Home & School Connections
Daily Folders
This is the most important thing in your child's book bag! Inside the folder you will find the weekly "Parent & Teacher Contact" paper. This paper has everything from how your child behaved in school that day to nightly homework and other important events. On this paper you will find our SCORE behavior plan, homework for each night, important information, and upcoming events will be listed at the bottom in our class newsletter portion. Other important papers and information will go home in this folder. Please check your child's daily folder every day! There will be parent-teacher contact information, homework and important information in this folder.
Please check over all of the things in your child's folder then sign it and return the folder daily.
Classroom Expectations
Classroom rules are very important in our classroom. We go over the rules and expectations every day at the start of school. At Jefferson, we use a system of positive
behavior expectations based on the matrix, SCORE.
S - Safety C - Cooperation O - Organized R - Respect E - Excellence
Each day students will be given a rating in their Parent Contact Log so you can see how their day went. Injunction with SCORE we use a “class clip chart.” Kids will begin the day in the middle of the clip chart on “ready to learn.” Kids can “clip-up” for going above and beyond and doing the right thing in class because they are showing fantastic SCORE behavior. Kids can also “clip-down” if they are misbehaving and not following SCORE behavior. Parents will be contacted if kids “clip-down” after receiving a warning and will be notified of their behavior.
Homework
Homework will always be written in the homework section of the "Parent & Teacher Contact" paper. Your child is asked to read (at least 15 minutes) every night, complete a comprehension sheet, study spelling words and sight words! It is very important that your child reads a book on their own with very few mistakes. It is great to have your child read you a book and then you ask them questions about what they read. This is great interaction and helps further your child's comprehension skills.
You will find that we usually have a phonics worksheet - this is just the back of the worksheet that we did in class that day.
Your child's math homework will usally be a quick review of the topic we learned in class that day. Their math homework will be listed on the "Parent & Teacher Contact". Your child's math homework will vary each night, depending on what we are learning.
All homework needs to be returned in their daily folder the next day. :-)
Reading Logs
Your child will be bringing home a baggie book with two books to read at home. We ask that your child reads to an adult each night of the week for at least 15 minutes. It is very important for your child to read independently with very few mistakes, even if that means reading the same book over and over until they become fluent. We will provide two books that should be on or close to their level to help guide them. The books will help your child work on sight words and fluency. I will include comprehension questions inside their reading log – please ask them a few of those questions after they have read to check for understanding. This can be a great time to have fun with your child and challenge them to help build their understanding and comprehension.
In order for students to change out their baggie books they will need to read their book to a teacher like: Mrs. Hopper, Grandma Camp, myself, or a parent volunteer. Please note that we may not have time each day for your child to read to us, but we will try our very best! When they are reading to us we will check for fluency and comprehension of the book. Then your child will get to pick one/two new book(s) to take home for their baggie. Usually they should change out baggie books twice a week. Students are not only limited to read baggie books, but we encourage your child to read library books, books that you have ordered from Scholastic, or books you have at home can all be written down in the reading log.
If you have any other questions or concerns about their reading log please feel free to ask!!
Sight Word List
Each child will be given a sight word packet. Please practice these words with your child daily. You can let your child make fun flashcards out of the sight words, read them out to you in the car or at home, or they can write them on a pan full of shaving cream! You can think of creative ways to get your child to practice their sight words at home! :-) When they can read each word on a page to me, Mrs. Hopper, or Grandma Camp then they will earn a sticker in their packet. Once their sight word packet is completely filled up with stickers they will get a reward and get a new colored list packet of sight words.
Spelling Words
Students will have new spelling words each week. I will give students a pre-test on Monday and the words they miss will be their own individual spelling words for the week. If they do not miss any words they will be given challenge words. You will find your child's individual spelling words highlighted inside of their daily folder.
It is important for them to study each night and be prepared for their spelling test on Friday. Students will have a "Spelling Word Tic-Tac-Toe" sheet in their daily folder. This "Spelling Word Tic-Tac-Toe" sheet has a lot of fun and creative ways for your child to practice their spelling words. Students will love choosing different ways to study their spelling words. This activity allows your child to choose from 8 different activities to do with their spelling words each week. There is one activity that is required to do every night, which is located in the middle of the "Spelling Word Tic-Tac-Toe" sheet. Please note that they only have to do THEIR highlighted spelling words with each activity unless otherwise stated. We will also do extra practice and activities using their spelling words in class and in centers.