1. Welcome to First Grade! 2011-2012

2. First Grade Teachers Francisca Serna Michelle Orobitg-Baca Audrey Colwell Donna Gregg Amanda Smolinski Kaelan Brown Sheryl Hernandez Nan Neale

3. First Grade is designed to… *Stimulate a good self image *Transition from emergent to authentic and fluent reading *Provide opportunities to increase phonological awareness and comprehension strategies *Develop writing skills *Provide opportunities for independent and cooperative group activities *Develop math concepts that students will use for life *Develop problem-solving abilities *Provide opportunities to think and reason mathematically *Develop an understanding about the world around them *Develop self-directed, independent learners In it...TOGETHER!!

4. Recess 10:15-10:45 Please check the weather each day and help your child dress appropriately. If the temperature is too hot or cold according to district guidelines, or it ’s raining, we will have indoor recess.

5. Lunch Time 10:45-11:15 Mrs. Gregg, Ms. Neale, Ms. Serna, Mrs. Smolinski 11:00-11:30 Mrs. Colwell, Mrs. Orobitg-Baca, Mrs. Hernandez, Mrs. Brown -15 min. eat time, 15 min. talk time -Parents are welcome Sign-in at the office & meet us in the cafeteria

6. NO FOOD is allowed for birthday celebration. You can bring a special prize such as pencils. We will have 3 parties this year: a winter holiday party, a Valentine ’s Day party, and an end of year party on the last day of school!

7. Snack & healthy food choices Please make sure your child has a good breakfast. It ’s a long time from the time school starts at 8:00am to our lunch time at 11:00am. Please make sure your child has a healthy lunch. Eating or drinking a lot of sugar at breakfast or lunch, can inhibit quality learning at school. We will have a quick snack time each afternoon. Please make sure the snack is healthy and “kid-friendly” and “classroom friendly.” Spills bring bugs! NO PEANUTS! Only water bottles in class please, no juice.

8. Art PE Music Specials 12:00-12:50 Please make sure your child is wearing appropriate shoes on PE days.

10. Reading Expectations -Comprehension: Monitoring own comprehension and using strategies when comprehension breaks down -Print Awareness -Phonological Awareness: blending sounds and manipulating sounds -Use letter-sounds knowledge to decode words -fluency -using a variety of strategies to figure out new words independently -vocabulary development -Dibels and DRA are used for assessments -Daily 5/contracts – independent & guided reading

11. Book Binders Tools to communicate/ tools for reference– reading strategies, letter sounds, poems Carries level readers for practice Please make sure your child takes care of the books and the binder! Reading anything in the book binder counts towards 30 minutes of reading.

12. Writing Expectations-Writer ’s Workshop -compose complete sentences in written texts and use the appropriate end punctuation -write to record ideas and reflections and to communicate with a variety of audiences in a variety of forms -Use Writing Process: generate drafts on self-selected topics and revise and edit own stories -increase control of penmanship: improve handwriting -use resources to find correct spelling for writing in final drafts

15. WOLF PACK FOLDER What is it? It is a folder, put together by the teacher, that houses EVERYTHING the students and parents need to keep up with what is going on at school. You will find notes from the teacher, newsletters, homework, and calendars. Everything is in this one notebook! Why is it important to have? This folder helps students to establish good organizational skills early in their school career – skills that will carry on throughout their time in school. It also provides a tool for communication between school and home.

18. All teachers have district initiated websites. To find the website, start at the MISD homepage. Click on Parents. Click on Teacher Websites. Choose Slaughter and then your child ’s teacher’s name.