do not demonstrate appropriate behavior throughout the week.

Behavior sheets and our classroom behavior management system are in addition to the school wide behavior Policy. Please read through the Hesse Elementary School Behavior Management Plan, sign and return.

Hesse School Behavior Management Plan

The faculty and staff at Hesse School are looking forward to an exciting year filled with learning and success for every student. In order to help us, we have adopted the following School Management Plan to help promote a positive and safe school environment. Please discuss this plan with your child and sign and return the attached form. We thank you in advance for your help and cooperation.

Hesse Behavior Management Team

School Rules

  1. Follow directions.
  2. Respect others and their property.
  3. Be prepared.
  4. Use good manners.
  5. Use zero voice level, and walk in the hallways.
  6. Wear required school uniform.

Checks

Consequences for Inappropriate Behavior (weekly- Monday through Friday):

  1. Verbal warning
  2. First check given
  3. Second check – Conference with student/Loss of privilege
  4. Third check – Time out
  5. Fourth check – Parent contact
  6. Fifth check – Office referral using “Student Incident Report”
  7. Sixth check – Thursday after-school detention

Bear Club

Exemplary behavior will be recognized monthly through participation in “Bear Club” for students with no more than five checks for the month.

*** (Teachers may also have individual classroom incentives for good behavior such as “Fun Friday”, etc.)

After School Detention

A student may be assigned after school detention for the following offenses:

  1. Six checks (5 oranges or 3 reds, or a combination of orange and red) in one week
  2. Fighting or other serious incident

Detention will be held on Thursdays from 3:00 – 4:00p.m. Parents will be responsible for providing transportation, and students will not be allowed to complete homework or other class assignments during detention. The purpose of detention is to allow the student time to reflect on his/her infraction.

Severe Clause

Students will be removed from the class immediately for extremely inappropriate behaviors. The administration may omit steps from the plan when dealing with serious offenses.

Bathroom Policy:

Please know that students are given ample opportunities to use the restroom throughout the day. Please speak with your child about using the restroom at appropriate times and in appropriate ways. This includes informing me that they need to use the restroom prior to having an accident.

Grades:

Class work, homework, test and/or projects will be given in Math, Reading, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Health. Progress reports will be sent home during the middle of the marking period. I will try my best to grade work as quickly as possible and return it to the student. If you would like immediate access to your child’s grades, please speak with the front office about getting login information for access to your child’s grade book.

Tests:

Vocabulary AND Spelling Tests will be given every Friday starting the second week of school. Please practice each night in addition to the daily homework to ensure your child is prepared.

Fry tests will also be given. Fry words are high frequency words that will be tested as listed sight words each week. A more comprehensive letter will be sent home before Fry testing begins.

Other assessments such as weekly unit tests, math drills, etc. will also be administered.

Homework:

Students will be expected to complete homework EVERYDAY. Please keep all homework in the MAGIC Binder.ALL homework will be given on Friday andALL homework will be due on Friday.For students who do not hand in ALL homework, they will have the opportunity to make up that homework during recess and Fun Friday.

Students who do not hand in Homework will not be able to attend Fun Friday. Homework that is messy will not be accepted!!!

Breakfast/ Lunch:

Breakfast begins at 7:15 and is free. Lunch is $2.25 per day. You can pay for your child’s lunch online at will make our lunch line move faster, and you won’t have to worry about sending money with your child! You will also be able to view your child’s lunch account. Please be mindful that online payments usually take 24 hours to process.

Snack:

We will have asnack each day. Please send your child with a healthy snack (crackers, fruit, vegetables, etc.). Please try not to send chips, cakes, and candy. I always eat a healthy snack and encourage students to eat healthy, too! Students are allowed to bring a water bottle to keep throughout the day. Only water is permitted!!

Fun Friday

Every Friday we will be havingFun Friday.Students are not eligible to attend if they have earned 2 orange ears/week, 1 red ear/week, more than one check per day, or have a total of three checks for the week. Also, ALL homework must be COMPLETED and TURNED IN to participate in Fun Friday.

Volunteering

I welcome all family members to volunteer in our classroom. If you would like to volunteer, please let me know. We use volunteers to help with copies, work with small groups, read to the class or a small group, help the whole group, and of course, help the teachers with busy work! Our door is always open, so please let me know if you are interested!

Thank you so much for your cooperation and support!Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Amber Jackson

Hesse School

Second Grade Teacher

395-6440

*PLEASE SIGN BELOW AND RETURN. *

I have read through the Second Grade Information Packet and discussed the material with my student.

Date:______

Parent Name:Parent Signature: ______

Student Name:Student Signature: ______