What I ask from you is this:

• Please ensure that your child is on time to school on a regular basis and that he or she does not miss school unnecessarily.  The first half hour of our day sets the tone for the rest of the day, and the work your child will do during that first half-hour will serve as the basis for many of my lessons throughout the rest of the day.  Being consistently late for school will adversely affect your child’s learning.  Excessive absences can be even more detrimental to your child’s learning, so unless your little one is sick, please do your best to be sure that he or she is in class.      

• Please review the corrected work that I send home with your child.  This is an excellent way for you to help reinforce what is going on in class.  If it is a math assignment, go over the incorrect problems together.  If it’s a reading assignment, read the chapter yourself and then discuss it with your child.  Become part of your child’s academic day in whatever way you can.  I will provide many opportunities for this inclusion throughout the year.    

• One of my most important goals this year is to get your child to truly love reading.  To this end, I ask that you make certain that your child has a good book to read at all times, and if possible, to buy a book for your child whenever you can.  Though the library is great place for children to borrow books, there is nothing more special to a child than to be given a book of his or her own, with a personal message written in the front cover from a parent or loved one.  It has been my experience that a child will commit him or herself to a book more readily if he or she actually owns the book than if it is borrowed, and that commitment will help your child’s love for reading to bloom.  So if you’re thinking about rewarding a child for a job well done, make it a book, and be sure to inscribe a message to your child on the front cover.  I guarantee that your child will proudly display his or her new book to the class the next day.  I will be sure to send home book orders on a regular basis to help you with this request.  Oftentimes you can find three or four good books in a Scholastic book order for less than two dollars.           

• Please ensure that your child reads for at least 30 minutes each night, weekends included, without exception.  I encourage kids to think about reading like dinner.  If you wouldn’t skip dinner, why would you skip reading?  One fills the body, the other fills the mind.  Both are equally important.  If possible, I strongly encourage you to pick up a book and read at the same time.  There is no better role model in your child’s life than you.  During DEAR time (silent reading time) here at school, you will often find me reading alongside your child.  I do this because I like to read, but more importantly, I do this to model good reading behaviors to your child.  If you can do the same at home, the benefits will be enormous.        

• Please allow your child to become self reliant and independent.  If a project is assigned, guide your child as much as you’d like, but allow your child to do the actual work.  Do not make the project your own.  Allow your child to make mistakes on homework, as long as the effort is good.  Don’t turn your child’s homework into your homework.  A poorly completed homework assignment is not a reflection on you as a parent.    

• We will be adhering to a healthy snack policy in our classroom.  Each afternoon around 1:00 the class enjoys a snack, but this year I’m going to ask that families send in only healthy snacks.  Being a burger-eating, french fry-loving kind of guy, I have always thought that this policy was a little silly, but after listening to our school nurse talk about childhood obesity and its link to diabetes, I have become convinced that helping to establish good eating habits is as important as helping to establish good reading habits.  As a class, we will brainstorm and research what constitutes a healthy snack and will create a list to send home full of healthy alternatives.  For the time being, please use your own judgment and send in what you think is right.  In addition, please be conscience of the portions that you are sending in with your child.  A snack should take about 5-10 minutes to eat and should be viewed as something to tide your child over until the end of the day.  By the end of last year, snack time was becoming brunch for some of my students, complete with appetizers, entrees, and dessert! 

• We will also be encouraging a healthy snack or alternative snack policy in regards to birthdays.  If you choose to send in a snack for your child’s birthday, we ask that it be a healthy one, but as an alternative, your child can also choose to award the class an extra recess in celebration of his or her birthday.  If you would like to be creative and propose a different alternative to snack or recess, please do!