First Grade Parent Information Night Thursday, September 15, 2011

Behavioral Plan Car System –Each child has a car –Each child starts the week at the grocery store –To attend Fun Friday students must be at the grocery store by Friday 2:00 –Any teacher in the school can move a car forward/backward –Any teacher can mark your child’s folder

Behavior Plan Positive Consequences –Good Choices will allow your child to move their car forward. –Tickets will be given for behavior that exceeds expectations and can be traded for classroom purchases –Fun Friday –Class Celebrations & Field Trips –Student of the Week Negative Consequences –Behavioral expectations are based on the Hillsborough County Report Card –Your child will move car backwards for inappropriate choices –Loss of Fun Friday, class celebrations, & field trips –Office Referrals remain in your child’s permanent record until graduation

Checkmarks A checkmark is communication from me to you Opportunity to discuss the choices your child made and what would have been a better choice CAUTION: DO NOT make a checkmark punitive unless it is something you see often or of a serious nature (hitting) If your reaction is too punitive it may cause your child to withhold the truth

Accountability Yellow Folder/COW Book –Sign both every night –Read journal entry Write a letter back to your child in manuscript –Discuss behavior indicators (any teacher can sign folder) –Go through pockets Remove classwork Read & remove school and classroom newsletters Homework/Assessments –Have a set aside hw time –Review answers and discuss any that your child got wrong –Complete reading log –Look over assessments Help your child correct items that are wrong Sign and return assessments

Reading Logs Will be checked every day. Cars will be asked to move back for reading logs that are not complete. If you do not have time to complete a reading log then please write a note in the homework and try to make it up in the week. Do not sound out words for your child. Let your child sound out the words in their sentence. They need to use KidSpell at home so they get used to using it at school. Your child should be able to read the book on their own. If not, then the book is to difficult for your child and should be saved for buddy reading time. If books in baggie are too difficult let me know Books can and should be traded daily

Sight Words Will be tested on Wednesdays only during Spanish time. Send a note when your child can read ALL words without pausing or sounding them out. Most sight words cannot be phonetically pronounced. They must simply be memorized. This will improve reading and writing. When the students begin to recognize these sight words they then begin to spell them properly. Awards/tickets will be awarded for each list that your child successfully reads Party at the end of the year

Grade Level Expectations All expectation sheets can be found on Rampello’s webpage. All students in Florida have the same expectations. First grade is a reading benchmark year. SATs will be given later the year. Students are compared to other students in the country. Reading is the #1 indicator of students being promoted to 2 nd grade. –If you do nothing else, then please read with your child.

Centers Students are at specific centers while guided reading instruction is occurring. Every student will get a minimum of 20 minutes of small group reading instruction a day leaving them with 40 minutes of independent work. Students understand their expectations as it has been modeled and practiced for 2 solid weeks. Children who follow said expectations are allowed the opportunity to move forward or get tickets. If your child choose not to follow the expectations they will lose their center and you will see a checkmark for either shows effort to do best work, follows directions, or completes work. Children can communicate basic needs with use of hand signals.

Progress Alerts Will come home on Wednesday and several times throughout the year Will reflect classroom progress NOTE: We have been testing each child and have only just began reading groups. If your child is marked below level in reading, just keep practicing daily and give your child time to catch up from a long summer off. There is a discrepancy between kindergarten and first grade benchmarks.

Handouts First Grade Expectation Sheets Strategy cards to help your child at home with independent reading Why you can’t miss your 20 minutes of reading How 20 minutes of reading compares to scores on standardized tests

Questions We have a few minutes to answer some questions. If when you get home a question suddenly arises then please send an with your question.