2. Welcome to your child’s first- grade year. I am excited to share this fun-filled year with your child. It is truly an amazing year of growth and development. Welcome, Parents!

3. Welcome to First Grade! I am so glad to be here at Speegleville. This will be my 16 th year of teaching, my fourth year with Midway. I have teaching experience in grades Pre-K up through third grade. I LOVE first grade!

4. 8:15-9:00 Reading Small Group/Lab 9:00-9:15 Writing 9:15-10:15 Specials 10:15-10:45 Writing 10:45-11:30 Science/Social Studies 11:30-12:15 Lunch/Recess 12:15-1:30 Reading 1:30-2:45 Math 2:45-3:15 Small Group Math 3:15 Dismissal

5. Attendance Policy ABSENCES Please call and let us know of your child’s absence. If you are unable to call, a note signed by you, the parent, describing the reason for the absences should be sent upon your child’s return to school. Medical absences are excused only by a note from the doctor. TARDIES Your child is considered tardy after 8:00. Tardies are entered into the computer system and tracked.

6. Student Expectations Be Ready to listen and learn. Be Respectful of others. Be Responsible for your own actions.

7. Classroom Rules 1.FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS THE FIRST TIME THAT THEY ARE GIVEN. 2.KEEP HANDS, FEET AND OBJECTS TO YOURSELF. 3.RESPECT SCHOOL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY. 4. USE POLITE WORDS AND ACTIONS. 5. WALK QUIETLY AND SLOWLY IN A LINE IN THE HALLWAYS.

8. Classroom Rules Continued Please review and sign the behavior calendar each night. I will record their behavior for the day. A clean box means they had a good day. Pink and blue boxes will be rewarded. When students acquire 10 warm fuzzies they are eligible to choose a reward from our class behavior catalog.

9. Reading It is really important for your child to read each night. To help with this, your student will bring home a Take Home/Supplemental Reader each Monday. These are to be read by the student orally to someone at home. The purpose of these books is to provide additional reading practice for your child. This 20 minute time period at home is very important to your child’s reading development. It will help with reading fluency and comprehension as well. The goal is for students to be able to read 60 words per minute on a level 1.9 by the end of first grade.

10. Spelling lists will come home in your child’s folder every Monday. There will also be a list of 9 options for practicing these words. Please be sure your child practices the spelling words each week. The spelling tests will be given on Fridays. Spelling Practice

11. Library Your child is provided with many different opportunities to increase his/her reading ability. Our class visits the library every Wednesday and each child may check out a library book, provided previously checked out books have been returned. As much as I would love to help your child with book choice, all teachers are in team meetings at this time and are unable to be in the library at check-out time.

12. First grade students receive a standards-based report card at the end of each six weeks grading period. The grading system has three levels of proficiency.

13. I Insufficient : Earning an “I” means that the student has minimal understanding of the concept and is not meeting grade level standards. A student receiving an “I” is showing academic delays according to our district goals. Interventions and additional practice at home may be needed to develop student learning to stay on track with district expectations.

14. P Progressing: Earning a “P” means that the student has basic understanding and partially meets grade-level expectations. A student receiving a “P+” is making adequate progress toward full mastery of the assigned concepts. A “P-” could indicate that additional time is needed to master the assigned concept. In either case, the “P” indicates a positive move toward mastery of grade level standards.

15. M Mastery: Earning an “M” means that the student has proficient understanding and meets assigned grade-level expectations. Our goal is that all of our students will reach level “M” by the end of the year. A student receiving an “M” is on track with district, grade-level expectations for a given six weeks grading period.

16. Janell Wellbaum Speegleville Elementary 254-761-5730 Ext. 6332 janell.wellbaum@midwayisd.org Conference 9:15-10:15 Contact Info