Welcome Letter

Below is a sample 1st Day of School letter welcoming students and parents to my class, I will use this as a template for future Welcome Letters.

Welcome Students
Welcome! I am so excited to be starting a new year with your child. I understand that you and your child may have some excitement and apprehension about a new year and I hope that this letter will help. I want you to know what to expect in 2nd Grade and hopefully answer any questions you might have. I would like to take this time to introduce myself. My name is Hayli Thompson. I graduated with my Bachelors of Science degree from Navarro College and received my teaching certification through Texas A&M Commerce University. I live in Ennis with my husband, Jeremy and our two children Bentley and Blakley. I am looking forward to working with your child this year and helping them achieve their full potential. The remainder of this letter will share some of my beliefs and classroom policies.

Parent/Teacher Relationship
I believe that a good parent/teacher relationship is essential for success in school. Throughout the year, I will communicate with you through notes, telephone calls, newsletters, report cards, and conferences. Notification of good things happening in the classroom will be brought to your attention as well as any concerns that I may have. I encourage you to contact me at any time if you have any questions. I can be reached at school by phone (list school phone number here) or by email at (list school email address here). I am available for conferences regarding your child's progress by appointment on school days. Notes home, both good and bad, will need to be signed and returned in your child's daily folder. I will check these every morning.

Parent Participation
There will be a variety of special classroom activities throughout the year. I encourage you to attend these whenever possible and to support them by sending the needed supplies and treats. Your support of school activities makes your child feel important and sends the message that you value school. We would also love to have you visit our classroom to help out by reading to the children or being a guest speaker. Volunteer chaperones for field trips, school activities, etc. will also be helpful and allow you the chance to participate in a learning experience with your child. At times, I may ask for volunteers to help outside of the classroom. Parents can volunteer by laminating and cutting out center activities and classroom decor, helping to decorate the bulletin boards and door, and making copies/stuffing folders.

Attendance
Regular and on-time attendance at school is necessary to your child's success. Please view school as a priority and see that your child is here and on-time every day except in cases of illness or emergency.

School Hours
Classes will begin at 7:45 A.M. We ask that those students who ride with parents arrive at school no earlier than 7:05 A.M., when adult supervision will begin. Students will be dismissed at 3:00 P.M. in all elementary grades. If you are picking up your child, please do so by 3:10 P.M. at the designated area. All parents and visitors must have a valid ID to enter the school.

Transportation
Car riders will be dropped off and picked up from the front of the school. Bus riders will be taken to the bus pick-up area and put on the correct bus. If you plan on picking up your child that is normally a bus rider or you wish for your child to ride a different bus than usual, you must send a written note with the date of the change. If no written note is received, your child will be sent home by their usual method of transportation.

Recess and Specials

Children will be going outside every day for recess unless it is raining or extremely cold. Please keep this in mind when you child is getting dressed in the morning. I encourage my students to dress in layers in order to be comfortable inside and outside of the classroom. Children will attend PE during the week and MUST wear tennis shoes on the days that they attend. Other specials throughout the week include: computer lab, library, music, and art.

Folders
Homework folders will be sent home on Mondays that will include the homework for the week. Please start as early in the week as possible in order to complete and return Friday morning. Please make sure that homework folders are returned with your child daily. If your child fails to complete an in-class assignment, the assignment will be sent home for your child to complete. All homework will be due Friday morning. Late homework will be accepted, but points will be deducted. Tuesday folders will be sent home with notes and flyers from the school. Please check it and return it the following day. Thursday folders will be sent home with work from the previous week. Please review the work, empty the folder, and return the folder Friday morning. Daily folders will be sent home with notes from me and include the behavior calendar. The behavior calendar will be a visual to how your child did at school that day. There will be a circle that is colored in that relates to the day's behavior.

Classroom Rules
1. Treat others with kindness and respect. 2. Keep your hands, feet, and other objects to yourselves. 3. Remember to do your classroom job each day. 4. Listen carefully during lessons. 5. Take care of your classroom and your school.

Discipline
Establishing good classroom management is important to each child's success, confidence, and wellbeing. It is important for each child to develop self-discipline and good work habits in order to resolve conflicts peacefully and to think independently. My discipline plan includes logical consequences that will occur when class rules are broken. Examples of this include time apart from the other children or verbal apologies for aggressive behavior towards others. The idea is for the consequence to be related to the misbehavior and have the child act as a solution for the problem. If classroom rules are severely or consistently broken, parents will be contacted by note or phone call. Please monitor your child's classroom behavior by checking your child's daily folder and initialing the behavior calendar. You can help reinforce positive behavior at school by complimenting your child on days that he/she receives a good behavior mark. On those occasions when your child misbehaves, discuss with him/her the reason why and help them to think of ways to prevent the problem from happening again. The behavior levels are listed below. Every child will start on green and can move up or down on the chart. If the child moves down, the behavior will be disciplined, but then the child can move back up for good behavior for the rest of the day.

There are seven behavior levels:

1. 2. 3. 4. Outstanding Great Job Good Day Ready to Learn - Every child starts here and will move up or down depending on their behavior. 5. Think about It 6. Teacher's Choice of Discipline 7. Parent Contact I would like to say that I am looking forward to a great year with your child! Thank you in advance for your concern and support throughout the year.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hayli Thompson 2nd Grade Teacher