Dear
Parents,
Welcome to a new and exciting 2007-2008 school year! Thank you so much in advance for helping to make the start of the new school year a positive and exciting experience for your child and me. With your support, the adjustment to First Grade will be a smooth and easy one. The children will get settled and adapt well to their new teachers, new classroom, and new friends. I am looking forward to a year of outstanding growth, learning, and opportunities for all of us!
GO
FOLDER: Your child’s work will be sent home as graded in a ”GO Folder”.
Information or notices from the school or teachers will be also be in
this folder. Please take some time with your child each afternoon/evening to go over the work that has
been brought home. Ask your child about it and praise him or her for all that
has been accomplished. They work hard at school every day!
On Fridays, I also
will be sending home a bi-monthly newsletter and a weekly report concerning
behavior. These folders should be sent back to school on the following school
day to be used for that upcoming week.
NEWSLETTER/WEBPAGE:
You will be kept informed about classroom events, curriculum highlights,
and calendar updates through a classroom newsletter which is published
approximately every 2 weeks. Each child will receive a copy in his or her “Go
Folder”. The newsletter can also be accessed from the
school website.
HOMEWORK:
At the beginning of each week your child will receive a Homework Folder
with a Homework Contract inside. This
contract will have your child’s assignments for the week. Your child’s daily assignment is to read with you for 10 to
15 minutes each day. Additionally, please
take the time to read to your child. Research shows that it is important for
children to see their parent frequently modeling reading.
Other homework activities will include handwriting and spelling practice, studying
math facts and basic sight words, along with activities to reinforce lessons in science, social studies and health.
These folders will need to be returned on the first day of the following
week with the completed homework inside.
QUARTERLY HOMEWORK:
The students will be given
optional quarterly assignments in science and social studies. Each quarter
during a specific unit of study, the students will be given the details of the
assignment along with a due date. These assignments will also be posted on our
first grade website.
WEEKLY
REPORT: Weekly reports are sent home each
Thursday in your child's GO-Folder.
These reports are my primary means of communication to you regarding your
child's classroom behavior. They need to be signed and returned to
school on
Friday.
BEHAVIOR
MANAGEMENT:
Emphasis is placed on positive reinforcement of desired school behaviors
through a "token" system. What
are tokens???
Children receive colored tokens when they are “caught being good”.
They can accumulate these tokens to use towards rewards.
Every Friday we will open the Token Store in which they may “spend”
their tokens to “buy” merchandise to keep.
(I count on parents to help provide some of the goodies so please don’t
throw anything away - one person’s junk is another one’s treasure!
We also love it when you go shopping and keep us in mind!)
Because this is based on money equivalents, it also gives children
hands-on experience
to draw on during our study of money. Also
on
Fridays, the students may bring a toy from home and have “free time”
with their friends in the classroom. This
behavior management system
has been very effective in eliminating problems with children “forgetting”
the rules and, most importantly, gives us more time for uninterrupted
instruction
TARDIES:
School begins each day at 7:55 a.m. If a child arrives to school after the 7:55
a.m. bell, the parent must sign him/her in at the office and get a "tardy slip"
for the child. Please try to arrive at school on time every day. Your cooperation in protecting instructional time
in this way is
greatly appreciated!
BOOKBAGS:
Please discuss with your child any notes or items that need to be removed
from bookbags and given to
me. I do not check individual bookbags! I do ask all of the students to check their bookbags themselves every
morning. Sometimes however, the students do not check their bags and homework,
money, notes, folders, go days
without being turned in. Please
encourage your child to be responsible for checking his/her bookbag daily.
MONEY
COLLECTION: Please send money for
purchases, payments, or donations in an envelope that is clearly labeled with
your child’s name and the specific purpose of the enclosed money.
LUNCH
PURCHASES: If your child will
be purchasing a school lunch you have two options for payment.
Students may pay for lunches on a daily basis. If you prefer, you may
purchase school lunches by opening a lunch account and pre-paying for as many
lunches as you wish. Opening a
lunch account eliminates the need for students to keep up with change (and
it’s much easier on me!). Students can also buy ice cream and other optional
items with this school account. Please
send a note is you give them permission to buy these items. Please click here to
visit the Davis School Lunch web page.
DISMISSAL:
Getting your child home safely every day is my top priority. Parents, with
this in mind, please adhere to the following school guidelines for
dismissal:
(1) If there is a change in the way your child normally goes home on a particular day, please send a written note with your child that morning. ANY TRANSPORTATION CHANGE MUST BE IN WRITING.
(2) If your child normally rides home on the bus, but is going home with a friend or staying after school, please send a note.
(3) If your child normally goes home immediately after dismissal but sometimes goes to the After School Program, please send a note to my attention at the beginning of the week indicating which days he/she will be attending ASP and which days he/she will be going home a different way (bus, car, etc.) Circling the days on the ASP envelope is not sufficient to convey this information, as I do not see this envelope after Monday morning. Please be very specific with your written notes to avoid any confusion during such a busy and crucial time as dismissal.
(4) If there are last minute changes that need to be made regarding your child please contact the school office. Any transportation changes should be faxed to 678-494-7638 so that we will have the request in writing. The office staff will be happy to assist you with this (school phone 678-494-7636).
PLEASE NOTE: Keep in mind that written notes are needed for ANY transportation change at any time. Again, this is for the safety of the students. Thank you for your assistance and cooperation.
MEDIA
CENTER: We visit the Media Center
every other week. Your child will be bringing home two books from the Media
Center. In order for new books to be checked out, the
previous books must be returned. The
children can also go individually any morning before school or during center time to checkout
books.
ALL
ABOUT ME: Once during the
year, your child will be selected as "Personality of the Week."
During that week, please allow your child to choose several photos that
tell about his or her personality. Your
child may also bring in three (3) special items that he/she wishes to share.
Your child will also have a questionnaire to complete to test their classmates'
knowledge of his/her personal favorites.
SNACKS:
A snack time will be allowed each mid-morning. The
students will need to bring their own snacks from home.
It will be greatly appreciated if you please follow these guidelines:
Snacks should be in containers or packages that are opened easily.
Provide nutritious
snacks that your child likes.
For sanitary reasons, please
do not send Fruit Gummies, Fruit by the Foot, String Thing or any other similar
snack. (The students have been known to
accidentally grind these snacks into the carpet and/or drag them across unclean surfaces before
eating them.)
Please do not send drinks, juice boxes, yogurt or canned fruit.
These items are difficult to open and are frequently spilled which causes us to
have unwanted “visitors” to our classroom.
Candy or other high sugar snacks
will not be permitted.
BIRTHDAYS:
We like to celebrate birthdays in First Grade! If you would like to
provide a birthday treat to share with classmates on
your child’s birthday or half-birthday (for summer time birthdays), please
follow these guidelines:
The
treats should be pre-divided into individual portions. Please do not send in
whole cakes or large chocolate chip cookie cakes.
Some
good suggestions for treats include popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, individually wrapped
cookies, doughnuts, snack-cakes , or muffins.
Edible birthday treats may only be shared during lunch
time in the dining room.
Please remember that birthday party invitations need to be mailed and are
not allowed to be handed out in class unless all of the students in the class
are invited to the celebration.
SPIRIT
SHIRTS: School spirit is an
important part of building character in your child. It is an important activity
of our class and I encourage all children to wear a Davis T-shirt EVERY FRIDAY.
We like to have 100% participation in this activity.
The students can wear old or new spirit shirts. Let’s work together to show that school
spirit!
PTA
MEMBERSHIP:
It would be a thrill for our class
to be the first at Davis to have 100% PTA Membership! Please send in for a single membership or for
a family membership in the next few days if you have not already joined.
If you have already joined, THANK YOU!!!
VOLUNTEERS:
Many of you have already signed up to be volunteers in the classroom this
year but if you have not done so yet, there are so many ways you can help!
I always need an extra pair of eyes and hands for the Literacy Centers.
This frees me to do small group
work and individual assessments with the students.
Please consider being a classroom helper, even if you are only
available to help out once a month or so.
In addition to classroom helpers, I also need a volunteer to schedule all of the volunteers! This would involve organizing and making a calendar to send home to each volunteer.
There are also opportunities to volunteer for special events
like field trips and science lab that may be easier to fit into your work
schedule. If computers are your
thing, we can always use help for special in the Multimedia Lab or Media Center.
Of
course, if you can’t volunteer at school, you can help out at home, too. We
need volunteers to do typing at home, color/cut/paste projects at home, or sewing
. Please take a few moments to review all
the possible ways you could help in your child’s class this year.
Thank you for your support and encouragement during this busy time of year. I am looking forward to a new school year and excited about working with such a wonderful group of children and their parents!
Sincerely,
Sandy
Whitehouse
If you would like to email Ms. Whitehouse, please click on the "S" or "W" blocks above, or click here.
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