Welcome to Back to School Night 20072008

1
Welcome toBack to School Night!2007-2008

• Focused on Learning
• A.W. Cox Second Grade Team
• ? Joanne Grace ?
  Sigrid Diedricksen
• ? Philomena Scarpa ? Vincent Mascola
• ? Kate Summerlin

2
A.W. Cox Back to School
Night

• District Vision Statement
• The vision for the Guilford Public Schools is the
  creation of a high performance learning community
  where instruction invites effort and supports
  academic rigor for all students and educators
• Basic premise
• Every Child Can Learn
• Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
• Initiative whereby students receive expert
  instruction via extensive collaboration at all
  levels

3
A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• General Business
• Contact information
• A.W. Cox [phone]
• Voice/Email Mail
• J. Grace 42 gracej_at_guilford.k12.ct.us
• P. Scarpa - 47 scarpap_at_guilford.k12.ct.us
• S. Diedricksen - 38 diedricksens_at_guilford.k12.ct.
  us
• V. Mascola - 53 mascolav_at_guilford.k12.ct.us
• Arrival Reminder Any arrivals after 905 will
  be considered tardy

4
A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• General Business (cont.)
• Notes from Home Any deviation from your childs
  standard dismissal procedure will require a
  separate note from home on the day of the change
• Ex Bobby hands in a note on the first day of
  school stating that he will take Bus 27 every
  day this year. One day Bobby comes in and says
  he is going to Aftercare or being picked up.
  This deviation will require a separate note from
  home and an alert to Aftercare as well .
• Class Demographics Average class size is 19
  students
• 60/40 ratio of girls to boys

5
A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Homework Policy
• Homework will be assigned Mondays through
  Thursdays and needs to be returned the day after
  it was assigned
• Math At beginning of each unit, an overview of
  the unit will be sent home. Please save this as
  it will help you with your childs homework. It
  contains tips, strategies, and the answers to
  each home link assignment
• Reading Every night for at least twenty minutes
• Focus on reinforcing reading comprehension
  strategies such as making text to text, text to
  self, and text to world connections, predicting,
  picturing, wondering, and questioning
• Helping Hands strategy (chunking, reread, use
  picture clues, read first sounds and move on, ask
  does it make sense?
• Encourage 100 participation in the upcoming
  monthly reading challenge (runs October through
  June)

6
A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Homework Policy (cont.)
• Helpful Hints
• Provide a quiet study area at home
• Set aside time for homework each night
• Show an interest in each childs assignments
• Monitor their homework on a daily basis
• Wellness Policy
• Please provide a healthy, nutritious snack each
  day
• No food sharing due to allergy concerns
• Reminder Birthday celebrations may only include
  a choice of 15 minutes of extra recess,
  non-edible party favors (i.e.. Pencils), etc.

7
A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Recess Rules
• Proper footwear/attire should be worn to school
  each day dependent upon weather outlook
• Please refer to the Recess rules form that was
  distributed in your packets at the beginning of
  the year
• Volunteers
• We are looking for volunteers to assist with
  computer lab, library, and field trips
• All volunteers are required to attend the Extra
  Pair of Hands training in order to participate
• Please see the sign up sheets posted throughout
  room with each teachers computer lab/library
  special times if you are interested

8
A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Curriculum Overview
• Literacy
• Shared reading, guided reading, read alouds,
  choral reading
• Emphasis on multicultural folk tales
• Poetry to aid in fluency development
• Continual focus on Active Reader comprehension
  strategies such as making connections,
  predicting, wondering, picturing, and questioning
• Math
• Everyday Math (EM) program
• Spiraled program to reinforce learned concepts
  throughout year
• Science
• Full Option Science System (FOSS) kits
• Focus on inquiry-based/hands on learning
• Cover nutrition (Jazzercise), solids/liquids,
  plants and soil

9
A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Information Literacy
• New curriculum approved Feb. 2006
• What is it I want to know?
• Where will I go to find it?
• Is the information valid?
• How will I use this information to make
  decisions?

10
A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Curriculum Overview (cont.)
• Social Studies
• Map skills
• Citizenship
• Character education
• Community
• Guilford Fair participation
• Colonial heritage
• History of Guilford

11
A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Student Progress
• Scheduled discussions will occur during
  Parent/Teacher conferences held in November and
  April.
• Progress Reports
• Will be sent home in January and June
• Homework Folders
• Our daily communication vehicle
• Please make sure to review daily