A+Note+to+Parents+and+Guardians

September 2012

This letter contains information regarding important aspects of our classroom and program. Please read this letter carefully, keep the information you need, and sign and return the slip at the end of the letter. We will be spending the first few days of school helping students get to know one another and become comfortable with various classroom routines. One of our goals is to help students become independent workers, so students are currently learning how to organize work in their composition notebooks, file papers. We will be determining where your child is academically so together we can support your child in doing well. These next few weeks students will spend some time each day at various learning stations, working in small groups. During this time we will emphasize the skills of completing work independently, and putting materials away. As students learn to work on their own, this will increase our ability to meet with small groups of students, and to help students progress at their own pace. Here are some of the other things that are planned during the first few weeks: students will make a time capsule filled with September work. We will begin doing some assessments in math and science, in order to find out where to begin with each student. To successfully complete this course, you will need the following list of supplies: In order for students to be successful, they must attend class regularly and on time. If absent, students are responsible for getting missing notes as well as making up missed work. Your child will be expected to maintain an active library card in order to complete projects and research. We will constantly emphasize three expectations in our classroom: be responsible, be respectful, and be curious. In addition to these expectations, we will help students learn to become increasingly independent as the year progresses. Students who show independent work habits will be able to be "teaching assistants" for students in our room and in other classrooms. They will also have opportunities to use special materials, delivering messages to the office, and so on. Our goal is for ALL students to become independent learners. If a student has difficulty with behavior, we will ask them to fill out a problem-solving form to come up with a solution to the problem. Chronic problems, or severe misbehavior will need to be handled with more specific consequences. We will let parents know immediately if a student is having severe problems with behavior at school. All students must bring home a school (homework) folder. Please check it daily. We will ask students to put parent notices from school into this folder for you to read. Also students will have homework placed in this folder. Please help your child complete the homework, and please also put your initials on the homework so we know you have checked it. Parent involvement is crucial. The more involved you are in your child's learning, the greater success he or she will have in school. We want to be sure there is clear and frequent communication between home and school. To that end I will send home a packet of student work each Monday in your child's home-school folder. At the front of the packet there will be a teacher-parent form, with room for comments, and also a tally of how many homework assignments your child completed the week before. Please sign this form and return it the next day. This form will help us keep track of whether or not you are receiving information about how well your child is doing with homework. The form also allows you to communicate with us without having to call us on the phone. In about a month we will ask you to give us feedback on how homework is going, whether there is too much or too little of it, and so on. The class has an online page which can be found at below listed address. The site features homework help, help with classwork, additional information on math topics, parent’s page, links and blog features. http://ms-espinal-class.wikispaces.com [|Edmodo Class]
 * Dear Parents/Guardians,**
 * The First Two Weeks of School**
 * Supplies**
 * At least 3 sharpened pencils daily
 * At least 1 blue or black ink pen
 * 4 black and white composition notebooks
 * 6 pocketed folders
 * 2 presentation binders
 * 1 pack of sheet protectors
 * 2 packs of loose leaf paper (for homework assignments)
 * Absences and Tardies**
 * Library Days**
 * Expectations for Behavior in the Classroom**
 * Homework**
 * Class Web page**

If you have further questions, please contact me at (718) 649-0765. Thanks! Sincerely,

Ms. Espinal