Welcome! Back to School Night 2015

Welcome to PS 39 Where Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork! Tracey Wright, Principal Kasandra Lopez-Garcia Keena Flournoy-White Assistant Principals

Important People we Should Know Mrs. DeFilippi - Parent Coordinator Mrs. Parisi- Nurse Mr. Marbury – Guidance Counselor Mrs. Gelardi - School Aide Mrs. Pasquale - School Aide Mrs. Fiorica - School Aide Mrs. Vasconi – School Aide Mrs. Sciulla - School Secretary Mrs. Catalano - School Secretary

School Information Please read the parent letters and return the tear-offs Agenda Planner Books School Hours are 8:00AM – 2:20 PM. School Uniform Policy The school website is The PTA

Things To Know Personal hygiene No hard lunchboxes- Lunch forms and Lunch fees Wear bus tags Absence notes Label belongings Label outerwear No umbrellas Alert teachers to any allergies/FOOD

There are 4 First Grade teachers at PS 39 Mrs. Black Mrs. DeVito/Ms. Popper ICT Ms. Lagoudis Ms. Falconer – K/1/2- 214

Other activities/classes Drama – Mrs. Macchia Physical Education – Mrs. Pires and Ms. Coco Science – Ms. Amari Music – Ms. Scott Library – Ms. Thompson

Places we go Cafeteria Schoolyard Auditorium On the bus Trips After-school activities beginning Wednesday, September 16 th Mon-Fri until 5:30PM Y Afterschool

Things We Learn Reading & Phonics Writing Workshop Math Workshop Social Studies Science/Health Theater Arts Music Technology Physical Education 7 Habits of Effective People Leader-in-Me

Reading Program Journeys

Hardcover Reader/Anthology Soft cover Practice Book

Level A Book Example

Level D Book Sample End of Kindergarten expectation

Math in Focus Singapore Math By Marshall Cavendish Author: Dr Pamela Sharpe U.S. Consultants: Andy Clark and Patsy F. Kanter

Common Core Standards Operations & Algebraic Thinking Number & Operations in Base Ten Measurement & Data Geometry

Common Core Standards Operations and Algebraic Thinking –Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from. Number and Operations in Base Ten –Work with numbers to gain foundations for place value. Measurement and Data –Describe and compare measurable attributes. –Classify objects and count the number of objects in each category Geometry –Identify and describe shapes. –Analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes. Mathematical Practices –1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. –2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. –3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. –4. Model with mathematics. –5. Use appropriate tools strategically. –6. Attend to precision. –7. Look for and make use of structure. –8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Math in Focus Lessons Each Chapter has lessons Each lesson has Days for pacing Activities begin with: –Learn- –Hands on Activity –Let’s Practice –Practice and Apply –Math Journal –Chapter Wrap Up –Put on your thinking cap

Assessments Each Chapter the children will take a pretest( do not go home- to drive instruction) All post tests: –They will be sent home to correct and be signed. –All post tests are part of your child’s assessments portfolio

20 Chapters in Math in Focus Chapter 1-Numbers to 10 Chapter 2- Number Bonds Chapter 3-Addition Facts to 10 Chapter 4-Subtraction Facts to 10 Chapter 5-Shapes and Patterns Chapter 6-Ordinal Numbers and Positions

More Chapters in Math Focus Chapter 7 Numbers to 20 Chapter 8 Addition and Subtraction Facts to 20 Chapter 9 Length Chapter 10 Weight Chapter 11 Picture Graphs and Bar Graphs Chapter 12 Numbers to 40 Chapter 13 Addition and Subtraction to 40

Final Chapters in Math in Focus Chapter 14 Mental Math Strategies Chapter 15 Calendar and Time Chapter 16 Numbers to 120 Chapter 17 Addition and Subtraction to 100 Chapter 18 Multiplication and Division Chapter 19 Money

Writing

Writer’s Workshop During writer's workshop the children are exposed to a variety of genres. Children will be exposed to these genres through read alouds. We will then discuss where writers get their ideas, author's craft, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure.

Writer’s Workshop  September/October/Beginning of November – Launching with Small Moments & Writing for Readers  November/ December – How-To Books

Writer’s Workshiop January/ Part of Feb. – Nonfiction Chapter Books February/March –Writing Reviews. March/April –From Scenes to Series- Writing fiction. May/June – All About Books. (incorporating How-To)

Background on Writer’s Workshop Writer’s Workshop is one period. We use Teacher’s College Writing Program founded by Lucy Calkins. Writer’s Workshop begins with our mini-lesson (about minutes). Here we focus on one writing strategy. First I model the strategy, then the children have the opportunity to practice the new strategy, finally I summarize what we have learned and send the children back to their seats to start independent writing. While the children are writing I have an opportunity to meet with them individually for conferences. These conferences allow me to work with each child individually and focus in on what they specifically need. All children will have writing goals. Children will have a writing partner.

Writing Stages Children’s writing develops in stages: –First, children use pictures to tell a story. – Next, they will progress to listening for and writing the beginning sounds in their words. –The next stage is to write both the beginning and ending sounds of their words. Once children have mastered writing the beginning and ending sounds they will begin to listen for the middle sounds in their words. Consonant sounds will be easier for the children to hear and write. Vowel sounds are more difficult for many kindergarten children to hear and they will develop an ear for them later on in the year. Here is an example of the stages your child may follow: Stage 1: Draws a picture of a cat and tells a story about having a pet cat. Stage 2: Draws a picture of a cat, tells a story about having a pet cat and writes the letter “C” to represent the word cat. Stage 3: Draws a picture of a cat, tells a story about having a pet cat and writes the letter “CT” to represent the word cat.

Unit Topics Unit 1 Generating a true story from one’s life Zooming in-focusing on the small things Unit 2 Drawing and writing a sequence of steps: How-to books Unit 3 Writing facts in learned from nonfiction books

Units Continued: Unit 4: Writing Reviews-giving an opinion on a topic Unit 5 : From Scenes to Series- creating a fiction character and writing events.

Behavior Management As a class we have agreed to certain behaviors that we expect from each other everyday. It will be posted on the website under our teacher’s page. Please ask your child about the behavior we all expect of each other. We will be using Class Dojo as our behavior management system. It is a wonderful way for all us to keep an open line of communication as well as a great to talk with your child about how their day was. They will have a Class Dojo sheet that they color in to keep track of their points so that they too are part of the process. The students also have an opportunity to earn rewards for class compliments and table compliments. Also ask your child to tell you about the mystery walker.

Classroom Expectations This year we will be focusing on building important life skills such as working hard and participating. We will be using ClassDojo to give students feedback on these skills :)

Why use ClassDojo? ClassDojo is the easiest way to see your child’s progress on these skills. We will be sending classroom updates and photos with you through ClassDojo, too!

Get out those phones :) Download the app Sign up as a parentEnter your code!

Let’s try it out I’ll send you a message now! Go ahead… send one back :)

How else can we work together? Check ClassDojo regularly. Keep me updated on how your child is doing at home. Encourage the life skills we are working on in class outside of school. Celebrate wonderful classroom moments at home :) Let me know how I can be most helpful!

We are always here to help if you need anything, as well as the ClassDojo team who can be reached at :)

Homework Children thrive on routines and consistency. Just like there is a schedule in school, sometimes it is a good idea to have a schedule at home. For example snacks, outside playtime and then homework. Also having a special spot to complete homework equipped with pencils and other supplies will help ease your child into the routine of completing his/her homework. Your child will be assigned nightly homework. Each night your child will bring home their homework (orange) notebook and PS 39 Planner. They will have a homework schedule, a menu of choices for their word wall homework, a math menu sheet for Monday –Thursday where they complete the homework squares for each night of the week. Fridays the Math in Focus Workbook will go home. Sight Word cards and Book Baggies that matches their reading level will also go home each day. Please have your child read nightly and return it to school daily. They should be practiced and returned daily

Word Wall Words Homework Menu Directions: Choose 1 of the 10 below each night to complete in orange HW notebook. (One each night except Friday) (You can always do more than 1 if you like ) Rainbow words: Use crayons, colored pencils or markers to write your words. Make each letter of the word a different color Write It! Write the words 3x’s each. Sentences: Write a sentence for at least 4 of your weekly words. Find and cut out the weekly words from a newspaper or magazine and glue them in your notebook. Easy as ABC: Put the words in ABC order. Building Blocks: write the 1 st letter of the word, then write the 1 st and 2 nd letter underneath, and keep on going until the whole word is spelled. Ex. cat: c ca cat Red and Blue: Write each word with the consonants in blue and the vowels and red. Story Time: Make up a story (can be a real story of not real) using your word wall words. Picture It! Choose at least 4 of your words. Draw pictures to illustrate them. Write the word underneath each picture. Practice Test: Take a practice test with a buddy. If you missed any words, rewrite them 3 times

Questions???