2019-2020
Mrs. Brooks's 2nd grade classroom disclosure
Dear Second Grade Families,
I'm so excited to be your teacher this year at Wasatch Peak Academy! This is my 3rd year teaching and I'm truly passionate about this profession. I'm patient and positive with every student, and they will be surrounded by love the moment they step into my classroom. This year I am job sharing with Mrs. Hyde. I will be teaching math and homeroom in the afternoons. Mrs. Hyde will be teaching Literacy in the mornings.
Here is a little bit about me! I was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona and moved up to Utah to attend BYU as an elementary major. I double minored in Visual Arts and Teaching English as a Second Language which means we will be enjoying fun art integration throughout the year. I met my husband in college and we got married 4 years ago. We bought a golden doodle named Lady and then bought a home in Bountiful. We had our first son, named Hugh (we call him Huey), a year and a half ago. He is the joy of our lives. I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher, and I'm so glad I found a career I am excited to go to every day. To make our school year fun and productive, I would like to share some schedule details and policies with you:
Contact Information
Communication is extremely important to me. You may e-mail me at [email protected] anytime to ask questions or address concerns. Please allow up to 24 hours for a response. You may also set a time to meet with me one-on-one.
My website can be accessed at www.wanderingbrooks.weebly.com or on the school website. It will be updated on by Monday by 5:00 pm with classroom info and updates for the following week. Please remember to check your child's grade often and have contact information for all your child’s teachers. They may have up to 3 different teachers for homeroom, literacy, or math.
Distance Learning
If your child will be doing distance learning or if your child is absent and needs to do work at home, the work will be a mixture of uploaded assignments on google classroom and take-home packets. I will be live streaming/recording zoom whole group lessons so I encourage my students to log in for live class. Please be patient with this process as things may look different sometimes. I will e-mail with any changes. Assignments are expected to be done on time and will be graded just as if they were present in the classroom. Materials can be picked up and dropped off on Thursdays at 10 am.
The class code for math is o6lawj2 and homeroom is becdpai.
Attendance & Tardy Policy
This year there will be staggered drop off: (A-E 7:50-7:55, F-O 7:55-8:00 and P-Z 8:00-8:05 and 8:10 is when the tardy bell rings.) If your child is sick, please let me know at the beginning of the day and send someone to get his/her missed work for the day if possible. I will send home anything that can be made up at home. Please help us instill responsible attendance habits early! If your child is more than 5 minutes late, they will need to stop at the office for a tardy slip. Five or more tardies in one term will give your child a "U" for Unsatisfactory in their literacy class citizenship grade.
Classroom Management/Discipline
As a whole school, we will be following 5 happy class rules. They are NICE WORDS, CALM BODY, FOLLOW DIRECTIONS, NICE HANDS, and FINISH WORK. I will be using class dojo points as a positive and negative behavior management plan. You can download the classdojo app to see your child’s points. For every 25 points they get, they will earn a prize! The whole class will also work towards a whole class prize.
Supplies/Donations
A supply and donation list has been added to the school website. Please take a look and donate what you can for the beginning of the year. Students have been asked to supply their own pencil box with supplies and headphones to limit the transfer of germs.
As for volunteer hours, this year is a bit different. Due to new restrictions we are asking parents to do volunteer time at home or donate money/supplies needed for their time. Supplying a classroom with fun and engaging learning tools is something I love to do but can be hard on my own! You can find two links on my class website under the “How can I help” tab. One is at home volunteer ideas and the other is supplies needed. I update it frequently, so please look throughout the year! For every $10 donated, you get 1 hour of volunteer time.
Homework
Homework is a link between school and home. It is an opportunity for you to see what we are learning and to observe how well your child is grasping new concepts and skills. Your student will have a B.E.E. Book (Bring Everything Everyday). This will serve as your child’s homework folder and a record of communication between school and home.
I believe that homework should only be assigned if it truly enhances understanding. Educational research consistently shows homework does not have a very large effect on learning in elementary school settings and rather can become a source of major discord at home. That being said, students will be expected to complete homework as they transition to junior high, etc. Consequently, I assign some homework, but only when necessary and always less than 30 minutes a night.
Homework you may see includes:
Math
Math instruction will primarily be taught from the My Math program. We will have daily math lessons that include fact fluency for addition and subtraction as well as math rotations.
WPA received a technology grant where students will access a website each week called I-Ready during math rotation time. Every student is required to use it 45 min a week for fidelity. They may access this website at home as well. Stay tuned for log-in information.
Grading
Grades are earned, not given. All grades in class are based off of student participation, classwork/assignments, homework, and performance on quizzes/tests.
The grading scale is as follows:
M= Mastery (above) Chapter Tests 40%
P= Proficiency (grade level) Check My Progress Quizzes 25%
R= Review (below) Assignments 25%
P= Participation/ Passing Vocabulary Tests 10%
I= Incomplete
Birthdays
I think birthdays are a big deal, so I will celebrate my math and homeroom class birthdays! I also do half birthdays for my students who have birthdays during the summer. I will give them a crown to wear, the class will write them a card and we will sing to them. No child will be allowed to hand out party invitations in class.
I am excited to meet all of you! If you have any questions/concerns/comments, feel free to contact me ([email protected])
Thank you!! Mrs. Brooks
I'm so excited to be your teacher this year at Wasatch Peak Academy! This is my 3rd year teaching and I'm truly passionate about this profession. I'm patient and positive with every student, and they will be surrounded by love the moment they step into my classroom. This year I am job sharing with Mrs. Hyde. I will be teaching math and homeroom in the afternoons. Mrs. Hyde will be teaching Literacy in the mornings.
Here is a little bit about me! I was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona and moved up to Utah to attend BYU as an elementary major. I double minored in Visual Arts and Teaching English as a Second Language which means we will be enjoying fun art integration throughout the year. I met my husband in college and we got married 4 years ago. We bought a golden doodle named Lady and then bought a home in Bountiful. We had our first son, named Hugh (we call him Huey), a year and a half ago. He is the joy of our lives. I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher, and I'm so glad I found a career I am excited to go to every day. To make our school year fun and productive, I would like to share some schedule details and policies with you:
Contact Information
Communication is extremely important to me. You may e-mail me at [email protected] anytime to ask questions or address concerns. Please allow up to 24 hours for a response. You may also set a time to meet with me one-on-one.
My website can be accessed at www.wanderingbrooks.weebly.com or on the school website. It will be updated on by Monday by 5:00 pm with classroom info and updates for the following week. Please remember to check your child's grade often and have contact information for all your child’s teachers. They may have up to 3 different teachers for homeroom, literacy, or math.
Distance Learning
If your child will be doing distance learning or if your child is absent and needs to do work at home, the work will be a mixture of uploaded assignments on google classroom and take-home packets. I will be live streaming/recording zoom whole group lessons so I encourage my students to log in for live class. Please be patient with this process as things may look different sometimes. I will e-mail with any changes. Assignments are expected to be done on time and will be graded just as if they were present in the classroom. Materials can be picked up and dropped off on Thursdays at 10 am.
The class code for math is o6lawj2 and homeroom is becdpai.
Attendance & Tardy Policy
This year there will be staggered drop off: (A-E 7:50-7:55, F-O 7:55-8:00 and P-Z 8:00-8:05 and 8:10 is when the tardy bell rings.) If your child is sick, please let me know at the beginning of the day and send someone to get his/her missed work for the day if possible. I will send home anything that can be made up at home. Please help us instill responsible attendance habits early! If your child is more than 5 minutes late, they will need to stop at the office for a tardy slip. Five or more tardies in one term will give your child a "U" for Unsatisfactory in their literacy class citizenship grade.
Classroom Management/Discipline
As a whole school, we will be following 5 happy class rules. They are NICE WORDS, CALM BODY, FOLLOW DIRECTIONS, NICE HANDS, and FINISH WORK. I will be using class dojo points as a positive and negative behavior management plan. You can download the classdojo app to see your child’s points. For every 25 points they get, they will earn a prize! The whole class will also work towards a whole class prize.
Supplies/Donations
A supply and donation list has been added to the school website. Please take a look and donate what you can for the beginning of the year. Students have been asked to supply their own pencil box with supplies and headphones to limit the transfer of germs.
As for volunteer hours, this year is a bit different. Due to new restrictions we are asking parents to do volunteer time at home or donate money/supplies needed for their time. Supplying a classroom with fun and engaging learning tools is something I love to do but can be hard on my own! You can find two links on my class website under the “How can I help” tab. One is at home volunteer ideas and the other is supplies needed. I update it frequently, so please look throughout the year! For every $10 donated, you get 1 hour of volunteer time.
Homework
Homework is a link between school and home. It is an opportunity for you to see what we are learning and to observe how well your child is grasping new concepts and skills. Your student will have a B.E.E. Book (Bring Everything Everyday). This will serve as your child’s homework folder and a record of communication between school and home.
I believe that homework should only be assigned if it truly enhances understanding. Educational research consistently shows homework does not have a very large effect on learning in elementary school settings and rather can become a source of major discord at home. That being said, students will be expected to complete homework as they transition to junior high, etc. Consequently, I assign some homework, but only when necessary and always less than 30 minutes a night.
Homework you may see includes:
- Daily math practice sheets that students can work on at home but are NOT REQUIRED to bring back to class. If you would like them to practice what we learned at school, these will come home after each new lesson.
- Any UNFINISHED work will go home if the student was off task.
- At home projects
Math
Math instruction will primarily be taught from the My Math program. We will have daily math lessons that include fact fluency for addition and subtraction as well as math rotations.
WPA received a technology grant where students will access a website each week called I-Ready during math rotation time. Every student is required to use it 45 min a week for fidelity. They may access this website at home as well. Stay tuned for log-in information.
Grading
Grades are earned, not given. All grades in class are based off of student participation, classwork/assignments, homework, and performance on quizzes/tests.
The grading scale is as follows:
M= Mastery (above) Chapter Tests 40%
P= Proficiency (grade level) Check My Progress Quizzes 25%
R= Review (below) Assignments 25%
P= Participation/ Passing Vocabulary Tests 10%
I= Incomplete
Birthdays
I think birthdays are a big deal, so I will celebrate my math and homeroom class birthdays! I also do half birthdays for my students who have birthdays during the summer. I will give them a crown to wear, the class will write them a card and we will sing to them. No child will be allowed to hand out party invitations in class.
I am excited to meet all of you! If you have any questions/concerns/comments, feel free to contact me ([email protected])
Thank you!! Mrs. Brooks