I am pleased to have your child in my class this year. Your child’s education is an interest we share. I look forward to a rewarding and interesting school year. I have over 30 years of teaching experience, and have taught grade one or kindergarten for the last several years. Our room number is 104 and the students enter and exit through the outside classroom door. The first bell rings at 8:30 with instruction beginning at 8:35. Lunch is from 11:48-12:33 and dismissal is at 2:33. It is important to have your child at school on time each day and make sure he/she is picked up on time after school.
At Dogwood, we use folder style planners for children this age. This is where I will place a monthly up-date each month outlining both school-wide and classroom activities along with any other notices for the day. The planner is also where your child will be placing his Home Reading books to travel back and forth to school. I will send a separate notice about the Home Reading program in the next few days. Your child will require a backpack large enough to hold the planner as well as a separate, re-useable, lunch bag to keep food away from the books.
During the first weeks of school it is common for children to have difficulty eating their whole lunch with the excitement of eating with their friends and the thought of getting out to play. I will ask the children to try to eat their entire lunch and not throw food away. Anything that they cannot possibly eat will be put back in their lunch bag so that you will know exactly what was eaten. I will not permit them to trade or give away food. There is no time limit on eating, but I will encourage them to eat their lunch in 15 or 20 minutes. While they are eating, they are supervised by two lunch monitors from grades six and seven. When they are finished eating, they will go outside to play and will be supervised by the supervisory aides. It is appreciated if your child has their lunch with them when they come to school, as we choose a healthy snack (fruit) from their lunch to eat at recess. If you send a piece of fruit in their lunch, I will do my best to have them eat it for their recess snack. This year our school has adopted a “litterless lunch and snack” program. This is a Surrey School District initiative designed to reduce waste in our landfills and to reduce costs related to garbage removal from schools. Please pack your child’s food in re-useable containers. Any wrappers you do send, will be placed back in your child’s lunch bag. I would prefer that children not bring pop, chips or candy to school for their lunch or snack. Gum is also not allowed at school. If you would like to take your child home for lunch, please sign them out at the office.
We love technology at Dogwood. Check into this class website/blog as I will update it daily. There is also a link to my class page on the Dogwood School page. Your child will have access to computers and iPads at school and I also have a Smartboard in the room. We are also part of a pilot for the Fresh Grade program where a digital portfolio is created for each child. This is new to me this year so I am excited to get started. Please be sure to sign and return the Technology Access form and Media Release form so that your child can be included in the many tech opportunities at school.
Sharing is part of our daily routine each morning. Children are encouraged to share a newsworthy story or one special object from home. I will be using reusable “sharing bags” to take turns. When your child brings home the empty “sharing bag”, that means that the next school day he/she may bring one object from home to show and tell about.
This year fine arts will be taught by Mrs. Mitchell two times per week. We will be going to the gym two times per week as well as the Action Room two times per week. Your child will need a labeled pair of clean running shoes they can put on themselves for in-school use. These shoes are to be kept at school and are worn for gym and when the children wear boots to school. Many of you have already sent in your child’s school supplies and the $5 planner fee. If you haven’t done so yet, please send those in as soon as possible. I will keep their extra pencils and notebooks and pull them out as needed. One additional project I like to do is a class t-shirt. A separate notice will be coming home soon about the t-shirts and the cost. Our class will have Music on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and we will visit the school library on Fridays. We have several field studies planned throughout the year and will often require the assistance of volunteer parent drivers. If you think you may be driving on any of our trips, please fill out the volunteer driver form and send it to school along with a photocopy of your driver’s license and insurance as soon as possible. These forms will be kept on file at the office so that a new form does not need to filled out for every trip.
Part of my language arts program is an individualized reading and writing time in which the children will be drafting their own stories and publishing their own books on the computer, Alphasmart, iPad, Smartboard or manual typewriter. To enable me to implement this program I will require the assistance of parent volunteers to help with editing, typing, etc. If you are able to assist in this way or in some other way, please fill out the parent volunteer form sent home on Thursday and return it to school.