Welcome to Back to School Night 20092010

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Welcome toBack to School Night!2009-2010

• Focused on Learning
• A.W. Cox Second Grade Team
• ? Joanne Grace
• ? Philomena Scarpa ? Vincent Mascola
• ? Jennifer Jannotta

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A.W. Cox Back to School
Night

• Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
• Initiative whereby students receive expert
  instruction via extensive collaboration at all
  levels
• Collaboration is at the heart of our PLC
  initiative
• Establishment of targeted assessments during
  collaboration allows us to plan differentiated
  instruction based on the exact needs of each
  student
• Student rotations, whereby groups of students
  with like needs meet for a half hour 4x per week
  amongst the four grade-level teachers will begin
  sometime in October

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A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• General Business
• Contact information A.W. Cox [phone]
• Voicemail/Email
• J. Grace 42 gracej_at_guilford.k12.ct.us
• P. Scarpa - 47 scarpap_at_guilford.k12.ct.us
• V. Mascola - 53 mascolav_at_guilford.k12.ct.us
• J. Jannotta - 29 jannottaj_at_guilford.k12.ct.us
• Arrival Reminder Students should not arrive
  prior to 850. Any arrivals after 905 are
  considered tardy. (Note Dismissal time is now
  325)

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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 17
  students

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A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Homework Policy
• Homework will be assigned Mondays through
  Thursdays and should be returned the day after it
  was assigned unless noted
• Will include math homelinks as well as a
  variety of word study activities including
  writing question and statement sentences
• 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 comprehension strategies
  such as making text to self connections,
  predicting, and picturing as well as key story
  elements (B-M-E, characters, problem)
• 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 incentives (runs October through
  June)

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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
• All homework should be completed in pencil and
  labeled with the students name and date
• Please check homework to insure that it is neat,
  legible, and placed in the homework folder on a
  nightly basis
• Homework Folders
• Our primary daily communication vehicle
• Please make sure to review nightly

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A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Recess Rules
• Proper footwear/attire should be worn to school
  each day dependent upon weather outlook (ie. No
  Crocs or sandals)
• 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, classroom centers, the library, and
  field trips
• All volunteers required to attend the Extra
  Pair of Hands training in order to participate
  (Schedule for training sent home with packets)
• Wellness Policy
• Please provide a healthy, nutritious snack each
  day
• Absolutely no food sharing due to allergy
  concerns
• Reminder Birthday celebrations may only include
  a choice of 10 minutes of extra recess,
  non-edible party favors (i.e.. Pencils, stickers,
  etc.)

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A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Curriculum Overview
• Literacy
• Shared reading, guided reading, read alouds,
  choral reading
• Emphasis on multicultural fables
• Increased emphasis on using poetry to aid in
  fluency development wonderful results from last
  year
• Continual focus on Active Reader comprehension
  strategies such as making connections,
  predicting, wondering, picturing, and questioning
• Focus groups will be rotating amongst the 4
  teachers in the coming weeks to enhance student
  learning in key literacy areas such as reading
  comprehension and decoding skills

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A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Writing
• New Program - Empowering Writers
• Systematic writing process for student narratives
  that provides a solid foundation for children to
  build their stories upon than traditional story
  maps, webs, etc.
• Narrative Writing Diamond
• Entertaining Beginning Grab the readers
  attention
• Elaborative Detail (Story critical character(s),
  setting)
• Suspense (or anticipation leading to the main
  event)
• The Main Event (Largest chunk of story show
  action in slow motion, stretch it out using main
  characters thoughts and feelings Use your 5
  senses
• Solution of problem or conclusion of adventure
• Extended Ending Memory, decision, feelings

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A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Math
• Everyday Math (EM) program
• Spiraled program to reinforce learned concepts
  throughout year
• Consistent practice of basic addition/subtraction
  facts (0-18) and fact families are extremely
  important
• Science
• Full Option Science System (FOSS) kits
• Focus on inquiry-based/hands on learning
• Cover nutrition (year-long theme),
  solids/liquids, plants and soil

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A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Curriculum Overview (cont.)
• Social Studies
• Map skills
• Character education/Citizenship
• Community
• Guilford Fair (Patriotic Hats volunteers
  needed to deliver and pick up hats!)
• Colonial heritage
• History of Guilford

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A.W. Cox Back to School Night

• Student Progress
• Scheduled discussions will occur during
  Parent/Teacher conferences held on November 9, 10
  and March 31, April 1
• As always, individual student discussions can
  occur throughout the year on an as-needed basis
• Progress Reports
• Will be sent home in January and June