1. Welcome to Mrs. Neal and Ms. Vickie’s Classroom “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” Proverbs

2. Thank you for allowing me to be your child’s teacher. Let me introduce myself. I had a wonderful summer with my family. Ken and I have been blessed with two precious girls. Ivy is a Junior and Lily is a third grader. I love to cook, garden, read, travel and spend time with my family. This summer we went hiking in Utah. The slot canyons were great. I have been teaching for 24 years and I still love it. I have taught 4 th grade, K-1 split and Kindergarten. Kindergarten is awesome!

3. Ms. Vickie Ms. Vickie is my wonderful assistant. She is truly my right arm and supports me in so many ways. She keeps up with lunch money, milk money and any other kind of money, teaches small groups and is so caring and thoughtful. She loves playing with her grandkids, reading, and helping others.

4. Leader in Me We implemented Leader in Me last year and absolutely loved it. I use it in my daily life. Research shows people who are highly effective have implemented these habits in their lives. We are teaching our kids these habits and loving the results. They are: Be Proactive Begin with the End in Mind First Things First Look for the Win Win Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood (really listen) Synergize Sharpen the Saw http://www.theleaderinme.org/

5. Behavior Management We are using the clip chart system that corresponds with our 7 Habit Implementation. Everyone will start on Let’s Learn each day and have the opportunity to go up and down the chart. Students may be working hard to display the seven habits in their behavior and even go off the chart onto my lanyard. If a child isn’t being proactive and makes bad choices they will move their clothespin down. Teacher Choice may be a choice I make like an Instant time out or the student and I may work together to come up with the best consequence. However, a student can decide to make better choices and move back up the chart. The behavior form will indicate the position at the end of the day but the previous events will be noted in comments.

6. S.M.A.R.T Book We use a binder to help everyone stay organized. S.M.A.R.T stands for successful, managed and responsible today. This binder is how we keep up with money, papers, notes, etc. Students bring it everyday. Please look through it each night and take out or return the necessary papers.

7. Curriculum We follow the Common Core for Reading and Math and Science. We will be looking at the new social studies standards this year. We use Daily 5 to organize our Reading Block. I will send home a long letter explaining all about it. Writing is application of letters and sounds. We call it “kid writing”. For math, I do a quick whole group lesson and then kids are divided into stations. Mrs. Vickie works with a group, I work with a group and everyone else works with a partner in a tub doing various math games and activities. This is a great time to volunteer. Science and Social Studies are integrated all through out the day with special exploration on Fridays.

8. Assessments We are constantly assessing so that we know your child’s level of understanding. Many of our assessments are simply observations. Paper/pencil assessments will be sent home. The report card will go home each nine weeks and is performance based on the Common Core. I f you want to know what is taught in reading and math in kindergarten, just Google kindergarten common core.

9. Parent Volunteers We love to have parents help in our classroom, but you must have completed the volunteer training to be in the classroom. Tuesday, August 25, 2015 @ 9:00 AM Saturday, September 26, 2015 @ 10:00 AM Tuesday, November 17, 2015 @ 5:30 PM Saturday, March 12, 2016 @ 10:00 AM All orientations will be held in the TCES Cafeteria. For more information, please call at 465-3978. Parents may also help at home. We always have things to cut out, books to label, magazines to sort, class books to put together, etc. Sign up sheets are on the clipboard outside the room.

10. ? Schedules, Lunch, Snack, There will be a class schedule, activity schedule, newsletter, etc in the SMART binder. Lunch is 10:30-10:55 Monday –Thursday 10:15-10:40 Friday Snack will be at 2:00. We will be having a class snack. Students whose last name begin with A-N bring snacks on the first school day of the month. Students whose name begin with O-Z bring snacks on the 15 th of the month. (If the date falls on a weekend please bring it in the next day.) Your child may bring their own drink daily or students may purchase milk from the cafeteria. The cost of milk is 40 cents. Remember to send this money in a separate envelope and label “milk money”. I am not aware of any food allergies at this time. If we do have food allergies, I will let you know.

11. Students may arrive between 7:35 and 8:00 a.m.If you bring your student to school through the drop off line, staff will be present to get them to breakfast or to the gym if it is before 8 am. Teachers will pick up their students from the gym each morning. If students arrive any later than 8:00 a.m. they will receive a tardy. Students should not arrive prior to 7:35 am since supervision by the school staff is not available until 7:35. Students will be dismissed from the gym at 7:50 in the morning. If you come in with your child, then you will either take them to breakfast or to the gym until 7:50. Bus riders are dismissed at 2:50 in the afternoon. Students picked up will go to the gym and will be released soon after. Please refer to the pick-up policy in the student handbook. Arrival and Dismissal

12. After School We have early release EVERY Friday at 12:50. Please be sure to send a note with your child if plans in transportation vary on those days! Students may participate in Friday Wrap-Up until 2:50 on Fridays. However, you must pick them up; there are no bus routes! End Zone You must have completed the form and paid $10.00 previously in order for your child to attend. The End Zone forms and fees are to be turned in to the FRC this year.

13. General Information If anyone has a need for school supplies you can see Ann Mattingly in the Family Resource Center. The FRC is across from the main office. The phone number is 465-3978. Please make sure that you put your child’s name on EVERYTHING that he/she brings to school. This includes book bags, coats, hats, and gloves, etc. Please clip and save the box top logos from food products. We can turn them in for cash to purchase items for the class. They are collected twice a year and really help with buying items for our classroom. Last year we bought several new books for our tag readers. Ask other family members to help as well. I’ll send a note in the newsletter letting you know collection dates.