William L. Callahan School

William L. Callahan School

Thursday, September 1, 2016

October 12, 2016

  • Feinstein Keepsake Journals are coming home this week. (They are blue.)  Inside this journal you will find your child's Feinstein Junior Scholar Card. Mr. Feinstein provides these journals and cards to the students each year. His message ties in nicely with being respectful and responsible which are two of our three R's!

  • This is also Fire Prevention Week! Last Friday the firefighters came and taught the students about fire safety and they got to learn about the different trucks and equipment. Students will be coming home with some school supplies the fire department gave them throughout the week!




  







October 3, 2016


Do you have a Facebook account? Visit, like, and share the WL Callahan Elementary PTF page for frequent updates about activities in our school! There is a new account and at the top it says.... Image may contain: text





Please send in any BOX TOPS you have! Mrs. Lebrun will be collecting them next week! All Box Tops must be cut on the edges. We will bag them in sets of 50 and hand them in next week! Thank you!!

September 7, 2017

FOLLOWING THE 3 R's at W.L.C.

We would like to share with you our classroom behavior system. As you know all schools in Burrillville use PBIS and teachers regularly give positive reinforcement for children following the 3 R's; Respectful, Responsible, & Ready to Learn. In our classes we will also learn about the Constitution and we’ll write a classroom constitution of a few "rules" we can follow that help us to demonstrate the 3 R's in school.

Unfortunately, there are times when children struggle to follow these, and to keep track of this we use a green, yellow, orange, red card system. All students will be reminded a couple of times before being asked to flip their card. If reminders do not work, they’ll flip their card as follows.

Green = Everything is going great!

Yellow = Visual reminder to work to follow the 3 R’s a little harder.

Orange = We will talk to the student at recess about why they had to flip their card, and how they can make better choices.

Red = We will spend 5 - 10 minutes of recess talking through the situation, and if this is a regular occurrence students will be asked to fill in a reflection sheet.  We may also reach out to you by email or phone.  

Many times students end up flipping their cards for interrupting to ask a questions, getting out of their seat during a lesson, talking to friends, and talking out. While these may seem like minor issues, a few kids start, and it is not long before 5 - 10 students feel this is okay to do.  This can easily distract the learning for everyone. We will continue to discuss the expectations often and we will continue to hold them accountable. You can help by reinforcing the 3 R’s at home.  Using kind words and manners with family, picking up after themselves, and following directions from mom and dad are some examples of ways to get the kids on board at home.

You will notice that there is a color code at the bottom of the homework agenda, that will let you know what color your child was on at the end of the day. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact either of us!
Thank you so much for your support!

Welcome to the Classroom Blog for Rooms 101 & 208!

Mrs. Costa started using a Blog to communicate to families two years ago, and felt it was successful so together we plan to continue this year. We will post important information about dates, our teaching, student learning, assignments, expectations, etc here so it's helpful if you check back often. We will also post pictures from some of our lessons which the kids really enjoy looking at! We will let the students know if there is something so they can remind you, but you can also sign up to receive an email message when we create a post. If you have any questions please email us directly at costab@bsd-ri.net or wilsonj@bsd-ri.net


What a great three days we have had in ! We have been getting to know each other as well as getting to know more about our classrooms and our routines. We have also been working with students to learn what our expectations are for the 3 R's in class and school. We have had a practice fire drill and by the end of the week we will have a practice lock-down drill.  Students have been busy filling their Reader's Workshop book bags with just right books from our classroom libraries too!

This year we will be asking for your help and cooperation in teaching students to become more responsible.  In class we will begin with learning to be responsible for materials and keeping things organized. We will also expect them to be respectful in all situations. Talking out, interrupting, and not following directions even after reminders have been given is something the students have to learn is not acceptable. At the beginning of the year we completely understand that we will all be getting to know each other.  However we will begin teaching them what is expected in that very first week, and will hold them accountable to doing their very best. Mistakes happen, reminders are needed, but effort is so important, and we want students to understand that their effort is a big part to their success.  All students need to be respectful at all times, and responsible for their own learning which will help them all be ready to learn, so that each child can do their very best!


Here are just a few things to remember as we finish out our first week. If you didn't send in the paper work in the white envelope from the office, please return it as soon as possible.  If everyone returns everything by Friday we will have an extra recess! We have peanut free, tree-nut free classrooms this year. Please read the labels on your child's snack carefully. Fruits and vegetables are always safe options for a classroom snack, and we will be sending home a list with other options too.
Finally we are still looking for a few students to bring in string bags to carry their homework folders, head phones, and pencil boxes back and forth between classes. If you are able to send your child in with one that would be fantastic. 

We look forward to working with each of you to help the children have a fabulous year in second grade!!!


Here are a few links to things you may be looking for electronically.