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    August 22, 2018

     

    Dear Parent/Guardian:

     

    Welcome back to a new and exciting school year.  My name is Mary Lou Munguia.  I am passionate about teaching and enthusiastic to be your child’s teacher this year.

     

    Educating our little scholars is a partnership between teachers and parents.  Good communication is vital.  You can contact me via email at munguia@cajonvalley.net.  You may also come by before or after school or you may call the school at 588-3134 and leave a message.  I will be using the emails found in your child’s profile.  If your email has changed, please be sure to write the new email on the yellow family questionnaire sent home with this letter.

     

    On the following pages I will briefly describe our classroom environment, management, and homework plan. My focus and vision for the year will be explained in greater detail at Curriculum Night, Thursday, September 10th.  At that time, I will have sign-ups for family members interested in volunteering in the classroom and I will arrange a schedule soon after.  I can use help in the mornings with clerical work prior to that time.  Please let me know if you are available.

     

     Please have your child return the attached Bio-bag assignment and blue family questionnaire form by Friday, August 21st.  The required forms found in the school packet are due no later than Monday, August 24th.  

     

    I am privileged and honored to work with your little scholar and committed to providing your child with a positive, enriching, and memorable second grade school experience.

     

    Attentively,

     

     

    Mary Lou Munguia 

    Classroom Environment

     

    Developing capable, responsible young people takes more than memorizing a fact or decoding a word.  Building self-reliance, resilience, and independence occurs over time and is practiced in a safe, nurturing environment.  It is for this reason our classroom environment will be grounded in 7 essential virtues, we will refer to as “The Fuerte Way.”  These character traits will be taught explicitly and modeled throughout the year.  They include empathy, conscience, self-control, respect, kindness, tolerance, and fairness. These virtues have been adopted district wide and can be found in Michelle’s Borba’s: Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues that Teach Kids to Do the Right Thing.  Our hope is that our young scholars continue to discover that they hold the key to their success as they learn to take responsibility for their learning and become self- disciplined with support and guidance from teachers, family, and friends.  The virtue that we will focus on first is empathy.

     

    Classroom Management

    Management will be broken down into 3-parts:  class, group and individual incentives. 

     

    Class and Group Reward

    Students can earn class points for notable behavior as a class.  The class will earn privileges as it learns to function as a positive, supportive group or “classroom family.”  When our class receives praises and compliments from the school community for positive behavior as a whole (i.e., standing in line quietly, using polite words), our class points add up.  When our points reach our goal, the class can choose a way to celebrate our success (game time, extra recess, etc.)

     

    Students can also earn table/team points in the classroom.  Points can be earned for quick and quiet transitions from one activity to the next, on task behavior, and completing work.  Teams earning the most points in a day earn the privileges to line up first for lunch, recess, and dismissal.  

     

    Individual Accountability

     Each individual student has a chance to earn a Kindness Critter that is placed on his/her desk for the day when notable behavior is exhibited like taking initiative, helping others, and being a problem solver.  Students can also earn individual Falcon tickets, which can be turned in for a drawing at the end of the week.

     

    Student misbehavior will be dealt with by using the Fuerte School Wide Behavior Plan (We will discuss this plan in detail at curriculum night).  For minor offenses, students will receive a verbal warning.  On the second offense, students will fill out a “Think Sheet” defining his/her offense and brainstorming what he/she could have done instead.  The sheet will be sent home that day and must be signed by the parent and returned the next day. Students who do not have a Think Sheet or turned in all their homework for the week will earn the privilege of Choice Time on Friday.

     

    At the end of the week, the Weekly Behavior Summary is completed by the teacher and sent home with the Friday Folder.  It must be signed and returned the following Monday.