Mrs



Mrs. Parker’s Class

20012-2013

Welcome to First Grade! I am very excited to be your child’s teacher this year as it will be a year of tremendous growth. My goal is to provide a safe, inviting environment where your child may develop the skills and understandings to encourage academic and social success. It is my sincere wish to make this school year a wonderful experience for your child.

This packet explains several things, from academic goals to classroom procedures. Please note, and discuss the following important goals with your child throughout the school year:

1) demonstrate respect for self, others, and property

2) listen with intent to respond

3) develop work ethic

4) develop independence and problem-solving skills

5) accept responsibility for own actions

Give the gift of praise when your child demonstrates progress in these skills. Remember that children feel most comfortable when they know what is expected of them at home and at school. Praising their efforts goes a long way toward sculpting a responsible, caring, and eager learner.

About me

This is my ninth year teaching in Loudoun County. I graduated from Radford University in 2002 and then went to William and Mary to earn a Master’s Degree in Reading. I taught 1st graders for three years in Sterling before my 4 years in Kindergarten here at Emerick. I returned to 1st grade last year, but I left in April to have our second baby. My husband and I live in Berryville with our 3 year-old son, Ewan, our 5 month old, Wyatt, and our two dogs.

Homework

Homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday. Research has repeatedly shown that reading and discussing books is the best homework your child can do to enhance his/her learning. Therefore, reading will make up the biggest part of your child’s homework. Each night you will need to read with your child and record the results on the weekly assignment sheet that will be sent home each Monday in the Family Folder. When other assignments are allocated on the sheet, you will be given directions in a letter or checklist. Rarely will your child need school books or materials to complete homework. However, if your child needs to return to the school, the doors are unlocked until 4:00 PM. For safety reasons, Emerick will be locked after 4:00 PM and no one will be admitted to retrieve forgotten items.

Additional practice or self-selected “homework” may come from a variety of reflections on the lessons presented in class. As a “Closure” each day, students will often write something about their daily targets in their Agenda. This can be a great glimpse into one of our Learning Targets, and a conversation starter for you as a family. Two suggested resources for students to use at home are the Shared Reading Folder and the Word Study Sort.

The Shared Reading Folder is the students’ at-home version of our class Shared Reading Book. Each week students will get a new text to study in class. I’ll send a copy of the text home in the green Family Folder usually on Mondays. This text will have 3 holes punched on the left side. Students are expected to insert this page into their pronged Shared Reading Folder. This folder is not returned to school—keep it safe at home. Students should maintain the folder and read the texts often.

Word Study Sorts is the primary tool we use in class to learn spelling patterns. Students will receive a sheet of word/picture cards to use in class. They’ll cut the cards apart and sort the words into categories (columns) according to their spelling patterns. I’ll also provide a copy of your child’s word study sort in his/her Family Folder whenever a new set is presented in class (roughly every 2 weeks). Please have your child cut apart and sort the words routinely.

Reading

We use a balanced-literacy approach to teaching reading. “Balanced” means that we provide skill development activities, as well as literacy-rich activities to encourage speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Children learn decoding and comprehension strategies through a balance of whole group, small group, and individual instruction.

|Whole Group |Small Group |Individual |

|Shared Reading/Poem-targets fluency, literary |Guided Reading- targets decoding, fluency, and |Independent Reading-targets reading for enjoyment|

|skills, and comprehension |comprehension strategies as children apply them |and building fluency. Children read books on |

| |to books on their instructional level. Children |their independent level alone or to a buddy. |

|Read Aloud- targets listening skills, speaking |learn to use multiple reading strategies to | |

|skills, and higher level comprehension, such as |advance through “tricky” texts, understand them, |Conferencing- targets reading choices and |

|visualizing, making connections, and character |and reflect on them. |self-reflection of reading progress. |

|analysis | | |

Spelling

|Whole Group |Small Group |Individual |

|Word Work- targets high frequency words and |Word Study- targets spelling patterns at various |Centers- Spelling Center targets high-frequency |

|“linking” known words to new words |levels of spelling development. |words as well as linking (manipulating phonemes),|

| | |without the guidance of the teacher. Other |

|High frequency words are the most common words |Students at similar levels of spelling |literacy centers that require students to Read |

|used in children’s writing. 5 new words are |development are grouped together for hands-on |the Room or draw and label their personal |

|introduced each week. The word goes on the class|discovery of words that fit, and don’t fit, a |responses allow students to use word wall words |

|Word Wall. From that point, students should use |given spelling patterns. First-graders typically |or spelling patterns in a realistic context. |

|them correctly. |move from phonetically spelling with short-vowels|Students “stretch” to spell words they do not |

| |and word family patterns to long-vowel patterns |know, in effort to write the sounds they hear. |

|Linking is a playful routine that involves |and multiple syllables. |[pic] |

|breaking apart known words and changing a part in| | |

|order to make a new word | | |

|pack->stack->stick | | |

Oral Language/Writing

|Whole Group |Small Group |Individual |

|Shared Writing- targets planning, invented |Sentence sharing- targets the use of a new word |Writer’s Workshop-targets the students’ free |

|spelling or “stretching” and self-monitoring |in a sentence with appropriate capitalization and|choice of topics. It is also when I introduce |

|written work. |punctuation. Students extend the activity by |writing genres. It is our primary writing block |

| |asking each other a “wondering question” about |and the children’s favorite. |

|Retelling a story through writing- targets |their sentences, to generate additional details. | |

|composition by distinguishing a story’s | |Response journal- targets writing in response to |

|beginning, details from the middle, and ending. |Buddy Conferencing- targets prewriting, revising,|the teacher’s prompt, a social studies or science|

| |and editing skills. |activity, or a book read in Guided Reading. |

|Handwriting techniques are also introduced in any| | |

|whole class writing activity. | |Conferencing- targets writing choices and |

| | |self-reflection of writing progress. |

Math Investigations

|Whole Group |Small Group |Individual |

|Demonstration of games and activities are done |Investigations are hands-on activities to help children |Students work with a teacher individually on some|

|for the whole class. Students discuss their |discover concepts about numbers, data, shapes, time, and |investigation tasks for assessment, remedial or |

|observations and predictions. We set “ground |money. Children work with partners or in small groups to |enrichment purposes. “Choice days” also allow |

|rules” for most activities to keep small |maximize their involvement, enthusiasm, and |students to choose stations that they either a) |

|investigation groups on task. |responsibility. Most days, students are responsible for |need the teacher’s help with or b) want to try to|

| |recording what they investigated/discovered that day. |extend the concept to a higher level. |

|Reflections upon the investigation activities are| | |

|opened up for the class to hear. The class | | |

|benefits from hearing multiple strategies for | | |

|figuring and recording what their results were. | | |

Science and Social Studies

“Content Areas”

The content units and themes that we cover in first grade are based on the Virginia SOLs that are tested in third, fourth, and fifth grades. LCPS has provided pacing guides that we use to sequence the curriculum units for the year. Textbooks, trade books, big books, Internet resources, and a science kit provide our class with necessary supplies to let students develop concepts and skills through hands-on activities. At times, I may ask for your help in providing supplies for hands-on lessons in science and social studies. For example, during our Fall Harvest unit, I may ask for old clothes to make a scarecrow and foods made from pumpkin. I will include the unit topics in the monthly newsletter. My “wishing stars” will indicate other supplies that I anticipate needing this year. If you are interested in providing items as needed, please let me know via Volunteer Sign-up or by e-mail.

[pic]

Our Specials Schedule:

PE Mon. 8:00-8:30

Wed. 1:30-2:00

Fri. 1:00-1:30

Art Thurs. 1:30-2:20

Music Thurs. 1:00-1:30

& Fri. 1:35-2:05

Computer Lab Tues. 1:00-1:30

Library Tues. 1:30-2:15

Guidance Alternating Mon. 1:30-2:00

Search Alternating Mon. 1:30-2:20

Lunch

Our lunch time is 11:50-12:20

Loudoun County is meeting even higher standards for nutritious lunches. All students, packers and buyers, eat lunch in the cafeteria. The teachers will be eating lunch with their classes for the first week of school. This way we can model appropriate cafeteria behaviors and procedures. Family members are welcome to eat with their child during their class’s lunch time. In fact, September, 28th is GRANDPARENTS DAY! What better way to celebrate, than to eat lunch at school together! Just remember to sign in at the office first.

Lunch costs $3. Please send money to school in an envelope labeled with your child’s first and last name. Put this envelope in the Family Folder, so I will see it right away. You can also pre-pay online. Go to Emerick’s website for a link.

On Fridays, the cafeteria will sell ice-cream tickets. Ice-cream will be served after the students have finished eating a major portion of their meals. Cookies are no longer sold in the lunch line, but extra vegetables and fruits will fill their trays.

Please practice typing your child’s ID number with him/her at home. Use the Pin Practice worksheet, which has your child’s ID number and a picture of a pin pad, or your keyboard number pad or a calculator. Do not use a telephone to practice, as the number positions are reversed. (1,2,3 are at the bottom.) This is the same number used in the computer lab. So, all students would benefit from practice, whether they buy lunch or not.

Snack at School

Students will be allowed to eat a healthy snack during recess time each day. If the weather is nice, we’ll be eating outside. Students may go play as soon as they eat and clean up. If it’s raining or below 32 degrees, we will go the cafeteria for a 5 min. snack and then return to the classroom for indoor recess. Snack will not be eaten in the classroom. Please consider these guidelines when packing a snack for your child:

■ Snacks will be stored in student desks. Consider using small, reusable containers so food does not get crushed.

■ Snacks should take less than 5 minutes to eat.

■ No juice or milk. Students are encouraged to keep a water bottle at their desks throughout the day, and we’ll use the water fountain when recess is over.

■ I won’t have extra spoons in our recess bag. So be sure to pack one for yogurt, applesauce, etc.

A note about celebrations:

Holidays: We will use small celebrations and class parties to reinforce the curriculum during the course of the year. These may or may not coincide with traditional holidays. Please watch for volunteer and donation sign-ups if you’d like to help with one or more of these celebrations.

Birthdays: Our class celebrates birthdays with 2 special projects, which I’ll explain at Back to School night…

We do not allow students to provide foods in honor of birthdays. If you’d like to supply a non-edible “goodie”, your child may distribute a small gift (sticker sheet, pencil, bookmark) to classmates on his or her birthday.

Birthday Party invitations should be mailed from your home as per LCPS policy, not distributed in class. The PTO is putting together a student directory to help you with this. If you missed the PTO directory registration in the 1st Day packet, please e-mail me.

Birthdays

Game

“Guess Whose Birthday is This Week”

We want to recognize your child’s birthday in a special way, but we need a little help from home. Please send a photograph of your child as a baby/toddler. If you don’t have a picture of your child as a baby, I can use a more recent picture or even a drawing.

Attach an index card with 3 clues to help our students guess who is in the picture. The clues should be easy to read and help the students make “good guesses.”

During the week of your child’s birthday, I will display the baby picture and the clue card. You may send in the picture and/or clue card right away, and I will keep them safe and ready for the week. If you choose to wait until a little closer, remember that we want to make guesses the whole week. So, try to send it in a week in advance.

“Summer babies” can bring in their picture as follows:

August birthday( Sept. June and July birthday(June.

At-Home Birthday Project

“Over-all Me Poster”

Please help your child complete a poster, which I will supply in advance, and have him/her bring it to school when it is finished. I will save it for his/her birthday, when he/she may present it to the class. Students will then have the opportunity to “interview” the birthday kid.

Thanks for your help!

Parent/Teacher Communication

Thursday Folders

Most of the papers that your child will bring home will come in the yellow envelope we call the “Thursday Folder.” Graded work, PTO, and community or school information are some things that will typically come home in the “Thursday Folder.” Please check it and return it on Fridays.

Family Folder

Your child also has a green folder, which he/she should bring home and to school every day. I call this the “Family Folder.” Items in the Family Folder may be urgent and cannot wait to go home in the “Thursday Folder.” Please check your child’s Family Folder every day.

When you have forms, notes or money to send to me, you should put them in the Return pocket of the Family Folder. I check this pocket every morning when your child places it in the basket by the door. Please do not send notes etc. loose in the backpack or in your child’s hand. The Family Folder will keep them safe.

Agenda

Our wonderful PTO has supplied terrific agendas for school and home use. Thank you PTO! Please have your child bring his/her agenda to school every dayl. This is where we will write a reflection of our day and record the word of the day and/or new content vocabulary (in lined areas). When students behave cooperatively and work productively, I will indicate this with a sticker in the unlined calendar space. Otherwise, I will write a note regarding an area where improvement is needed.

Newsletter

My monthly newsletter will be posted on the website for your convenience. My newsletter will let you know what activities we are doing in school, what units are coming up, and any special announcements. In effort to reduce the use of paper, I will not send a copy of the team newsletter home unless you request a paper version.

Phone: 751-2440 and

E-mail: kara.parker@

I am always happy to discuss school events and your child’s progress. You can call the school or e-mail me, and I will return your message as soon as I can. If there is an emergency, or a change in how your child should go home, please call the office staff; do not rely on e-mail since I may not check it soon enough.

Class Rules

Emerick Elementary is striving to clarify and reinforce the positive behavior of our students throughout the building and in the classroom. We have adopted a program called Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) and begun to unify the school with common vocabulary and specific expectations of positive behavior. We expect that all students:

Respect Self Respect Others and Respect Property

With this common vocabulary, Emerick is setting clear expectations for “respectful” behavior in various area of the school. Our classroom will also use this vocabulary and discuss how we “respect self, others and property” in our classroom.

Recognition for SOARing Behavior

Students who are “caught soaring” in class will be asked to sign the “Behavior Bingo” board. This display of names is visible until the board is full. Then we play Bingo to see which “lucky” kids get to choose a prize from the prize box. The more times a child signs the board, the more likely it is that he/she will win a prize. This is a great application of Probability and Statistics!

Students are also recognized for consistent good behavior throughout the day with a sticker or stamp in their Agenda. If a student does not earn a sticker or stamp, I will write a note explaining the need for improvement.

Grading

Throughout the year, I will use a variety of assessments to guide my teaching and communicate with you about your child’s academic progress. By using a variety of tools such as daily checklists, conferencing notes, and the PALS assessment, I will be able to give you a balanced report of your child’s strengths and any areas that may need improvement.

When written work is graded, you can use the grades below to determine your child’s achievement:

4 – Exceeds—Student exceeds the standard

3 – Meets—Student has met the standard.

2 – Progressing—student is moving toward a

standard but requires teacher support

1 – Below standard – student is working with the

building blocks of a concept and requires

extensive teacher support.

Our first Parent/Teacher conference will be scheduled to discuss the first quarter. If you feel the need to conference with me before or after that time, please feel free to contact me to schedule an appointment.

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