Dear Parents,
Welcome to Fulbright Elementary. I am so excited to have your child in my class in first grade this year. This year is going to be full of exciting experiences for everyone. I know that together we can provide your child with the knowledge, independence, and self-confidence that he/she will need to prepare for experiences that they will encounter in the future.
Many new things happen in first grade. It is really a big transition for children to move from Kindergarten to First Grade. Many parents and children may have some apprehensions about what will happen in first grade. Sometimes it takes children three or four weeks to adjust to the new learning environment and new routines. PLEASE be patient with us while we are adjusting. My goal is for your child to be comfortable with me and their new learning environment so that we can make this a very positive year for you and your child for their future growth.
It is very important that we work together and maintain a close relationship concerning your child. Please contact me at 447-4718 to discuss any problems your child might be having. The home and school environment work hand in hand, so let's keep communication open.
Web Site
Fulbright Elementary has it's own web site! To link to our site go to www.fulbrightelem.org. There you will find information about our school and "OUR" classroom. You will also find links to the first grade curriculum, supply list, classroom schedule, classroom rules, homework, spelling, reading and writing, independent strategies, twelve tips for reading, monthly themes, vowel songs, money poems, wish lists, supplies we need, poems, and helpful hints. If you need to contact me PLEASE call 447-4718 and leave a voice mail. I WILL call you back!!! My e-mail address is Beverly.westlake@lrsd.org.Westlake@lrsd.org
I will be keeping in touch with you by e-mail. E-Mails will include newsletters, reminders, and information that will keep you updated on our classroom activities. PLEASE notify me if your e-mail address changes at anytime during the school year. If you do not have a computer and access to the internet I will send home a hard copy.
Learning Environment
Our learning environment is a place where children will be engaged in collaborative activities with other individuals, peers, and adults. The activities are socially, emotionally, physically, and developmentally age appropriate. Emphasis will be placed on problem solving, decision making, independent and creative thinking and writing, plus opportunities for concrete, real, and practical experiences.
So much happens from the beginning of first grade until the end. I enjoy teaching, guiding, and watching your child become a successful first grader. I feel children gain strength through praise of their accomplishments. By praising your child and having a positive learning environment I hope to build good self esteem and a great foundation for learning. Maintaining each child's self-esteem and building a secure foundation for future growth will always be a main priority in "OUR" classroom.
STAR BEHAVIOR
My goal is to maintain a positive climate so that learning will occur. The children are expected to follow the rules of our classroom and building. The children are taught the rules, rewards, and consequences. Each child is responsible for their own actions and behavior. Each day every child begins with a fresh start on their green crayon.
Green--Star student
Yellow--Warning
Orange--2nd warning
Red--Behavior Document
An administrative visit may be required depending on the severity of the offense. If problems continue to arise after the document it will result in a parent/teacher/administrative conference. I ALWAYS try to catch your child being good and praise them! It always gets GREAT results!!!
Parent Teacher Folder
Everyday your child will bring home his/her yellow folder. I can not stress enough how important the folder will be for all of us. PLEASE check the folder EVERY night for homework, notes, book orders, graded papers, newsletters or other important information. Please keep all papers at home and return the folder daily so that your child has a way to organize the things they will be bringing home everyday!!! . All homework MUST be returned every Monday to get credit! Homework MUST include child's name, all work completed and colored, and a parent signature. Your child must take their yellow folder home EVERYDAY and bring it to school EVERY morning. I DO NOT go through their yellow folders. It is your child's responsibility to put there things where they belong.
Curriculum
On the first grade home page you can view the curriculum by accessing the link. The curriculum is very extensive. This is a great way for you to become familiar with what we will be working on in our classroom. We will be focusing on reading, writing, language arts, spelling, math, science, and social studies. We will be writing in all subject areas.
Spend 'quality" time with your child Read with and to them daily. Your child should read to you every night for at LEAST 20 minutes!!! Ask them to re-tell the story or write about it. Review the ABC chart and blend chart daily. This will help your child hear the individual sound of the letters. Ask them to tell you at least one thing they learned during the school day. Review the parent-teacher folder and discuss the contents.
I hope the information in this handbook will give you a better understanding of "OUR" classroom and procedures. I hope it will help you with any questions concerning "OUR" classroom. I will go over the rules and star behavior with the students, but I ask that you go over them with your child. I am looking forward to having a GREAT year with you and your child in first grade at Fulbright!
Parent Teacher Folder
Everyday your child will bring home his/her yellow folder. I can not stress enough how important the folder will be for all of us. PLEASE check the folder EVERY night for homework, notes, book orders, graded papers, newsletters or other important information. Please keep all papers at home and return the folder daily so that your child has a way to organize the things they will be bringing home everyday!!! . All homework MUST be returned the very next day to get credit! Homework MUST include child's name, all work completed and colored, and a parent signature. Your child must take their yellow folder home EVERYDAY and bring it to school EVERY morning.
Guided Reading
Guided reading is a small group approach to teaching reading that allows the child to take control of the first reading of the text. During guided reading children will be working with me in small groups learning strategies to use while reading. We will be working on letters, sounds, comprehension, word work, dictionary skills , (ABC order) and sentence structure. It helps the child to understand that reading is about constructing meaning (comprehension) from a written text. Children do not have to know all the letters or sounds before they can read. This approach provides opportunities for me to meet the diverse needs of the children in the classroom, by grouping children with similar strengths and needs together.
Teacher Newsletters
On a regular basis I will send home and e-mail you a newsletter describing the themes, activities, and events going on in the classroom. Please read over this information with your child. This will allow them to share with you what is happening in "OUR" classroom. We really do have a lot of fun learning!
Student Arrival/Attendance
It is very important for our class to follow a routine.
Students will be able to enter the classroom at 7:35. If they arrive before 7:35 they must sit in the hallway and are supervised by an aide. The tardy bell rings at 7:40. Information on the tardy policy will be sent home. Please make every effort to have your child to school on time. This is very important to the learning environment. We begin our day with journal writing everyday at 7:35. Circle time follows at 8:00. Circle time is a wonderful time where skills will be reviewed and new skills introduced and modeled. Activities and skills include: ABC chart, calendar, calendar math, poetry, consonants, long and short vowels, listening to a read aloud, number chart, counting by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's, money and patterns. Following circle time we will begin OUR literacy groups for the day. If your child arrives after 7:40 they must obtain a tardy slip at the office before coming to the room.
Tardiness must be kept to a minimum. Tardiness WILL prevent your child from earning perfect attendance. Instruction in the classroom is hard to make up. I do understand that sometimes an absence is necessary. All make-up work will be placed in your child's mailbox for your child to take home the first day they return to school. If it is a planned absence I request that you obtain the work when your child returns. PLEASE return ALL make-up work within 3 days.
Daily Procedures
When you are sending money to school, (including lunch money) PLEASE place it in an envelope with your child's name along with the purpose of the money listed on the front, and how much money is in the envelope. Also, PLEASE put my name on the envelope just in case it gets lost! This is all to ensure that it will get credited correctly.
Lunch Money
When you are sending money to school, (including lunch money) please place it in an envelope with your child's name along with the purpose of the money listed on the front, and how much money is in the envelope. Also, PLEASE put my name on the envelope just in case it gets lost! This is to ensure that it will get credited correctly. I encourage you to pay in advance for several lunches. This will help insure that your child will not have to borrow money from the office. The office is limited on funds and you may be called to bring money to school.
Scholastic Book Orders
Throughout the year I will send home book orders for your child. If you choose to order you will go on line to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. The USER NAME is Westlakesclass and the PASSWORD is crayola. All orders should be submitted on-line. You will need to get on-line and submit the order NO LATER THAN THE 15th of each month!!! The September order will be due September 15th!!! This is a GREAT way to build your child's personal library. Our class earns points for the books you order. This is how I build the classroom library for the children. PLEASE use your debit or credit card when ordering. Our class earns one free books for each order!!!!! PLEASE DO NOT send orders to school!!!
Supplies
It is very important to your child's learning
that they have the proper supplies in order to
complete their assignments at school. Please
make sure that your child has what they need at
all times. Our supplies are consumable, and they
have to be replaced. I will try to send a
note home if I notice that they need supplies.
Please ask your child every week if they need
new crayons, glue, or “J” tablets.
They must have these items to do their work.
Our school supply cart comes to our room every morning and is stocked with the basic supplies. You may send money for your child to purchase the items that they need. PLEASE look at the additional classroom supply list for our classroom. We also need those items as soon as possible. Remember to put it in an envelope with your child’s name and the items to be purchased should be written on the outside of the envelope.
Visitors
All visitors entering the building
should report to the office before coming to the
classroom. You will be given a visitor tag to
wear while in the building. This is for
the safety and security of all children and
staff in our building. Visitors are asked not to
interfere with the teaching process, nor to
request a conference while the students are in
the classroom. You may visit our classroom
at any time.
Conferences
The district schedules conference days per year. A few weeks before conference day I will send home a note with your scheduled time. If at anytime during the year you would like to have an additional conference, please contact me at 447-4718 to plan a time. If I am teaching I will not be able to answer the phone, but please leave me a message and I will call you back as soon as possible.
Spelling Tests
A spelling word list will be given to your child on Monday or the first day of the school week. Spelling tests will NOT be given during weeks that have fewer than four days. PLEASE keep the word list at home to study. The children need to study their spelling words every night.
Weekly Dictation Sentences
The dictation sentences will be found on the back of the spelling word list that comes home on Monday or the first day of the school week. There will be two sentences each week. The children will receive two grades, one for the spelling test and one for the dictation sentences.
Homework
Handwriting
During first grade your child will be using manuscript handwriting. Please refer to the page in my handbook for correct letter formation and movement patterns. PLEASE use this when assisting your child with writing at home. Writing is a large part of the first grade curriculum. It is VERY important that the children learn the correct letter formation, proper spacing, and writing within the correct lines on the paper.
Math Facts
Basic addition and subtraction facts are an important skill in first grade. It is the basic foundation for math. If your child does not their math facts they will have a difficult time with other math skills. PLEASE practice math facts (flash cards) EVERYDAY. This takes a lot of extra practice to master. Every child in our class will do Math Flash on the computer EVERY day!!! Your child will have a math facts test EVERY week.
Accelerated Reader
We have the Accelerated Reader program at Fulbright. This is a reading program that encourages your child to read a book and then take a test on it. The tests are on the computers throughout the school. If your child takes a test and answers 60% or more of the questions correctly they will receive points based on the length of the book and its reading level. Your child needs to score 80% or above to promote good comprehension.
The children are "Star" tested in the library at the beginning of the year to determine their "independent" AR reading level. All of the tests are done "independently". They will be retested after the first of the year and again at the end of the year to see how much progress they have made.
You will find all of the tests listed by title, author, and book level on the library part of the Fulbright web site.
The
AR program is NOT part of your child's grade in
reading.
It
is a fun program to encourage reading.
Children will begin doing AR a few at a time
when I determine that they are ready.
Not
all children are able to begin this program at
the same time.
PLEASE be patient and just let your child love
books and love reading.
Read to your child EVERYDAY!!!
Let
your child read to you EVERYDAY!!!
Have fun with books, but most of all enjoy your
time together!!!
Each nine weeks the children who have earned
points and have a 80% average or above will get
to go to “The AR Store” and spend their points.
Some of the children in first grade WILL get to
go to the AR store
the
first nine weeks of school.
An
Accelerated Reader award will be given at the
end of the year. This is a GREAT way to motivate
your child to read.
PTA
Please join
PTA and be involved in the many activities that
we provide for our children. Our PTA
does many GREAT things for our school, children,
and teachers. Our goal is to have 100% of
the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.
join PTA for our class.
I
would love to see you involved in our school!
We
have many GREAT things to offer, but we could
not do the things we do without all of our
WONDERFUL parents! PLEASE JOIN!!
On the first grade home page you can view the curriculum by clicking the link. The curriculum is very extensive. In first grade we do not give letter grades. The remainder of the curriculum is a checklist based on mastery of the standards. They will receive numbers based on mastery. In Science, Social Studies they will receive numbers and in Art, Music, And PE they will receive either an S or an N. Many of our Science and Social Studies grades are derived from the units that we are studying. Writing is VERY important and will be used in all subject areas.
Spend "quality" time with your child. Read with or to them daily. Your child Should read to you every night for at LEAST 20 minutes!!! Ask them to "re-tell" the story or write about it. Review the ABC chart and blend chart daily. This will help your child hear the individual sound of the letters. Ask them to tell you at least one thing they learned during the school day. Review the parent teacher folder and discuss the contents.
I hope the information in this handbook will give you a better understanding of "OUR" classroom and procedures. I hope it will help you with any questions concerning "OUR" classroom. I will go over the rules and star behavior with the students, but I ask that you go over them with your child. I am looking forward to having a GREAT year with you and your child in first grade at Fulbright!
Sincerely,
Beverly Westlake
Contact information:
447-4700 Fulbright
447-4718 Mrs. Westlake's voice mail
www.fulbrightelem.org--school web site
beverly.westlake@lrsd.org: school e-mail
I check my voice mail in the morning, afternoon, or when I see the "RED" light on!
We want to have fun and learn at school. When children wear jewelry or bring toys and cards to school this seems to interfere with the learning process. Their time and energy is then focused in the wrong area. PLEASE be aware of what your child is leaving home with!!! DO NOT send toys and cards in their backpacks.
Also, I have really SEVERE ALLERGIES and I kindly ask that you refrain from letting your child wear cologne or perfume to school!!!
Thanks a million!!!
Beverly Westlake
