August 14, 2019
Dear Parents,
Welcome to a new school year at Center Elementary! This is my fourth year teaching at Center. Before coming to Travis USD, I taught for 13 years in grades first through third at Crescent Elementary in Suisun within the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District. I am looking forward to working with you and your child this year. I would like to take a moment to inform you of some important information that will help make the beginning of the year successful.
School starts at 8:15 a.m. and ends at 2:41 p.m on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesdays will be early release at 1:05pm for Common Planning time to allow for teacher collaboration. Drop off and pick up procedure for parents dropping off and picking up their children will occur as it did last year in the parent drop off/pick up circle. Bus riders will continue with the same routine as last year as well. Please ensure that your child is on time to line up with the class and will not interrupt instruction by being tardy. Valuable learning is missed when your child is absent from school. Please try to schedule all medical appointments outside of the school day to ensure that the minimal amount of instruction is missed.
Please let me know if there are any special arrangements for your child at the end of the day so that I can be sure that he or she gets home safely. Please discuss with your child where you plan to pick them up after school. Parking can be a challenge, especially the first month of school. It is strongly encouraged that you park in the Center parking lot at the bottom of the hill. We appreciate your patience with us as we teach the students the new pick up procedure after school.
There is a snack recess everyday at 10:00 a.m. Students may bring a small, healthy snack which they can eat before they go out to play. Students may bring water bottles to school. Please make sure they are labeled with the child’s name. This is a very important part of your child’s school day and helps with their learning because if your child is hungry, they will not be able to focus during class.
Lunch is from 11:40 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. If your child is purchasing hot lunch, please have your child pay for his or her lunch before school in the cafeteria, which is located in the multipurpose room. School meals may also be paid for online through the district web site under the “Parents” tab.
Our class will have Physical Education daily, so please make sure your child wears appropriate close-toed footwear for PE activities. Children may not wear flip-flops or open-toed shoes or sandals to school. Your child has PE with the PE specialist on Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Center has an online reading program (Accelerated Reader or AR). With this program I can find my students’ independent and instructional reading levels. We used this program last year and saw terrific growth from those students who made good use of the program. I will be assessing your child in the next two weeks to determine their reading level for the beginning of the year.
On Mondays, your child will receive their homework, in the form of a monthly homework calendar. This is the folder in which you received this information. This folder also often contains several handouts, some of which will need to be signed and brought back with your child, along with their homework, on Fridays. Please read and keep these informational handouts at home and promptly sign and return any necessary forms. It is especially important that an updated emergency card be completed online as soon as possible, to ensure that in case of an emergency, you can be contacted as quickly as possible. Many of you already did this in July when the district sent home a letter asking you to update your information online.
Please do not hesitate to contact me, Mrs. Ede (pronounced eed), at 707-437-4621, send a note with your child, or send an email at lede@travisusd.org with any questions or concerns. I am also available before and after school with an appointment. I look forward to watching your child learn and grow throughout the year in first and second grade!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Ede
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Ways you can help your child be successful in my 2nd Grade Class
AT HOME
- A good breakfast
- A cheerful departure from home each morning
- Limit the amount of TV and try having a night without television.
- Read with your child every night.
- Support your child with his/her homework and providing a quiet, comfortable place for him/her to do it.
- 10 hours of sleep each night
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VISITING OUR CLASSROOM
Please make sure to check in at the office anytime you are visiting the classroom. Visitors are required to have a pass from the office. When in the classroom, use a quiet voice since our students are engaged in learning and are easily distracted. You can come in to observe, but please remember that I am teaching and attending to my students’ needs, so I may not be able to talk to you. In addition, any parent volunteering their time in the classroom needs to be fingerprinted. Please visit the Travis USD webpage for more information about volunteering in the classroom.
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PERSONAL BELONGINGS
Personal belongings need to be labeled with your child’s name. Your child should not bring valuables or games to school. Lunch pails, sweaters, backpacks, etc. need names to help me find the rightful owner. Your child needs to bring a backpack to school on Mondays and Fridays. It will aid your child in carrying his/her belongings, classwork, correspondence, and homework to and from school. On a side note and in the name of safety: if your child doesn’t know how to tie his/her shoelaces, please practice lacing and tying their shoes at home.
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DISMISSAL
At 2:41pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and 1:05pm on Wednesdays, students are required to go directly to the pick-up areas or to the busses. No other options are possible as we cannot provide supervision. Students must follow the directions of adults on yard duty at the dismissal time. Please make sure your child knows which mode of transportation he/she is taking to go home. If your child is being picked up, the name of the person who is picking up your child must be on the emergency card.
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MONEY
Please place any money that is coming to school in a SEALED envelope labeled with the following information:
- Child’s first name and last name
- Teacher’s name
- Amount enclosed
- Purpose of money (field trip, book order, fundraiser, lunch money, etc.)
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HOMEWORK
2nd grade homework will consist of reading daily at home and a monthly homework calendar. Homework packets will be sent home every Monday and are due on Friday. Homework calendars will be sent home at the beginning of each month and are expected to be brought to school every Friday so I can check on their progress and make sure they are completing assignments during the week. There will be a homework assignment for each day of the school week. Homework should always be completed before a child is given free time. Along with the homework packet, your child is expected to read at least 20 minutes each day. I will be reviewing your child’s homework and I will be returning it in your child's homework folder the following Monday. The main purpose of homework in 2nd grade is to provide some practice of the skills taught, to keep you aware of what we are studying in class, and to inform me if your child understands the concepts taught in class.
Homework and reading completion is an important part of our curriculum and is graded on the report card. Make sure that your child has an appropriate place to do his/her work at home. Homework gets harder each year your child is in school. Developing good study habits now will ensure academic success in the future.
I will give your child pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, paper, rulers, etc. to use in the classroom, although you are more than welcome to send these supplies to school with your child for them to use throughout the year. They will keep them in their desk. You may also want to have these same supplies at home for your child to use with his/her homework.
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INCOMPLETE HOMEWORK
Incomplete homework or missing homework will be completed at recess. Children not turning in their homework will have the opportunity to complete it during their recess until it is returned.
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DISCIPLINE
Discipline is one of the most important parts of the school day. If behavior is out of control, then learning is not possible. We use a logical consequences method in our classrooms that consists of:
-The student being reminded of the classroom rules on the first offense.
-The student having a time out away from others in the classroom.
-The student having a time out in another classroom.
-The student's parents being notified with a phone call home.
If mutually agreed upon between the parent and myself, a weekly behavior contract will be sent home everyday. It will indicate how your child behaved in each of the academic areas and may have a short note telling you about any problems that occurred. Please sign and return the form everyday.
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SCHOOL-WIDE RULES:
1. Safety First.
2. Try Your Best.
3. Always Be Responsible.
4. Respect for Everyone.
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BIRTHDAYS / TREATS POLICY
We strongly discourage cupcakes and other sweets for birthdays. Please consider other options such as: popcorn, fruit, your child’s favorite book to share with the class, pencils, etc. Our classroom is a NUT FREE zone because of students who are HIGHLY allergic to all nuts. Please DO NOT send any nut products to school with your child. Thank you so much for helping me keep my students safe at school.
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FIELD TRIPS
Board Policy now states volunteers for field trips must be fingerprinted. There will be a fee and parents will be responsible for this. If you are interested in volunteering for field trips, you will need to visit the Travis USD website to complete the online application.
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