Silver Springs Elementary School

Mrs. Wesleys Second Grade Camp Learn-ALot

Dear Families,
It is hard to believe that summer is coming to an end and that fall is right
around the corner. I hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable summer with
your family. I had so much fun spending time with my amazing husband
Jeff, and my wonderful sons Auben (6) and Boden (4). This summer was
filled with swimming, hiking, riding bikes, camping, baseball and many
trips Up North and to the UP! As you can tell we love the outdoors!
Each new school year brings opportunities for your child to continue
learning and growing. As the new school year begins, there are many
questions parents have about the curriculum and also the procedures
within the classroom setting. Each week, you will receive a copy of
Wesleys Weekly within our Monday Envelopes. This is our classroom
newsletter which will keep you posted on information happening within our
classroom. The Monday Envelope will go home each Monday and should
be returned to school on Tuesday mornings with your child. The Monday
Envelope will also contain other information going on within Silver Springs.
The first couple of weeks of school will be dedicated to getting acquainted
with each other, review, and observation. Classroom rewards, rules, and
consequences will be discussed and repeated daily so that your child
understands their new classrooms procedures. For any questions that you
might have, I have attempted to answer them in this Parent-Student
Handbook, but if you have a question on something please feel free to ask
me at any time.
It is my hope that this handbook will help you and your child now and
throughout the school year. I suggest that you keep this handbook for a
reference. This booklet is designed to answer some of your questions
about classroom procedures. Please refer to this handbook as questions
may arise during the school year.
If you have any specific questions or concerns, please contact me at any
time. I check my e-mail and voice mail messages during the day. I am
looking forward to meeting all of you at our Open House. . However, if you
think that you need to speak with me individually about your child, please
contact me so we can set up a time to meet as soon as school starts. I look
forward to meeting all of you very soon.
Sincerely,
Nicole Wesley
E-mail: wesleyni@northvilleschools.org

Book Orders
Once each month, I plan to place book orders with Scholastic. This is a way to
provide your child with rich literature and inexpensive books. When books are
ordered, our class earns points. I use these points to purchase books for our
classroom library. I will also send home information to order online later in
September. By ordering online it automatically allows the class to earn one
free book per order.

Parent Helpers
I appreciate and encourage parent involvement in the
classroom. There are many ways and times that you can help
out. I will have sign-up sheets at Open House for helpers. At that
time, you will be able to indicate how you can help. I will also notify you in
our newsletters as well when I am in need of parent helpers for class
projects as well as field trips.

Personal Belongings
All personal belongings that come to school should be labeled with your
childs name. Your child will thank you when s/he is trying to find their
lunch, gloves, coats, boots, school supplies, etc. Many times items are
identical and the labeling saves time. Please advise your child to leave
toys at home. Toys are often brought to and lost at school. This
sometimes leads to tears.

School Supplies
The classroom has sets of scissors, markers, colored pencils, glue and
glues sticks but you may wish to provide your child with their own set of
these supplies. Make sure your childs name is on everything. Please make
sure your child has their supplies required for second grade the first
week of school.

Homework Folder
Your childs Homework Folder will go home at the beginning of each week.
It will include some of the work that s/he completed from the
previous week. Please spend some time each week going over the work
in the folder, with your child. Please return this folder to school the

following day as your child will place all unfinished work throughout the
week in here as well as homework sheets from math and other subjects
as well.

Star Student
Most weeks a student in our class will be highlighted on a bulletin board
that emphasizes his/her talents, family, and/or special achievements.
This will help the class get to know your child better. I would like to
encourage your child to create a poster of him/her at home and
bring it to school on Monday of their assigned week. I will put
together a schedule and share that with everyone in the near
future. The poster may include photographs, drawings, a list
of hobbies, awards, etc. I will have my poster displayed
for the first few weeks of school for the children to
see as an example. Each child will be given time during
his/her week to present the poster or special items of
interest. This is an excellent opportunity to provide
each child with the experience of speaking before a
group. The experience is always a pleasant one, filled
with positive reinforcement for the children. I will do
my best to have your child recognized on or near the
week of their birthday. Summer birthdays will be included
throughout the year. You will receive more information the week prior to
your childs week as Star Student.

Lunch
Please discuss with your child what s/he will be doing each day for lunch.
Lunch A varies from day to day. Pizza will be served everyday as Lunch
B. There will also be a vegetarian option offered every day. As always,
your child can bring a lunch from home. Remember to check the
website in regards to our automated lunch program.
Birthday Treats
We celebrate birthdays at the end of the day depending upon our
specials schedule. Birthday treats are welcome and are optional.
Currently, we have 25 students in our class. Your child can bring in
birthday treats during the week that s/he is the Star Student for our
class. I will send home a note listing the days that are available, in our

schedule, to serve birthday treats. Please remember that if you do send

something in, that it should be cut ahead of time and separated for each
individual student. Unfortunately, there is not time in our busy schedule
to cut up, separate, and divide equally each of the treats. We also are a
peanut/ nut free classroom so please be aware of this when sending in
treats as well as snacks.
Snack
There will be a time in the morning for a snack. I am emphasizing
nutritious eating habits. So, please no junk food or sweets. Participation
is optional. I have chosen, again, this year to limit snack to a fresh fruit
or vegetable. Please, no syrupy canned fruit as it can be sticky if spilled
on our carpeting or desks. This is an invitation to ants. Please do not
send in any dressings or fruit dips. These can be messy, too. I have had
this snack procedure in place for a number of years and it seems to work
for everyone. It also helps alleviate the contamination of nuts from
granola bars and such. Water bottles are also highly recommended
to send daily to school with your child.

Newsletter
You will receive a newsletter each week which will discuss what is
happening in our classroom. Please take the time to read this
as it will keep you informed as to what your child may be learning
or possibly what they will need to bring into school for that
specific week. This is my main form of communication between home
and school.
Homework
Most weeks your child will bring home a 2-sided, stapled
problem solving packet. This packet will be due on
Fridays. There will be a reading project once/month
that will be done at home as well. On a regular basis,
your child should be reading to you for 20 minutes/day
(BEAR PAW sheets) and practicing math facts (addition
and subtraction). If I see that your child is having
trouble with a concept, I may send additional work home
to practice and reinforce the concepts from school.

Specials Schedule
I will be sending home a copy of our special schedule for you to
post at home. Please make sure your child is dressed
appropriately for gym days and also brings his/her library
books to school on library day. We no longer have a media
specialist, but students will still be allowed to check out
books on our assigned day.

Classroom Donations
Although a list of supplies for the students was sent home at an earlier
time, I would appreciate if it students could donate hand sanitizers as we
will use these before snack and lunch time. I would also appreciate any
sanitizing wipes so that we may clean our desks as they end up becoming
germ factories throughout the year. Also, as we begin our classroom
store each month I will be in need of supplies to fill our store. These
donations can be as small as a sticker to old toys or book you no longer
need in your house. These become treasures to little second graders
Grading
Practice makes perfect! We do lots of practice in second grade in order
to master our benchmarks. Work that is marked with a stamp, star,
smiley face, or check mark is just that. You may also see a stamp that
says practice which simply means it was an assignment done for
practice. Sometimes assignment re stamped with We did this in class if
we did it together as a group. Lastly, if you see Finish and Return this
means your child was unable to finish and needs more time at home.
Please return it the next day.
The marking system for second grade is 3,2,1, or NY (not yet). Formal
assessment are given at the end of each unit and are considered when
marking report cards. Please note these number are not equivalent to
letter grades.

Dismissal
In order to ensure the safety of all students, parents are asked to
declare a pick up location to their childs teacher. Any changes to this
location must be made in writing to the teacher. We realize there are
occasions when plans may change. If end of day plans change during the
school day, please contact the school office before 3:15 p.m. If you are
picking up your child early, come to the office and we will call the student
from the classroom. We do not permit students to wait in the office for
parent pick up at a pre-specified time.
Attendance
We expect students to arrive at school on time every day and we urge
parents to monitor closely their childs attendance record. Not only does
a poor attendance pattern demonstrate a lack of responsibility, but it
could also negatively affect school performance. We need to work
together to model and reinforce responsible behavior. Students are
considered tardy if they are not in their classroom by 8:50 AM. If your
child is tardy, you must walk him/her into the building and sign the
student in on the green attendance sheet before he/she may attend
class. If your child will be absent or tardy, we ask that you call the 24
hour Attendance Hotline at (248)465-2305 and follow the menu options.
Late Belongings
Parents that bring items to school for their child(ren) will be asked to
leave the item in the appropriate grade level basket outside the front
office. Students will be allowed to check their grade level basket as they
walk to lunch/recess. This fosters responsibility. Lunches, coats,
homework, etc. will not be delivered to classrooms due to the frequent
and disruptive nature of these interruptions.
ListServ
Parents are encouraged to sign up for the ListServ to receive the latest
information from the school district and specific, up-to-date
announcements from Silver Springs. To do so, simply go to the districts
web page www.northville.k12.mi.us and follow the on-line instructions.

I tried to cover as many procedures in this packet to make your

transition into second grade an easy one. However, you may still have
questions regarding other things throughout the school year that I have
not printed in this packet. Please feel free to contact me either by phone
or email and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as I can. Thank

you for your help in making this a wonderful year for your child. I look
forward to an amazing year with your child.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Nicole Wesley
Second Grade
wesleyni@northvilleschools.org