3rd week of school important letter

September 5, 2007
Greetings Parents,
I hope you all were able to enjoy the Labor Day holiday. I just wanted to touch base with you and keep you up to speed about some of the updates in the classroom now that we are entering week three. I wanted to start off by saying that I am extremely happy to be working with such a bright group of eager learners! I see more potential in these students than any other group of children I have ever worked with.
Given that we are entering week three, the students have had ample time to adjust to the school wide rules and the new classroom rules, so any misbehavior from this point on will not be tolerated. As a whole, the class has been very well behaved and I commend them for their responsibility. I have had absolutely no problems with my students during the morning rotations. Great job! However, in the long stretch of the afternoon, some students have become disruptive and talkative. This is a very important time of the day because we have our English Language Arts instruction. So, the consequence for reaching step 2 will no longer be a loss of a recess. (It is too hard to round up students from the rotations since the rotations continue pass our lunch recess and my students are in different classes in different areas of the school.) Students will now serve a half-hour of after school detention for every step they receive past the initial verbal warning of step 1. I will remain in constant contact with you (mainly through the use of the Teleparent automated system) to keep you informed of your child’s misbehaviors as well as their achievements in the classroom. With your support I know they can all succeed!
Hopefully, you have received an automated message from me through the Teleparent system because I have sent out several over the past week. I will notify you about tests, homework assignments and whether their homework is being completed, behaviors (both positive & negative), or reminders about important papers that need to be returned. Some of your phone numbers may be new or disconnected so you may have not received any calls yet. The administration here at Yokomi will update your new numbers as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Please let me know if you get a new number anytime throughout the year because Teleparent provides you a valuable insight into my classroom and your child’s progress.
I also forgot to mention in my introductory packet that I have two classroom web pages that you are welcome to examine. The Room 16 blog has a rough outline of the each day’s agenda in my classroom. This page can be found here: http://ringydwm.blogspot.com/ . My other web page focuses more on the curriculum that we will be covering in class. It is still a work in progress but it already has dozens of educational links that students can investigate. My goal is to give students the opportunity to explore the internet in an educational and safe way, all while having fun! The web address for this page is: http://protopage.com/mrc.yokomi . Come by and check them out!
Also, this week marks the first progress report for your child. Expect to see a progress report every other week. The progress report contains your child’s overall grades and a list of any missing assignments that I have not received from them. It needs to be signed by a parent/ guardian and returned by the Wednesday of the week they are distributed. If I do not receive a signed progress report back, the student will have detention until it is signed and returned. Also, when reading the progress reports there are two codes that I commonly use for the description of assignments. If there is an “IC” by an assignment that means it was completed “In Class.” If there is a “HW” by an assignment that means it was completed as “Homework.” No work item should ever be incomplete, I am always available for help if questions arise on homework or class work. Encourage students to do their best at all time! I will also send the student’s week worth of work with the progress report. Please review the work with your child. I commonly will write comments and suggestions on completed papers that will help them to improve the quality of their work. Plus, you can double check to ensure that all assignments were accounted for and correctly scored.
Attached is another handout that may be of benefit to you. Please read and return if it is of interest to you. Thank you for your continued support!