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Mrs. Phyllis Brady |
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Frequently Asked QuestionsFrequently Asked Questions: This page contains answers to common questions of students and parents.
What can I do to help my child this year in first grade? Take time each day to READ to your child and listen to them read to you as well. This may mean listening to them practice their sounds, word lists, or reading a story. Ask comprehension questions to see if they understand what they are reading. By LISTENING to them read, you are telling them that they are important to you. They will see how you fit this into your daily routine, and that reading is important to you, as well as Mrs. Brady. What a great message you will be sending to your child - you are proud of them and you want to help them succeed. Make this a daily routine and stick to it! You will be amazed at their progress as the year progresses, and when we have parent teacher conferences, there will be no surprises. You will already know what they can and cannot do. Please give LOTS of praise and encouragement in everything they do. REVIEW all papers coming home. If something is circled or says to fix and return, be sure it is done. I stress that it's okay to make mistakes, but that we need to learn from them. Please reinforce this at home. Thank you. Reviewing addition and subtraction MATH FLASH CARDS is another excellent way to help your child at home. If you don't already have them, purchase them. They are inexpensive, a great investment, and found everywhere. I've seen them at Target, Savon and Walmart. EMPTY OUT YOUR CHANGE and give it to your child to name, sort and count. They will learn the coin names and values, and will be asked to make different ways to show an amount. For example, if you ask them to show you coins that total 28 cents, they may put a quarter and 3 pennies in a pile, or 28 pennies, or 5 nickels and 3 pennies. There are many more ways, of course, but you get the idea. The BEST way to learn money is for you to "play store" with them. Take out some cans, macaroni boxes, or whatever you choose from your kitchen cabinets, and label them with a cost - maybe the can of peas will cost them 12 cents, and the box of macaroni will cost 24 cents. You get the idea. Then have them "buy" what they can with their money. Once they have that down, give them a certain amount of change, and see if they can tell you how many items they can buy with all their money, AND what the change will be. It's fun to do and can be a great family activity. The possibilities are endless. You can play this again and again, each time changing the rules. The important thing to remember is that they are getting the extra practice working with money. They can also practice with money when you're out in public. Help them to buy simple items at the grocery store. In time, they'll surprise you and won't need your help to count out and figure their change. What a special day that will be! Remember, true learning is by "doing." Let them make mistakes so they can learn from them. Be there for them, but don't do things for them that they are capable of doing on their own. They will grow up to become more independent and responsible children, and that is what I will help them with this year. Thank you ahead of time for your help in this area. They'll also learn how to tell TIME to the hour and half hour this year. I start simply by telling them that the little hand is called the hour hand and the big hand is called the minute hand. Once they grasp that concept, I teach them "o'clock," and that means that the minute hand is always pointing to to the 12. From there we go to the "half hour" or "30 minutes past the hour," and that means that the minute hand is always pointing to the 6. You can practice time by using a traditional round clock at home, or making a clock. Here is one way to make a clock. With a paper plate, punch a hole in the middle and insert 2 different size bobbypins through the hole. Slide the bobbypins to change the time. The longer bobbypin is the minute hand and shorter bobbypin is the hour hand. It works great! Using a CALENDAR is a skill they also will learn this year. Helping them learn the months of the year and the days of week will help speed the process. Being able to MEASURE something in both inches and centimeters is learned in first grade. Practicing at home with reinforcing which side of the ruler is inches, and which side is centimeters, will be very beneficial. There are many other concepts and skills that are taught in first grade. I ask that you review all of your child's papers that come home. If there is something they don't understand, sit with them and help them until they do. Always remember, YOU are your child's BEST teacher and true learning is by DOING. Have a great year and thank you for your support! I'm looking forward to us working as a great team this year. Will my question be posted here? I try to answer individual questions as they come up, but if a question is one that has a general appeal, I will post it here for everyone to see. Thank you. Your child's birthday will be recognized in school with a special crown to take home and coloring packet. If you would like to send in a nutritious snack like cut up fruit or a pencil, sticker, bottle of bubbles for all the children, that would be fine. NO cookies, cake or cupcakes! PLEASE READ THIS INFORMATION WE RECEIVED FROM THE DISTRICT OFFICE - HEALTH AND WELLNESS In anticipation of new administrative regulations for our new Health and Wellness Policy, there are a few changes you need to consider. Education Code only allows for two classroom parties with food for the entire year. As a result of the limitation, teachers will NOT be able to host birthday party celebrations with food. If you want to recognize your student�s birthday throughout the year, please speak with his/her teacher directly about appropriate alternatives for the classroom. Teachers will NOT be able to accept items dropped off without prior permission. Thank you for helping to promote healthy and positive environment for our students. Healthy bodies = Healthy minds. Does my child need to bring any supplies to school? We will provide a pencil, eraser, box of crayons, paper, scissors, ruler and books. If you would like to send a SMALL box of markers or colored pencils with your child, please be sure to LABEL the box. I have individual pencil boxes for them to keep all their supplies in. What happens if my child loses a jacket, lunchbox or backpack in school? There is a Lost and Found at school where things go if found. It is usually just outside the media center in the inside of the school. PLEASE LABEL ALL JACKETS, BACKPACKS AND LUNCHBOXES. It makes it easier to identify things both in and out of the classroom. Thank you! Please see the Homework section of this website for a summary. First grade goes on a few field trips during the year, but we don't schedule them until school starts. Below is a list of some field trips we've gone on in past years. In October, we go to Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center to learn about planting pumpkins, go on a hayride, see farm animals, run through a corn maze and pick out a pumpkin to take home. It's a wonderful experience for the children! After Christmas, we begin writing to our penpals in Ms. Lorek's second grade class at Nichols Elementary in Oceanside. In May, we go to the Dove Library for the Public Works Fair where the children walk through many informational booths and climb in and out of public works machinery. We always have a wonderful time and come back with a bag FULL of all sorts of free items. In early June we'll spend the day at Ms. Lorek's second grade class at Nichols Elementary in Oceanside. The children really enjoy this time and look forward to it all year long! The last Tuesday of the school year we'll walk up to Calaveras Park at 11:30, enjoy lunch and then rotate through some class activities. Will my child be rotating to other first grade rooms during the year? Once I have completed my assessments early in September, I will meet with the other first grade teachers and collectively we'll place all the first graders in the best possible leveled reading group. Each group is 30 minutes. This means, of course, that your child may or may not have me for their primary reading teacher. If they don't, then for 30 minutes on reading days your child will go to another room to meet with their reading teacher for instruction. As the year progresses, your child may move from one group to another. It all depends on their progress. The first grade teachers meet each Thursday afternoon to collaborate. If a change needs to be made, that's when it will be discussed. Rest assured that we am always looking out for the best interest of our first graders. The whole first grade curiculum we have in place here at Hope is very educational for our first graders. We all feel very happy to be working with such dedicated and cooperative teachers. Are there any add'l Math websites to help me with my older child's homework? Yes, try: The Math Forum: http://forum.swarthmore.edu/ Eisenhower Nat'l Clearinghouse for Math/Science Ed.: http://enc.org/inde.htm http://www.ams.org/ for news and resources, and http://www.math.com/ for lessons, games, homework help and quizzes. Also, check out the other websites I've listed in the Website Links link. Have a wonderful day, and thanks for checking out my website! Answer #10 (blank) |
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