ABC's of First Grade

ABC’s of FIRST Grade

A

Absences- if your child is ill or will be gone, please call the office attendance line: 303-387-8927. If you must pick your child up early, please go to the office and they will call your child down.

Arrival - The first bell rings at 8:25-8:35 (soft start). Students enter through the front doors and go to their classroom.  

Awesome-has anyone told you how awesome you and your child are!!!

B

Birthdays- Birthdays are special occasions. If your child would like to bring in treats, we request that they are a small bite size-store bought -item due to food allergies in our class.  Another GREAT way to celebrate birthdays is with a “non-food” item.  A fun alternative is to have your kiddo donate a book to the class that we could read, he/she could choose to have a bonus recess time or other class activity, fun pencils or stickers, pinwheels, play dough, glow sticks or some other non-food type item.

Book orders-Scholastic book orders will come home occasionally. If you choose to order, you can either send your order in with a check to Scholastic or you can order online.

BECOME-one of our goals at MHE

Backpacks-a great way to bring things to and from home/school

C

Conferences- We will be having fall and spring conferences, so stay tuned for more information.

Curriculum-our learning is based on standards.

D

Drills- fire drills, tornado drills and lockdown/lockout drills are practiced regularly for the safety of all.

Dismissal-At dismissal, we walk our classes out and you will have to come retrieve your child from your child’s teacher at dismissal. The students cannot leave until they see you and they give me a high five/ fist bump/ or say goodbye.

DREAM-one of our goals

E

Energy Bus-We are an Energy Bus School! 

We are very excited to be the first Energy Bus Certified School in the State of Colorado! The Energy Bus Leadership Journey focuses on seven Energy Bus (by John Gordon) principles to instill leadership capacity in our staff, students, and the surrounding community. 

These seven principles are:

1. You're the Driver

2. Create a Positive Vision

3. Drive with Purpose

4. Fuel Your Ride with Positive Energy

5. Transform Negativity

6. Love Your Passengers

7. Enjoy the Ride!

Email-is the best way to contact your child’s teacher. A majority of school communication is via email. Please make sure that your current email is on file.

Enthusiasm in learning is what we practice!

F

Field trips- Field trips (in school) are a wonderful way to enhance our learning. 

Fun-we have fun each day in first grade!

G

Group reading teams are differentiated reading groups targeted to meet the specific needs/skills and goals of your child.  

H

Health- please make sure that if your child has any allergies the office and your child’s teacher is notified.

Homework-Homework folders come home on Monday and are returned on Friday. Reading daily is encouraged!  If you want to get better at reading, you have to practice! 

I

Illness- in hopes of having a healthy year, if your child is ill, has a fever, is vomiting or has diarrhea, please keep them home until they are symptom free for 48 hours.

J

Journals- we will be growing as writers daily. “Inventive spelling” is acceptable and encouraged. It is all part of our growing process as writers.

K

Kindness- Be KIND is our one and only rule...students are encouraged and expected to treat all members of our class, as well as others, with kindness and respect.

L

Library- the kids will go to the library once a week and will be allowed to check out a book.

Lunch- lunchtime is 11:00-11:25, followed by recess from 11:25-11:50. Children may bring a packed lunch or eat a school lunch. 

M

Mammoth Heights is a positive and enthusiastic place to learn and grow.

Mrs. Morton-I am your child’s first grade teacher this year!

Marty the Mammoth-He is our school mascot.

Math- Please check our website and newsletter to know what skills we are learning. It’s always good to practice math facts-add/subtract.

MHE Folders-this folder comes home on Monday and needs to be returned on Friday.  It will have a variety of informative papers from the office and/or your child’s work.

Molly the Mammoth & Matilda the Hedgehog-our talking pieces for morning meeting

N

Newsletter- our classroom newsletters will be every few months.

Nut free-We are a nut free classroom due to allergies.

O

Office- the MHE office number 303-387-8925.

Our door is always OPEN for you!

P

Positivity-We are a POSITIVE classroom!

Parties- I will send home more information about class parties as they approach throughout the year. I will also email a signup genius for anyone who is interested in helping.

P.E. Please make sure you child brings a pair of sneakers/gym shoes on gym day.

Practice-practice your word work and reading every day!

Q

Questions- if you should have any questions please email or send a note to your child’s teacher or the office.

R

Recess- the kids will have 2 recesses: after lunch 11:40-12:00 and an afternoon recess from 2:40-3:00. Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather. 

Read-please read every day with your child.  Read aloud to your child, read with your child, have your child read to you!  Reading comes in many forms.

Reading for meaning is the goal of our class. Students are taught different ways to figure out unknown words and understand what they are reading. Three words we use when checking a student's ability to read are: accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Accuracy is the ability to read words correctly 90% of the time in a passage. Having fluency means the reader sounds like s/he is talking smoothly. There is no stopping to sound out words or taking time to think what the word is. Having comprehension means understanding what the story is about that you read. Reading is not taking place if you can say the words correctly but have no idea what the story is about. 

S

Snacks- your child will be allowed to bring a peanut free snack that will be eaten during the morning recess. Please make sure that this snack is NOT in their lunch box. Find a spot in their backpack that it can be kept.

Strive-One of our goals at MHE

Specials- We have~PE, Music, Art & STEM

“Star Student of the Week” goes on throughout the year to learn more about the students in our classroom. Every child will have the opportunity to be Star Student and a schedule will be posted on our website or via email and in our classroom. A note will go home when your child when it is his/her turn. 

STEM-We have science and technology combined!!

Science of Reading (SOR)-the five main components that are fundamental to reading: phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

T

Twenty-one is an average of how many friends we will have in our classroom this year.

V

Visitors- all visitors are required to sign in at the office and receive a visitor sticker. PLEASE check in at the office first.

Volunteers-You are ALWAYS welcome to come whenever your schedule allows.  If you are interested in volunteering in our classroom, please be sure to fill out the “community volunteer application.” You can pick up a form in the office or see me for the form.

W

Wash your hands-we will practice good hand washing EVERY day!

Weather dismissal- If there is lightning in the area or a blizzard there may be an inside dismissal. You will have to come to the classroom to sign your child out for the day.

Website-Our classroom website is a great way to get information about what is happening in our classroom and at our school.

WASH our hands frequently!

Water-be sure to bring a water bottle everyday! Stay hydrated!!

X

EXCELLENCE is what we strive for every day!

Y

You are your child’s first teacher!  Together we are a team!

Z

ZZZZZZZ- make sure your child gets plenty of rest.