This week in Theme-Friendship Unit
This week our activities will be based on what is a friend and some good character traits of a friend. Their is a brief homework assignment on 'What is a friend?' for your child to complete and return by Friday. We will continue finishing up our assessments of the children on their reading, spelling, writing and math abilities this week. We will be done by the end of the week in order to sort them and place them into like-ability groupings for class next Monday!
Share Days
Every week, in my classroom, students will get the opportunity to share once a week. On Tuesdays, students with last names starting with A throuh La will get to share. On Thursdays, students with the last names starting with Le through Z will get to share. Students can bring anything of interest of to them, except toys and electronics. If they want to share a toy or an electronic they can bring in a photo or drawing of it or do a talk share about it. A talk share is when they just tell us about it, instead of bringing it in to show us. I also highly suggest not to bring anything of value. Their share is to stay in their backpack (unless too large :) until share time which is during group time right before lunch. This is a community building activity to bring the students closer together when they see all the things they have in common with each other. It also is a relaxed way for them to practice 'public speaking'. If students are absent the day of their share they can go the next day they are back. We will begin share days, next week.
What is a Yellow Card?
Last week in class we went over the many ways we are celebrated for our good behavior. One way is by earning marbles daily, as a whole class, for our Marble Jar. We earn marbles when we pick-up after ourselves, are timely, lineup and walk in the halls quietly as well as just generally being good. When our Marble Jar is filled we get to have a marble party, which is usually a day where we get to wear p.j.'s and watch a G rated movie during lunch/recess and theme.
We also keep track of our behavior individually, or Mrs. Huey does, on our classroom behavior chart. Every day we start off with a clean slate on a green card. Our task is to keep our green card all day and not have to change it to yellow (warning), red (loss of free time) or to the highest level which is a blue card. If a child gets a blue card (what used to be a red card last year for returning parents), you will get a lovely phone call, a note home and a copy of a think sheet completed together by the student and the teacher to reflect on their behavior and what would be better choices. I rarely have to give cards out at the blue level for I expect my children to behave very well every day : )
At the end of everyday I write down what level card they have ended on. If they receive 5 green days in a row, they get to eat with me in the classroom on Tuesdays (except on weeks I have lunch recess duty). If your child gets a yellow, red or blue card for the day you will be sent home a note for you to look at, sign and return the next day. At Curriculum Night you will get to see your child's green card chart and the behavior chart.
Internet Tip of the Week-Where Do I Find Weekly School Wide News?
A long time ago, we used to send home reams and reams of paper home in the White Weekly Folders for weekly school wide announcements. Thanks to technology and many helpful parents and staff, we are saving trees every week by having our announcements on-line. 'Yeahhh!!!!'-rave the trees : ) This year, you will be able to find the weekly school wide news by going to the main web page (www.stargateschool.org) and look under the News/Calendar tab towards the top. Under there you will see the weekly StarNews and Weekly Folder information. Check this weekly, for it comes out every Monday!!!! You will also be able to check out our monthly newspaper, the Gate under this same tab off the main page. This is very informative and I highly encourage you to puruse it when it comes out. Starting next week you will also look under the team pages for weekly news for your child's Literacy and Math classes. Here we will cover what we are doing for Literacy and Math in our respective classes and most importantly, what your child should have brought home on Monday for homework!
Up and Coming-
This week, on Monday, your child will be bringing home a purple Homework Folder and a White Weekly folder. The purple homework folder is a device to transport homework and any unfinished work home and back to school again. It is suggested to send it home and back to school every day. It does take the first graders some time (sometimes all year) before they can remember to do this on their own. Due to this, at the end of the day, I remind them at clean up time, to put their homework folders into their backpacks. Please make sure they bring it back everyday, especially on Monday and Fridays. The White Weekly Folder is mostly for returning graded work. The usually turnover for graded work is one week from turn in. Please look for both of these folders every Monday!
Starting next Monday we will have the students start switching into their like-ability Literacy and Math classes. We will help them out for the first couple weeks with this new responsibility any way that we can. We want to make sure they are going to the right class and going prepared : ) It is amazing that they can do this at their age level, do it so well and responsibly!
Don't forget on Wednesdays is early dissmissal at 1:30.
Curriculum night for our grade level is on Tuesday the 18th starting at 6:00 p.m. The night is filled with lots of information for you about what we cover over the year and our expectations. The night will start off in the Multi Purpose room (cafegymatorium :) with a general information meeting for first and second grade parents.
Thank You!
Thank you to all the parents who sent in snacks for Old-Mother-Hubbard's Cupboard with emergency snack. It is much appreciated by me and the hungry forgetful ones : )
One Final Item
Yes, I have the gift of gab, but I just want to make sure you know as much as possible. My final item for the week is about student birthdays. When it is your child's birthday, they can bring in a treat to share with the whole class. The most popular is the cupcake with lots of frosting. Some other popular choices for treat are donuts, cookies, and rice krispie treats. If your child has a birthday on a weekend or over a holiday, we usually try to celebrate it in class as close to their birthday as possible. If your child has a summer birthday, we can make arrangements to have a half-birthday celebration so they can feel included as well. Don't forget, if your child is having a birthday before curriculum night (threee of you) plese email me as to when you want them to bring in treats and if we can sign them up to be Student-of-the-Week over their birthday week.
And finally, I hope you all have a great week!