First Grade Teachers - First Grade Handbook

First Grade Parent Handbook

2024-2025

This handbook contains important information that will be a guide for you throughout this exciting year. Please read it entirely. Thank you for your time and support.

Arrival

Rock Ridge students may not arrive at school before 8:20. At 8:20, students will be allowed to enter the building. First and second graders will enter through the “K door”. It is to the right of the main doors as you are walking toward the building. Go down the sidewalk past the pre-k playground and turn left at the end of the brick wall. Students may either get breakfast from the cafeteria or go directly to their classroom.

Students will NOT be supervised until 8:20.

Children are NOT allowed to run and play before school on school grounds.

Parents may only enter the building through the main doors and must sign in at the office.

If you are scheduled to volunteer, please sign in at the front office.

Dismissal

Walkers: School dismissal is at 3:30. We will exit the K door, please do not wait for your child outside of the K door or on the sidewalk. Parents, adults and older siblings picking up will wait on the grass across from the brick wall (by kindie playground) between the mobiles and the Kiss & Go lane. Please wait on the grass to keep sidewalks clear for students. The 1st grade teachers will take the remaining students to their lines at the front of the building. Your child will then raise his/her hand when he/she sees the adult or older sibling picking up. He/she will give me a high five before I dismiss him/her to leave the line.

Car Riders: Kids being picked up in the carloop will then be taken to Kiss & Go lane in front of the building. Our staff members will escort car riders from our line to their cars. See pink or yellow visor card for more information.

Keeping your child safe is our main goal during dismissal. Please do not take your child until the teacher dismisses him or her.

Dismissal is a busy time. We will not be able to visit individually with parents during this time. If you have a question or concern, please wait until I’ve safely dismissed all students so I can give you my full attention. You may also email me and we can schedule a time to meet. Thanks for your understanding.

Bus Riders: Bus Riders will be escorted to the gym to join their appropriate bus line.

Attendance

If your child will be absent, you must call the RRE attendance line (303) 387-5152. Feel free to send me a quick email as well, to let me know your child will be absent, I am a mom, I worry.

Classroom Expectations, Procedures, IB and SEL (Social Emotional Learning)

Our classroom will become an environment where we work as a team in order to reach our highest potential. Rock Ridge is an IB (International Baccalaureate) school that puts an emphasis on 10 Learner Profile traits and IB Attitudes. Our students and staff will always strive to be: Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-Minded, Caring, Courageous, Balanced, and Reflective members of the Rock Ridge community. As a school, we will work on these attributes each month. You will see the attribute of the month in our Weekly Update email.

Lunch

Please ensure that your child knows whether s/he is ordering lunch or is bringing lunch for home. You may view or print monthly lunch menus and manage your student’s lunch account at this link. Breakfast and lunch are free this year to all students, see flier. Each student has a school lunch account with a specified student I.D. number. All meal funds can be made in MySchoolBucks.

Second Step and Zones of Regulation

Rock Ridge primary grades participate in Second Step Social Emotional Learning from elementary through high school

In our classroom, we also implement a clip chart using the Zones of Regulation.

This allows students to regulate their own behavior and emotions. They reflect and identify their emotions and learn strategies to help them return to and stay in the Green Zone. If they have a particularly difficult incident, a reflection sheet will be sent home to be signed and returned.

Take-Home Folder

Everyday your child will go home with his/her Take-Home folder. Please make a nightly routine of looking through your child’s Take-Home Folder. We also are a school that is environmentally responsible, we often send home information via email. Please let me know if you are not receiving emails.

Please encourage your child to return his/her Take-Home to school every morning. What a great opportunity to develop responsibility!

Snacks and Water Bottles

Students should bring a substantial snack and water bottle (water only) to school every day, separate from lunch. Our school emphasizes good nutrition, so please make sure snacks are healthy. Students will eat their snack in the afternoon.

Birthdays

Rock Ridge Elementary Birthday Treat Policy

Due to the high number of students with severe food allergies and special dietary concerns and Rock Ridge’s emphasis on health and wellness, birthday celebrations may not include food. Please save birthday cakes and cupcakes for your home celebration.

We realize many parents like to do something special in school for their child’s birthday. We’d like to suggest you consider donating a small gift to your child’s classroom. This donation from your child might be an educational game, a book for the class library, a ball to be used on the playground, or a pencil for each student in the room. Classroom teachers also have a variety of activities for birthday celebrations designed to make birthday children feel special.

Another option is to donate a book to the library. Rock Ridge will place inside the book a recognition note of who donated the book and the date. Check with Laura Keller lkeller@dcsdk12.org more details.

All birthdays will be announced daily. In addition, children will receive a birthday gift from the office.

Also, if your child has a summer birthday, we will celebrate it sometime in May. Please DO NOT send birthday invitations to school with your child. This often causes hurt feelings if not all students are invited.

Homework

Homework helps children develop responsibility and reinforces important concepts learned at school. I do not believe in overwhelming your child with homework each night, 10-15 minutes maximum is sufficient. Please ensure your child stays balanced by being active and playing outside when at home. Homework in 1st grade usually consists of…. daily reading, math facts practice, i-Ready Reading and Math lessons and practicing sight words. Periodically throughout the school year, additional homework, connected to our I.B. units of study will be sent home.

Reading Homework /Reading Log: First grade students should read with a fluent reader and read to a fluent reader (e.g. parents, older siblings, etc.) First grade students also need ample opportunities to read to an adult. Reading homework should range from 10-15 minutes per night. Please try to balance your child’s reading homework: reading to your child, reading with your child, and letting your child read to you. We are asking that after your child reads each night they fill in their daily reading log. At the end of the month they can turn in their log to their teacher for a reward.

Starting in September, I will send home your child’s sight words on cards, which are kept in a small Ziploc bag in your child’s book baggie/ homework bag. Sight words should be practiced every day for 3-5 minutes. The sight words also need to be returned to school daily. If your child is not able to complete his/her reading and sight word homework, please do not keep it at home to complete the following night. Always return reading and sight word homework to school the next day. We practice sight words daily in reading groups and during our literacy workstations. So… if students forget their reading/sight word homework at home, they are not prepared for their reading group or literacy workstations the next day at school.

After completion of the August i-Ready testing, we encourage all students to do i-Ready Reading and Math Lessons at home. We would like to get the most of our investment in iReady. It is highly recommended that each child complete: four ten minute reading sessions and four ten minute math sessions at home, per week (weekends included). It is recommended that students get a total of 90 minutes per week for both reading and math, between school and home.

Reading logs are due at the end of each month.

Specials

First graders will go to one Special class each day. The classes include Music, Physical Education, and Art. We also have Spanish as a second Special every three weeks for the entire week. Our Spanish week will be the same as our P.E. week.

Spanish.

PE: First graders participate in physical education and the schedule is on a rotation. Please have your child bring or wear (or bring) a pair of tennis shoes on designated P.E. days.

Library:

1st graders may check out one book at a time from our RRE library, starting in September.

Keep your child’s library book in his/her backpack when not reading the book.

We have a school library collection basket in our classroom. Students are unable to check out new books for the school library until old checked out books are returned.

Volunteers

Volunteers are appreciated and welcome in our classroom. There are several volunteering opportunities:

One P.T.O. room parent

Classroom assistants: volunteer weekly or bi-weekly in a regular time slot

Help with holiday parties

Help to sharpen pencils

Prepare classroom materials at home

Our Volunteer Coordinator is Mrs. Katie Pires. If you are interested in helping, please email her at: kpires1@dcsdk12.org. I will also send home emails soliciting volunteers as needed throughout the year. Thanks in advance for your help! **The parent volunteering will begin in September.

Transportation/ Dismissal Changes

It is my responsibility to ensure all my students leave school safely. If your child rides a school bus, I will send your child home on their normal route unless you notify the main office or contact me. The best way to notify me of a transportation change is by sending a note or an email in the morning. If you need to make a later change in transportation, you must call the front office. Most often, I am not able to check email until after school.

Toys from Home, Personal Treasures, and Personal Electronic Devices

The first grade team requests that first graders leave all toys, personal items, valuables, and Personally Owned Devices (i.e. personal electronic devices) at home. In addition, we request that these items are not stashed in your student’s backpack or pockets when at school. Here is the updated 2024-2025 policy link. This policy is school wide.

I am thrilled about teaching your child this year! I love learning and teaching with children more than just about anything. I want all my students to feel success and love school as much as I do. Please contact me anytime if you have questions. Looking forward to a great year!

Here is the link to the Rock Ridge Website. Bookmark this page, it will be an excellent resource for you throughout the year.

If at any time, you have questions or concerns please contact me. The best way to contact me is by email.

Mindy Shoemaker Taylor TrujilloTaylor Trujillo Kelly YoungbergKelly Youngberg

(303) 387-5150 (main office at school)

(303) 387-5152 RRE attendance line