Welcome to First Grade at Jackson Elementary School! The first grader’s will spend the first week of school getting to know one another and becoming familiar with the first grade classroom and routines. The children will learn the rules for working and learning in our classroom and they will become familiar with our school and staff.
School on Tuesday, September 8, 2015. The bell rings at 8:25 A.M. to start our day and we are finished at 3:25 P.M. each day. These may seem like very long days to your child the first few weeks of school. Please try to establish a good sleep pattern with your child. They will be very tired as they adjust to our busy schedule. It is important that they get a good night of rest with at least 10 hours of sleep. Please be sure your child has a nutritious breakfast in the morning also. Please see the information below about our Nutrition Break Program!
Please be sure to read through all of the information below. This packet includes very important information and policies that you and your family will need to be aware of for the rest of the school year.
The ABC’s of First Grade
A- Attendance
Please take special note of Jackson’s attendance policy in the student handbook (p.14). If your child happens to be absent, please call the school office to notify us of the reason for your child’s absence. If your child happens to be tardy, please walk your child into the school office that day and notify us of the reason for your child’s tardy attendance.
B- Buses and Birthdays (Buses)
I encourage bus riders to begin riding the bus on the first few days of school, even if mom, dad, or guardian follow behind in their car! This helps the children learn the routine and it helps the bus drivers get to know the children and the routine.
When the bell rings to begin school in the morning, the students should walk right into our classroom. I will be waiting there to greet them.
Please call Durham School Bus Company at 723-7667 if you have questions on where and when your child is to be picked up or dropped off. If your child’s bus transportation changes for any reason please arrange it with Durham Bus Company and let me know in writing. If I do not receive a written note, your child will be sent on the bus as usual.
(Birthdays) We do celebrate birthdays in our classroom. Please contact me at open house or at the beginning of the school year if you have any concerns about the celebrations in our classroom. On your child’s birthday, he/she is allowed to bring in a birthday treat for snack time. He/she will receive a birthday crown to wear for the day. He/she will also get to be a special helper for the day. If your child has a summer birthday (June, July, or August) we will celebrate at the end of the year.
C- Car Riders (a.k.a. Parent Drop-Off/Pick-Up)
Students who are dropped off via car will not be allowed into the building until 8:20 A.M. If you need to drop your child off before that time, contact Lakeland Little Learners (723-8391) to enroll your child in their before and after school “Wrap Around” program.
Students who are picked up via car will be waiting for their adult on the benches in the front lobby of Jackson or out in front of the main school doors (by the drive around driveway). Adults are not allowed into the school building until 3:20 P.M.
D- Daily 5
Daily 5 is the literacy program used in all of the first grade classrooms and most of the other grade levels at Jackson. We will be kicking off the year right away with The Daily Five. Daily 5 is a literacy structure that teaches independence and gives children the skills needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. Since Daily 5 is more hands on and interactive, you may see less paper work coming home as your child will be spending more time engaged in this hands on approach. More information will come home as we begin to introduce this structure!
E- E-mail
A great way to keep in touch with me is through e-mail. My e-mail address at school is [email protected] . You can also get a hold of me by phone. My phone number is 723-1200 x1227. The best time to contact me via phone is before school, lunch time (11:30 A.M.-12:00 P.M.), or after school. Using the monthly communication log in your child’s take home folder is another great way to reach me. I check the communication logs daily and will respond to your notes right away.
F- Folders and Field Trips (Folders)
Each child will have a take home folder labeled with their name. I will insert a monthly communication log, Book It! calendar, sight words and star math flash cards. Be sure to open your child’s binder each night and check the communication log for notes from me and the front and back pockets for daily work along with VERY IMPORTANT First Grade and Jackson notes. It is essential that you get into the routine of checking your child’s binder every day. Be sure to return the empty binder each morning so it can be refilled.
(Field Trips)
Be sure to fill out the walking permission slip and return it to school as soon as possible. We take multiple small walking trips throughout the year. We also take a larger field trip in Spring that we will ride buses to. More information will come home in March or April about these trips. Information about chaperones will be included with that information. There are a limited number of chaperone spots available per classroom for each trip. Chaperones will be accepted on a first come first serve basis once they have paid the extra money and passed a background check. Unfortunately, we do not have enough room on our buses or at the venues we visit to allow every child to bring along an adult chaperon.
G- Grading
At the end of every quarter, after state and district assessments, your child will receive a report card (November, February, April, and June). There will also be a first grade specific assessment sheet included in the report card that simplifies the data on the official report card.
H- Homework
Your child will not have a homework packet to complete each month. Instead your child is expected to practice spelling words, Star Math flash cards and read 15 minutes each night. The children need extended practice on the skills they are learning and working on at school each day-Practice makes Perfect!
Also, your child will be bringing home a “Read At Home” book each night in their R.A.H. book bag. Your child will read a new R.A.H. book each day at school and then bring it home to read to you one more time. Be sure to send it back to school each day so it can be swapped out for a new book! More information will come home about R.A.H. reading as the year progresses.
I- Illness
The question of when to keep your child home from school is often a difficult one, especially when the decision must be made early in the morning. It is important to keep your child home if he/she is truly sick. If your child has a fever (higher than 101˚), is throwing up, or sick with a contagious illness please keep him/her home to rest. Children function most effectively in the classroom when they are healthy.
J- Join PTA
Jackson Elementary does have a Parent Teacher Association. Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of every month at 6:00 P.M. and everyone is welcome! Day care is provided free of charge. The PTA helps Jackson provide a high-quality education and experience for every student. Get involved and have fun!
K- Kindness
Students in our classroom are expected to treat all members of our class as well as other students and adults in our building with kindness and respect. Our First Grade classroom has four rules: Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Ready.
There is a color coded behavior chart set up in the classroom and will be used daily throughout the year. All students start on green every day and can move up (blue, purple, and pink) for working hard and being a great friend and helper or move down (yellow, orange and red) for being disrespectful, unsafe, or irresponsible.
L- Lunch
The school provides hot lunch daily for students. Each morning students will make a lunch choice in our classroom (hot or cold lunch). First Grade eats lunch from 11:50 A.M. - 12:10 P.M. each day. Lunch costs $1.95. Please keep your child’s lunch account at a positive balance throughout the year. Take a look at the food service’s web site for more information which can be found on our Jackson home page online. Milk is available for students who take cold lunch. Milk costs $0.35.
Family members are allowed to join their child for lunch. Please notify me if you are coming to join your child.
M- Music (Art, P.E., Computers, Library, and Guidance too!)
Your child will have at least one “special” class each day. Check your child’s communication log in his/her take home binder to find out what special we have each day. For your child’s safety, please be sure your child wears tennis shoes on P.E. days. You can always send a pair of gym shoes to school with your child to keep in his/her locker all year long.
· Mrs. Priesgen teaches music
· Mrs. Storlie teaches art
· Ms. Brellenthin (Ms. B) teaches P.E. *tennis shoes*
· Mrs. Lange teaches computers *headphones*
· Mrs. Lange is the librarian
· Mrs. Upite teaches guidance
N- Nutrition Break
We have a very successful breakfast program at Jackson. More information about the details of nutrition break come home with your registration materials. We go to the cafeteria each morning from 9:15 A.M. – 9:30 A.M. for nutrition break. The students who do not order it, can have milk and a small snack from home. Nutrition break costs $1.05. Milk costs $0.35.
O- Online Chrome Book Use
AS a class, we will be using a variety of internet sires to enhance the learning in the classroom. Your child will be able to access these sites using our classroom desktops, chrome books, and I-pads.
We also have a class webpage; please check it for updates on a monthly basis. Your child can also access links to the sites we will be using in class from our webpage. Our webpage is : http://mrspellasfirstgrade.weebly.com/
P- Parties
We will have four big parties throughout the year in our classroom. The first will be a Fall Festival at the end of October. The second will be a Holiday Party in December. The third will be a Valentine’s Day Party in February. Our last party will be an End of the Year Party on the last day of school. I will be contacting volunteers who filled out the volunteer sheet to help with these parties.
Q- Questions
If you at any time have questions or concerns please feel free to contact me via e-mail or phone. I may not be able to respond to you immediately during the day but I will get back to your before or after school for sure. You and your child are important to me and I think of us as a team!
R- Recess
First Grade has two recesses a day. Morning recess is from 10:00 A.M. – 10:15 A.M. Lunch recess is from 11:25 A.M. – 11:45 P.M. Please dress your child appropriately according to the weather each day. Children will go out in all types of weather unless the wind chill is below zero or it is raining hard. All students must go out for recess unless they have a note from the doctor excusing them from outdoor play.
S- Snack
Each afternoon we will have a time designated for a small snack. Please consider sending in a snack once a month to share with the class. Good snack ideas: goldfish, fruit snacks, pretzels, animal crackers and granola bars.
T- Toys
Children are asked NOT to bring toys from home. Toys are permitted for show and tell when your child is the star student. We will begin Star Student around December and more information will be available at that time.
U- “U”
“U” are important in your child’s education. I would love to have you visit. Please give me the first month or two of school to get to know the children and get them acquainted with our schedule and routine before coming to visit. Jackson has a policy that all guests are required to check in with the office and wear a guest badge.
V- Volunteering
After children have become adjusted to First Grade, I will be looking for regular parent/guardian volunteers to help in our classroom. More information will come home about volunteering in our classroom in October. If you choose to volunteer in the classroom or for field trips, please be aware that you will be required to pass a background check. Please be sure to fill out the volunteer form and background check form (available at Open House or you can contact me and I can send the forms home in your child’s take-home folder) and return it as soon as possible.
W-Working on Self-Help Skills
Please work with your child on self-help skills such as: tying shoes, zipping jackets, learning your phone number and address, at home so your child is equipped with the necessary skills to be a safe and productive individual at home, school, and out in the world!
X- Extra Clothes
Accidents do happen in First Grade! It is helpful to send an extra set of clothes (labeled with your child’s first and last name) in a gallon Ziploc bag to keep in his/her locker in case of emergency. The nurse does have extra clothes but often times she doesn’t have items that fit the children’s little bodies and feet. Accidents can often times be traumatic and being able to change into their own clothes helps the children feel less embarrassed and/or stressed.
Y-Younger Siblings
It is in our children’s best interest to have our parent/guardian volunteers available without younger siblings as much as possible. That not only allows for your full attention to be focused on the children, but also allows for some special time between you and your First Grader.
Z- Zzzzzzz’s
Make sure your child gets plenty of rest. A first grade room is a very busy and hard working environment. You will probably find that your child is exhausted at the end of each day. Setting and keeping a bedtime is a wonderful gift that you can give your child. Young children are recommended to get 10 hours of sleep for their little bodies to be fully rested. This will help him/her to be alert and ready to learn each day.
I am looking forward to a wonderful year working with you and your child! First Grade is a very important year of school. Many attitudes and values about school are developed during this time. I want to help make your child’s year of school a positive and successful experience. If at any time throughout the year you have a question or concern, please feel free to contact me.