1. Do Now: Please use the owl paper provided to leave your child a love note. your child a love note. Back to School Night 2014 Welcome Parents!

2. Odds & Ends: Change of Dismissal If your child will be going home in a way that is different than usual, please: 1.Send a note to school in your child’s home folder. OR 2.Call the office so that the message can be relayed to me.

3. Odds & Ends: Electronics Electronics and trading cards are not permitted in school unless they are being used as a class reward.

4. Birthdays are celebrated with non-food items only. Alternative Ideas: distributing a small gift such as pencils or stickers to the class, bringing in a favorite song to play, bringing in a favorite book to share. Feel free to contact me if you have any other ideas! Odds & Ends: Birthdays

5. We have snack every afternoon. Please help your child select a healthy snack, daily. Odds & Ends: Snack

6. Gym : We have gym on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Please help your child choose appropriate footwear/clothing. Odds & Ends: Gym

7. Fortunately, our classroom has air conditioning. However, it tends to get chilly. You might consider sending your child to school with a zip-up sweatshirt or something that can easily be put on in the event that he/she is cold.

8. Home Folder: Please check your child’s home folder each night, as important notices and homework assignments will be sent home regularly. (Frost School folder) Odds & Ends: Home Folder

9. Classroom Website: Please visit our classroom website! * Special announcements * Upcoming events/important dates http://teacherweb.com/NJ/FrostElementarySchool/Birckholtz/apt1.aspx Odds & Ends: Classroom Website

10. * 2 ways of ordering: by catalogue or online * Catalogue: Select books and return order form to me by the specified due date. * Online: Order online and our class receives free books! Due

11. * We work on all of the components of strong reading: decoding, comprehension and fluency. * Each workshop begins with a mini-lesson that introduces a new reading strategy. * Children then apply this strategy during independent and partner reading time. * During independent and partner reading time, children meet with me individually or in small guided reading groups, in order to practice more targeted skills.

12. Reader’s Workshop: “Just Right Books” Children shop from the classroom library weekly for “ just right books.” These are books that your child can read from cover to cover with independence. These books will go back and forth to school. They will be the books that your child uses during independent reading time, so please kindly make sure that your child has them in his/her backpack each morning.

13. We are encouraging 15 minutes of reading every night. Your child will also be required to complete a weekly reading log. Logs will be adapted throughout the year to reflect the strategies that we are working on. New logs will be sent home on Mondays, and logs from the previous week will also be turned in on Mondays. F.A.Q.: What books can my child use for the log? Any “just right” books from the bag of books or from home What if I misplace the log? The reading log can be printed from my classroom website. They are found under the “Helpful Handouts” tab.

14. Children will be writing both fiction and non-fiction pieces this year. * Small Moment Stories * How-To Books * All-About Books * Poetry * Persuasive Writing

15. Words Their Way “Words Their Way” is the name of our spelling program. Each quarter, your child is given a spelling assessment which determines his/her spelling stage. Each spelling stage has corresponding “word sorts” which target specific spelling patterns. Words that we’ve learned how to spell will be sent home when we are finished with the sort.

16. * Spiral Program * Structure of a typical day: * Math “Stretch” * Math Message * Mini-lesson * Independent/Partner/Teacher centers * Student Reference Books: keep at home until June to use as a reference throughout the year/to help your child prepare for unit tests * Home Links will come home almost every night. * Practice fact fluency at home.*

17. Science We study: Weather Organisms: guppies, pill bugs, millipedes, bess beetles Plants

18. Text Book - People and Places * Text Book - People and Places * We study: * Families * Our World * All Kinds of Jobs * Good Citizens

19. Text Book – Your Health We study: * Strategies for focusing our attention * Strategies for solving problems with others * Strategies for staying safe at school, home and in our community.

20. * Individual incentive : Students earn stamps in their passports when they’ve demonstrated positive behavior. Once a page is filled, students choose from the following list of rewards: pick from my treasure chest, have lunch with the teacher, or play a game on the ipad

21. Whole class incentive: Our whole-class goal is to get our owl to the nest. Once we’ve reached the nest, we vote on a class celebration. Promoting Positive Behavior

22. Think-About It Sheets: I use these a lot in order to teach the children to be accountable for their actions. Promoting Positive Behavior

23. Weekly winner: A student who has demonstrated positive behavior is chosen each week and recognized on the Friday announcements. This child will also have the option of bringing home our “class pet,” Owliver, for the weekend. Children can record Owliver’s travels in his travel log. Owliver will go home with your child on Friday, and he will need to return to school on Monday. Thanks for your cooperation and support!!! Promoting Positive Behavior

24. Please don’t forget to sign up for October conferences on your way out!