School Day:

*  The tardy bell rings at 745, and students may begin entering the building at 7:20.   The day ends at 2:25.  We will have instruction up until that time. Please keep in mind if your student is tardy, absent, or leaving early they will be missing important instruction.

* Students who plan to eat breakfast will get their breakfast FIRST, and then go straight to the classroom. Again, this should all happen prior to 7:45.

Absences/Early Dismissals:

*  Absences: When your child is absent, please send a note explaining why they were out.  After looking at the circumstances, your child’s absence will then be marked as excused or unexcused.

*  Early Dismissals:  I cannot dismiss a child from our classroom.  You must sign him/her out in the office.  The office will then call the room to notify me.  I will then send your child to the office with their things. Early Dismissal will not occur AFTER 2:00 unless in the event of an emergency, or doctors note as we are teaching core content up until the dismissal bell. If you know you will be picking you child up early for the day please send a note that morning so that I can have him/her ready and less distraction occurs in the classroom.

Ask Questions:

If you have any concerns or are wondering why something is happening, please feel free to call me at any time.  I welcome all concerns, ideas, and feedback that affect your child or our classroom.  You can reach me at school, 819-2110.  You can leave a message or you can send a note by your child and I will contact you.  Or, you may email me at hallj@gcsnc.com.

Lunch/ Celebrations:

You are invited to come eat lunch with us whenever you can.  Our lunch time is 11:45- 12:15. Also, if your child is celebrating a birthday you are welcome to bring in treats for the classroom, we just ask that you bring enough to include everyone. If your child does not celebrate holidays, please let me know so I may respect your beliefs.

Independent Reading: I will assess your child at the beginning of the year to determine their independent reading level.  The independent reading level means your child can read and understand the words in the books on their own.  The books your child brings home will be ones from the school library or our classroom library.  I will help guide your child to choose books that are of an interest to him or her but are books that can be read by your child.    Your child will also have a quarterly Accelerated Reader (AR) points goal they are responsible for meeting.  After reading their independent books, they may take a test on it if it is identified as AR.  Please help me ensure that your child is reading on his or her AR level and not just reading easier books in order to accumulate points.  This does NOT help your child grow as a reader.  I want to see quality reading in our classroom, as well as, a love of reading begin to grow.

Behavior Plan: School wide we are implementing “P.A.W.S” and Think! , which is a positive behavior system that we use throughout the school. P- Practice self-control, A-Act with Kindness, W-Will be responsible, S-Show Respect! Within the class we will use a ticket system. Students will earn and pay tickets back based on their behaviors and work efforts. Students will be given the opportunity to use these tickets at our class store at the end of each quarter.  (We always love donations for our store!)

Homework: Students will receive homework each night, Monday-Thursday.  Students will have a weekly math packet with problems for each night.  I expect every student to be reading at least 20 minutes at night.  Students should be able to take 2 A.R. tests a week.  Students should be picking appropriately leveled books for this.

Again, I am very excited to begin this school year.   With the following set of expectations, procedures and policies outlined in this letter, I’m sure this can be achieved!

Thanks for your support,

Ms. Hall