Class Discipline Info.

                                                                                                                                          9/1/10

Dear Second Grade Families,

I am so excited to begin a new year with this second grade group of students!  I am already struck with their enthusiasm and energy!  A vital part of our classroom being a safe, productive place to learn is discipline.  I have high expectations for my students and I look forward to seeing them become the wonderful second graders I know they can be!

I believe in focusing on positive reinforcement with my students.  It is important for them to be inspired to do their best, be good leaders, think of others and most importantly be respectful to all.  We will work on these life-long skills daily in our second grade classroom.

In our classroom we have daily behavior systems.  These are to encourage students to be responsible for their own behavior, to keep things positive, and to help all be successful in our learning.  To help students gain self-discipline they are rewarded for the good behavior/choices with a 'Thank you'. This is simply a slip of paper that says 'Thank you' on it.  Along with continual verbal praise, they are given a 'Thank you' slip to compliment them on their behavior.  This can be a compliment from me or another teacher/adult.  Students can also ask to give one to another student that went out of their way to be helpful to them.  Each child has a baggie in their desk that they accumulate their 'Thank you's' in.  For incentive, 'Thank you's' will eventually be used to trade for rewards of their choice.  Some of these may be to sit by a friend in another class at lunch, extra computer time or eat lunch with their teacher in our classroom to name a few.  This system does work in reverse also.  If students need two or more reminders about behavior they may be given a warning, and if the behavior continues, they will 'take a break' at their desk in which they also hand in a 'Thank you'.

On the occasion that a student makes repeated bad choices they will meet with me one-on-one about the incident/s.  If it is something that continues or is a larger offense that needs to be communicated home, they will need to fill out a 'Stop, Think, and Plan'.  (Please see the attached form.)  This is a way for both of us to communicate with you about their day and trouble with good choices.  There is also a place for you to communicate back to me. Some instances may require your child to meet with Mr. Reimers, our Lower School Director.

Thank you in advance for all of your help and support of your student's behavior.  I look forward to partnering with you to help students reach their fullest potential in second grade.  As always, please feel free to contact me with questions.

Sincerely,
Ms. Anne Scalia