Welcome to the Open Classroom Middle School!
Hello Open Classroom Middle School Families,
We are thrilled to begin another great school year and welcome new and returning families to our program!
MS Parent Ed Meeting in Room 20
•School starts at 7:55 a.m. each day. Monday through Thursday, students are dismissed at 2:25 p.m. Each Friday is a minimum day and students are dismissed at 12:20 p.m.
•As a family in Open Classroom, you are required to volunteer for four hours per week, per child in the classroom. We will be scheduling volunteer days during the camp out and will have the first quarter schedule posted on our classroom doors. Your support is very important and allows us to work with students in small group settings.
•Open Classroom ties classroom learning to experiential field trips. Parents can be a great help by driving students (your own, and others) on these excursions. Having a large pool of drivers allows us to go on more trips, and saves us money on district buses. As soon as possible, please sign up to be a parent driver. We will need you to fill out a one page form and attach a copy of your driver’s license, registration and proof of at least 100,000/300,000 insurance coverage. This qualifies you to transport other students to our off campus events. Thank you!
•Please take note that our program wide, fall camp out is scheduled in the second week of school from Wednesday, September 2- Friday September 4.
Please review the cell phone and electronic device use policy, and Classroom
Supplies checklist for our Middle School students included below. We are very excited to begin this new school year. If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact us!
Thank you,
Jeff Zimmerman Julie Crawford
6th-8th grade Math and Science 6th-8th grade Language Arts and History
OC Middle School Classroom Supplies Checklist
• Non-breakable mug that is easy to clean for your daily water and snack time drinks
(with your name written in permanent marker)
• Non-breakable bowl for snack times that is easy to clean (with your name written in
permanent marker)
• Fork and spoon for snack
• Pair of comfortable and effective scissors
• Pencils, pens and erasers for your use in class
• 512mb or higher, Windows XP compatible, USB storage device, commonly called a
flash drive or thumb drive (available at electronics or office supply stores)
• 3 ring binder with subject dividers and paper
• 2008-2009 school year agenda/planner
• Crayons, colored pencils or markers
• Basic set of oil pastels (found at Target or other art supply stores)
• Calculator (a scientific calculator is not necessary)
• Pair of old comfortable shoes to keep at school for P.E.
• Back-pack to store personal items
• Please bring 2-3 books (ones that have not been read yet) that are at an enjoyable and
comfortable reading level and at least one other book that has already been enjoyed
that can be added to our library as a suggested reading book for others. All suggested
reading books will be donated to the classroom library for the year. Please write
student’s name on the inside cover of each book.
Open Classroom Middle School
Cell Phone and Electronic Device Use Policy
Cell Phones:
Students may bring cell phones to school at their own risk. Neither Open Classroom
(OC) nor Blanche Reynolds School (BR) is responsible for lost or stolen cell phones.
Students may use cell phones before and after school in designated areas only (areas
to be determined). Student cell phones may not be used during class time, and must
remain turned off. Use of a cell phone during class time, a cell phone ringing, or
otherwise causing a disruption during class time, is grounds for confiscation of the cell
phone. At their discretion, the teacher/staff member may issue a warning instead of
confiscating a cell phone on a first offense. Subsequent offenses are subject to
confiscation at the teacher/staff member's discretion. Confiscated cell phones may be
picked up by the student at the end of the day for a first offense, and must be picked up
by the parent for a second or third offense. Any student who has had their cell phone
confiscated three times may no longer retain a cell phone at school. No use of student
cell phones will be permitted on the playground, in the cafeteria, or any other
common areas of the campus shared by BR and OC, with the exception of the main
and health offices. Use of a student cell phone in a non-designated area is grounds for
confiscation of the cell phone, even if the offense was committed during a designated
allowable use time. During learning and recess times, students will be permitted to
use the classroom and office phones to contact family, as needed for emergencies.
All calls to students during these times may be made by calling the main office of the
Blanche Reynolds School.
Electronic Devices:
An electronic device shall be defined as any handheld electronic game, any personal
music player or any other electronic item used for the purposes of entertainment. A
calculator is not considered an electronic device for the purposes of this policy.
Handheld electronic games shall be prohibited at all times. Neither BR nor OC is
responsible for any lost or stolen handheld electronic game or other entertainment device
brought to school by any student.
Students may bring personal music players to school at their own risk. Their use
shall be limited to before and after school, break and lunch times in the designated
areas only. Neither OC nor BR is responsible for lost or stolen personal music players.
Use of a personal music player during class time shall be grounds for confiscation of the
personal music player. At their discretion, the teacher/staff member may issue a warning
instead of confiscating a personal music player on a first offense. Subsequent offenses
are subject to confiscation at the teacher/staff member's discretion.
Confiscated personal music players must be picked up by the parent. Any student
who has had their personal music player confiscated three times may no longer retain a
personal music player at school. No use of personal music players will be permitted
on the playground, in the cafeteria, or any other common areas of the campus
shared by BR and OC. Use of a personal music player in a non-designated area is
grounds for confiscation of the music player, even if the offense was committed during a
designated allowable use time.
At their discretion, teachers and staff members may allow use of a student's own personal music player in the classroom for any student who may benefit educationally by such use.
For more information:
Contact the Open Classroom Admissions Officer at:
805-289-1817 ex 2220 or admissions@theopenclassroom.org