The room is ready...the books are out...everyone has a pencil pouch full of crayons, scissors, glue and a brand new pencil...and I have lots of things planned for our first week! This is going to be a great year full of learning, friendship and laughter.
This post will be long so go ahead and get comfortable.
For the first day you may walk your child down to our classroom. Feel free to come into the classroom and take the pictures you need for your scrapbook. Then please leave quickly and quietly. The PTA invites you to Kleenex and Coffee at 8:10 in the library.
Starting the second day of school, you will drop your child off at the front of the school. There will be plenty of staff members available to make sure our classmates find Room 115. Children may enter the classroom between 7:50-8:10. Teachers are on duty in the lunchroom for children who are dropped off early between 7:30-7:50. Children are not allowed in the building before 7:30 a.m. .
There is a packet of information for each parent on the rice table (on your right as you immediately enter the classroom). Grab one on the way out as you leave Monday. There is a lot of information that is necessary and you may find it easier to fill out with peace and quiet. If you do not pick up your packet then I will send it home in your child's book bag on Monday afternoon. Please return the signed information in a prompt manner. I know there is a LOT of paperwork but each page is necessary. There is a handy "cheat sheet" inside the packet to make sure you have returned everything that is needed.
For this week only, you do not need to send a snack to school or money to purchase a snack. Volunteers have signed up to provide snacks for the entire class. I will send home a reminder if you volunteered to send snacks/juice.
You will get a lunch menu (it is found on the back of the PTA newsletter) on Monday. Monday for lunch the school is serving: Pizza or a Chicken Salad Wrap with roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, a salad and milk. Lunch is $1.60. You can pay by the week or write a check for any amount. The lunchroom will send home a note when your child's account is getting low. You can also purchase a carton of milk by itself to accompany a lunch brought from home. Last year, the price of a carton of milk was $.35. I'm unsure if there is an increase in price.
Be sure to send your child's white notebook to school everyday and check it every evening. You will find a reading chart inside the notebook on Monday. MPS requires that each child read or be read to for 20 minutes; five days a week. Sign the reading chart nightly. You will learn that I am passionate about helping children learn to love reading. Reading to your child for 20 minutes a day is the single most important thing you can do to help your child succeed.
Please DO NOT skip reading out loud to your child! Contact me if you have any questions about this.
On Tuesday, I will send home a reading information sheet for the first nine weeks of instruction. This sheet will have the order of introduced alphabet letters and the weekly sight words. Keep this sheet in a safe place so that you are able to refer to it often.
The MPS email system sends almost every personal email to my SPAM folder. I will check my SPAM summary daily to allow your emails. If you have not received a response from me within twelve hours, please resend your email. I try to be very prompt at responding. I am unable to check my personal email address at school.
Our classroom can get chilly at times. You may send a sweater or a Blount sweatshirt/fleece to school. Please label everything that comes to school. Make sure you understand the dress code. The Blount t-shirts can be worn on Fridays with jeans or regular uniform bottoms. Belts are not required in Kindergarten.
Every Friday your child will be bringing home a poetry notebook. There is a letter on the inside cover about the poetry journal. Return the poetry notebook on Monday so that your child can get a new poem. Poetry notebooks come home every Friday.
We will be eating lunch from 10:40-11:05. Please give us TWO weeks before joining us for lunch. I use the first two weeks of school for the children to learn the expectations of the lunchroom without any distractions. You may join us for lunch any day starting Tuesday, September 6.
The Shelfari (found on the right side of the blog) will highlight several of the books I'll be using in the classroom each week. This tool will be helpful to you if your child comes home and talks about a certain book. I will be reading a variety of books to your child this year. Our classroom is a very joyful environment because of the all places we go and the things we learn about in books.
I will send home book orders on Friday.
Book orders are optional. They are an inexpensive way to build up your child's home library. If you choose to order from more than one form, you may write one check payable to Scholastic. Book orders and payment are due on Friday, September 2. The turnaround time for book orders is seven to ten days.
We will have a fire drill and tornado drill in the next two weeks. For tornado drills, we get into position in the hallway outside our classroom door. For fire drills, we exit the building near where the buses arrive and depart.
Our specialist time is 1:25-2:00. We use a three week rotation between PE, Art/Music, and Computers. Our first rotation is PE. You will find a small pink sheet of paper in Monday's information for you to notify the coach of any health information about your child.
What a tremendous turnout for Meet and Greet last Wednesday. Thank you so much for visiting our classroom and seeing where your child will spend his/her weekdays. We had an overwhelming amount of parents that want to help out with being a room parent.
I need two parents who love to plan, organize and delegate to others how to make special events in our classroom successful. If you volunteer to be the room parent, you will not have to do it alone. There are lots of parents willing to help. Email me if you are interested in being in charge. Thank you so much for supporting the learning in Room 115!
There is information about the PTA found in Monday's packet. I encourage you to join the PTA. The State of Alabama has not given teachers money for supplies or curriculum for the past three years. The Blount PTA is supporting our school during these economic decisions. They do an excellent job of making sure the classrooms have what is needed. Thank you for supporting our school. Be sure to check out their "Just Give" campaign which will result in ZERO fundraisers if our goal is met.
I do not send home a daily conduct report. In the next several weeks, our class will be learning the expectations of the school and our classroom. We will have time to practice and practice the expectations. I will contact you with any problems or concerns. In other words...no news is good news.
The key to surviving carpool is PATIENCE. The first two weeks are rough for all involved but the system does work. Just keep repeating: this will get better OR this too shall pass. To help make things quicker, place a sign in your car on the driver's side with your child's first and last name.
If your child is riding a bus, then place a card in your child's back pack with his/her address and neighborhood. We have volunteers who assist in making sure our "kinders" get on the correct bus.
When you return the blue transportation sheet that I gave you at Meet and Greet that is how your child will go home in the afternoons unless you put it in writing. I CANNOT accept the word of your child in changing modes of transportation.
Get in the habit of checking this blog every weekend. I will update the blog only on weekends. Any information that becomes available in the middle of the week will be conveyed through emails to the parents of Room 115.
There seems to have been three different supply lists floating around. I'm sorry for any confusion. It appears that Walmart had lists from last year. Please make sure you purchased:
a box of water color paints
a set of headphones for your child to use at computers
Please send these items by the week of September 6.
To help make sure all money gets to the appropriate accounts, always label all money in separate envelopes.
Thank you so much for trusting me with your greatest treasure. As a parent, I know the importance of a teacher in a child's world. Please know that my desire and goal is for your child to love school. I appreciate the emails, encouraging words and information you have already provided me about your child. This is going to be a fantastic school year. Contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. I will have a hard time sleeping on Sunday evening because of the excitement of working with the children who make up Room 115! I'll be looking for you on Monday!
Upcoming Events:
August 22: Coffee and Kleenex at 8:10 in the library
August 22-October 7: PTA membership drive
August 31: Box Tops collection
September 2: Book orders due (optional)
September 5: Labor Day (No school)
September 6: Back to School Bash
(grades 2-5) and Open House
(grades 2-5)
September 7: Spirit Night at Applebees on Taylor Road
September 13: Room 115's Small Group Meetings at 4:30, 5:45 or 7:00 (pick one to attend)
September 13: Spirit Night at Jason's Deli
September 20: Spirit Night at Burger King on Chantilly
September 28: Nancy's Italian Ice
