August 9, 2010
Dear Parents,
Greetings! My name is Mrs. Heather Roselle and I am pleased to be your child’s second grade teacher in the school year of 2010-2011. This will be my sixth year teaching at Thompson Ranch and my twelfth year of teaching in my career as an educator in Arizona.
Second grade is my favorite grade to teach because I see so many exciting changes. At the end of the year, I am always amazed to see how much learning and growth each child has accomplished. Second grade is an important year to establish the foundations of future learning and responsible behavior. My goal is to help establish these foundations by providing a positive classroom environment where your child will feel safe to learn, grow and make responsible choices.
Please take the time to look through our procedures. I will explain my discipline policy and my homework policy for students as well as give some helpful guidelines for parents. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. I value your input as a parent and I hope to work closely with you throughout the school year!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Heather Roselle
Discipline Policy
Our class will spend the first week of school contributing ideas and developing a set of class rules to help guide our classroom community. My expectation for the class is that these rules which they create are to be meaningful to them and helpful to others. We will also discuss the importance of everyone having the right to feel safe and to learn at school. My discipline policy will support the rules your child helped to create as well as ensure that each child practices responsible and safe behavior at school.
My discipline policy uses a card system to help guide students in making good choices and being accountable for their behavior. Every child will get a sticker each day as a reward for making good choices and bringing their homework to school. Bringing homework to school each day is part of responsible learning behavior. The colors below are used as reminders for practicing safe and responsible behavior at school.
Green= Great! (Student earns a sticker!)
2 Yellows= Warnings (Student can still earn a sticker at end
of day)
Blue= Lose sticker
Red= Reflection Time/Lose Recess
+In the event that a child disrupts the class through misbehavior, the student will write a reflection about their behavior. The teacher and student will discuss appropriate behavior choices. The student will take home their reflection to further discuss their behavior choices with parents. The student will need to get their reflection sheet signed and bring back to the teacher the next day.
Class Rewards!
Having rewards in class motivates students to learn and to have fun working toward their goals. I use classroom money to reward students for making good choices and practicing responsible behavior. Here are several ways your child can earn classroom money:
1. Get 5 stickers on behavior chart at end of week to earn $1 (stickers are given each day for homework being brought to school and making good choices)
2. Get 20 group points to earn $1
3. Get 5 stars by name for being caught making good choices. 5 stars by name earns $1
Classroom money is used to buy the following:
1. Trip to the treasure box $10.00
2. Purchase at class store $20.00
Fun Friday
In addition to classroom money, students may also earn Fun Friday privileges by having at least 4 stickers on their behavior chart at the end of the week. Students must have their homework packet completed in order to participate. On Fun Friday, students will have 25 minutes at the end of the day to play with their classmates. Students may bring in one small toy on this day. As Fun Friday’s will usually be held in the classroom, please no outside toys such as basketballs or footballs.
Skittle Parties
Fantastic class behavior will be rewarded with our marble jar. Once our marble jar is full, the class will be rewarded with a Skittle party (one spoonful of skittles per student).
Helpful Guidelines
Parents are children’s first teachers. Your hard work gives children the foundations they need to succeed in school. As a team, I look forward to working together. The goal for each child in my classroom will be to reach and attain their personal best. The guidelines listed below will help support your child’s success.
1. Read with your child every night. (20 minutes)
2. Help your child with homework assignments.
- In second grade we are preparing for district benchmarks as
well as state standardized tests. Your child will benefit from
your support in practicing skills.
3. Sign homework and school forms that are sent daily.
4. Communicate with me about your child.
-Writing notes on the homework sheet is an easy way to communicate with me on a daily basis! Also please feel free to e-mail me at hroselle@dysart.org. You may also call the school office 523-8400.
5. Please notify me of any changes in how your child is to get home.
6. In case of an emergency, (which sometimes happens!), PLEASE have an up to date record of phone numbers with both the office and myself. I will need to be able to reach you so please make sure I have this.
Homework Policy
Every Monday, I send homework in a weekly packet. This packet will be a great tool for us to communicate on a daily basis. This packet needs to be brought to school every day. The front and the back of the first page of the packet needs to be signed by a parent each night. The first page of the packet is your child’s behavior chart. It will show whether or not your child has earned a sticker for the day. The back of the first page is your child’s reading log. Your child will write a sentence each night about their 20 minutes of reading. Parents should sign this log each night. Please feel free to write notes to me on the comment section of the packet.
In addition to the behavior chart and reading log, the rest of the packet will contain practice sheets which contain your child’s spelling words for the week and skills we are practicing in class. The packets are organized so that 1 page (front and back) should be completed each night with the goal of finishing the entire packet by Friday. Please do not have your child finish the entire packet in one night although I would suggest going ahead and doing a few of the spelling sentences each night. (15 sentences in one night may be hard for some children to do.) I will check the packets daily to make sure your child is on schedule to have the packet completed and will collect the packets on Friday. <