Dear Parents and Students,
Welcome to the second week of school.
Everything seems to be settling down and we are finishing up
assessments this week. We have had a lot to assess so that we make
sure we are meeting every student's needs in our class. I will be
sending out a report next week detailing your child's reading and
math knowledge.
Friday Folders
Student work comes home on Fridays. Be
sure to look in your child's Friday folder. One side will say
"Student Work." The other side will say "School
Notes." Please remove your child's work from the folder and
return the folder empty on Monday.
Homework
Each night, your child should be
bringing home his/her binder with poems in it. Also, there is a word
wall list of the first 100 high frequency words. It is expected that
your child already know the first 30. This was a Kindergarten
standard. High frequency words are the most common words found in
reading. For example, "the" is the most common word.
Since they are high frequency words and your child will encounter
them in "I Can Read" books, etc., the more they read at
home, the faster they will get at reading these words.
Parents may want to purchase plastic
covers for students to put their poems in like the ones the word wall
words and the sticker awards page are in. Some students seem to be
ripping their poems, and some don't. If you have a child who is
ripping their poems, you may want to consider purchasing these. I
have seen them at Walmart. A package of 50 is around four dollars.
Please make sure you are signing your
child's agenda each night. This indicates that your child has read for 20 minutes. I will check agendas for signatures on
Fridays only, so if you write me a note in the agenda, please tell
your child to show it to me. If there is math homework, it will be
written in the agenda and due the next day.
If you find unfinished work in your
child's backpack during the week, it is because he/she had difficulty
working up to speed with the rest of the class. He/She needs to
complete unfinished work and return it to school. If this happens
often, please speak to your child about completing work and make an
appointment to conference with me.
Grading Scale
Star = On grade level
Check = Partial mastery
Check minus =Below grade level, needs lots of practice.
Snacks
We have had a lot of donations for
snack and are probably set for the first month. I will send out the
snack sign up next month. If you have already donated, please email
me. I want to make sure I have written you down. It was very
confusing the first few days with all the snacks coming in.
Time For Kids Magazine
If you have not yet sent in your $6.00
for TIME FOR KIDS, please do so as soon as possible. We will be
reading this kids magazine together as a class, so each student will
need their own copy. It will meet a lot of the social studies
standards for 1st grade.
Class Website
The website is not yet up and running.
I will be tackling that at a later date (my goal is by October 1st).
I will not be sending updates through the website, but through this
email process. So, if you are receiving this email, you are already
set up to receive information.
Behavior
I use a Green, Yellow and Red system
for behavior. Staying on green is good. Yellow is a warning with
consequences at recess (walking around the playground for a few
minutes), and Red is a note home to mom/dad in the agenda.
Recess
When the weather gets colder, we will be going outside. Please make
sure your child is dressed appropriately when the weather changes.
In addition, students are never allowed to wear flip flops as it is
hazardous to play in them and against school policy.
Grade Parent
Leslie Highfill has volunteered to be our
Grade Parent. She will be in charge of organizing events. If you do
not wish to be contacted please let me know. Otherwise, I will be
sharing your email addresses with her in order for her to communicate
to you information about events going on in our class.
Fundraiser
This year we are selling entertainment books for $20. These are
coupon books with a lot of valuable savings. Students have a chance
to win great prizes. Please see our latest school newsletter for all
the details. Feel free to contact me with questions.
You can also link your rewards card to our school at Bloom, Harris
Teeter, or Target. Our school earns dollars each time you shop at
one of these stores if your card is linked. Our school codes are as
follows:
Bloom,00159, Harris Teeter,1908, and Target,80397. You can
also link your cards at their websites, www.shopbloom.com,
www.harristeeter.com, and
www.target.com.
