Welcome to
LANGUAGE ARTS FOCUS!
Dear Parents,
Welcome to Mrs. Taylor's Language Arts
FOCUS (Fostering Originality, Creativity, Understanding, and Self-Awareness)
class! I am so excited to be working with you and your child this school year!
While in my class, your child will receive the gifted education curriculum plus
a much enriched reading and writing curriculum that will incorporate all the
reading and writing AKS (Academic Knowledge and Skills) for the year. During FOCUS each day, your child will
participate in a very enriched, challenging reading and writing workshop
designed especially for gifted learners.
A personal
note!
It is such a
pleasure to be here at
Daily Schedule &
Placement
Your child
will attend FOCUS every day for two hours.
The children in my class were placed in Language Arts FOCUS based on
their area of highest strength according to standardized test scores and/or parent/teacher
recommendation. During daily small group
reading and writing instruction in the regular classroom, your child will leave
to come to FOCUS for a challenging reading and writing workshop.
Learning Themes
I am very
excited that our theme for this year is ANCIENT GREEKS & MODERN
AMERICANS which will include hands-on activities, art projects, plays,
puppet shows, research, technology, writing, and LOTS of great books and
stories. I will teach all the Reading
and Writing AKS (Academic Knowledge and Skills) through this theme, including
comprehension strategies, figurative language, genre studies, writing workshop,
vocabulary, and reading fluency. Our theme will also tie in both science and
social studies AKS for each grade level.
In addition, we have an independent book study throughout the year based
on the Classics. More to come on all
this!
Notebooks and Homework
Your child
will bring his/her FOCUS notebook to class each day. I will only ask that
certain graded papers be signed on occasion, and that Friday reading reviews be
signed every week as needed. Your child will also have time each day in FOCUS
to write down assignments or reminders on his/her FOCUS homework assignment
sheet. Homework assignments will be designed to reinforce concepts and skills
learned in class or to provide extra enrichment and challenge. In addition, at
various times during the year, students will be asked to work on long-range
projects or book reports. All assignment and project due dates will be written
on the board each day and will be on the class website. Any missing assignments can be turned in the
next day; however, points will be deducted for late work. I also send home reminders about long term
due dates and special events on the website.
If you ever have questions about assignments, please email me anytime!
FOCUS Website
Every
month, I will send home an e-mail with a link to our updated web page. This web page includes information about our
studies, any upcoming reminders or opportunities, requests for volunteer help,
special classroom needs, photos of our projects, and any other information that
is helpful and/or important for gifted students and their families. I will be
gathering your email addresses the week school begins and will send you the
link to our web page then.
You can also
feel free to contact me any time at my email address with questions, comments,
or to schedule a conference: Jennifer_Klaas_Taylor@gwinnett.k12.ga.us.
I always love to hear from you and your children and I am more than happy to
answer any questions or help you in any way throughout the year!
Grades
Since your
child will learn the
Taylor
Our classroom rules
are the Brookwood Elementary school rules and are posted in the classroom. My
management system for discipline problems is the Brookwood Elementary plan
which includes the following steps: (1) Warning, (2) Time out, (3) Parent phone
call, (4) Time out in the office. I very, very rarely must rely on these
procedures in my classes as your children are so highly motivated,
enthusiastic, and ready to learn!
I also am a
strong believer in rewarding the POSITIVE! In order to encourage and recognize
positive behavior and enthusiasm in our FOCUS classroom, I use a token system.
Students doing a good job in class, working hard, turning in quality
assignments on time, being helpful or kind to others, etc., receive Taylor
Tokens. These tokens can be turned in at the end of each nine weeks for
rewards, such as reading to another class, sitting in the classroom recliner
chair, or, at the top of the list, Mrs.
Taylor baking homemade cookies or purchasing a new, paperback book of
the student's choice! Token prizes are posted on our web site! Tokens can also be earned through reading and
earning points on the Book Adventure website, which is linked to our
class web page. Additionally, our room
has a "Good Job Jar" filled with small treats for students who are
spotted doing a good job with their work or with others in the class.
Snacks and Water
I do allow the
children to bring HEALTHY snacks to eat in FOCUS. They can eat their snack at
any time during FOCUS as long as it doesn't interfere with our activities. I would
highly recommend they bring water in a
water bottle to class ... new brain research
suggests that drinking water improves the brain's functioning!
FOCUS Supply List
Most needed supplies are
already available in our FOCUS classroom for the children to use each day.
However, the list of it supplies need for the first day of FOCUS is listed on
our class web page!
Scholastic Book Orders
Throughout the
school year, I will send home Scholastic book order forms. If you choose to order items from these forms,
simply return them with a check made out to Scholastic. There are usually very good deals, always
free shipping, and it’s a great way to build your child’s own library of books
and keep them reading! Remember this is
an optional opportunity!
Parent Help
In FOCUS, I do
not have an “official” room parent, but with all the neat activities and
projects we do in here, I often need parent help. Sometimes I need help here at
school and other times I can send home items to be cut out or put together. Our class web page has a link called “Parent
Help Needed” that I update each month.
If you can help with any of the items on the list, that would be
wonderful! THANK YOU so much in advance
for your support. You are a very
important part of our class!
Please feel
free to email me or contact me if you have any questions related to the
information outlined in this letter or if you need any other information about
Language Arts FOCUS! I am so excited and honored to be working with you and
your child this year and am so glad your child is in my class. We are going
to have the best school year ever!!! Please complete and return the form on
the next page with your child on the first day of school. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Jennifer
Klaas-Taylor
Language Arts
FOCUS
Brookwood
Elementary School
PARENT/STUDENT INFORMATION SHEET 2008-2009
Please
complete and return to Mrs. Taylor (FOCUS) on the first day of school ... thank
you!
Parent Name(s):
Student name/grade:
Student bus number:
Regular classroom teacher:
Phone numbers where you can be reached:
Email addresses where you would
like to receive class emails and updates to our web page: (please print clearly)