Classroom Policies

Daily Folders

Each evening your child will bring home his/her daily folder. Included in this folder will be a homework calendar, a pocket for the poem of the week, the word list that we will be working on throughout the year, and a behavior chart. The behavior chart is a simple way for us to communicate back and forth as to how your child is doing in school. If for example, your child had a rough day and spoke out of turn too much, I might write in the box “too much talking”. Please discuss the behavior with your child and initial the behavior chart each evening. In addition, there is a pocket in the back of the folder for you to place book order $, lunch $, and important notes to me in. On Friday the folder will also contain important information from the school office, flyers, notes from me and general information and papers from the classroom. Please take the time to read all the notes as they are very important. Please remove all papers and return it each Monday. Please remember to do this as it will help keep the lines of communication working!! J

Homework:

I send homework home with your child as a way for you to see what your child can do as well as to help get you involved in what we are learning here at school. Homework assignments are a great way for you to get involved in your child’s education, however I would prefer that you assist in the assignment rather than do it for your child. These assignments are a great way for you to keep track of how your child is doing in school. If the assignments come easily for your child, you can assume he/she is doing great. If your child is struggling with the homework assignments, and you’d like to discuss his/her progress or get ideas for how to help him/her, please feel free to contact me.

Guided Reading Books:

Beginning mid-late September we will participate in a reading program that will require you and your child to read together several evenings per week. The reading usually takes 10 minutes and is extremely important to your child’s reading success! Please don’t neglect this homework!! The books that your child will be reading will be brought home in a baggie-we will refer to these as “baggie books” throughout the year. PLEASE return baggie books the very next day! This is very important since we share books with all the other kindergarten classes! Every bit that you do at home will reinforce what we are learning in school!

Book Orders

Once a month your child will bring home book club order forms from Scholastic Book Clubs. If you wish to order, you may do so online or by simply fill out the form and sending in the correct amount of money (or a check made payable to the book company) in an envelope. Please clearly mark the outside of the envelope with your child’s name, my name, amount in the envelope, date, and “BOOK ORDER”. The due date will be written on the form. More information will be sent out with the first book order regarding how to order online. These orders are provided as a convenient way for parents to buy high quality books and literature for their children at a very low price. As an additional bonus, for every dollar that is spent on books, I earn bonus points which are then used to purchase books for our classroom.

Field Trips

We MIGHT get to take a few field trips in first grade in order to enhance the curriculum. This is an important experience as this helps create real and meaningful learning for the children. We, of course, need parent chaperones for each trip. Please consider coming along with us on one field trip…or more if you’d like!! Information about field trips will be sent out well in advance so you have opportunity to plan and make arrangements. Since we have so many first graders, we do not always have enough room on the bus to accommodate all the classes and parent chaperones. If this happens to be the case, you will be asked to follow behind the bus in your car. Of course, parents can ride together… considering the price of gas these days!!! J Please make note that no siblings may ride on the bus with your or your first grader. In addition, no siblings are permitted to accompany the class on field trips. *As part of Registration you signed a general permission slip for your child to attend all of the field trips- so there will be no need for you to sign any additional forms prior to leaving.

Class Parties

We will have 4 parties throughout the year which are as follows: Fall Party, Winter Party, Valentine’s Party and End of the Year Party. All parents are asked to sign up to help with one of the parties. Even if you cannot attend, you can still send in supplies, treats etc. There was a sign-up sheet at Open House and if you did not pick a party, I will send home a note asking you to do so. I will try to honor your requests as much as possible. For the most part I will plan the parties, but will need parent volunteers to coordinate stations and collect supplies etc.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferences are scheduled two times during the year (October and March). All parents are expected to attend. You will be given more information about conferences and the time to attend as the dates grow closer. Parent Teacher Conferences are arranged in order to discuss your child’s progress and behavior, establish connections between home and school, and offer you any ideas on how to help your child succeed in school. This will also be a time to discuss any concerns you or I may have. You are always welcome to schedule additional conferences/meetings at any time during the school year.

Parent Helpers

Throughout the year we will have various activities that will require some additional adults in the classroom. Also there will be times that a parent volunteer will be needed to work with a small group of students in math or reading. These times can be flexible to work with your schedule and usually only last about 30 minutes. In addition, as you may already have experienced, there are always things to cut out, glue together, color, hole punch etc. in a first grade classroom. If you’re willing and able please let me know how you’d like to help out! I’d love the extra set of hands!! You'll need to have a background check on file to help in the room.

Birthdays

Birthdays are always an exciting time for students! If your child’s birthday falls during summer months when we aren’t in school, we will celebrate your child’s half birthday! If you would like, you may send in birthday treats (cupcakes, cookies etc.) as a special snack. Please let me know ahead of time if you intend to bring special treats to school. No birthday cakes will be allowed as it is very difficult to pass out and not make a mess in the process but if you'd like to send in individual ice cream bars I will be happy to keep those in the freezer until we're ready for them.

Birthday party invitations (for parties outside of school) may not be passed out at school unless ALL of the girls are invited (if your child is a girl) or ALL of the boys are invited (if your child is a boy)… or of course you can invite the entire class. Please do not send a few with your child to pass out during recess or lunch time, as I will return them to you that evening.

Grading Policy

Each student will be evaluated individually through observation and individualized testing. The report card you'll see reflects the Indiana State Standards that are being taught in the classroom.

90-100% A

80-89% B

70-79% C

60-69% D

below 60% F