WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!

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1 WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL! Dear Families, Greetings from room 204, where school is a week underway and your child is eager to learn so many fun and new things! I am looking forward to a wonderful new school year with your child. September will be very exciting as we continue reviewing the alphabet, number writing, and bus safety! We will be spending the month learning first grade procedures and expectations. I hope the following tidbits can give you some insight into some of our classroom procedures. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you have now or throughout the year! cheryl_farquharson@cambridge.k12.mn.us Phone: 691 Tidbits for the Year Communication The best time to call is before school, after school and from 9:15-9:50am. School Website: Checkout our classroom website for our schedule, the weekly newsletter and links to other websites for you to practice learning at home! It is currently under construction, but will be ready soon! Newsletter: Newsletter: A weekly newsletter will be posted on our classroom website each week, giving you a glance ahead to the upcoming week. You may wish to print the newsletter and put it someplace where both your family and your child can refer to it. It will include specials, homework reminders, sharing schedule, and important upcoming school events and reminders. Take Home Folder: Each day your child will bring home a folder containing important papers from school to share with you. You may use this folder to carry notes and papers back to me! Please check nightly. Absence: Absence: If your child is absent, please be sure to call the attendance line. That number is After school: Please send a note if there is going to be change in your child s after school routine. If you are picking your child up from school, please pick them up at the Parent Pick Up area which is located at the corner of the Primary School by the car lane. 1

2 Reading We will learn to read and become more fluent readers this year. This includes in-depth phonics instruction, as well as many other types of language experience. Learning to read is a cooperative effort between home and school, involving the child, parent and teacher. Your child s success is very dependent on each person doing their part. Your part, as a parent, is to make sure that you read to your child daily, at least 10 min. each day. I will be sending home some Reading and Spelling as the homework each week. Some will be little books and some will be poems or sentences. They will be in your child s Kiwi Pack. Please sign and return the reading calendar each month. Thank you for your dedication. Together, we will help your child practice to be a better reader. The First Grade reading calendar will start in October and will be in your child s Kiwi Pack. Sight Words Words will also be coming home weekly. These words are high frequency words. Please review the Sight Words with your child throughout the week. As they are able to read the words, they can add the words to their Sight Word container at home. The container should be placed someplace safe. At the end of the year, your child will have a full container of Sight Words that he/she can read fluently. It is so important to practice. I find that the best way to practice is to play a game such as Memory, Go Fish, or any other ideas that you may have. Scholastic book orders will be sent home once a month. There are many great deals on children s classic books. If you would like to purchase a book for your child, please order on line using our classroom code or send a check made out to Scholastic Books along with the order slip found on the back page. Ordering books on line is the easiest and earns our class more free books. Check the newsletter for the due date of the order, usually one week after it is sent home. Books make fantastic gifts! If you would like to purchase a book as a gift for a birthday or Christmas, please let me know. I will enclose your order in an envelope and send it home taped and sealed with your child, to keep it secret. If you have any questions feel free to contact me. 2

3 Specials Our specials schedule is based on a four day rotation. Please remember to have separate gym shoes for your child to keep in his/her locker. Our schedule is as follows: Day 1- Media/Computer w/mrs. Karlovitz Day 2- Art Day 3-Gym Day 4-Music Day 5-Gym Birthdays Birthdays will be celebrated! Your child will receive a birthday crown, a gift from Mrs. Farquharson s birthday box, and a class performance of Happy Birthday sung to them! When your child celebrates their birthday, they may choose to bring in treats, but this is not required. Treats must be store bought and here ready for snack time. Summer birthdays will be celebrated in May. Star of the Week! When your child is the Star of the Week, I will send home an All About Me poster for him/her to fill out before their week begins. Please help your child with the questions and writing. You may attach pictures as well. Please send the poster to school with your child on the first day of their assigned week. Your child can bring in one item to share each day of their week. The Importance of Breakfast and Snack Time We have a snack time each day. Please send a healthy snack each day, and make sure they eat breakfast each morning. I understand that we have some children who have to get up early to catch their bus, and breakfast at that time may not be appealing, or forgotten in the hustle and bustle. Any child may attend the school breakfast program when he/she gets to school and the cost will be taken off of your family s prepaid school program. Full tummies help us to work our hardest and do our best! 3

4 Library Books Your child will be bringing home library books to read with you at home. Reading with an adult is very nurturing to children and helps improve their reading development. Please remember to send it back to school on the day we have library so he/she may check out a new book. Morning Meeting Each morning, at the start of our day, students will participate in a daily community meeting. The structure of Morning Meeting contains four components: 1. Morning greeting: This is where each student is greeted by their classmates, usually in a fun handshake or game format. 2. Sharing: Each day, five students will have their turn to share. They may bring in something small to share during the first semester. Each child will have an opportunity to share once per week. Their share day will be listed on the weekly newsletter around the third week of school once we have learned the process. 3. Activity: The kids LOVE this! We play a game to build community, to get to know one another or practice current math or reading skills. Each day, we play something new or play a favorite we have already learned. 4. Announcements and Calendar: This is when we use our SMART board (interactive whiteboard computer) to do the calendar for the day. The student named as the line leader will be in charge of coming up and assisting the teacher. Estimation Jar Each week, students have a chance to guess how many objects are in our estimation jar. On Friday, we count how many objects are in the jar, and the student with the closest estimation will take the jar home over the weekend to refill it with something new. That student will be responsible for returning the jar on Monday. Ideas for the estimation jar include cereal, noodles, marshmallows, legos, rocks, candy, cotton balls, pennies, or whatever else you and your child come up with! It is a lot of fun and a great way to work on math skills! 4

5 School Pictures SEPTEMBER 24th IS FALL PICTURE DAY! Fall pictures are taken mainly for student records. Casual pose picture packages will be taken in the Spring, which you can see before you have to pay. Spring pictures will be taken March 17 & 18 th. Help Wanted! As we start the year, I would like to extend an invitation into our classroom to volunteer. I am looking for weekly volunteers as well as volunteers who may have a day off and would like to come in and experience our first grade happenings. I am in need of volunteers to listen to students read, help with art projects, do clerical jobs, etc. Please return the volunteer form if you are interested Beginning of the Year Forms Enclosed with this letter or with the packet you got at Open House, you will find a class schedule, our first weekly newsletter, a volunteer form, the CPS handbook and most importantly, the First Grade Handbook with forms that need to be returned. Please use the checklist provided to confirm that I have received all the needed information from you. Please return all forms and fees to me by Monday,, September 15 th th. Your child s progress and feelings about school takes teamwork; parent, teacher and child, must do their part to make this year a wonderful learning experience. I am looking forward to a great year of learning and growing with your child. I hope you have a great month, and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your part in your child s learning. Sincerely, Mrs. C, Farquharson 5