First Grade News
Jan. 31, 2012
Dear Parents,
Many thanks for the past week! Teacher appreciation week was greatly
appreciated by the staff here at Cole School. We are so fortunate to live in
a community like Boxford with supportive families and great kids!
What a month we have had with many mild days! For some children they are
content happily playing outside without the snow, but for others they wait
longingly for the white stuff to appear. We enjoyed dreaming about winter,
drawing and writing about winter fun using chalk on blue paper. These
pictures adorn the walls outside our classroom for all to see. We are
wondering if the groundhog will see his shadow on Thurs., Feb. 2nd, since it
has been almost “spring like” this winter season! At this time of the year,
the first grade team begins the science unit on heat and light/shadows,
teaching the children about the sun as a source of heat and light to the earth
and how it is necessary for life on earth. A packet of papers will be sent
home of completed activities when the unit is completed. We will read many
books in this area of study, as well.
We will be finishing up our “Weather on the Sky” math unit, comparing
October’s sky conditions with January’s sky conditions. The children’s math
skills have strengthened with this lab and others: drawing the math lab,
collecting the data, using a data table, inputting data onto a graph, and
finally answering questions as they analyze the data. I’ve told them how
important these steps are as mathematicians as well as scientists. They are
stepping up to the plate in these roles!
The Scholastic News weekly reader has provided many wonderful and informative
class lessons each month to support our social studies and science curriculum.
This month we’ve learned facts about snow monkeys from Japan, different types
of bats, the Chineses New Year, and Dr. King. We continue to use the Block
Buddy atlases to learn about maps. We will continue learning about more
famous Americans in February with President’s Day just ahead of us. Also,
these topics have been reinforced by using Discovery Education’s streaming
videos viewed on the smartboard.
Next month we will be administering the DRA’s (Developmental Reading
Assessments) for the second time this year. This is necessary to determine
appropriate reading levels for the children. When children meet with me
whether with a guided reading group or individually, they are working at their
instructional level. They may choose to bring home a book at this level or
their independent level for their weekend book selection. Since reading is so
much more than “word calling”, the children benefit when checking on
comprehension or reading to improve fluency. So when your child says, “this
book is too easy,” ask him/her to retell the story from beginning to end,
identifying as many details as possible especially the book language used by
the author, identifying the theme or author’s message, making a connection to
the story (or in other words: what does the story remind you of), comparing
and contrasting characters, etc. These types of questions will reinforce the
idea that reading is thinking and the importance of making meaning from the
text. Thank you for your support in using the reflection journals each
weekend. Please stress quality work. Encourage your child to write complete
sentences when answering questions. Be sure to have your child send the
weekend book bag and reflection journal back in on Mondays. Thanks!
February will bring additional assessments including the winter math
assessments, DRA’s, and assorted other term 2 assessments in preparation for
progress reports in March. I look forward to sharing the results and samples
of work at our March conferences. I will be sending home a conference letter
before February vacation to schedule the March conferences. Two important
events the children look forward to in February are the 100th day of school
celebration and the Valentine’s Day holiday. We will do math related
activities to commemorate the 100th day on February 8th. One activity is to
be completed at home. The children may need some help to complete this
activity. In kindergarten, the children may have brought in collections of
100 objects. This year the children will be asked to use their imaginations
to create a 100th day collage or project (i.e. 100 faces cut out of magazines
and glued on to a poster board, 100 cereal pieces glued on to poster board in
a special design, 100 of anything (the same thing) drawn or arranged in a way
that the children may be able to bring to school without it getting
destroyed). It will be a fun way to remember this special day! The children
may bring in their projects on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday next week.
Valentines may be sent in the following week on Monday Feb. 13th or Tuesday,
Feb. 14th. Cards may be bought or made, just remind your child that one
should be given to every member of our class. The class list is written at
the end of this newsletter. We will celebrate Valentine’s Day on Tuesday,
February 14th. You may wish to contact Leanne Mihalchik for Valentine party
snacks or supplies. The usual items are requested: finger fruit, cookie or
cupcake, paper goods- plates and napkins, and small water bottles. Thank you
once again for your contributions!
Our nature walk with the Audubon has been rescheduled for this Friday,
February 3rd. Although we do not have much snow left outside, children should
come to school with snowpants and boots on, warm hats, coats, and mittens or
gloves as well. We will be outside for an extended amount of time so we want
them to be warm!
As always, if you have any concerns or questions, feel free to jot me a note
or leave me a voice mail message. Otherwise, I look forward to meeting up
with you again at conference time. Please check out my new blog at my teacher
website! I will try to share classroom news weekly!
With regards,
MaryAnne York
First Grade News
December 23, 2011
Dear Parents,
Now that winter is upon us I’d like to remind you of a few important details.
When the snow does arrive, it will be necessary for the children to wear
shoes or sneakers at school rather than their boots all day. This will
prevent the floors here at Cole School from getting marked up from the
children’s boots. Please remember after the winter vacation if we get snow to
send in winter apparel each and every day whether the children go out or not.
Snow pants, boots, hats, gloves or mittens and jackets that the children are
able to zip up themselves. An extra pair of socks/ mittens in a ziplock bag
tucked in their backpack is also helpful for your child to have. Having an
extra tote bag for snow apparel is always an option you may wish to consider.
Over vacation I hope the children will spend some time working on their
vacation packet in order that their skills do not regress. The expectation
now in the area of writing is to write 4-5 sentences, with varied sentence
beginnings, starting to use some rich words, remembering to use uppercase
letters at the beginning of sentences and important words only, careful
formation of letters, punctuation, spacing, etc. Encourage your child to write
with a beginning, middle, and end to their stories. Gently critique your
child’s work giving the necessary feedback to help him/her strengthen writing
skills. I look forward to having the children share their opinion writing
work when they return to school after the Christmas break!
The children’s math skills continue to grow! Hopefully, they will be able to
do the vacation worksheets without difficulty. Feel free to support them if
they have a weak area. We will be reviewing many math skills when we return
in January (i.e. coin computations, time to the hour and half hour, math story
problems, fair share work, number sentence work for adding and subtracting,
skip counting, 100’s chart work, measurement activities, etc). Please
continue to visit the ixl site with your child for fun and reinforcement.
January will be a busy month for assessments especially in the area of math.
Hopefully time will be spent over vacation each day reading books. Remember
that it is beneficial for your child to listen to you read books at a higher
reading level, exposing them to higher level vocabulary words, and enriching
them to literature that they would otherwise not be able to read until much
later when their reading skills have progressed. Conversations with your
child, during and after books are read, offer valuable opportunities to
explore a myriad of topics to strengthen comprehension (i.e. favorite parts,
connections, author’s message, retelling opportunities, character discussions,
questions that may arise, inferences/predictions, etc.) Also, continue to
have your child read “just right” books at their reading level to you. Have
them reread stories over and over to reinforce reading fluency. Their reading
should sound like they’re talking. Most importantly, it’s a great way to
cuddle up with your child to have that quality 1-1 time they need! Happy
reading!
Once again I would like to thank my first grade friends and families for all
the wonderful holiday gifts I received. It was so kind of you to think of me
at this busy time of year. Enjoy the holidays and the vacation break! I look
forward to the coming year and moving full speed ahead. June will be here
before you know it and there is much to be done.
Happy New Year!
MaryAnne York
First Grade News
November 30, 2011
Dear First Grade Parents,
Another busy month has come and gone! It won’t be long before I have the
opportunity to sit down with all of you and share some samples of work and
discuss your child’s progress to date at our December conferences.
Check your child’s homework folder for report cards on Monday, Dec. 5th. They
have truly worked hard and deserve much credit for their efforts. I am very
proud of them!
The children’s reading and writing skills continue to develop. This past
month, new stories were read whether it was to the class or in guided reading
groups. Much discussion on strategies good readers use is a daily topic. See
if your child can list some of these strategies and remind them of those that
they’ve forgotten. Continue to have book discussions before, during, and
after nightly story time to strengthen understanding of the author’s message.
Have them list the characters, from most important to least, the setting, the
sequence of events, the plot/ story problem, and any connections they can make
to the story. The children are used to me putting the book down on my lap
when I must comment on the story or ask them questions to make them use
critical thinking skills. Also, important is to have them remember “book
language”, in other words the words or phrases the author may have used
repeatedly in the story. When the children have enjoyed a particular story
with a favorite main character, I will continue to read other books by the
same author. Also, when children enjoy books by a certain author they may
wish to read more books by this author, whether I choose them or they do so
themselves.
As the children’s reading skills develop, it naturally transfers to their
writing growth. Certainly the phonics work we’ve completed on short vowel
word families is evident when they remember to include vowels in their short
vowel words. Soon we will be working on long vowels as well as vowel
combinations. I will show you some writing samples at our Dec. conferences
and discuss ways that you can support your child at home. The Cole School
website is a good resource to use to remind your child of the Grade 1 writing
rubric. The children continue to enjoy writer’s workshop when we write daily.
Encourage them to write letters or cards to grandparents, cousins, and
friends rather than send store bought cards for authentic writing experiences.
I would like to inform you of the technology being used at the Cole School by
way of our subscription to Discovery Education Streaming Videos. The children
have viewed various short videos from a K-12 library of digital resources that
support various curricular areas. Please be assured the videos are
developmentally appropriate for a first grader. The short videos have been
well received by the children and I look forward to sharing many more.
I’d like to thank you for all the many nutritious snacks sent in for our
Thanksgiving snack time. The children enjoyed these snacks, as well as the
stories read and short video about the first Thanksgiving Day. Hopefully, the
children have learned a little more history about this holiday and why we
celebrate it.
With regards,
MaryAnne York
First Grade News
November 3, 2011
Dear First Grade Parents,
I am looking forward to having you in for a visit/Open House on Friday,
November 4th from 8:30-9:00am. This will be a good opportunity to get a
glimpse of some of the work your child has been doing here at school prior to
conferences. I look forward to sitting down with you at the December
conference to discuss your child’s strengths and weaknesses and ways you can
support them at home.
The children are having great fun interacting with the smartboard. It
has been a great teaching tool during writer’s workshop. The children watch
me write a story, modeling correct formation of letters, using many word wall
words, using spaces, including rich words, and many details (i.e. who, what,
where, when, why, etc.) to make my story interesting. I tell them, “writers
write what they know about.” Please encourage them on Sunday night to think
about what they may want to write about on Monday morning in their weekend
journals and other topics they are interested in for the week. I’ve modeled
topics such as going for a walk or visiting my Mom… anything at all just as
long as they are writing! The goal by the end of the year is to write six
sentences on a topic with varied sentence beginnings, avoiding run on
sentences and overused words, and using rich vocabulary. I will be
encouraging legible writing using lowercase letters and uppercase letters when
appropriate, as well as punctuation. We encourage phonetic spelling of
unknown words but will encourage correct spelling of word wall and high
frequency words. The children have a Quick Word Handbook that they have begun
using. I will be helping the children to be more analytical about their
writing this year, teaching them about the 6 traits writers use (i.e.
inspiring ideas, shaping organization, sparking voice, expanding word choice,
developing sentence fluency, and strengthening conventions). We have
introduced most of the traits and will continue to spiral through them each
month and expanding on what they already know. Empowering them to use writing
tools will make them more confident and independent as writers. We write
daily to practice this skill!
In Math, we have had fun over the past month (October) watching the weather
and analyzing the data we have collected. We look forward to sharing it with
you at our open house. We will be saving this October data for comparisons
with the data the class will collect in an investigation during the month of
February. Our unit on pennies, pockets, and parts revolved around the use of
data tables, tally marks, bar graphs, and the language of part, whole, and
number sentences. The children have been exploring a variety of software
programs in the computer lab and in the classroom that support our math
curriculum (i.e. IXL Math, Math Missions, Millie’s Math House, Mathosaurus,
Polygon Math, etc.) The children have the ability to change the level of
difficulty to create “just right” math problems to suit their individual
needs. Our math work begins at our daily morning meeting when the calendar
helpers are busy doing their jobs, on to our morning math lessons and
throughout the day at many opportune times. Math can happen anytime and
everywhere! Hopefully, when traveling in the car or children are bathing in
the tub, counting, shapes, coin talk, measuring, number sense, patterns, etc.
can be reinforced. Be sure to ask your child about their daily work
encouraging them to use the language of a mathematician. Thank you for your
support with math homework!
The children have watched and listened to me using reading strategies at
reader’s workshop. Refer to the literature sent home last month when reading
one-to-one with your child. The parent helpers have begun sitting with the
children listening to them read independently with their “just right” books.
I have already seen much reading growth and there seems to be no stopping them
as they progress through the various levels, recognizing sight words, decoding
tricky words, and thinking and reflecting on the books they read independently
as well as a whole group. Thanks for supporting their reading growth when
they share their weekend book, which is hopefully at their independent level.
Each Friday when they choose new books for their book bags, they are choosing
“just right” books- books at their independent reading level. I am also
having them choose 1 or 2 books at their instructional level- books that are
slightly harder forcing them to use their reading strategies to figure out
tricky words. Resist the temptation of telling them a word right away and
instead refer them to the reading strategy card in their weekend bookbag.
Encourage them to talk about the characters and refer to them by name, help
them to make connections to their stories, and to retell their story, using
words such as “In the beginning…, In the middle…, and At the end…. See how
many details they can remember. They need to dig deeper into the text to be
able to reflect on the characters and the meaning of the story.
Thank you very much for the many contributions to our Halloween party! We
had a fun day! Hope you had fun as well viewing the parade!
Hopefully, everyone is back in their homes and that power has been restored
to all Boxford residents. Your children have been troopers through all this
excitement here at school, giving me their all each and every day.
Please return the conference sheets sent home yesterday ASAP so I may start
scheduling conferences.
With regards,
MaryAnne York
P.S. I have included the “ixl letter” previously sent home to remind you and
your child how to access this great math site. The children are on their way
to earning medals and prizes for answering math questions. Another fun site
we have visited is “abcya.com”. Check out this free web site. Lots of great
learning activities!
First Grade News
Sept. 30, 2011
Dear First Grade Parents,
September has certainly flown by here in school! The children have been
industrious this month, learning the routines of school, applying themselves
to lessons and work demands, and learning about their new classmates through
work and play. I am delighted with their efforts to date and with their
willingness to keep in control of themselves, evident with filling the pompom
container before the end of September! We are on our way to filling it again!
We have decided to celebrate with a pajama day read-in party! If the weather
is nice, we will head outside. Otherwise we will stay indoors. Please send
in five books on Monday and an extra snack and water bottle, beach towel,
small pillow, if they wish, and small stuffed animal to cuddle up with! It
should be fun!
It has been a busy month with various assessments utilized by myself and other
staff at Cole School to get a baseline on the children’s skills in the areas
of literacy and math. Our goal is to identify your child’s strengths and
weaknesses in order to individualize instruction in order to drive
instruction. I have just begun guided reading groups where children of like
ability levels work together in a small group with me to strengthen concepts
of print, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency
skills. I have also done a math/counting assessment to see what areas your
child will benefit from reinforcement in. Be assured that we will continue
working in these areas at school but appreciate any help you may provide at
home (i.e. counting by 1’s, 5’s, and 10’s to 100, 2’s to 20, and backwards
from 20 to 1. Thank you!
I am looking forward to having parent helpers assist our first grade readers
with one-to-one reading on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:15-2:45. My goal is
to have parents in to school once a month if you are available. I will send
home a schedule soon to those who signed up. Let me know if the schedule
works for you! I am still awaiting CORI checks so won’t begin until mid to
end of October.
The children have worked diligently as mathematicians on number skills,
pattern work, geometry, and measurement activities this past month. We have
worked in whole groups, small groups, with partners, and independently to
explore these concepts. As you have seen this past month with the math
homework sent home, your role is instrumental in helping to foster additional
reinforcement in order to strengthen these math skills. As the year
progresses and we spiral through the same math concepts, the level of
difficulty will increase. I will be determining who will need extra support,
whether it be one-to-one or small group work and who will need to be
challenged with additional activities. I am seeing the benefit of some of my
stronger students assisting classmates in explaining and providing help, and
providing opportunities for building confidence and character. As I’ve told
the children before we are “a community of learners” playing and collaborating
together! We, the first grade team, are continuing where the kindergarten
teachers have left off, building respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness
in our students!
Just a reminder to please review the work that comes home daily in the
children’s homework folder to review errors, corrections on formation of
letters, or to see notes that are written on paperwork. I would appreciate
your help in having your child complete any unfinished schoolwork or homework
that’s sent home. Remember homework is due the next day! Reading books for 20
minutes should be occurring each night. Please refer to the handouts from the
Open House to help guide you in conversations about the books you or your
child may read. “Reading is thinking” and a dialogue should occur to help
push kids’ thinking to a deeper level.
If your child is still tired or cranky when arriving home from school, please
understand that they are still adjusting to school and having a short rest
time and nutritious snack, and fresh air will help get them through until
bedtime. Bedtime should be at a reasonable time whether they appear tired or
not, reading books in bed, listening to soft music or doing quiet activities
to wind down will help them get to sleep at an appropriate time in order to be
ready for school the next day.
As you have been informed, morning meetings with Mr. Middleton-Cox has begun
this week. Be sure to send a book or two on Wednesdays for your child to look
at while waiting for the meeting with Mr. Middleton-Cox to begin. My class is
on the blue team and meets every Wednesday morning at 8:40-9:10 (right after
early morning recess).
Please help your child remember to pack their homework folder each night in
their backpack. Please remember to discuss lunch choices with your child
before they arrive to school so they are prepared to make a lunch choice
easily when signing in for lunch in the morning. Please let your child know
what the dismissal plans are each day so they are in the know and not
surprised if the dismissal is different than the norm. Thank you for your
assistance in these areas!
As I stated at the Open House, on Mondays the children write in their weekend
journals about something they did over the weekend. Some children forget
about weekend events whether they just played at home or were busy away from
home. Please discuss with your child three ideas they may wish to write about
in their weekend journals for writer’s workshop on Monday morning (i.e.
cooking with mom, raking leaves, soccer game, etc.)
Just a reminder to check my teacher web page every so often at the Boxford
School website for any announcements or reminders. Thanks so much!
Lastly, we enjoyed our nature walk yesterday with the ladies from the Audubon
(Rita, MaryEllen, and Lisa)! Despite the light rain, the children were
attentive and excited to observe the three habitats we visited in the Cargill
field- the field, the woodland, and around the wetland. We have sketched our
observations in a nature journal that will remain at school until the end of
the school year since we have a winter and spring nature walk as well. Thank
you to Gina Faddis, Jen Easley, and Renee Deal for accompanying us on our
first trip. I look forward to inviting other moms or dads for the next one!
I will post some pictures at the classroom website as soon as I have sorted
through them.
Happy Fall!
MaryAnne York
P.S. We are starting weekend book sharing! See below for information. Remind
your child to take out his/her book on Friday to share with a family member.
Please have your child return book in bag on Mondays!
Weekend Book Sharing
As part of your child’s reading program, I would like to ask you to take some
time each weekend to read with your child. S/he has chosen special books that
they have practiced reading all week long. Every Friday, your child picks new
books to put in their “just right” reading bags for the week. These are not
the only books that they will read, but they are their book selections for
their daily independent/bookbag reading time. Throughout the week, your child
uses these books to practice strategies to build and reinforce reading skills.
Also on Fridays, your child will select one of their books, putting it in
their weekend bookbag to take home and share with you over the weekend.
Please have your child return it to school on Monday.
As this is the beginning of the school year and I am currently administering
reading assessments, bear with your child with their choices. For most
students, reading is still brand new and they will try to “retell” the story
using their own words. As they become more comfortable with reading and gain
more skills, they will begin to read more accurately. For those students
already reading, I am working with them on choosing books at their level,
reading with fluency, and decoding more difficult words. Besides developing
decoding skills, it is necessary for them to comprehend what they read,
remembering character names, text vocabulary, sequence of events, and to think
more critically in order to be a more successful reader.
Weekend reading can be a very exciting and sometimes nerve-racking experience
for children and sometimes for you as well. They want you to be proud of
them, no matter what level they are at. Please find the time to sit one to
one on the weekend, as well as nightly for this reading interaction. Your
child will benefit greatly! Here are some suggestions that may be of help to
you while reading with your child.
ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO MAKE MISTAKES!
When children learn how to read, they need to become comfortable with using
the strategies they are learning in class.
TRY NOT TO GIVE THE ANSWER!
Rather than answering the question, “What’s this word?” with a simple answer,
try encouraging your child to be a problem solver. Ask them what they have
learned to do when they get stuck. Say instead, “Use your strategies.”
WHAT ARE THE STRATEGIES OF SUCCESSFUL READERS?
Using a variety of strategies will help your child find a way that is helpful
for their type of learning style.
• Look at the pictures for clues.
• Skip the word, read on for clarity, then go back and re-read.
• Guess the word, and then make sure it fits the meaning.
• Guess the word, and then make sure it fits visually.
• (Visually means looking at the length of the word, or at the letters/sounds
at the beginning, middle, or end of word.)
• Sound it out together.
• Use familiar word parts as a starting spot (word chunks/families, word
endings, vowel sounds, etc.)
• Give a rhyming word… “that word rhymes with cat!”
POWER STRUGGLES
Sometimes your child just won’t read to you! This is most often attributed to
their worry that you won’t be proud of them if they are not successful the
first time around or if they are tired even if they insist they are not. Try
not to get caught in the struggle. Here are some suggestions for this
particular situation.
• “How about if I read a page and then you read a page?”
• “Can we read it together?”
• “Let me read to you but I might need some help” (purposely making mistakes
lets them see that it’s okay to not be perfect.)
• Enjoy this time together! This should be fun, not a test of your child’s
reading ability.
• Find a cozy place where you can spend this time alone with your child.
Thank you in advance for the efforts that you make each day helping your child
feel successful and excited about reading. Please let me know if you have any
struggles or have successes that you would like to share.
Please help your child return their book in its weekend bookbag each Monday.
Do encourage your child to read their book repeatedly throughout the weekend
to siblings, friends, relatives, babysitters, etc. The more your child reads,
the better reader s/he will become. Happy Reading!
First Grade News
Sept. 6, 2011
Dear Families,
Welcome to First Grade! I am very excited for this year to get under way!
This will be my fourth year as a first grade teacher and I am so happy to have
made the change to this grade level. Previously, I had taught kindergarten
for 17 years, loving it, but curious about moving up a grade level. The
children at this age are so enthusiastic and joyful that it is truly a
pleasure to come to work each day. It is my desire to keep you informed on
what is happening in the classroom via monthly newsletters and at my Cole
School website. Bookmark it on your computer so you can check it every so
often (http://boxfordschools.org/hlcole.html). My preferred methods of
communication are by phone or notes sent in. I will try to be in touch in a
timely manner, usually the same day or the next. The school day can be a busy
one so time does not allow me to check emails throughout the day. Seeing the
red light flashing on my classroom phone alerts me of phone messages from
parents or the office. Don’t hesitate to call over little issues or concerns
you may have!
As your child transitions in to Grade 1, do expect them to be quite
tired as they get off the school bus. It will be imperative that they get a
good night’s rest for their busy day at school. Early bed times during the
week will ensure that they are available for learning. A nutritious breakfast
will start them off on the right foot as well as a couple of healthy snacks
for the am and pm. Please be aware that the food service department
introduced a new computerized system for purchasing lunch last year. The
children do not use lunch tickets anymore. Be sure to access the school
website for the menu and any other info. There is a bubbler in the classroom
but if you wish to send in a drink or water bottle, please label with your
child’s name so it may be placed near the bubbler. Bathrooms are down the hall
so children will take turns visiting the bathroom. If you feel your child may
need more frequent visits to the bathroom please let me know so I will be sure
to allow this in order to prevent accidents from occurring. We will be
vigilant with keeping the classroom germ free, washing hands with soap and
water, as well as using hand sanitizer. Please remind your child to cover
sneezes and stress the importance of washing hands before eating and after
using the bathroom. Thank you!
We will go out for recess most days, in the morning and before lunch.
Please send your child to school with appropriate clothing. We go out in all
kinds of weather unless the office announces that recess will be held indoors
due to inclement weather or severe cold.
Homework is something that happens daily in first grade. Your child should be
reading or be read to at least 20 minutes each day. Most days a brief paper
assignment that reinforces skills taught, will be sent home to be completed
and returned the next day. If your child struggles to complete the work feel
free to assist and let me know so I may reteach the concept or skills.
As some kindergarten teachers used last year, your child will be given
a homework folder. Please remind your child to check their backpack daily for
assignments and time sensitive notes. Establishing the practice of replacing
homework in the backpack, immediately upon completion helps to avoid forgotten
assignments the next day. This will also give you a place to send important
notes to me. As the folder shows signs of wear and tear, feel free to replace
it with one of your child’s choosing.
Just a reminder that we do not celebrate birthdays with cupcakes or other
birthday snacks. If you wish to send in a small token/goody bag to all
students, that would be fine. The child’s name will be announced over the PA
system and birthday children will be acknowledged in an appropriate way in the
classroom.
The school day begins at 8:40 am. Please remember that your child will
be marked tardy if arriving later than 8:40. It is important for your child
to be on time in order to have a few minutes to connect with friends and
transition to class prior to the beginning of instruction. Children may be
dropped off between 8:25-8:40 to begin their day with a morning recess.
Children will walk through the school to the recess doors on the lower level
and head outside. Recess supervisors will monitor the children until it is
time to line up at 8:35-8:40.
The specialist schedule is as follows:
Monday- Music with Mr. Turner
Tuesday- Physical Education with Mrs. Costello
Wednesday- Spanish with Senora Marcille and Art with Mrs. Dalton
Thursday- Computer Lab with Ms. York
Friday- Guidance with Mrs. Belthoff and Library with Ms. Boulay
Please remember to have your child wear sneakers and appropriate
clothes on gym day (no dresses). Library books may be returned to school and
left in classroom until library day. Children may wish to use their own art
smock on art day (oversized tee-shirts work well) and will be sent home same
day for washing. Extra tee-shirts will be in the classroom as well.
The Scholastic Book Club is a good source for hard and soft cover books and
will be sent home monthly for your consideration. It is optional and I would
appreciate checks only (no cash) when purchasing books. Please watch for the
due date so opportunities won’t be missed to select your child’s choices.
I look forward to meeting with you at our September Open House/ Parent
Information Night on Tuesday, Sept. 20th for parents only. At this nighttime
meeting, I will be discussing the curriculum and classroom expectations for
Grade 1. If you are unable to attend I will send home all the important
communication for you to peruse.
I would appreciate any important information returned to school
promptly (i.e. yellow emergency) as well as anything else that is sent home
requiring your attention throughout the school year. Thank you!
As Debbie Miller states in her book, Reading with Meaning, “Real communities
flourish when we bring together the voices, hearts, and souls of the people
who inhabit them.” I look forward to establishing a classroom community that
embodies this premise. It will be an exciting and productive year! Thank you
in advance your support!
With Regards,
MaryAnne York
P.S. I am sending home an activity for you and your child to complete
together this first week of school. As a way for our class to get to know each
other and build self-esteem, these It’s All About Me Tee posters will be a
way for them to share what’s important to them. Thank you in advance for your
assistance!