Dear Parents,
Welcome! I am
looking forward to a fun and exciting year of learning with your child!!
The following includes general information about your child’s First
Grade year of school.
Arrival/Dismissal:
A.M. Drop off:
Students must be in class by 7:50 each morning. If they are not, they are considered tardy and must go to the office for a tardy slip before coming to class. If you drop your child off prior to 7:50 in the morning they need to go to the gym and wait to be dismissed.
P.M. Drop off:
Students need to be picked up at the front entrance at 2:45 p.m. Please let me know who is authorized to pick up your child. Please send a note to school if there is going to be a change in who picks up your child.
Leaving Early:
If your child needs to leave early; please send a note the morning that your child is leaving early, stating why they are leaving, what time they are leaving, and who will be picking them up. You must sign your child out at the office. The office will notify me when you arrive and I will send your child to the office.
Vacations during the school year:
First Grade is an important transition time for your child; therefore, family vacations during nonscheduled school holidays are discouraged. If you and your family do decide to go on a vacation, please let me know as soon as possible beforehand. In addition, let the school office know of your vacation plans. It is school policy that teachers are not required to give make up work before a student leaves for a trip. However, if given advance notice, I will try my best to get the work that will be missed together before you leave. I will give your child every opportunity to make up the work/tests that he/she missed when they return. Some work will not be able to be made up if the absence is unexcused. Please check with the office as to whether or not an absence will be considered excused.
Birthdays:
Children may bring a treat to celebrate their birthday. The treat needs to be kept simple and healthy and needs to be accompanied by napkins. No invitations should be passed out at school. This way there are no hurt feelings and no one is forgotten. Each child will be bringing home the Birthday Tote Bag on their birthday. Please see that the tote is returned to school the next day so that it is here for the next child’s birthday.
Labels:
Everything that belongs to a student needs to have their
name and grade on it in permanent marker. (clothing,
backpack, school supplies)
All school supplies need to come to school preferably before the first day of school. (You can do this at Open House if you like or drop them off during the week before school and leave on your child's desk.) If it is not possible for you to drop the supplies off before the first day then you can take them to the classroom and drop them off prior to 7:50 in the morning.
Lunch money:
Please send all lunch money to school in a sealed envelope labeled with your child’ s name, grade, and lunch money written on it. They money will be turned in and your child will receive a lunch ticket. The lunch tickets are kept in the lunchroom. Any questions about how many lunch tickets your child has left should be directed to the cafeteria. Please discuss the importance of keeping track of lunch ticket money with your child. I highly recommend that children purchase lunch tickets and do not pay for individual lunches with cash; since, it is so hard for children this age to keep track of money until lunch time. Please review the week’s lunch menu with your child and help them determine what days they want to buy or pack lunch. Please check the cafeteria letter for current lunch prices for the year.
Rewards:
At the end of the week,
if your child has done what is expected of them all week and has five stamps for
the week on their calendar sheet, they will get to pick a treat from the treat
jar. Students will receive a stamp
or sticker on their calendar sheet every day that they have followed classroom
rules. If they do not receive a
stamp for the day, a brief explanation of why will be written on their calendar
sheet.
Fun Friday:
Every Friday from 2:00
– 2:30 students will be able to work in learning centers or play games.
Students may bring a card game or board game from home to play with a
friend as long as it involves counting or reading (word cards).
I will need parent volunteers to share this fun time with students
playing games etc.
Please sign up on the volunteer calendar sheet outside the classroom door for any Fridays that you would like to help out. (This is an optional activity) Any student that has missed their daily calendar stamp 3 or more days in one week will not be able to participate in Fun Friday. They will be given seat work to do during this time.
Rules and Consequences:
The class will decide
upon a set of classroom rules. Each
child will have a set of cubes with their number on it. .
Children will be able to visually monitor their progress and adjust their
behavior as necessary if they have lost a cube(s) for an infraction.
If there are
infractions, this is how the consequences will be broken down.
First Day:
First Violation
– cube moved - Warning
Second Violation – 2nd cube moved conduct grade drops to 90% for the day, Last in lunch line.
Third Violation – 3rd
cube moved conduct grade drops to 80%– no stamp on calendar sheet for the day
Students start fresh each day with no previous violations but, consequences become greater if misbehavior continues.
Second Day:
First Violation – cube
moved – Warning
Second Violation – 2nd cube moved conduct grade drops to 90% Miss 5 min. of Second Recess
Third Violation – 3rd
cube moved conduct grade drops to 80% – no stamp on calendar sheet for the day
Third Day:
First Violation –
– Warning
Second Violation – 90%
conduct, – miss recess
Third Violation – 80%
conduct – No Fun Friday- no stamp on calendar
sheet for the day
Homework and tests:
Homework will be given on a regular basis. Homework is expected to be completed daily and turned in on Friday. Religion homework for Mrs. Kelly is due on Wednesday. Extracurricular activities (sports events etc.) do not excuse a student from homework that is due. The purpose of some of the homework is to provide extra practice to develop skills that we are working on in class. Not all homework will be graded. Also, there will be times when your child will have more than one test in a day or week. We will review the material in class during the week for tests. Sometimes I will send home a review sheet or textbook to use to study the material the night before the test. Calendar sheets will not be stamped any time that homework is not turned in. Homework grade will drop 10 pts each day it is late.
Projects:
There will be projects
that your child will need to complete at home this year.
They will come from a variety of subject areas.
I will give you at least one week’s notice as to when the project is
due. PLEASE DO NOT WAIT
UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO DO THE PROJECT.
The children will have other homework to complete and this can add to the
load. However, if you get an early
start, then everything should flow smoothly.
Spelling:
Tests will be given on
Fridays. Most weeks there will be a
test every week. Please do all
assigned Spelling homework to help ensure success on the weekly test.
Succeeding in First Grade:
These things will help
your child succeed:
1.
Neat penmanship so that, work is not counted incorrect when I can’t
read it. Keep handwriting paper on
hand for handwriting practice and Spelling homework.
2.
Daily addition or subtraction flashcard fact practice until mastered.
3.
Read 10-15 minutes daily
4.
Go over reading and spelling word lists daily
5.
Have school supplies for your child to use at home
6.
Have established routines (bed time, homework- time and place) and jobs
at home.
7.
Have your child practice changing their clothes quickly, and tying their
shoes.
8.
Take your child to Mass to help them see and practice appropriate Mass
behavior. Part of their Religion
grade is based on their behavior in Church.
Report Cards and Progress Reports:
Each student will
receive 4 report cards and 4 progress reports.
They receive 1 each per quarter. The
progress reports are a good way for you to know in the middle of the quarter how
your child is doing. If you need to
conference with me concerning your child’s progress, I will be happy to meet
with you. The report cards are
based upon the following grading scale:
93-100
A
92-85
B
84-75
C
74-70
D
69 and below F
How to get in touch with the teacher:
If you need to get in touch with me, please call the school between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Leave a message and I will call you back. You may also write me a note and I will be happy to respond to that as well. You can also contact me via e-mail. My e-mail address is acoyle@stcatherineofsiena.org
Field Trips:
We will be taking some field trips this year. We have instituted several guidelines for driver/chaperone volunteers. You will be asked to be Virtus certified, read over field trip guidelines, and fill out a driver information packet prior to the trip. Please make sure that field trip money and permission slips are returned on time. If your child does not bring a permission slip, they will not be allowed to go.
Mass:
We will attend weekly
and at times participate and plan masses. This
is a very important time for your child to grow spiritually.
If you plan to attend the school masses on Friday, please help us by
doing the following: 1) Refrain
from waving or getting your child’s attention while waiting for communion.
We are trying to promote respect for the Eucharist and this is very
distracting for the children. 2)
Please do not wait at the end of the aisle for us to exit.
This holds up the process of us returning to class.
If you want your child to know that you are there, please wait outside
and wave as we go by. 3) Please
refrain from hugging and kissing as we go by as this often upsets the children,
and they would rather leave with you than return to school. It is important that the habits we learn for school masses be
carried out all through the week. Attending
Mass on Saturday or Sunday is a good way to practice these habits.
Have your child fold their hands when it is time to pray.
Have them kneel and stand properly and respectfully at Mass.
Have them pay attention and listen carefully to what is being said.
Lastly, have them join the rest of the family in saying the parts of the
Mass that they are familiar with. As
I stated earlier, Mass is a wonderful time for your child to grow spiritually
and it helps them grow if they behave reverently.
Church behavior is a factor in determining the Religion Grade for
First Graders.
Toys:
No toys should be
brought to school. We have plenty
of toys to play with on the playground. Also,
individual toys tend to get lost and then we have upset children.
King/Queen of the week:
Each week until every
child has had a turn, I will pick the name of a student to be King/Queen of the
week. When it is your child’s
turn, they will share some of their favorite things with us.
A sheet will be sent home to fill out when it is their turn.
The class will interview each King/Queen and we will write it on chart
paper and then later make it into a class book to take home and share.
Reading Vocabulary Lists:
Reading is a very important skill to practice with your child. As part of the reading curriculum, it is important that your child be able to recognize and understand words that are in their weekly reading selections. Your child will bring home a weekly reading vocabulary word list. These lists will contain words that appear in stories that we read in class. Please practice these words with your child. Students will be tested over the reading and sight word vocabulary at the end of each week.
Supplies:
Our classroom needs your
help in collecting supplies for various projects. I will send a note home requesting certain items like egg
cartons, toilet paper rolls, shoe boxes etc. for these projects.
Please try your best to get them in by the needed date.
We don’t have room in the class to save a lot of things; so, if your
child does not bring in the requested item, they may not be able to participate
in the activity. At the same time,
if you are able to send in more than one of the requested item it would be
greatly appreciated!!
Snack:
We will have a snack during Second Recess in the afternoon. Please send a small, one item, healthy snack for your child each day. (a piece of fruit, a snack size bag of pretzels etc.) Please make sure that your child eats breakfast every morning before coming to school.
Money:
Please make sure that any money that comes to school is placed in a sealed, labeled, envelope.
Book Buddies:
This is a cooperative
program between the First Grade and an older grade. I will let you know which class we will be working with as
soon as I know. Once a week, we
meet and the children get together and read.
The older children listen to the First Graders read, they go over their
reading vocabulary, they read books to them and help them periodically with a
project.
Handwriting:
You will receive a
handwriting chart at the Open House that shows the correct way to form the
letters. Please keep this chart
handy as a reference for the school year. Please
have your children complete homework neatly.
Work that cannot be read will be counted wrong.
Also, messy work may be returned to be redone.
Newsletter:
I will try my best to
get a weekly newsletter out on Friday or the following Monday.
The newsletter will contain general information about the class.
Please check the weekly Lesson Plan page for specifics on our week.
You will also receive a weekly homework sheet.
Please check this daily and the homework pocket in the binder for any
homework that I may have added for the week or that was not finished during
class time.
Family Folders:
Family Folders will come
home every Friday. The family
folder contains correspondence from the office and will need to be returned to
school the following school day which will usually be Monday unless there is a
holiday.
Parent Volunteers:
I will need parent
volunteers for a variety of things: in
class on Fun Fridays and possibly other times to work with small groups,
at home checking Math Time Tests, preparing book orders, putting up
bulletin boards, cutting and coloring games etc.
Please let me know if you are able to help with any of this.
There may be a need for revision to this letter after the teachers meet on our Professional Development Days. If there are revisions/ additions you will receive a list of changes at the Open House. If you have any questions about the information contained in this packet, please bring your questions with you to the Open House and I will answer them at that time.
Curriculum by Subject;
This is not a complete
list and is subject to change to meet the needs of the class.
Math:
Addition and Subtraction
of one and two-digit numbers (Math facts through 12)
Numbers to 100 / Place
value up to and including the 100’s place
Money and time ( hour
and half hour)
Geometry / Fractions/
Probability / Measurement
Language Arts:
Reading and writing
Comprehension / word
recognition / vocabulary
Sequencing Events /
Reality vs. Fantasy
Story writing /letter
writing / self reflection
Phonics / long and short
vowels, blends etc.
Telling sentences,
asking sentences, exclamatory sentences
Listening / study skills
Subject / predicate /
nouns , verbs, adjectives
Handwriting
Social Studies:
Rules / respect
Families, communities,
community helpers, neighborhoods
Personal safety / Fire
and Drug Prevention
Christopher Columbus,
Johnny Appleseed
Native Americans,
Pilgrims
Christmas traditions
around the world
Afro American History
State of Kentucky
Maps
Science:
Living/ Non living
Trees / Plants
Matter
Magnets
Simple tools / machines
Insects
Habitats
Sun, Moon, Stars
Nocturnal animals
Life Cycles