Hello Parents,
We are very excited about teaching your first grader this year! We will have many great learning experiences together.
We will work hard to help your child succeed academically and to develop a positive school experience. We plan to accomplish this goal by teaching to your child’s ability, and providing them with plenty of positive reinforcement.
As your child’s most important teacher, you have the most influence in shaping his/her self worth. Let’s work together to celebrate the success your child will have and praise him/her often. Please feel free to visit with us about any questions or concerns you might have. Please schedule a time when both Mrs. Douglas and Mme Phothirath can meet with you. Parents are a teacher’s best resource!
Mrs. Douglas will be teaching students the English Language Arts curriculum, reviewing Math concepts, and Science and Social Studies vocabulary. Mme Jolly will be teaching the French language through the Math, Science, and Social Studies curriculum. Math assessments will be given in English.
English Language Arts: The Alpine School District is using the Wonders Language Arts Program to teach English Language Arts. This program includes independent reading, guided reading, read alouds, shared reading and writing, interactive reading and writing, comprehension, writing, phonics, decoding, structure, vocabulary, composition, and other fundamental skills will be covered.
Spelling: We will focus on a different spelling skill each week. There will be no take home spelling list or test. We will be working with words in class phonetically.
For reading, please read for 20 minutes each day to someone in their family. For math, we are also focusing on our addition and subtraction from 1 - 20 with fluency.
Students will have the opportunity to read from Raz-Kids books at school and at home. These books are leveled to provide your child with reading on their reading level. This program is found Online through the students Clever website with using your child's Clever Badge.
Please have your child to school on time. Children who are sick should be kept at home. Students should not leave school grounds from the time school begins until it ends in the afternoon without being checked out at the office. Please go to the office to check out your child. We are not allowed to let your student leave with you until you have checked them out.
We will focus on positive actions in our classroom. Acknowledgement and various rewards will be offered to individual, group, and class efforts. We will also use a leveled behavior program in our classes. Students will be able to identify how their behavior is by seeing it visually. This allows the teacher to positively reinforce good behavior as well as warn students if they are not making the best choices. The concept is that all students start with their clips (clothespins with their number) on the Ready to Learn card. If the student is showing positive behavior, they move their clip up to Great Job! or Super Star! If a student is not showing positive behavior, they need to move their clip down to Slow Down, Think About It or Parent Contact. Once a child moves their clip, they have the opportunity to move it again (either up or down) depending on their behavior. The level of Think About It will consist of Think Time. This is when students will reflect on the actions and choices that were previously made. This also gives the student time to get ready to do the task that is requested of them. They will discuss ways to correct this behavior with the classroom teacher. The first time the students is on this level they will have Think Time in class and if it continues then the student may need to miss recess to conference one-on-one with the teacher.
Encouraging positive behavior is one of the best ways to create a friendly environment where students are ready and willing to learn, participate, and interact with each other.
Each class has a marble jar. When the entire class is making Good Choices, a marble goes in the jar. Once the marbles are filled to the top of the jar, the class decides together with the teacher how they will celebrate their excellent behavior and choices.
Birthdays will be celebrated on your child’s birthday or nearest date to it if the birthday falls on the weekend or a holiday. If your child’s birthday is during the summer, we will celebrate the birthday at the end of the school year and we will let you know ahead of time what day it will be celebrated. We will celebrate your child's birthday in both the English and the French room.
Treats are welcome, but not expected. If you choose to send treats, please have enough for 28 students. The treat needs to be delivered by 11 a.m. or sent with your child when they arrive at school. We will have their treat in the afternoon class that they attend on that day. Please do not send red punch, homemade treats, or anything containing peanuts as some students may have a peanut allergy. Treats need to be store bought.
Please do not send medication to school with your child. If your child needs to take medication of any kind, please contact the school office and they will refer you to the school nurse to gather the medication information. The office staff / school nurse will administer the medication.
We are looking forward to getting to know you and working with your child this year! Once again if you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact both of us through email at aguillette@alpinedistrict.org and annesophiephothirath@alpinedistrict.org
Thank you!
Mrs. Andrea Guillette Douglas