Conference Time 8:45-9:30
Lunch 12:15-12:45 Table 3

Dear Parents,
Welcome to the beginning of a brand new school year. I am looking forward to a great year with my new class. I hope that you will share this excitement with me as we work together throughout this school year. First I would like to introduce myself and then tell you a little bit about what will be going on in the classroom.
My name is Lindsay Forsman. I was born and raised in a small town, near Ann Arbor and south of Detroit, called Saline, Michigan. I attended Eastern Michigan University where I received my Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education, majoring in mathematics and minoring in integrated science. In June of 2007, my husband Jason and I, moved to Livingston TX. We enjoy being a part of such a great community.
I consider it a privilege and therefore I thank you for the opportunity to work with you and your child this year. In the next few paragraphs, I hope to explain some of my expectations for the 2008-2009 school year. If you have any questions, you may contact me at 328-2160 or email me at lforsman@livingstonisd.com.

I wholeheartedly believe in cooperative learning in the classroom. I place my students in mixed ability groups so that they may help each other during the learning process. Research has shown that all students do better when they are allowed to discuss and defend their ideas as they learn. Working in small groups also helps students learn valuable social skills they will need throughout life.
Parents are sometimes concerned about grades in the cooperative learning classroom. I want to assure parents that all grades come from individual assignments, participation, and tests. No student's grade will be raised or lowered based on the performance of others in the group.

EVERYDAY FOLDERS will go home everyday. Inside your child’s folder will be a sheet with comments about behavior or unfinished work as well as spelling words, vocabulary words, homework assignments or any other notes and reminders. Please check your child’s folder everyday. By Wednesday there will be a parent/teacher communication sheet in your child’s folder. Please sign, after you have read and seen your child’s homework and tests. On the day that this sheet goes home, your child’s SPELLING TEST, READING TEST, and MATH TEST will all be in the everyday folder. Your signature is required to let me know that you have seen all three of these tests. If there are any problems please let me know immediately.

Our class will live by the following “Bill of Rights”. We will work on recognizing that we must respect each other’s rights.
1. Be safe.
2. Be kind.
3. Be productive.

Please send at least 1 of the following items for the class:
•Pump-style (ex. Germ-X) hand disinfectant
•Extra large glue sticks (Although they are on the supply list, we run out fast!!)

SNACKS need to be quick and easy to eat. I will allow each student to bring in ONE water bottle to keep on the corner of their desk. Since, I will not be able to provide snacks everyday, all year, I ask that those who are able and willing bring in snacks for the whole class. I will be storing them in a cupboard in the classroom for daily use. Please let me know if you are able to send in snacks! Some great ideas are:
 Granola bars
 Dry cereal or cereal bars
 Crackers
 Cookies
 Chocolate Candy (since this is the only kind the state allows)
 Anything else your child likes to eat

Reading is an important part of your child’s education. Students will be able to read new books daily, weekly and monthly. There is a small classroom library for students to read while at school each day. These books are not to be brought home and must remain in the classroom. Students will be bringing home their library books each week. Please encourage them to read their books, instead of just letting them sit around the house. In addition to this, I will be sending home Scholastic Book Club Order forms each month. Students may order new books for their library at home. Please read with your child EVERY night. This will help ensure that your child will become a better reader.

In order to enrich a student’s learning, I believe that homework is necessary for practicing skills that have been learned at school. Homework should not take longer than 30 minutes per night. However, when a student does not finish their class work they will be required to complete it as homework. I will try and give ample time in class for the completion of most assignments. We all have different learning levels and some may work more slowly than others, therefore they will need to finish the work at home.

Regular school attendance is critical to the learning process. When your child is absent, he or she misses valuable instructional time. Please send a written note of explanation whenever your child is absent. State law requires us to code each absence as excused or unexcused. Excused absences include illness and doctor’s appointments. Unexcused absences include out-of-town trips, missing the bus, and family vacations. Students are permitted to make up work missed during absences. However, some activities will be difficult or impossible for students to make up (such as experiments and hands-on activities). Therefore, your child may be given an alternate assignment.

Our class participates in physical education or music movement everyday. Students will do exercises, run laps, practice P.E. skills, and play games. Therefore, your child needs to wear appropriate clothing and footwear each day. Students who wear dress shoes should be prepared to change into appropriate tennis shoes before our P.E./music period. (Slick shoes or restrictive clothing can be a hazard during physical education activities.) If you feel your child should not participate in P.E. on a particular day, please write a note stating the reason. All children will be expected to participate unless they have a note excusing them. Notes will be sent to Mrs. Wilson or Mrs. Kennedy, our P.E. and music teachers.

I want to explain a very effective behavior management system that I use in my classroom. The cabinet at the back of the room shows a stoplight with four colors: green, yellow, orange, and red. Numbered pockets surround the stoplight. Each student has a clip with his/her name on it. Everyone begins each day on "green for go”. If a class rule is broken, their clip changes to yellow, or a warning. If another behavior problem occurs that day, their clip will move to orange, the second caution. Furthermore, the student may have to complete a “Time-Out” worksheet explaining their inappropriate behavior and how they plan to correct the problem. These “Time-Out” forms will be sent home to parents to be signed and returned. The color red is reserved for very severe discipline problems. Such behavior will usually result in a phone call home or a trip to the office. However, my favorite way to use the stoplight system is to reward students who behave appropriately. This system may sound a little confusing on paper, but it’s actually quite simple and allows me to devote more time to teaching and less time to handling discipline problems.

Research has shown that the way to become a good reader is to simply READ! With this in mind, I have developed a reading program which allows students to read books, and later novels, in addition to their regular reading textbook. I call this program "Literature Circles" because we have small groups of students reading different reading materials, and each group has a daily "circle meeting" with me to discuss their book. This is an exciting approach to reading, and one that second graders enjoy.
We will start Literature Circles as soon as possible (hopefully within the next couple of weeks).

We will be using a basal reader, supplementary readers, and different leveled books. Reading grades will be taken from vocabulary, comprehension, and daily exercises, as well as from oral reading. I also make anecdotal notes during Literacy Center times. Please read with your child EVERY night. This is the best way you can ensure that your child will become a better reader. For lots of extra, fun activities to do at home, just click on the "Links Page" button under the "Make a Selection" menu. Then, simply click on "Language Arts Links" beside the Language Arts chalkboard. Have fun!

The Accelerated Reader program is a reading incentive program. Students read books from a selected list and then take short computer quizzes to test comprehension. Students earn points based on the difficulty of the book and their performance on the quiz. Incentives are offered to students for meeting designated goals (usually 6-12 points every four weeks.) Second grade students will not begin A.R. until some time during the 2nd six weeks grading period. Students will be tested at the beginning of the year to find out their approximate reading level. This will allow them to choose books in their reading range.

In my experience, students cannot move on to higher level reasoning in mathematics until they master their basic math facts. During math class, students will be performing daily drills beginning with basic addition facts. To demonstrate mastery (memorization), students must correctly perform 25 addition problems in 1 minute or less. We will also drill subtraction facts for memory after Christmas. You can help your child prepare for our “Mad Minute” drills by studying with flashcards or using a homemade drill worksheet. You can even call out math facts to your child while driving in the car or waiting in the doctor’s office!
After students master a set of math facts, they are excused from repeating that particular drill. Instead, they may use this time to memorize the next set of math facts or complete other assignments. Students who do not attain mastery after several weeks should be doing extra math drills at home each evening (with parent supervision).
Some other concepts we will cover include regrouping, place value, word problems, measurement, estimation, fractions, telling time, geometry, multiplication, division, rounding, etc. Please go over all math worksheets (usually Excel Math worksheets) with your child to make sure all concepts are completely understood. If these pages are not complete, they are to be finished for homework and returned the following day.
Weekly Math Homework
Each Monday, I will send home a “Math Frog Game” for homework. These games must be played at least 2 nights each week (you choose two nights that are best for your family’s schedule). Frog Games must be returned by Thursday. This is the only way I can get them organized and ready for students to take home the following Monday. For lots of extra, fun activities to do at home, just click on the "Links Page" button under the "Make a Selection" menu. Then, simply click on "Math Links" beside the Math chalkboard. Have fun!

Throughout the week, we will introduce spelling words, practice words in centers, and find patterns with our words. On Friday, we will have a test over the list of words. (Lists can be found on homework sheets each week.) In addition to the word test, I will be dictating 2-3 sentences. A Language grade on capitalization, punctuation, and other parts of speech will be taken from this test as well as a spelling grade. I will also call out all six vocabulary words. For each vocabulary word spelled correctly, students earn 1 bonus point. After earning 100 points, students earn a free homework week!!!

The D’Nealian method of writing is used in second grade. We will review letter formation and work on neatness as much as possible during the week. Handwriting grades will be given on spelling tests and some daily papers. If your child is receiving unsatisfactory grades, please see that your child practices at home as much as possible. Because we learn that anything worth doing is worth doing right, I will not accept any messy homework. It will have to be recopied in study hall.

Many of our Science and Social Studies lessons are integrated into our Reading lessons. Students will also be involved in various exciting Science and Social Studies activities and experiments throughout the year. We should learn lots and have lots of fun learning. For lots of extra, fun activities to do at home, just click on the "Links Page" button under the "Make a Selection" menu. Then, simply click on "Science Links" beside the Science chalkboard or "Social Studies Links" beside the Social Studies chalkboard. Have fun!