Welcome to 1st Grade! I am excited about having your child in my class this year. I know that working together, we can have a great year! The following will information will help explain our class procedures and policies: FISH PHILOSOPHY (CLASS RULES) Yes, Something “fishy” is going on around Madisonville Elementary…. It’s the “Fish for Schools” Program! This wonderful character and community- building program is based on four basic principals: 1. Be there – be an active participant, not just a spectator; focus on the task at hand 2. Choose your attitude – as the old saying goes, “your attitude will determine your altitude” 3. Play – have fun at work, home, and school 4. Make their day – bring a little “sunshine” into someone else’s day We will be learning more about how these four principles can help us make every day a successful one! REWARDS Students will receive various things as rewards for positive behavior! Everything from encouragement and praise, to prizes and privileges! CONSEQUENCES •Control time- Students are asked to take a short break from our activities and return to their desk if they are having difficulty following our established rules. This is not time out, it’s Thinking Time. •Note Home- Parents will be notified of the significant and/or consistent poor behavior choices by a written note home. •Conference about choices- The time spent in class addressing misbehavior is time lost. A brief conference between student and teacher regarding behavior choices will occur. DAILY COMMUNICATION LOG I (they) will write his/her daily behavior grade on their daily communication log. Please initial it daily as well as discuss with them the “word of the day”. This will help your child discuss something special we did or learned about each day. *** Grades will be: Green = E Blue = S Yellow = S- Red = N (Parent letter will be sent home.) TAKE HOME FOLDERS Your child will bring home their Take Home Binder each school day. Please check this binder each evening and look for checked daily work, school newsletters, homework, miscellaneous community announcements, field trip permission notes, important notes from the PTA or the office. Please review and remove all necessary paper work ASAP (i.e. completed classwork) . This will help to keep your child organized and provide a better school/home connection. Homework should be returned in the front of their binder, as well as any information that needs to be returned to the office/class. (Any work, letters, or skill pages put on the rings in the binder should remain there.) HOMEWORK •Homework is a useful tool that helps your child review material we cover in class. •Worksheets, projects, learning games, etc. will be sent home as needed throughout the year. Please check over any written assignments your child completes at home for errors – it is a good way to see what we are learning and how well your child understands. ** Please sign all completed homework to show that it has been reviewed at home. READING In their Take Home binder, your child will bring home his/her reading information each night. This section will contain the unit reading vocabulary words as well as weekly stories. Please listen to your child’s reading each night and ask questions about what they have read. It is especially beneficial to review previous weeks’ reading assignments to build fluency. (This means select a previously studied group of work and listen to see how much they have retained and how smoothly they are reading aloud. ) V.I.P FOLDERS – Very Important Papers A VIP folder will be sent home every Tuesday (beginning in a few weeks). The papers in this folder are the ones that have been recorded in the grade book. Please review the papers, return them in the folder, and sign the cover sheet on the appropriate date. If you have any questions or concerns, please attach a note to the outside of the folder so that I will find it right away. V.I.P folders will not go home until the middle of the first nine weeks. GRADING POLICY- This will be discussed at Open House. CURRICULM RESOURCES Reading-We are reading from the McMillan McGraw-Hill reading book and using the St. Tammany Parish Guaranteed Curriculum. We will have reading practice every night Monday – Thursday. Language Arts- Our writing instruction is a program titled Write From the Beginning. It is a program the entire parish has adapted. Math-Our math source is the parish-written Guaranteed Curriculum, which includes Math Investigations. Our math book is published by Scott Foresman. We also use the program, Everyday Math Counts. ACCELERATED READER Accelerated Reader (AR) is an exciting computer program that enhances reading comprehension. A student will first select and read a book of his/her own choosing from our school or class library. After reading the selected book at least 3 times, the student will take a short comprehension test on the computer. Points are awarded for correct answers and the points are added to the student’s total score. BOOK ORDERS Book clubs such as Scholastic offer great books at low prices. In addition, our class receives “bonus points” for every dollar spent. These points are used to purchase books and materials for the classroom. When book orders are sent home, you will have several days to turn in your order. Book orders are always due on the Friday of the week it is given out. Please make your book order checks (NO CASH, please) payable to Madisonville Elem. Orders usually arrive 2 weeks after the class order has been mailed. BIRTHDAYS Invitations to a party can be given out at school only if all the students are invited. We can not give out addresses. If you want to send a treat for your child to share with classmates, please send cupcakes or individual snacks (please not whole cakes). Any drinks must be in individual containers. Please drop the items off at the office so we can get them when we are ready. PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES If at any time, you feel a conference would be beneficial, please call the office to schedule an appointment. Teachers do not schedule appointments; they must be made through the office. EXTRAS Literacy Learning Stations- Students are trained how to effectively work together as partners at designated learning stations. These stations are designed to be a “hands on – minds on” way of practicing skills that we are learning. Please ask your child to explain work station products that they bring home. Home Projects- Home projects are assignments that I send home with your child to complete as a family. They are often based around a theme in which we are learning, a special event, and/or an upcoming holiday. These projects are given with plenty of time to complete at home and then the students bring them in to share with their classmates. They are often displayed in the classroom and/or hallway and they are just a fun way for the family to work together on a project that represents the child's creative ideas. I have had lots of positive feedback from previous classes that have done these projects...I think you will enjoy them, too! Class,Teacher, and School Information You can look up school menus, the AR reading list, important dates and information, website links, plus pictures of our wonderful school and students! Our website is http://madisonvillleelmentary.stpsb.org. My email address is gina.penn@stpsb.org. I check my email at least once daily (usually more often). This is the easiest way of contacting me and I will respond to you as quickly as possible. Written notes from home will be answered the day that they are received. I'm looking forward to a very special year! Mrs. Penn