Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new school year. My name is Mrs. Weslowski and I just wanted to let you know about some of the things we will be doing this year. I will be going over most of this on Thursday, August 29th during Back to School Night but wanted to let you know a few things for the beginning of this week.

This year we will be learning many new and exciting things such as telling time, learning about money, cursive, preparing for our First Penance and Holy Communion, and much more. One of the most important things is the reading curriculum. It is very important for your child not only to read at school but at home as well. Each student should be reading about 15 – 20 minutes each night in addition to the other homework that they have. A book will be sent home with your child each night (starting next week) and they are expected to read it and return it to school the next day. Their Accelerated Reading average at the end of the quarter will count as one test grade for reading.

We will also be working on a project based on the story Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. More information about this project can be found in the projects section.

The students are allowed to bring a healthy snack in each day for snack time. I suggest things such as pretzels, grapes, crackers, etc. I prefer that the students do not bring in snacks that require spoons or forks. They can have them for lunch but not for snack in the classroom.

Each day the students will receive a Communication log which will let you know about their day. They will either receive a different color check which will communicate with you how they did that day. There is more information about this found within the 2nd grade handbook.

I am looking forward to a fun and exciting year. Meanwhile, if you have any questions/concerns please feel free to contact me. My contact information is listed below.

Sincerely, Mrs. Weslowski

Mrs. Kathleen WeslowskiSchool Phone: 301-292-2522E-mail – weslowski@stmaryspiscataway.orgWebsite: http://kathy_weslowski.myteachersite.org/teacher/site/ - this is to find homework, projects, etc.

Friday, October 18 – Book report 1 is due

Friday, September 27 – Flat Stanley letter and envelope (with stamp) due

Friday, November 15 – Flat Stanley should return home to students

Friday, December 13 – Flat Stanley posters due

Friday, January 10 - Sandwich book report due

Friday, March 14 – Book report recipe due

Friday, May 16 – Prayer Project due

Friday, May 23 - Final book report due

The reading curriculum is broken up into six different themes.There are about 3-4 stories in each theme.

During the Language Arts period, the children will either be with me, doing seatwork, or will be doing Accelerated Reader (AR). Each group will be about 30 minutes.

At the end of this section, I have provided the AR guidelines and sample questions to use when you read with your child at home. Students should be reading a minimum of 15-20 minutes each night.

Once a story is complete, a reading assessment will beadministered to the students. The students will also take an AR test on the story to check their comprehension.

There will be one book report due each quarter. The book mustbe in the student’s zone of proximal development (ZPD). The due dates and the assignment are given below:

Quarter 1: Due on October 18 – The student must read a bookin their ZPD and do a book report. I will provide the form for the book report.

Quarter 2: Due on January 10 – The student must read a book in their ZPD and will do a sandwich book report. The information is at the end of the handbook.

Quarter 3: Due on March 14 – The student must read a bookin their ZPD and do the recipe book report. See the form and instructions in the Project Section.

Quarter 4: Due on May 23 – The student must read a book in their ZPD and write a letter to a friend about the book you read. Explain why you liked or did not like the book. Follow the directions found on the rubric in the project section.

Accelerated Reader Guidelines

1. The children should be reading at home for at least 15-20 minutes each night. Each child will receive a bookmark where they are to record the books they haveread. A signature from their parent or guardian is alsorequired so that we know they are ready to take the AR test.

2. Children should turn in a book they have finished, along with their bookmark, in the basket in the morning.

3. Bookmarks should be filled in by the parent and returned, with a signature, every day.

4. The student’s grade will go on the bookmark for the books they have read at home.

5. Children should read the book at least two times before taking a quiz (unless it is a Chapter book).

6. TOPS reports will be given out during the week and will be put in the student’s homework folder for you to review. This

will give you an indication of where they are.

Homework folders will be given to students on Monday of each

week and will contain their homework assignments for the week.

Each day I will send home a Communication log which may

contain comments or questions. There is also a place for your

comments/questions. Please make sure that you sign them each

night so that I know you have seen them.

Agendas will have their homework written in them each day.

Please review these each night and initial that you have seen them. The

homework will also be posted on the school website so that you may see

what is being assigned during the week. The website is:

http://kathy_weslowski.myteachersite.org/teacher/site/.

When a student is absent, the work that they missed will be

placed in a folder. The student should take the folder home,

along with the books they will need, and return the assignments

within three days of returning to school.

Please send a note in with your child describing the reason

for their absence so that I can forward the information to the

office.

Following extended absences due to illness or other special

circumstances, homework due dates will be evaluated on

an individual basis.

Snacks/Lunch

We will have a snack every morning. Please send a healthy snack with your child every day such as pretzels, crackers, grapes, etc.

Please do not send in snacks that require a spoon or fork. I do not have extra in the classroom and there is a possibility that it might spill. Those types of snacks are fine for lunchtime but not to eat in the classroom.

Your child may bring water bottles to school but please make sure they don’t have anything but water in them.

For lunch, please make sure that you send lunch items that do not need to be heated in the microwave. We are unable to heat up these items. Please also send the utensils that they need to eat their lunch.

On the first day of school, the class will work together to come up with rules for the classroom. Once we agree on them, everyone willsign them.

1. Raise your hand to speak or for permission to get out of your seat.

2. Keep your hands, feet, and objects to yourself.

3. Keep the classroom and school clean.

4. Try your best.

5. Be kind to each other.

Behavior will be monitored and communicated to the parent(s) by way of a color-coded system. Each color coordinates with a behavior/consequence.

Purple: They had an extremely good day. They will receive a specialtreat for getting on purple.

Green: acceptable behaviorYellow: warning (rule violation)Red: removal from the classroom, a discipline note and phone call Home.

If a student gets 3 red checks in one week, they will be issued a ½ hour detention.

Daily Behavior Logs

A behavior report will be sent home in the homework folder. Thisreport must be checked, signed, and returned on a daily basis.

The daily behavior report works like this:

Every child begins the day with a green card. Throughout the day,a child may be asked to pull cards depending on behavior.

Usually cards are pulled for behaviors such as continued talking,not keeping hands to self, not lining up, and/or not followingdirections. Other behaviors that interfere with learning/teachingwill also result in pulling a card.

They can also go to purple this year. That means that their behavior was above that of other students in the class. If a studentis on purple, they will receive a special prize. At the end of the day, whatever card is showing will be indicated on the behavior report in the form of a green, yellow, or red check along with a brief explanation.

If a child accumulates 3 or more red checks in one week, then a ½ hour detention will be issued.

Dear Parents,

Over the summer and in class we read a book called Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. In this story a little boy named Stanley is flattened by a bulletin board. In his new “flattened” state, he has manyadventures. One of Stanley’s adventures begins with Stanley traveling in an envelope.

We will be doing a project based on this book. This project will teach students many things from geography to how to write a friendly letter. The students will get a picture of Flat Stanley to color and will need to write a letter and send it to someone they know. They will ask the person to keep Flat Stanley for about 4 - 6 weeks. The person they send it to will be asked to keep track of the places they take him and the things that they do together. At the end of the four to six weeks, the students will make a poster showing all of the things that Flat Stanley did on his trip and share them with the class. We, as a class, will also be keeping track of the places where he has gone.

On the following page you will find the due dates for each part of the project and the last page contains the poster project guidelines.

Friday, September 27 - Bring in the letter that you will send to the person Flat Stanley will be visiting, a correctly addressed envelope, and a stamp. Be sure that it includes all of the parts to a friendly letter (heading, greeting, body, closing, signature).

Friday, November 15 - Flat Stanley should return home to the children by this date.

Friday, December 13- The final Flat Stanley posters are due.

The children should create a poster that includes their Flat Stanley and the information they have received on his adventures. How the children set up the poster is up to them. They may include the postcards, pictures, etc. that they receive. Also, somewhere on the poster should be a few paragraphs that tell about the place Flat Stanley visited and some of the important or interesting things that they learned about that place.

Name ___________________________________________

Date ____________________________________________

Book ____________________________________________

Flat Stanley Letter (heading, greeting, body, closing, signature) /25

Project:

Pictures from state visited /25

Information from state visited /25

Oral Presentation /25

Grade /100 ____

The First Communion project is due on May 16, 2014. It will count as a test grade. It is important that all of the information is included and that the project is turned in on time. The project will be completed by the students at home.

The students must make a prayer booklet. They should chooseany 5 prayers and write and illustrate each of them.

First Communion Project

Prayer 1 /20

Prayer 2 /20

Prayer 3 /20

Prayer 4 /20

Prayer 5 /20

GRADE /100 _______

First Communion Prayer Booklet

Grading Rubric for Book Report

Name ___________________________________________

Date ____________________________________________

Book ____________________________________________

Title, author, name, date /10

Favorite Character /5

Character description /5

Favorite Character Sentence /2

Two sentences about book /6

Setting /2

Picture of story (beginning, middle, end) /30

Grammar /10

Spelling /10

Punctuation /10

Capitalization /10

Grade /100 ____

For our next book report, we’re going to do something a little different.You will create a sandwich, and each part of the sandwich will have adifferent part of the report on it. Here is how it works:

Bread: On the first piece of bread, you will write the title (underlined),author, your name, and date. You will also make a illustration of a scene from the book.

Tomato: Describe the main character

Lettuce: Write about your favorite part of the story.

Cheese: Who was your favorite character in the story and why?

Meat: Write a summary of the story.

Bread: On the second piece of bread, tell what the genre of the bookis – realistic fiction, fantasy, biography, etc. Why?

Remember to write neatly, and don’t crowd your writing. Write only onone side of the paper. You may color the pieces of your sandwich, butdon’t color on top of the writing so that it is difficult to read. Cut out theparts of your sandwich and fasten your sandwich together on the upperleft corner with a staple.

Your report will be graded as follows:

- Each part of the sandwich will be worth 10 points- Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization are worth 10 points each

This is a total of 100 points. Ten points per day will be deducted for being late. Enjoyyour book!!!!

Name ___________________________________________

Date ____________________________________________

Book ____________________________________________

Bread (Title, author, name, date, illustration) /10

Tomato (Describe the main character) /10

Lettuce (Favorite part of the story) /10

Cheese (Favorite Character, Why) /10

Meat (Summary) /10

Bread (Genre) /10

Grammar /10

Spelling /10

Punctuation /10

Capitalization /10

Grade /100 ____

Write a letter to a friend about the book you read. The letter should include all of the parts of a letter (heading (date), greeting, body, closing, signature). Explain why you liked or did not like the book and if you think that they should read thebook or not and why.

Grading Rubric for Letter

Name ___________________________________________

Date ____________________________________________

Book ____________________________________________

Letter /50

Grammar /10

Spelling /10

Punctuation /10

Capitalization /10

Presentation /10

Grade /100 ____

Final Book Report

I have read and understand the information contained inthis handbook.

_____________________ _________________Parent/Guardian Signature Date

_____________________ _________________ Student Signature Date

Miscellaneous:

Scholastic

Uniform

Field Trips

For the week of September 5th:

Monday:

No School – Labor Day

Tuesday:

Math – pg. 1 in workbook

Spelling – ABC Order – just words – not vocabulary words

Religion – Quiz 1 due on Friday. I will be sending the quiz home today along with their Religion books. Please make sure that the books are returned every day so that they do not fall behind on their work.

Wednesday:

Math – pg. 2

Spelling – sentences – use the 15 spelling words in sentences (not vocabulary). Please underline the spelling word and more than one word can be used in a sentence.

Thursday:

Math – pg. 3

Spelling – do a practice test in your spelling journal. Have someone give you the word and you spell it. Test on Friday.

Friday:

No Homework

Homework

Notes:

1. Please make sure that the students are reading every night and that their bookmark is filled out and returned the next day.

2. Please make sure your child has a snack every day. We do not have lunch until 12:05 and we usually have a snack around 9:30.

3. You can find homework, projects, book reports, etc. on http://Kathy_Weslowski.MySchoolSite.org

4. Thank you to all of you, your family, and friends who have donated gift cards to our classroom from SchoolStore.com. So far, our classroom has $135 that has been donated to us and we are very grateful for your generosity.

Reminders:

Monday, March 18th – Religion Test due/First Communion Meeting – 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 20th – Chili/Hot Dog Lunch with Special Dessert

Friday, March 22nd – Be Kind to Animals posters due

Tuesday, March 26th – ½ day; No Aftercare – Easter Break Starts

Friday, May 17th – 4th Quarter Book Reports due

Spelling Words

1. Nap

2. Napkin

3. Cab

4. Cabin

5. In

6. Index

7. Visit

8. Object

9. Cotton

10. Happen

11. Sauce

12. Draw

13. Food

14. Together

15. through

Spelling and Vocabulary Words forThe Tiny Seed

Vocabulary Words

16. Burst – break open

17. Desert – very dry place

18. Drifts – carried through the air

19. Drowns – covered too much by water

20. Gently – moves in a soft and smooth way

21. Neighbor – one person or thing that is close to another