WELCOME to

Room 33Mrs. Schaefer

Communication

Weekly Newsletter: A weekly newsletter will go home on Friday. It will inform parents what we will be studying in the upcoming week. All tests, special activities, and important dates will be listed.

Assignment Book: Your child will receive an assignment book at the onset of the year. Students will be instructed regarding its purpose and function. Please help your child to remember to use this resource as a way to organize their school work and cultivate great study habits. Please initial that you reviewed it with your child.

Email: Please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns that you may have about your child. Sending me an email is the most efficient way to communicate with me. My email is schaeferdl@svsd.net. Every question is important!

Conferences: I am available before of after school to conference with you throughout the school year. Your child’s success is my first priority!

Homework1. Students are asked to read 15 minutes nightly. This can be a book of

their own or a book we are reading in school. I do not do a book journal.

2. The students will usually have spelling homework on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays. Thursday is consider a study night to be sure they are ready for the test. Sometimes the spelling is completed in school. All spelling tests are on the last day of the school week.

3. A math workbook will go home Monday through Thursday. This will help reinforce new concepts and skills learned. Please make sure the book is returned daily!

4. Study guides will go home for social studies and science one week prior to a test. This will enable the students to go over it a few minutes each day to build good study habits.

5. The students will receive 8-10 reading vocabulary words on Monday that go along with our reading. They will have a quiz on Friday. We work with the words daily to support the learning of these words. 6. If for some reason your child does not complete his school work during our day in a reasonable amount of time, it will be sent home to complete. *** No Homework on the weekends!

Language Arts The students will have whole group and small group reading. We will focus

on different reading strategies as well as parts of speech. There will be individual reading and grammar tests.

• I will read to your children EVERYDAY! This helps children to hear what good reading sounds like and also foster a love for reading.

• Guided reading: Students will read a story on their level in small guided reading groups with me. We will work on the reading strategy currently being taught. This will reinforce and enrich shared reading instruction.

• Time Magazine: Students will read the magazine and utilize the strategy of the week to assist in comprehension.

• Independent reading: Quietly read an assigned book at their reading level.• Writing : Students will be writing in different genres throughout the year.• Math challenge: There will be math enrichment activities offered to reinforce our

math curriculum. T• Grammar Study: Students will learn and practice conventions of grammar. • Touring the USA: Students will research each state utilizing an atlas.

Common Core Math

• The district adopted a new common core math curriculum last year. Parents and children can access the Harcourt Math Expressions electronic resources through ThinkCentral. Students log in with their network username and password.

Online DirectionsClassroom Web page directions

1. Go to www.svsd.net2. Select a school – CVE3. Go to Teacher Websites4. Click on my name

CVE Website1. Select Resources: Online educational websites2. Select Parents

Information Parent Resources:

A. Websites: Olweus, CompassB. Healthy Food Guidelines

C. NWEA information D. Forms and guidelines Dismissal forms and procedures

Compass Learning: • Odyssey Login Address: http://clo.svsd.net • Student UserName: (last name, first & middle initial) • Student Password: Their student number • School: cve

Casual Volunteer ClearancesA Casual volunteer works in the presence of teacher/administrator with students (examples: planning or conducting classroom celebrations, holiday shop, guest speaker, concert or performance usher, field day, or classroom reader. The following three forms must be turned into me before volunteering:

1. Policy Acknowledgement must be signed after reading the Seneca Valley School District Board Policy 916. It is located under School Board /policies on the SVSD website.

2. Volunteer Affirmation

3. Confidentiality Statement

Chaperone VolunteerA chaperone volunteer is a parent who accompanies students on a field trip or helps with small group work outside the classroom. These parents must have all the casual volunteer forms along with Act 34, Act 151, and Act 114 (FBI). All of the information necessary to acquire the forms is located on the Seneca Valley website. Go to Departments listed at the top of the webpage. You will find the links under Human Resources. New clearances are good for five years.

BYOT

Students are asked to bring in their own technology if they have it. They are used for educational purposes only. Personal mobile devices must be registered with the MAC (Wi-Fi) address prior to connecting to the SV-BYOT wireless network. You can find directions on SVSD website.

Small Lab

• We will be visiting the small lab every Friday. Students are asked to bring in a pair of socks to be kept in their cubby. Socks will be coming home over breaks to be washed.

Special Projects• In September, the students will be studying plants. They will plant

seeds and observe the lifecycle of a Brassica plant.• In October, the students will study the earth, moon and sun.• In November, we do a unit on Heritage. They will be making a

family tree and graphing their nationalities.• In January, we will begin a science unit on magnetism and

electricity. • In May, we study animal habitats. The students will be building

their own animal habitat and completing a report on an animal of their choice.

• The end of the year the students will perform a reader’s theater of Charlotte’s Web for other students in the building. The last week of school we will enjoy a Luau party along with Mr. Rupik’s class.

Special Trips

During the year, the students have the opportunity to extend and enrich the curriculum by attending various field trips. To let you know in advance, there are some additional costs for some of the field trips. Our PTO kindly pays for a portion of our largest field trip of the year through fundraising. The following is a tentative list of field trips for the coming year:

• October: High School Planetarium (District paid) • December: Pittsburgh, “A Musical Christmas Carol” • in December (Aproximately $20)• February: High School Planetarium (District paid)• May: Buhl and Passavant Historical Homes (Free)

Birthdays

Birthday Recognitions: If a parent chooses to provide the entire class with a birthday treat, the treat must be non-edible. The list below provides examples of the types of activities that may be used to celebrate a student on their birthday. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, rather a list to provide examples of ideas that can be used in the classroom:

– Lunch with a special person – Donate a favorite book to the classroom library after reading it

aloud to the class – Donate a game to the classroom for indoor recess – Children can bring in non-edible treats (stickers, notepads,

pencils, journals, packet of seeds and flower pots, bubbles, coloring books, crayons, side walk chalk, etc.)

Classroom PartiesThere will be three scheduled parties this year: Halloween, Christmas

and Valentine's Day. The Halloween party is on October 30 from 1:15 to 2:30. The Valentine Day party is on February 11 from 1:15 to 2:30. The Christmas breakfast is on December 22 from 9:30 to 10:30. All parties have to follow the Seneca Valley School District Guidelines. Please sign-up if you are interested in organizing the parties or snacks.

Daily SnacksThe teacher will organize the snack through parent

contribution as best fits the needs of the classroom. Snacks distributed by the classroom teacher to be consumed in the classroom must adhere to the list of allergen-protected approved items. Students are not permitted to bring snacks from home to be consumed in the classroom. All snacks must be dropped off at the office. The snacks must arrive in indiviual sealed packaging. We have students with peanut allergies in our classroom. Be very cautious about this while reading the ingredients.

We need a parent volunteer to coordinate the daily snacks for the children.

Classroom SuppliesPlease bring the following items into school at your earliest convenience.

• 1 box of 24 count Crayola crayons• I box of 8 count Crayola markers• 1 box of 12 count Colored pencils• 1 (1.27 oz.) large glue stick• Extra #2 pencils (sharpened)• Small hand held pencil sharpener• Dry Erase markers• Highlighters• Box of tissues• 1 container of Clorox disinfectant wipes• 1 inch flexible plastic binder

Classroom Store

All students earn tickets for good behavior. Students are able to purchase items in the store for their good behavior. The classroom store needs replenished throughout the year. I welcome any donations for the prize bin at any time during the year.

Class ListKylie BakerCameron BasiloneLydiah BeachemMadilyn BelsterlingNicholas BergerRiley BeymerColeson CaffalDominic CardinalJacob GlassOlivia HeinCharlee KollekAnthony LibbyKarisa RichaniAva SansonettiIzabelle SchallJayden SimekBrenda TaylorAndrew VecchiJacob Walk

Classroom Schedule

Day 1 Gym 9:30-10:05 Olweus 8:45 - 9:15 Day 2 Computer 9:30-10:05

Care 1:25 – 1:55 Day 3 Library 9:30-10:05

Care 1:25 – 1:55 Day 4 Art 9:30-10:05 Care 1:25 – 1:55Day 5 Music 9:30-10:05

Care 1:25 - 1:55

Daily Lunch 11:45 – 12:15

SIGN-UP SHEETS

Please make sure you look at the sign-up sheets before leaving for the following:– Classroom party volunteer– Snack coordinator– PTO representative for “I Love CVE”– Conferences_ Directory form