Happy First Week of School

We sincerely hope that all of our first grade leaders had a great weekend. We had a great week last week, are learning a lot already, and ready to hop into another great year!

Reminders:

• Make sure that your child has an agenda and a blue folder come home every day. These both have important information for you on behavior and academics. Agendas may be spiral bound, or may have been transferred to three prong folders. 
• Be sure that your child brings a healthy snack that is wrapped separately from lunch. This helps them to make sure they are eating the right nutritional balance for this time of morning. Some students are still  hungry, so you may want to visit with your child to see if their snack is providing them energy when needed.
• Please remember that in the morning, students are to sit with their class, back to the wall, reading or browsing a book. We have a lot of students and this helps us to set a good model for the day and to maintain student safety during this time of the day.
• Please also remember that students who are parent pick ups (someone physically gets out of the car to come to the front of the school to get them), need to make their way to the first grade spot (located by the second double set of windows). Please wait for them to be seated, and then when they see you, they may get up to say goodbye. This time of day can be really hectic, and it is in the interest of safety that we would like to see them and say goodbye everyday. Mrs. Santiago and Ms. Heine are at this post, so students may say good bye to them.

This week is B week. We have Day 2 on Tuesday and Thursday. Day One on Wednesday and Friday.

Sept. 4 - Reading Rally starts (Students will be bringing home information on this home this Tuesday). Student rewards are given daily, so the sooner you get them in, the more prize opportunities our leaders have.

Sept. 4 - WatchDOG kickoff rally 6:30 P.M.

Sept. 7 - Grandparents' Lunch - It is beneficial to get here at lunch time ( as there will be parking limitations and possible delays. We can't wait to see you)

Sept. 19 - Early Release day

Curriculum Notes:

Language Arts: 

• Writing process and introduction to Reading and Writing Workshop
• Learning about school and class procedures
• Leadership and the Seven Habits

Math: Place Value and counting/representing to 100

Science: What is Science?

Thanks to all the parents and students who have made the week great!

Great First Day!

Thanks to all of our parents and students for a great first day of school. The students were really excited and we are happy to have them with us this year. A few reminders:

• Please remember that as we are dismissing in the parent pick up area, that students are required to come all the way down to the first grade area windows and sit down before leaving. This is for their protection and so that we can say goodbye to them all, making sure that they are headed home with the correct person.
• Please also remember that all changes in plans for dismissal, but be made in writing, or through the office if close to dismissal time. This helps us to make sure that changes that are made are the wishes of the parent, and not the student.
• Students should have brought home their take home folder, which is blue, and their Agenda. In these communication tools, student behavior is communicated to you. Please be sure to initial the date and follow through with praise for days that students get stickers. 
• Check with your child's teacher to be sure when their PE day is - this will help them make sure that they have appropriate clothing and footwear for that class.

Again, thanks for a great first day, and feel free to contact us at any time with questions about behavior, curriculum, or the progress of your child.

Welcome to the First Grade

Welcome to a new First Grade Year! We are excited to have all of our first graders here and ready for a great year of fun. This is our parent blog, where information and team documents will be posted for your convenience. An easy way to keep up with the current information is to subscribe to either the RSS feed or to enter your email address to the sidebar. When the page is updated, it will send the update directly to you from our team. In addition, each teacher will maintain a teacher website or blog linked on the side panel as well. You can find documents regarding behavior, homework policies, field trips, and our handbook linked on this blog.

The first grade teachers are:
Liz Allen
Lara Heine
Tasha Maggart
Monica Macias
Michelle Riley
Joyce Santiago
Sunny Schlaudt

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. This blog will be updated weekly with newsletter type items, but other reminders may be added as well. If you would like a hard copy of the newsletter, please let your child's teacher know.

Tiger News and Notes - August 27-31

We all hope that everyone is having a nice and relaxing weekend before school. We cannot wait to meet our new first graders on Thursday Night (as well as a little picnic fun) and are excited about the coming school year!

This week, we will be focusing on the following in our classrooms:

Leadership: We are reviewing the 7 habits and beginning to build our classroom of leaders this week. We will also be developing class mission statements and social contracts. 

Language Arts: Procedures for Language Arts

• Why do Writers write? 
• What tools do they use? 
• How can we use the same tools to do our best work in writing workshop?

Math: Procedures and Expectations for Problem Solving and Independent Math Station/Game Time

Science: Setting Up Our Science Notebook and Me as a Scientist

Reminders:
(These may differ from class to class at times, so be sure to check your teacher's web page as well.)

• Students need to make sure and dress comfortably for the heat. Recess is at 9:30, so it shouldn't be too hot, but they should be comfortable going outside.
• Please send a change of clothes which will be kept in your child's backpack. We all know that accidents can happen, and this will allow us to handle this situation more discreetly.
• Students should wear P.E. ready shoes all week the first week, as they are learning their Specials schedule.
• Students may bring a healthy snack for during the school day. Each teacher will let students know when an appropriate time is to consume it. Please remember that colored liquids are not allowed, and snacks should be portable and create as few messes as possible. Students may be working on other activities while snacking and so minimizing snack messiness will be helpful. Remember that student progress and productivity is often directly related to student energy level. Providing a nutritious snack, packaged separately from the student lunch box will help students maintain that mid morning energy!
• Students are allowed to bring a miniature hand sanitizer (provided by their parent) and kept in their backpack to sanitize hands. This will cut down on transmission of germs and colds. Teachers usually have non-alcohol based hand sanitizer provided in the classroom.
• Please return student take-home folder,reading folder, and Agenda daily. It is important that our first grade students learn how to transport these materials and they will be needed every day.

Dates:

August 23rd: Meet the Teacher Night beginning at 6:00; Family Picnic from 6:00 to 9:00
August 27th: First Day of School
Sept. 3rd: No School - Labor Day
Sept. 11th: Patriot Day
September 17th: Constitution Day


Have a great week!