Mrs.

Mueller
Welcome to 2nd grade! John Paul II Academy
Room #2
2018 – 2019 Syllabus
(262) 637-2012
emueller@johnpaulacademy.org
Parents and Families,

I am so excited to begin this school year with both you and your child! The
year will be filled with opportunities for each child to explore, share ideas,
create new meanings and face challenges. I hope to instill a love and Scan code to
passion for learning in each of them as we successfully take part in this save contact
second grade journey. Below you will find important areas to note in order information
to support your child in their academic achievements:

At School

Centers: The majority of our learning will take place in centers each day.
The children will be working in small groups with 4 to 5 peers on a variety
of different tasks. These centers will allow students to take an active role in
their own learning. We will be rotating and moving around the classroom
as we work with one another to better understand the subject and topic at
hand. I will be facilitating one of these centers each day through different
guided reading activities. Each of your children will meet with me at least Daily Class Schedule
twice a week within their small group, allowing me to individualize my 7:10-7:20am – Arrival
instruction to meet each of their needs, as well as better gauge where their
strengths and struggles are occurring. 7:25am – Class Begins
7:30am – Prayer & Morning
Writer’s Workshop: Each second grader will become an accomplished
Announcements
prideful author this year. We will be engaging in a daily writer’s workshop
where children will be working on writing and editing. Each child will work 9:40 – 9:50am AM Recess
through the writing process by mapping out/pre-writing their ideas, 10:50 – 11:10am Lunch
drafting their writing, editing with a peer, conferring with me and finally
publishing their work. A typical writer’s workshop will start by introducing 11:10 – 11:30am Recess
a new skill during a mini-lesson. Children will be encouraged to 2:25pm - Dismissal
demonstrate their understanding of this new skill within their current * Timing of classroom subject areas
writing piece. Everyone will complete their story development and share will change due to daily specials
their work with the class. Students will focus on the six traits of writing as Mass – Wed @ 7:45am
they self-evaluate their writing and are graded using an appropriate rubric.
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Birthdays: All birthdays will be celebrated at school. For students who Specials
have a birthday within the summer months, we will celebrate on the date
of their half birthday to ensure they can equally participate. As stated in the Art – Tues, Fri
Handbook, students have a dress down day on the date of their birthday. If P.E. – Tues, Fri (alt)
their birthday falls on a Mass day (Wednesday), we will arrange an
Music – Mon, Wed, Fri (alt)
alternative, pre-planned day for them to dress down at school. If a treat will
be brought in for the class, please make sure to provide the necessary Spanish – Mon, Wed
amount and cutlery if needed. The treat should be brought in by the student Library - Thursday
in the morning or left in the office if dropped off. No parents/guests will be
allowed down to the classroom to celebrate birthdays. We currently have Guidance - Tuesday
24 friends in second grade.
 At Home

Take Home Folders: In addition to ‘Friday Folders’ sent home with students from the office each week, we
will also have classroom take home folders. These folders will allow any important information to and from
school to be exchanged easily and efficiently. Items such as homework, behavior notes, field trip permission
forms, student class work, etc. will be placed in the take home folder. Students will be asked each morning to
check their take home folders for any returning work and/or information coming from home for me to review.
Please remind your child to also share the information they received from school that day in their take home
folder with you each night.

Student Planner: New to second grade this year are student planners! We will be utilizing these on a daily
basis to help students at a young age understand the importance of staying organized and being accountable
for their assignments. During the first two quarters of the year I will be checking and signing off at the bottom
of each day before dismissal to ensure students are grasping how to effectively use their planner. Students will
be responsible for writing their daily homework assignments, upcoming test or quizzes, any school events and
any other critical information you need to know. They will also make note if homework is not given for a
particular day by writing ‘no homework’ in the given subject/category. Please ensure these are being shared
with you on daily basis as well. This is the most effective way for you to stay up to date on homework and
events!

Homework: The purpose of homework is to further reinforce daily learning at home as well as promote
student responsibility. For this school year, there will be an assignment for each night of the week in both Math
and Reading.

 Math homework can be found in your student’s Take Home Folder. This will be a ripped out Homework
& Review page from their workbook. There will be less than 10 problems for students to complete as a
review of our class lesson that day.
 Reading homework can be found within their Book Bags. Book Bags will go home on Monday and should
return to school on Friday. Students will be expected to read for a minimum of 10 minutes per evening
(Monday-Thursday) and respond to one journal question in their Reading Response Notebook (RRN). It
is extremely important for your child that they are reading each night to further their literacy skills.
Students who read for 20 minutes per day will learn an average of 1,800,000 words per year!

All homework will be recorded in the student planner. Homework will be tracked/checked in when it is
returned and will not be sent home over the weekend. (*please see Math and Reading Homework Policy
Handouts for further explanation)

Expectations

Evaluation: Children will be evaluated in the following areas:

o Class work – 50%
o Tests/Projects – 50%

Class work will be used to help students self-monitor their progress throughout the year. Feedback will be
given after these tasks or activities to improve student understanding and learning. With a large focus placed
on small group centers, participation is key in opening their minds and allowing them to explore new ideas
with one another. Lesson quizzes, unit tests, performance tasks and projects will be utilized after students have
worked to gain a firm understanding of the content in order to ensure they are meeting the required
benchmarks associated to the Archdioceses and The Common Core State Standards.
Students will receive the following grade marks:
o S = Secure (Demonstrates a complete understanding and application)
o P = Progressing (Demonstrates a general understanding)
o N = Needs improvement (Demonstrates an inconsistent understanding)

Behavior Management: School wide this year we will be utilizing Class DOJO in order to monitor each child’s
behavior. Throughout the day students will be awarded positive points or points will be taken away
depending on their classroom behavior. Good choices will result in students’ points continuing to increase
and inappropriate behavior will results in students seeing their points decrease. Any students who may have
a point taken from them during the day still has an opportunity to improve their behavior and see their point
score rise back up. Parents are able to login/connect with this management system in order to track the daily
behavior of their child and/or children. Please ensure communication is happening with your child each
evening regarding their points for the day. Student points will be tracked in their student planner as well in
order to students to be able to self-monitor their behavior/actions.

Positive points awarded to students Needs work points taken away from
include (but are not limited to): students include (but are not limited to):

 Good Manners  Disrespectful to a Friend

 Hallway Behavior  Disrespectful to an Adult
 Helping Others  Disrespecting School Property
 In Class on Time  Hands on Others
 In Uniform  Inappropriate Language
 Lining Up  Misusing Materials
 On Task  Not Following Directions
 Participating  Not Participating
 Positive Choice  Off Task
 Planner & Folder  Out of Uniform
 Following Directions  Poor Hallway Behavior
 Teamwork  Talking During Instruction
 Working Hard  Out of Seat during Work Time
 Bathroom Behavior  Bathroom Behavior

Students who have displayed positive behavior will be rewarded with a school wide incentive program. To
participate in the incentive program students must reach a predetermined percentage of positive DOJO points
in order to qualify. This percentage will become increasingly more challenging as we reach the end of each of
the four quarters. Consistent behavior issues will result in a parent/teacher conference.

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Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.
I am looking forward to a great second grade year!

Mrs. Mueller