GRADING
I try to grade papers and send them home daily. Your child’s daily work will be placed in a folder throughout the day and sent home each day for you to review with your child. If your child makes several mistakes, please have your child redo or correct the activity. This will allow you to keep up with what your child is learning and give the extra help he/she may need at home. If papers need to be signed and returned, they will have a stamp on them saying you need to sign them. Please return these in the folder. If the paper is not stamped, you should review these papers and remove them from the folder. This will help to keep the folder cleaned out. The pages that have a number grade will be the grades that I put in the grade book to average for the six weeks grade. Grades will only be taken on work in which the child has ample learning time and practice to master the skill or concept. If it is obvious by the grade that the skill or concept has not been mastered, please give your child extra help, as many of the future skills and concepts we learn build upon those that have been taught previously.
The grading scale is as follows:
93 – 100 A
85 – 92 B
75 – 84 C
70 – 74 D
Below 70 F
Tests count for 34% of the student’s grade each six weeks.
Daily work counts for 66% of the student’s grade each six weeks. The lowest daily grade will be dropped.
HOMEWORK
Your child has an agenda book. Each student will be required to write down all assignments on a daily basis in his/her agenda book. The students are given time in class to write these down. It is their responsibility to write them down. I will also tell students at the end of each day which books that they need to take home. It is their responsibility to get them in their backpacks. I may also write notes to you in the agenda book. The folder (with daily work, graded papers, and notes from community/school) will also come home each day. This is how I communicate with you, the parent, and keep you informed of what your child is doing in class each day. Please check the agenda book and folder DAILY and initial each day to help him/her be prepared for class. If your child is unsure about a homework assignment or forgets a book, please check with another student in the class. Again, the agenda is to be SIGNED AND RETURNED EACH DAY.
Homework is given to give the student extra practice on important skills, to teach responsibility of getting things to and from home, and to let you as a parent know what skills we are presently working on.
Please review all work with your child. Homework is a part of the practice and review process needed to master skills and concepts that will be tested later. Homework will be kept at a minimum and may be completed at school as your child learns to use study time wisely. I will make every effort to help your child throughout the day so that he/she will have the materials needed to complete work at home.
All homework must be completed. I randomly give grades over homework and if it is not returned, it would result in a 0 for that assignment.
SPELLING
Spelling words will come from our reading series. Please practice a few spelling words each night with your child. This will make the final practice on the night before the test much easier. We will usually have a total of 20 words each week. I will provide a list of these words on your weekly newsletter and/or your child will have written them in their agenda book on Monday. I will include bonus words on the test for extra points. These words will be the reading vocabulary words.
We will practice the words in class daily. Handwriting is important – if I can’t read it, I can’t grade it. Have your child practice spelling words by calling out words to them and having them write missed words. A spelling test will be given each Friday morning. Your child will also have 3 dictation sentences on the spelling test using these spelling words and a few other words he/she should know from first grade. They must remember to use capital letters and punctuation correctly.
In each spelling unit, we will also do the Independent Practice page from the textbook and the page immediately following this page on Tuesdays. If you would like to review these pages ahead of time with your child, that would be a great idea. They complete these pages independently in class and a grade is given.
I will do my best to get spelling tests graded and returned on Friday. If for some reason I can’t work it in my schedule on Friday, these will be returned on Monday.
MATH
It is important that you review basic math facts with your child as much as possible. We will be drilling these each day for the first six weeks. All skills that we learn in second grade will build on the knowledge of the basic math facts that your child should have learned in first grade. Therefore, it is very important that your child know these math facts well. We will review them in class. Please review them with your child as much as possible until they are mastered.
On occasion, workbook pages will be sent home for homework. Please see that these are completed and returned because I do not have extra pages, and we will go over these together in class.
Please try and take a few minutes each night to listen to your child read. We will read 2 stories a week from our reading book. On Monday we will learn phonics and language skills associated with these stories. New vocabulary words will be introduced on this day. We will put the vocabulary words in ABC order and look up the meanings of these words in the back of our reading book. These will be written in our reading composition books. There will usually be 6 or 7 of these. Students will be given time in class to do these. If they do not finish looking up the meanings, this will be homework. Please listen to your child read these words and meanings to you each Monday night. On Tuesday, we will read a new story together in class (containing new vocabulary words) and discuss it in detail. We will also review and play games using vocabulary words. Every Tuesday night I will ask that your child read the 1st reading story from our book to you orally. On Wednesdays, we will read our 2nd story aloud in class. Please listen to your child read this story on Wednesday night. We will discuss and review in detail our reading stories. Students will take a comprehension and vocabulary test over the 2nd reading story on Thursday for a grade. We will also read the 3rd reading story on Thursday. These usually pertain to a science or social studies topic. We will complete the TCAP practice test/workbook pages on Friday. These review all skills practiced during the week.
We will meet in reading groups daily. Books will come home each night from your child’s reading group. Please listen to your child read and initial the log in their book bag each night.
LANGUAGE
We will follow our English book chapter by chapter. Homework will be assigned from the book as we learn new skills. This way you will know what we are studying and your child will get extra practice as needed. I will also integrate language skills from our reading book and workbook.
SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES
We will also be receiving Weekly Reader and a National Geographic Magazine. We will work through these each week and students will bring them home to keep when we are finished. We have a Science book that we will use at school. These subjects will be covered in class with discussions. Simple experiments may be conducted in Science. There may occasionally be some simple projects to do at home for Social Studies. There will rarely be any homework in these subject areas.
Please feel free to be a part of your child’s school year by helping with school events, sending information on topics we are studying, sending video tapes, pictures or articles, or suggesting outside guests who could come and enrichment to material we are studying.
ACCELERATED READER
Students are encouraged to read books that are in our accelerated reader program. I will also read some of these books to them orally each week. All of our reading stories are also accelerated reader. Students will be given time throughout the day to take tests on the computer over the books that they have read or listened to. Students get points for each test that they pass on the computer. These points will accumulate and students will be given an opportunity at the end of the school year to “shop” with these points in our AR bookstore. Students have the opportunity to earn many great prizes by reading! I will also set class goals each month. Students will earn pizzas and class prizes by reading a certain number of books each month. We will start our class goal of 10 tests passed per student in September (this does not include our reading stories). Students will have access to lots of AR books in our classroom. Students can check out books from our library. The public library also has lots of AR books that students can read at home and take tests on at school. If students have trouble meeting this goal, I have some books that I can allow them to check out. Students can swap their library books for new ones in the mornings from 7:20-7:40. I will average the top 10 grades for the month for a reading test grade. I will send a printout home in the middle of the month to let you know how your child is doing. This helps build comprehension and independent reading levels.
LUNCH
Our class eats lunch at 11:45 daily. You are welcome to join your child for lunch anytime. Please let me know (by note) when you are coming so that I can inform the cafeteria. We will meet you at the lunch room doors at 11:45.
Please send lunch money in an envelope marked with your child’s name, PIN number from the cafeteria, and my name so that their lunch money will be properly deposited into their account. This can be sent weekly, monthly, etc. The cafeteria will notify you of balances in your child’s account. Some parents have found it easier to pay a lump sum each week or month rather than try to send lunch money on a daily basis.
SNACKS
We will have snack time each day around 9:30. If students would like a snack, may bring their own individually wrapped snack item each day. I do encourage them to bring a healthy snack. Crackers and fruit are much better choices than chips and cookies. Students are also encouraged to bring a “no spill” plastic water bottle to school to keep at their desk. The kind with the pop up top works best. They should bring these home each night to wash and refill. PLEASE SEND WATER ONLY IN THESE BOTTLES. NO SOFT DRINKS ARE ALLOWED. Thanks for your support with this. The students look forward to this time each day!
CONTACTING TEACHER
My email is alexandek2@k12tn.net. I try to check this often during the day, and will be glad to reply to your emails. Please check out our school website at www.mps.weakleyschools.com. It is a great way to keep up with what is going on at school and in our classroom.
You can call me at school with problems and concerns and I will return the call during my planning time (Our schedule is listed below.) at 587-9033 with problems or concerns. Feel free to send notes to school also. In an emergency I can be reached at home at 588-0567. Please remember that I have a family and small children. If an emergency arises feel free to call me before 9:00 p.m. If you have a problem or concern I want to know. It is important that we work together.
LUNCH – 11:45-12:10 Daily
PLAYTIME – 1:30-2:00 Daily
READING GROUPS- 12:15-1:00 Daily
MONDAY- Library 7:45-8:15 Please remember to bring library book.
TUESDAY – Music/Art 7:45-8:15
WEDNESDAY – P.E. 7:45-8:15 Please remember to wear tennis shoes.
THURSDAY – Guidance 7:45-8:15
FRIDAY- Computer Lab 10:45-11:30
SCHOOL TIMES
School begins promptly at 7:40. Please make sure your child arrives at school in time to get unpacked and prepare for the day. The doors open at 7:20.
We begin dismissal around 2:20. Our class exits out the
Please plan on meeting with us on Parent Night (I will notify you of the date and time). This is a time for me to meet you and explain how the classroom is run. This is a good time to ask questions.
We are off to a great start! Thanks for all your help and support! Your child will benefit greatly with you and I working together! If I can ever be of assistance, please do not hesitate to let me know!
Mrs. Kim Alexander