4. Attendance: Many 1st grade learning activities are group oriented and involve interaction with classmates. Therefore, it is next to impossible to recreate these activities at home. Please view school as a priority and see to it that your child attends everyday except in cases of illness or emergency.

5. Birthdays: If you wish to send in a treat to celebrate your child’s birthday, please plan to send it during our snack time. Please let your child’s teacher know ahead of time if you are planning to bring treats. Invitations may only be sent to school if all children are invited.

6. Cooperation: Students will learn to cooperate with others through our leadership program that follows The 8 Habits of Happy Kids.

7. Dismissal: School ends at 2:25. All children should be picked up at this time. You must send a note if your child is to go home a different way than his/her normal schedule.

8. Emergencies: Please make sure we have emergency numbers and information on file for your child. Also, please let us know if you prefer to be contacted via phone or email in NON-Emergency situations.

9. Field Trips: Our class will participate in two field trips this year. If you would like to chaperone or attend one of these trips, please have a volunteer form filed with the school at least 1 month prior to the trip. The beginning of the year is a great time to get this taken care of. Permission slips must be returned for your child to attend.

10. Grading Scale: The following grading scale is used in 1st grade: 4- Yes! I can do this one. 3- I am still working on learning this skill. 2- I need help, 1- Not introduced yet.

11. Homework: Your child will have homework Monday, Tuesday &&and Thursday.

12. Internet: Your child will use the Internet to conduct research this year. In order to do this, we must have your permission. All Internet searches will be guided by the teacher.

13. Journals: Your child will write in a journal daily throughout the school year. Sometimes this will be an arrival activity. Other times this may be a reflection activity or homework assignment.

14. Kindness Activities: Your child will be involved with “Random Acts of Kindness/Leadership” throughout the year. Ask about it!

15. Lunch: Feel free to join your child for lunch at any time. Children and their guest should sit at the special guest tables in the cafeteria. Leader of the Week: Each child will take turns being leader of the week. Each day they will share something with their classmates. A letter will come home on Friday before it is your child’s week. We go in alphabetical order by first names.

16. Management: Students will start on green each day. They will be given the opportunity to move up and down on our chart throughout the day.

17. Newsletters: Newsletters will be posted on our website, please check in often. You may also request Newsletters to be sent home via paper copy or emailed.

18. Organizations and Community: Our school has many educational partners. We will have a lot of guest speakers in first grade this year. Thank you to our community!

19. Pal Projects: Your child will write to a 1st grade pen pal from another school this year. We will also host a reading/writing project with a pen pal from another school!

20. Quick and Quiet Hellos: As you volunteer in our classroom, I will urge your child to acknowledge you with a “quick and quiet” wave hello. It is important for them to greet you, but remain involved in class activities.

21. Reading: Reading instruction will be taught through our Reading Mastery Program. We will also have Mystery Readers weekly.

22. Staying on track with our Foundation Folder: Your child’s Foundation Folder will include everything that needs to go between home and school. It will be our source of communication for the year!

23. Tardies: Students should be at school by 7:30. Arriving after this time causes students to lose instructional time.

24. United States Project: We will participate in many projects this year. One will be the U.S. Postcard Exchange, where we will exchange postcards with all 50 states to learn more about our nation!

25. Volunteers: We love volunteers! Moms, dads, grandparents….look for information on how you can help in our classroom!

26. Website: Our website is updated often, so check it out! Water: Your child may bring a water bottle to keep in his/her cubby as long as it has a “pop-up” top to prevent spills. Writing Workshop: Your child will get to experience the stages of publishing books this year as we learn about the writing process.

27. We are excited to work with you and your child this year! Make sure he/she gets plenty of zzzzz’s each night as we have exciting days planned for this year.

28. School starts in 1 week. We can’t wait to see you there!