Important Information
I.
Schedule –
v Supervision on the playground begins at 7:40 am.
v The students will be let into the classroom at 7:53.
v If you drop your child off after 8:00, please remember to have them get
a tardy slip from the attendance office.
v Ability Groups: Language Arts & Math, All 1st
Grade Teachers
v Language Arts:
·
Reading (Whole group instruction, Flexible small groups)
·
Spelling (Developmental Spelling Groups, Homework)
v Math:
Scott-Foresman & Investigations = perfect combination!
v Recesses: Snack A.M. and P.M.; Lunch:
Eat first, then recess
v Rotating Specialist Calendar: Art (1x45), Music
(2x30), Spanish/ French (4x15), PE (2x45), Library (1x45) PE=REMEMBER
SHOES!!
v Core Knowledge:
Science, Social Studies—Blocks
of rotating subjects (see attached year plan)
v DEAR, Handwriting, Writing (Write Source
Curriculum)
v Clean-up Policy, Sticker chart/ Treasure Chest
for green cards
v Car Line Procedures: drive or walk up, car
pools, 3:20 BAASC
v VOLUNTEERS!! (Sign
up Sheet Tonight) Please help
us!! Don’t forget to log your hours in
the volunteer book. Sign up with your child’s teacher for math & reading, not HR!
YOU MUST GO THROUGH A VOLUNTEER TRAINING EVERY OTHER
YEAR!
II.
Daily/ Weekly Activities
A.
Homework Notebooks/ Take-Home Folders
v Students will write their homework assignments
in their “Homework” book every day. This
is a great place to check each night to see what reminders and homework have
been assigned, as well any needs for the next day’s classes. There’s no need to sign it though!
v Students will bring home their RED homework
folder every night, regardless of whether or not there is homework in it. Homework sheets, as well as corrected papers
will be sent home in this.
v Please have your child bring their Homework
Book and Red folder to school every day.
v Corrected papers will usually be sent home in
Friday folders (Black
Peak to Peak), and
occasionally in the homework folder.
Please take the time to look through the work and remove it from the
folder. Please return the Friday Folder
(and any forms, etc) on Monday of the following week!
B.
Homework Schedule
v Read 20
minutes every night
(choice of book; can spend reading time being read to, reading aloud, or
reading to self; PLEASE keep track on the reading calendars that are sent home
every month). This is vital to the development of your child’s reading needs this
year.
v Mondays
and Wednesdays—Math homework This will be assigned in math
class, usually a worksheet covering skills being taught in class. This is
intended as review only and should mostly be an independent activity. Math homework needs to be returned the
following morning.
v Tuesdays—C
& C (Character
& Core… See below.)
v Thursdays—Spelling
homework. A list of words for the week will be sent
home, as well as a choice of two or three activities for the spelling homework
for the week. You only need to choose one activity!
v 10 minute rule—We really
don’t want homework to be overwhelming and time consuming. Please feel free to sign off for ten minutes
of work if it is taking them too long to complete. If it is consistently too much to finish,
please let us know so we can adjust accordingly, or address a particular
struggle.
C.
Character & Core (C& C)
v Character: A
discussion topic about our character trait will be given to students on the 1st
and 3rd Tuesday of the month.
We ask that you take this opportunity as a family to discuss the
question and apply it to your own experiences.
The student should then write about your discussion. I will send home their Character & Core
Book (Composition notebook) for this purpose each Tuesday. The Character Connection will then be due the
following day (Wednesday).
v Core: A
question about our current topic in Core Knowledge will be sent home on the 2nd
and 4th Tuesday of each month.
(For those of you with older children, this is similar to an MMQ.) This will come home in the same Character
& Core Book mentioned above, and will provide an opportunity for you to share
your knowledge with your student, or to do a brief amount of research, on something related to what we are
learning about in Science or Social Studies.
This should not be a huge
stressful thing… it will usually require only a few sentences of response as
well. Thank you in advance for helping your child with this assignment.
D.
Star of the Week
v Each week a new child is assigned to be “star
of the week”. At school they get to be the
line leader for the week.
v I will send home a poster to be completed at
home. It can be hand drawn
illustrations, words, photographs, magazine cut-outs, or any combination to
complete the areas. We share the poster
in class once it is completed, and then it is posted on our bulletin board
during the week.
III.
FYI
A.
Snacks
v Morning 9:40—Lunch is at 11:00, so it is
optional.
v Afternoon 1:25—again optional.
v Try to keep it low-sugar, please! Label it as SNACK or put in a separate bag if
it gets mixed up with lunch!
B.
Field Trips/ Special
Events
v Approximately one every two months, we try to
keep the costs down, but please let me know if it is ever a burden.
v Permission slips, chaperone volunteers
v Please see attached schedule for approximate
months of our special events and field trips.
C.
Birthdays
v Yes, treats are okay (but not required!) There are 24 students in our homeroom. Please bring it in the morning, or let me
know in advance so I can plan it into the day.
v I’ll celebrate summer birthdays on the half
birthdays. (I’ll try to remember to
remind you in advance of these!)
D.
Parent/ Teacher Conferences
vSign ups will be posted outside bathrooms near the front entry stairs
about one week before they begin. PLEASE
plan on attending these for information about your child’s progress and
placement in first grade.
v Please Note: There will be no school for
students on these days!!
E.
Other information
v Character Education/ Bully Prevention/ Peace Place
v September/ October Count Days: PLEASE have your student here! (Last week of September, First week of
October)
v Speak to Peak: School Newsletter via
email—Please try to read these (I know it can be a pain!) because there is many important
items that are included each month, and you will miss out on a lot of school
news without reading it!
v Car line signs… please help us out by putting your sign in your window if
you ever drive through car line. It is
the only way our rotating line of megaphones will know which names to
call. It is impossible during rainy-day
carlines without the signs! J
F.
How to contact us:
v Email: This
is the best way to get in touch with us or give us information! We check it many times each day, and
will get back to you as soon as possible—sometimes late night, but it will be
there.
v Website: sites.google.com/site/fantasticfirstgrade
