September 29, 2014 Dear Golden Leopard Families, Welcome back! This week we follow the minimum day schedule. You do not need to send your child with a lunch unless they are attending aftercare. All students who receive hot lunch will leave class at 12:15 to get a hot lunch unless otherwise instructed. The students voted on a class name, we are the Golden Leopards! Last week we were thankful for a normal week with cooler temperatures. Consistency and time are helping us develop a class culture and become more comfortable with our procedures and routines. Our new virtue word is thoughtfulness. We are working on being more aware. There is so much happening in a classroom and developing awareness to our actions helps create a more thoughtful environment. I am encouraging students to be thoughtful about how they move around the room and how their voice sounds when they respond to someone. Continue conversations about thoughtfulness at home. Conferences: Please sign-up if you haven’t already done so and pretty please be on time. Send the parent questionnaire back to school in the home folder or bring it with you to your conference. I love goal-setting conferences. They give us a chance to get on the ‘same page’ and talk about your fabulous child without the craziness of the class in the background. This conference is also a time for me to listen. You are the expert on your child. Remember aftercare is available all week. A schedule went home today. Your child may drop into aftercare for the duration of his or her conference for free as long as it’s before 6:00pm. I’m looking forward to meeting with you all! Volunteers: WANTED! WANTED! We need a regular volunteer for the garden rotation on Thursdays (10:30-12:30). It will be hard for our class to participate in gardening if we don’t have a volunteer to assist our class with the weekly garden activity as well as shuttle groups to and from the classroom. Volunteer in class! An October volunteer sign up sheet is by the door. In addition, I often have some basic projects to get done in the mornings. I tend to ask the same people I know have a more flexible morning schedule. Let me know if you have an extra 10 minutes to help. I don’t forget feel free to take home a drawer of pencils to sharpen. Thanks for your help and don’t be a stranger! Writer’s Workshop: In writer’s workshop last week we worked on listening to the room. Most people have a hard time writing in a really noisy space. September is a time for establishing great writing routines. We are working on using materials responsibly, being aware of the sounds we make with our voices, bodies, chairs and materials. We are also working on carefully selecting a writing spot. Sometimes it’s easier to concentrate when you aren’t sitting next to your closest buddy, imagine that! This week we will continue to work on establishing a writing space where everyone can concentrate. We will also start to work on writing stories about small moments. Science: We are learning about the human body in science. Last week we observed and graphed our eye colors, tested our reaction time, explored skeleton slides and heart and ear modals. We listened to and counted our heart rates (before and after jumping jacks). This week we will explore senses and start to learn about our body systems. Math: Last week we finished up our first math menu. Students played math games with partners and independently and got comfortable using a math menu and navigating the structure of centers. We are working on addition, subtraction, one-to-one correspondence, graphing, tallying, identifying and writing numbers. Our next math menu will be an extension of these themes. Important Dates: 9/29-10/3 Goal Setting Conferences— Minimum Days 10/11 Second Step Parent Workshop 10/18 Second Step, 9:00-3:30 10/22 Publishing Party @ 2:00 10/31 Halloween Festival/Minimum Day 11/20 Project Night | |
Add Comment September 15, 2014 Dear Families, September 2, 2014 Welcome to the San Diego Cooperative Charter School at Mountain View! An exciting year awaits and I am thrilled for the adventures, understandings and relationships ahead. There will be many opportunities in the coming weeks to share “house keeping” information, however, the following letter should help families learn a little more about how you can expect this class to be organized. As always, my top priority is to develop a nurturing, positive and consistent learning environment with your child. I look forward to open communication with you regarding your child’s development, socially, emotionally and academically. Routines and Structure: In my experience children thrive most when given clear boundaries and taught meaningful structures and routines. You can expect a consistent, firm and deeply loving classroom environment. Everyday, we will do calming and focusing exercises called Brain Gym. In addition to Second Step, our school’s social and emotional curriculum, we will continue to use the Virtues Project to help us gain perspective on larger life skills like compassion, respect and patience. New families can learn more about the Virtues Project online. Our first Virtue/signal word is friendliness: Reaching out to others with warmth and caring, the willingness to be a companion. We are welcoming many new faces to our school and class and we have an important job to help everyone feel welcomed, safe and loved. Over the next few weeks we will talk about what it means to be friendly, why it’s important, as well as notice acts of friendliness in people around us. Please have conversations at home about friendliness. Share stories about times people were friendly towards you and how it made you feel. Additionally, I encourage everyone to create a family connection account on the Second Step website. There is a plethora of resources including videos to help families learn and implement Second Step skills at home. See below for activation information. Parent Communication: One of my favorite things about teaching at SDCCS2 is the daily interaction I’m lucky to have with so many of you. An open line of communication between home and school greatly helps us honor our children’s daily experience. You are welcome to chat with me before and after school, as well as contact me by email, phone and text message. I’ll do my best to respond in a timely fashion. I feel it is important you all have my personal phone number, however please be considerate of the time when contacting me by phone or text. Newsletters will be sent home and posted on the class blog along with photos every two weeks. I will contact families by email with important news that comes up in between. Please make sure I have your most accurate email. Teaching often looks and feels like a three-ring circus …sometimes it really is! I’d appreciate your patience and taking a moment to observe the classroom environment before attempting to share important information with me. Support your child: Because we have many returning families, our class has the exciting opportunity to in large respect “pick up” where we left off. That said we will spend much of the first several weeks reestablishing community, structures and helping new students feel connected, confident and at home. Getting back in the routine is exciting and exhausting. Your child will be processing a lot of new information, making friends and getting used to being in school again. We recommend making sure he or she gets lots of sleep, has consistent bedtimes and healthy meals. Don’t forget to celebrate all the work your child is doing at school! Homework: Research on student success in literacy, school and later in life unanimously confirms the value of reading at home. We understand how quickly the hours after school before bedtime evaporate, however, taking time to read with your child daily is the most important thing you can do to help your child succeed. At SDCCS2 we consider nightly reading (20-30 minutes) the most valuable “homework” worth assigning. In addition to nightly reading, students will typically receive a weekly homework assignment. Homework goes home Mondays and is due the following Monday. The purpose of home-connections is to enrich our current unit of study and promote conversations at home about what students are learning in school. Volunteering: As a cooperative school we deeply value and depend on your help. This may look different for each family. Your support makes an enormous difference. There are many ways to volunteer and we greatly appreciate your enthusiasm and time spent making our school amazing. I am usually more prepared if I know in advance if you plan to volunteer in class, however, I certainly won’t turn you away if you find an extra few minutes to stay and help. Most Valuable Ways to Volunteer: -Thursday Rotations: On Thursdays we do special rotations that typically include cooking, gardening and art. We need regular volunteers to work with Stephany in the garden or in class running an art center, 10:30-12:30. Please talk to me if you are interested! -Morning Academic Blocks Daily: A schedule will be sent home shortly… We love to have parents working with students during writer’s workshop, reader’s workshop and centers (math and literacy). -Stuff Home Folders in the morning, especially on Mondays -Supply Island Maintenance and Cleaning: Stay an extra few minutes in the morning or come early for pick up. Sharpen pencils and wipe down desks. There is a list of regular maintenance jobs posted at the door. Snack & Lunch: Many of you choose to send your children to SDCCS2 because we teach and celebrate the whole child and work to promote holistic growth academically, socially and emotionally. Healthy food has a big impact on student performance. Please pack a healthy snack and lunch for your child. Additionally, candy and sugary drinks are not allowed at school as they make it extremely hard for students to focus and effectively harness their energy. It is important we all stay hydrated. Though we have a classroom drinking fountain, I encourage you to send your child to school with a reusable water bottle labeled with her or his name. Heat and Sun: Our school is a hot and sunny place. Please send your child to school in cool and comfortable clothes. Apply sunscreen before school, especially if they tend to burn easily. I feel so lucky to be working with your children! Let the adventure begin! Love, Stefania Locke [email protected] 541-399-2234 Class Blog: http://sdccs2primarystefania.weebly.com Second Step Activation Key: www.secondstep.com 1st Grade: SSP1 FAMI LY71 2nd Grade: SSP2 FAMI LY72 Important Dates: Parent Meeting –Tentatively set for Tuesday, Sept. 9 (evening) Parent/Teacher Conferences /Half Days -Sept. 29 – Oct. 3 |