Dear Families,
Welcome back to our second week of school! This was probably one of the most beautiful summers on record. I had a great summer spent with family, doing everything under the sun! I hope your first week back to school wasn’t too crazy and you’re enjoying getting back to a routine like me! It has been so wonderful getting back in the routine of school and meeting these brand new dragonflies. I have to say- we have had such a great transition and these students have come to school happy and excited to learn and grow together. We have already made new friends and dived into some academics. We have practiced classroom routines and had a lot of talks about friendship and kindness- we are off to a great start together as a classroom family.
This letter is designed to provide you with specific information pertaining to this particular class so please read carefully. I hope this information helps you to feel settled as a Dragonfly family!
Communication: I am a big communicator! I try my best to post weekly newsletters to the blog of our happenings in 1D. Our blog will have any important information or reminders weekly or more frequently. If you have any questions at any time (about anything- big or small) please email me or call me at sdonlon@sau16.org & (603) 772- 5413. Email will be the quickest way for me to respond, but the communication form that works best for you works for me!
Birthdays: We will have a day toward the end of the year to celebrate summer birthdays. Due to the number of allergies, please do not send any food items in [per the SMS policy, all food coming in must be store bought, labeled, and sent to the nurse.] We will have an extra recess celebration at the end of each month for all of the birthdays of the month. If you’d like our class to enjoy an additional treat on your child’s birthday, please consider donating a book to the class in your child’s name, coming in to have lunch with your child, handing out special pencils for each member of our class, or something else creative! Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Book Orders: Scholastic book orders will be sent home every month throughout the school year. The book orders can be paid by check or, more conveniently, online. Our class code is PFM73 if you wish to order online. This is a great way for our class to earn free books!
Student Belongings: Please put your child’s name on ALL belongings coming to school. This makes it a lot easier to find owners when it is time to get ready to go home. Labeling is especially important during the winter months.
Homework:
As part of our school-wide homework policy, students will be responsible for completing 10 minutes of homework per night (10min. x 1st grade). In first grade, we see that as time spent reading, practicing math facts, and completing word sorts.
It is important that first graders are reading every night. Reading should be a "just right book" for the child--a concept we work hard on at school. A quick way to check if a book is “just right” is to read the first page and if there are five or more words that are very tricky to solve for the child- it is too hard. For reluctant readers, I encourage parents to take turns reading a page during their child's reading. I will also be sending home books at your child’s independent level to practice reading at home, these books must come back to school as we rotate them throughout the students. As your child grows in their reading I will be sending home questions for you to ask your reader to work on comprehension skills.
It is also imperative that students are practicing their math facts. In first grade, many math fact strategies and games are introduced. Directions will be sent home after we have practiced in class.
Your child will be given their spelling words every week or sometimes every other week. These words are for them to practice and “sort” throughout the week. My goal is for students to learn and master spelling strategies and patterns and not just be "Friday spellers" (memorizing their words for the test and then quickly erasing them from their brains). This is why we will be using a mix of learning resources including Words Their Way to create our spelling lists. Students will be assessed at the beginning of the year to determine their developmental spelling stage and will be given words accordingly. Every other week, each group of spellers will be given a new pattern to focus on. We will do several activities throughout the week, which students will then be asked to perform at home. At the end of their two week cycle (or whatever pace is best for your child), they will be tested on their use of the spelling pattern as well as on several dictated sentences. More information will be sent home during our first word study unit. Students will also be asked to work on five first grade sight words a week. We will include these on their spelling test. In the first month of school we will be doing a review with vowels to lead into this word work for the year.
Throughout the year, additional assignments may be sent home to be completed. These typically relate to thematic units and will be due after an extended period of time. We are buddying up with other classrooms at SMS for fun learning explorations and may need some support from home depending on where our learning takes us! We will of course keep you updated as we go!
Toys: I allow students to bring in “recess” toys such as baseball gloves, tennis balls, and jump ropes. Once recess is over, toys need to be put back into backpacks. Any other “toys” are best left at home so they don’t become distracting, or become lost, stolen, or broken in the classroom. See the student handbook for electronic devices that should not be coming to school. Students are invited to bring in objects for share during our morning meeting. Items brought in for show-and-tell must stay in backpacks until it is time to share, and then be put right back in. This is a great time for children to share important things in their lives, such as pictures, post cards, letters, etc. Prohibited items in the school handbook are, of course, never allowed either. If you have extra Legos at home or toy cars, we are hoping to build up our stock for indoor recess!
Field Trips: There will be some field trips this year by bus, so some parent volunteers may be needed. Full description of the trip as well as the permission slip will always be sent home for you to sign by the designated date prior to the departure date. I’ll be in touch when it’s time!
Class Blog: I will work hard throughout the year to keep up-to-date with a classroom blog. Our class site can be found at http://smsdragonflies.blogspot.com/ Please bookmark this site as I will post important information, pertinent to our class, throughout the year. There is a link to our class website from the SMS school page.
Snack: Our snack time will be around 10:00 every day. Healthy snacks are encouraged to help us stay energized throughout our morning. Water bottles are encouraged daily so students stay hydrated and don’t have to leave the room to do so. One small snack is plenty. The students have been doing great with this!
Home/School Folders: The blue SMS folder will serve as your child’s home/school folder. These are very useful for student paperwork especially on Fridays when many important notices are sent home from the office. They are also a very safe place to transport any notes back and forth to school every day. Our classroom also uses Friday Folders where I write a small weekly update about your child’s week. Please sign or initial that you have read it and feel free to write a note back! It is a fun way to stay communicating throughout the year. There will also be corrected work sent home in this folder. Students get very excited to bring home their work they have worked so hard on in school and this keeps it all in one place for you!
Classroom Culture: Our classroom runs using the responsive classroom approach (https://www.responsiveclassroom.org). We will also have morning meetings using the Choose Love program. As a class, we will work together at the beginning of the year to establish expected classroom behaviors. We drafted a classroom contract that we all signed! Through a lot of positive, clear language, student behavior will be reinforced, reminded, or redirected. I continually find students are motivated to do well and be positive members of our classroom community. Our classroom is a very positive place where becoming confident in yourself as a learner is top priority!
Parent Volunteers: Parents are always welcome in the classroom and there are many types of opportunities throughout the year for you to help. I will of course let everyone know when there are special events going on in our classroom and when we start Mystery Readers!!! We welcome volunteers during regular learning time as well!
***If you have any further questions about any of these areas or any not included in this newsletter, please contact me! Let the learning begin!!
Sincerely,
Sara Donlon
