These are the ABC's of First grade
- A- Animals
- B- Birthdays
- C- Centers
- D- Differentiation
- E- Essential Information and F- Field Trips
- G- General Store
- H- Homework
- I- Independence and J-Jobs
- K- Keys To Success
- L- Language Arts
- M- Math
- N- Newsletters and O- Orders
- P- Pictures
- Q- Questions
- R- Red Folders
- S- Special Friend
- T- Take Home Reading
- U- U.S.A
- V- Volunteers
- W- Writer's Workshop
A- Animals
We have several class pets. We have a rabbit named Contessa, a
turtle named Cruz, a bearded dragon named Dude, and 2 fighting fish, named
Omalumalu and Polu. Having pets is not only fun,
but it teaches responsibility, caring, and life-science.
B- Birthdays
We do not have class birthday "parties," however we do
recognize birthdays with a song and a round of applause. I would like to suggest
that if you would like to send a "treat" to school to celebrate, that it
not be food, in order to help everyone feel included in classroom celebrations.
We often have more than one student with severe food allergies. Some
suggestions might be stickers or pencils for each student. We will have
class parties at which food treats will be served as well as our Special Friend
snacks*, so I don�t think the students will feel too deprived. .
C- Centers
We have literacy centers Monday through Thursday from 11:00 to
12:00, and in order for these centers to go as smoothly as possible I need your
help! Please see VOLUNTEERS for more details on what you do with the
kids if you are one of the volunteers. The students will be learning
responsibility and independence as they work on various literacy jobs in the
classroom. Here's how it works: each student belongs to 2 groups. One
group is made up of students that are reading and writing at a similar level. The
other group is a mixed bag of all different level readers. This gives
everyone the opportunity to work independently and successfully without an
adult always supervising.
Two days a week a student is with his "reading" group, and two
days a week he is with his "center" group. Groups are not set in stone and
will often change before the year is over.
D- Differentiation
Not all first graders are the same, which is part of why it's so
much fun! Since not all kids are the same, I don't expect them all to
benefit from exactly the same work. I use many different assessment tools to
find out where each individual child is starting and use that as a jumping-
off point in my teaching. If a child can already spell CAT pretty
consistently I won't waste their time teaching it again, I will teach them something
new; but of course there are kids who may not spell CAT yet, in which case
it's my job to teach them! I try my best to meet each child's individual
needs, and knowing that they are not all the same, their work may not always be the
same. My expectations, however, are always the same:everyone does his or
her own best at all times! But everyone's best does not always look the
same. Please let me know if your child seems over- or under-whelmed by the
homework, and we can try to make adjustments.
E- Essential Information and F- Field Trips
We do have a few students in our class with food
allergies.
We have several animals in the class. Please let me know
if your child is severely allergic to animal fur so I can remember not to seat
him/her too close to the animal cages.
Your child may bring a water bottle to school to keep at
his/her desk. The bottle must have a "sport cap."
I rarely have had a problem with students coming to
school wearing inappropriate clothing for cold weather, they have usually been
sufficiently bundled and layered, however, I have had children on the verge of
dehydration due to wearing too many clothes on hot days. Please discuss with
your child that when they start to sweat they should remove jackets and
sweatshirts!
We will be going on approximately 5 off-site field trips this
year The dates and trips will be added to this site soon.
Permission slips will be sent approximately 2 weeks before our
departure date.
Please return them as soon as possible. They have driver
information on them,and I can know whether I need to canvas for more drivers. The
permission slip will tell you whether or not you should send a lunch with your
child. Please send your children in long pants and closed-toe shoes to all
field trips.
G- General Store
We have a competition going between the students and myself. The
class is awarded points for good behavior, quick and quiet transitions or
if I break any class rules. I receive points when the class is disruptive
after warnings, or if students go to the bathroom during a direct
instruction time.
If the class receives more points than I do by the end of the
month they get to go shopping at the General Store! This is both an incentive
program as well as an opportunity for your children to learn about money.
H- Homework
Homework is sent home each Friday afternoon in a red folder. It
is due the following Friday morning. It is up to your family how you choose
to allot the time in between to get it done. District policy is that a first
grader should spend no more that 20 focused minutes on homework a night.
I am not strict about FINISHING all the homework. I hope that
each child will do his or her BEST on each part of the homework, so I don't want
them to rush through anything just to get it done. Please let me know if it
is a particular struggle to get the homework done. I will be glad to
help in any way I can.
I send home many open-ended assignments that can be extended to
challenge your student. I find that if you simply ask your child WHY something
is happening (in writing, spelling, math) they will either be eager to talk to
you about it, or you may realize that they actually aren't understanding
as deeply as you had at first thought. It is a great opportunity to learn
together.
I- Independence and J-Jobs
One of my main goals and philosophies in this class is to teach
children to think and act independently. I encourage students to answer
their own questions, make their own best guesses, and to be responsible for
their work and their choices. At the beginning of the year I am really
asking them to take a leap of faith by trusting themselves in spelling words. I
don't care if they get the words right, I want them to try! This is
particularly difficult for kids at this stage! So please help me out by
accepting their attempts in their homework! I do not expect perfection from a
first grader! I expect THEIR best. As they learn to take risks they will learn
to become better learners and thinkers!
As part of our movement toward independence, we must also take
responsibility. Each week every student has a classroom job to be completed
throughout the week. These jobs help keep the classroom neat and running
smoothly.
K- Keys To Success
Keys To Success:
1) Always do your best!
2) Always try!
3) Make good choices!
4) Think before you act!
5) Be a good example!
6) LISTEN!
7) HAVE FUN!
L- Language Arts
Our language arts curriculum is Houghton Mifflin, but you will
rarely see workbooks or workbook pages used in the classroom. I take their
good ideas and make them work in our classroom environment of responsibility,
independence and differentiation. In addition, we have Writer's
Workshop, as defined by Lucy Calkins, author of Teaching Children to Write.
We also do spelling a little differently in that I look at each
child's writing and note what kinds of language conventions they need
more work with and then design a spelling list and activities around those
words. This is avery individualized way of helping children discover the way
words in English work.
And of course we read every day! We read books and charts and directions and
our own writing!
M- Math
Our math curriculum is published by Envision and Investigations.
Investigations is a very hands-on math curriculum that encourages
deep thinking and participation in mathematic discaovery and
discussion. There is a strong focus on developing and expressing
multiple mathematic strategies. Like language
arts we don�t do a lot of workbook work (though more than LA).
I like to supplement lessons with the techniques of Marcy Cook, Kathy
Richardson and Dale Seymour, who have really great ideas about how kids
learn math. We do a lot of talking about the WHY of math:what does math mean.
Each week we have what I call the Math Challenge. This is a timed addition
practice in which children move at their pace through successive addition
fact sheets. There is no penalty for not moving forward. Everybody does
eventually. I only expect each individual's best!
N- Newsletters and O- Orders
Each Friday you will receive the class newsletter in your
child's red folder.
It contains all kinds of useful information about upcoming
events, etc., so please keep an eye out for it!
I send home book orders about once a month on Friday in the red
folder. They are due on the following Friday. Please consider shopping in
these catalogs! They have great prices on books, which make great birthday and
holiday gifts! Also, whenever you buy, our class gains points and I can add to
our classroom library!
P- Pictures
If you are present at any functions or holidays and get any good
pictures of the class please share them! I know that in the spring we always
need more pictures for our yearbook page!
Q- Questions
Please feel free to contact me any time with questions! My e-
mail address is mclement@saratogausd.org. This is the best way to contact me,
because I check my e-mail twice a day and we don't have to play phone tag. I
am usually here at school by 7:30 a.m. and I stay at least until 3:30 p.m.
Of course if you prefer, you can call me! My number here in the classroom is
867-4773 x215. My home phone number is (831)662-1785.
R- Red Folders
The Red folder is your child's homework folder. Inside, there
are 4 pockets. One is labeled "Homework I have not finished". This
is where the new homework pages will be. As your child finishes each page, it
should be moved to the pocket that says "Homework I have finished." The
next two pockets are for sending things home for you to read, check and keep . On
one side of the folder, marked Done and Checked is the work your child
completed for the week, and corrected homework. Unless otherwise noted, that is
yours to keep!
On the other side of the folder, marked Family Papers, is parent
communication:newsletters, permission slips, book orders, etc.
Please return any paperwork/orders in the folder by Friday of the next week.
S- Special Friend
Each full week of school one student will be chosen to be the
Special Friend.
Each day of the week we will take a moment to learn more about
the Special Friend through interviewing, sharing and studying. Most days of
the week the Special Friend brings something specific to share with the class.
Monday Just themselves. We will interview the special
friend to learn moreabout him/her.
Tuesday No more than 10 photos to share
Wednesday Treasure (something special for show and tell)
Thursday Story book that I will read to the class
Friday HEALTHY snack for 21
As stated in the Birthdays section, we are trying to avoid junk
food, so please think about fruit, vegetables, juice, popcorn, things that
do not contain too much sugar or fat...and NO NUTS!!!
T- Take Home Reading
Once I have assessed the approximate reading level of your
student I will start sending home one book a week to work on. While for some
kids the focus will be on decoding, the majority of the students will be working
on reading comprehension skills. For this reason the book I send home will
be at or slightly below your child's decoding level so the concentration
can be on the meaning of the story. Each book has a question sheet with it.
On one side of the sheet is a list of "new" words which may hang your child up
in either pronunciation or definition. Go over this list together first to
ease the way later. Student should follow the directions on the folder as to
how the read the book each day, and answer just one question a day. This is
primarily a reading assignment, not a writing assignment, so I do not expect
written answers to the questions. You can discuss them orally. Your
initials on the folder tell me that your child answered the questions
satisfactorily.
U- U.S.A
I love Geography and have been gratified to find that first
graders love it too! We'll start with the seven continents and four oceans, then
we'll move on to the 50 American states. Once or twice a week we
will be learning and writing about a different state in the Union. You will be amazed at how your youngster
takes to the map!
V- Volunteers
Our centers program really relies upon dependable volunteers!
And I love to have you in the classroom to be part of our learning experience,
as do your children. As a Centers volunteer you will usually be working on
art, and sometimes light writing. We also need volunteers for field trips
and parties!
Please do what you can for us! Thank you in advance!
W- Writer's Workshop
We write in our writer's workshop nearly every day! Our most
important focus,especially at the beginning of the year is to convince kids that
yes, they too can be authors! Yes, six-year-old authors! We make a point of
making the illustrations as important as the words, and the most important
thing in their writing is the message, not what they can and can't spell! If I
allowed them to write only what they could spell, their writing would be
awfully limited and they would know it, and would not be able to find joy in
storytelling!
Our main message is that if you've got something to say, you've
got a story to tell!
XYZ you around!
