2. Video from the administrators, office staff and resource teachers Austin Elementary! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqgfBKcveB4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqgfBKcveB4

3. The Second Grade Team 2A – Tim Wu 2B – Casey Griffith 2C – Heather Naragon 2D – Kaitlyn Moore

4. The ABC’s of Second Grade

5. Attendance Many 2nd grade learning activities are group oriented and involve interaction with classmates. Therefore, it is next to impossible to recreate these activities at home. Please view school as a priority and see to it that your child attends every day - except in cases of illness or emergency. Students must be in their seats no later than 7:50, or they will be marked tardy.

6. Birthdays Birthday parties are not held at school. Your child may bring cookies or cupcakes to share with the class as long as they are store bought. For summer birthdays, you may bring a treat on your child’s half birthday. Please bring individual or pre-cut treats. (NO cakes, ice cream, favors, or balloons)

7. Communication Conferences Please be sure to check your child’s Mustang folder for important papers and notes. There is a calendar in your child’s take home folder with important events. We will also use this calendar for reporting positive and negative behavior! Please send lunch money in a LABELED envelope. Parent – Teacher Conferences will be held the week of October 7 th -11 th. We will send an e-mail with a sign up link for you to sign up at a time that works for you.

8. Dismissal Students are dismissed at 3:05. All students should be picked up from the front of the school no later than 3:15. You must show your green card in order to pick your child up. No exceptions! When picking your child up from the gym, please enter quietly and exit quickly. Please do not use this time to talk with teachers or other parents. We have many students that need to be released and this process will go much faster if the gym remains quiet. Thank you for your help! Please send a note if your child is to go home a different way than his/her normal schedule, or if they will be picked up earlier than 3:05. If your transportation plan changes, please call the office no later than 2:45, otherwise we cannot guarantee that we will receive the message in time.

9. Emergencies Please make sure that we always have the correct emergency contact numbers and information in the PORTAL for your child. If your contact information changes, please update the PORTAL immediately!

10. Field Trips Second Grade will participate in one field trip this year. Permission slips must be returned in order for your child to attend the trip. Students are encouraged to wear a school shirt on every field trip. If you plan to attend the field trip, please make sure you have an updated background check on file!

11. Grading Second Grade does not assign numerical grades. In order to give a more detailed assessment of student performance, we use standards-based report cards. (MS, AS, IPS) When looking at the second grade report card, please reference the report card matrices to better understand the standards. Grandparents/Special Friends Day Grandparents and Special Friends Day will be Friday, November 8 th. This will also be the during the Book Fair. GT Testing The deadline for GT applications is tomorrow, September 4 th. Application forms are available on the Coppell ISD website. All students will be tested in third grade.

12. HomeFUN Reading is the foundation of all learning. We want to develop a life long zest for reading. Your child should be reading for 20 minutes each night. There will be more information to come on homework once we dig deeper in the curriculum.

13. Illness Internet Please keep your child home if he/she is sick. It is important that we not pass germs around to each other. When your child arrives back to school, please send a note with a handwritten signature to the office no longer than 1 day after the absence so that it will be excused! For important information about events at school, please be sure to check out the Austin Elementary website at: www.coppellisd.com/austin

14. Journals Your child will write in several journals throughout the school year. (math, science, word work, and writing) The journals are a time for students to reflect on their experiences or events at home or in the classroom, as well as to showcase their learning and progress throughout the year.

15. Kindness In Second Grade, kind and respectful behavior is expected from everyone at all times. R time is a weekly lesson format to teach social skills. We are also on the lookout for that Code Keeper behavior!! You never know who has those tickets!!

16. Lunch Lunch is from 12:15-12:45. If your child forgets their lunch, you may drop it off in the office and it will be placed on the “Forgotten Lunch Table”. Your child will look for it there. Family Friday Lunch! Our campus will be open to lunch visitors on Fridays only! On these days, we will have additional seating to accommodate all the extra visitors so we hope you will be able to be a party of these special Fridays with your child!

17. Mustang Manners In 2 nd grade we encourage good behavior with positive reinforcements. However, if students continuously choose to make poor choices, they will have fair, appropriate & related consequences. Please remember that “fair” does not always mean “the same” – consequences are specifically tailored to meet the needs of each individual student.

18. Newsletters Newsletters will be posted on the teacher’s website. Please read them for important information about what we are doing at school.

19. Outside Recess In second grade, we use the “big playground” behind the cafeteria. Your child may bring a ball to recess as long as it is labeled with his/her name. Please remind your child that he/she is responsible for his/her items and if it goes over the fence, we are unable to leave the playground to get the ball. We will not allow toys, bats, racquets or other items that could be harmful to other students. Please visit the Coppell ISD website to view the weather policy for PE and recess.

20. Parties We will have two parties this year: Winter Party - December 19th Valentines Party - February 14th If you would like to help with a class party, please let your child’s teacher know. PE Our PE days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please refer to Mrs. Dobecka’s website for her “Curriculum Night” information!

21. Quick & Quiet Hello As you volunteer in our classroom and school, we will urge your child to acknowledge you with a “quick and quiet” hello wave. It is important for them to greet you, but remain involved in class activities. Thank you for your cooperation.

22. Reading A large portion of your child’s day will include participation in small group instruction and Daily 5/Café stations. Please encourage your child to read for a minimum of 20 minutes nightly.

23. Snack We will have a “Working Snack” time each day. Your child may bring one small, healthy snack. Please send a snack that is clean and does not require utensils. Please remember that we are a “Nut Free Class”, so do not send a snack with nuts or nut butter. Spelling In 2 nd grade, we teach spelling skills through “Word Study” strategies. Your child will be assessed and then assigned to a “Word Study group”, based on their abilities. There will be no weekly spelling tests.

24. Tardy Policy Students should be lined up in the gym by 7:40am. Arriving after this time causes students to lose valuable instructional time – and it is extremely disruptive to the rest of the class. By ensuring that your child is at school on time each day, you are helping them to become more responsible and timely citizens. Students who are not in their seats by 7:50 must report to the office for a tardy pass.

25. Unexcused Absences If your child is absent, please be sure to send a note with a handwritten signature when they return. E-mails will not be accepted. ** If we do not receive a note within 2 days, the absence will remain “unexcused” and cannot be excused.**

26. Volunteers We love volunteers! Moms, dads, grandparents….look for information on how you can help in our classroom!

27. Water Bottles Writers Workshop Your child may bring a water bottle to school as long as it has a pop-up top. Water bottles without a pop-up top are easily spilled and will not be permitted during instruction time. Please be sure to label all water bottles. Your child will get to experience the stages of publishing stories this year as we learn about the writing process during Writer’s Workshop.

28. _________________________________________________________________________ We are excited to work with you and your child this year! Please be sure that your child gets plenty of Zzzz’s each night because we have a lot of exciting activities awaiting them each day!