Week 1 of First Grade = AMAZING!

We have had an amazing first week of school!! The children have done an excellent job listening and following directions.  They have adjusted so well to our schedule and I know we are going to have a super year!! It has been a joy to get to know each sweet little personality!

Look at our sweet class!!

Now for the “silly” picture !

I hope you received the letter telling about our small group conferences that we will be having on Tuesday and Thursday of this week.  The First Grade Team feels that this is the best way to explain to you how we do things in our classroom, what the  expectations are , and give you a glimpse of what our day is like.  We will also cover in detail the curriculum your children will be learning.  This is an informal meeting that I hope will answer questions you may have or at least clarify some things for you.  We do hope you can attend one of the meetings.  There is no need to come to both, they will cover the same things.  On Tuesday we will meet in Room 123 at 4:00.  We will begin on time and we will finish on time. Please remember that this meeting time is for parents only. On Thursday we will meet at 5:30 in Room 123.  If for some reason your schedule does not allow you to attend either one of the meetings, please let me know so we can work something out where I can share with you the important things that need to happen for your sweet little firstie to have the best. school. year. ever!!!!

This week we will continue to practice staying on our schedule.  However tomorrow our class will be somewhat off our schedule.  I am a member of the DIBELS Testing Team.   Three times a year I am pulled from my  classroom to do some testing on the children at Blount. While it breaks my heart to share my precious babies with the other first grade teachers, I will divide them up and they will spend part of their day in another first grade class while I am testing.  HOWEVER…..rest assured my First Grade Team is the.bomb.  They are wonderful in every sense of the word. I can promise you your little angel baby will be well taken care of! We will basically begin our typical Monday on Tuesday with the exception that I will be taking up all mail Monday morning. (notes, money – LABELED & what it is for). Remember that if your child’s transportation in the afternoon changes I must have a written note from a parent! Thank you for your help and understanding as we try and keep everyone safe!

READING

We are still in the process at looking at our Reading Data and placing children in the appropriate groups for Reading. This week we will model what our Reading stations should look and sound like. We will go through several “pretend” groups. 

MATH

Our math each day starts with calendar math. There are so many skill and concepts that are taught from this 20-30 daily lesson. I spent several day last week modeling what the children would be doing in their Calendar Math notebook. They will receive their own notebook to record the data after Labor Day.  We will also be talking about Beginning Number Concepts. 

LANGUAGE

Last week the children simply copied sentences,letters, or words that I called our and then printed on the board. We learned that a sentence is a complete thought, all sentences begin with a capital letter, and all telling sentences end in a period. Monday the children will begin editing my sentences. I will leave off the capital letter at the beginning and they will have to copy the sentence correctly. DOL (daily oral language)  is written on a sheet of lined first grade paper. We will usually have two sentences and the word wall words for the week. Please check this page each day when it comes home. They will make corrections but I will not allow them to erase their mistakes so you can see what they need help with. We will do this each morning.  On Friday we do the exact same thing we have been doing all week except it doesn’t come home.  We keep Friday’s for a daily grade in Language.

Word Wall Words

Start practicing word wall words each week. If your child already knows how to read the words for the week make sure they can spell them too. We will practice them each day during reading and DOL. Some days they may simply copy the words. Other days they may have to unscramble them or put them in alphabetical order.

Science/Social Studies

We will cover science and social studies in class. I am really excited about all the things we are going to cover this year in Science and Social Studies.  We already have several guest speakers lined up to come and talk to us.  If you know of anyone or if you yourself have a job that would interest the children and you would be will to share it with us, please let us know and we can look into the possibility of having some of our very own AVIATOR moms and dads share with us!!

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Reminders

• Please make sure all learning supplies are sent to school by Tuesday.
• Scrapbook pages are due Wednesday! Can’t wait to see them!!!!
• Please join the PTA! We want our class to have 100% membership!!
• If at all possible, donate to Just Give. You can send two separate payments.
• Don't forget to check my blog for updates.
• HAVE A GREAT WEEK :)

I would like to thank everyone who has joined the PTA and participated in the Just Give program! I know it is sometimes hard to come up with extra money right now, but it is so important to support our school!  I am very thankful to be part of the Blount Family! We are truly blessed!!

A few words from our AH-MAZING PTA!!!!!!!

Spirit Nights

This year we have scheduled Spirit Nights at four area restaurants. Each spirit night will occur on the same night each month. PTA receives 10 to 15 percent of all sales. The schedule is as follows: Applebee's (1st Weds), Jason's Deli (2nd Tues), Burger King - Chantilly Pkwy (3rd Tues) and Nancy's Italian Ice (4th Weds) of every month throughout the school year. (I sure hope to see some of my sweet firsties at these yummy events!!)

Just Give
If it's successful we will not have any fundraisers for the rest of the year. We've asked for $65/student...which is a small price to pay for the great education the students are receiving at Blount Elementary. Detailed information may be found on the PTA web site at www.blountpta.org.

Back to School Bash, Open House and PTA Budget Approval

We have had a lot of feedback from parents about consolidating the number of nights we ask them to come up to school during the first month of school. So we have combined our usual Volunteer Round Up with Open House Night to achieve this goal. We are also going to host a Back to School Bash as a way to publicize the Fall Festival and get our parents excited. Here are some details:

-from 5-7 p.m. we will have two inflatables for the kids to enjoy

-from 5-8 p.m. we will have food vendors on hand where parents, teachers and staff can buy treats and dinner. So far we have Jim & Nicks, the Great American Cookie Co. and Nancy’s Italian Ice scheduled to come.

-at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria we will have a QUICK PTA Budget Approval Vote. It WILL NOT be an all-out PTA meeting; it will JUST be a budget vote. We are not going to do the attendance contest at this gathering like we did at last year’s PTA meetings because it is NOT a full meeting.

Fall Festival

October 20 (rain date October 27) at Thompson Park (adjacent from Blount Elementary) from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wristbands are being pre-sold for $10 for students and $1 for parents. The price at the gate will be $15 for students and $2 for adults. Also available is the Fall Festival T-Shirt - youth sizes in fall orange are $10 and adult sizes (S-XL) in chocolate brown are also $10. T-shirt orders MUST be turned into the office by close of business on Oct.1. We will not be able to accept an order after that time. If you have any questions about Fall Festival, Back to School Bash and/or Just Give please feel free to contact Jeannine at fundraising@blountpta.org (Visit our Facebook page - Blount Fall Festival)

WOW! Blount PTA is the.very.best. I am so proud to work at a school where everyone cares and works together to make EVERY event we do the best! Thank you PTA! Your Blount Teachers LOVE you!

Welcome to a new school year!

I am so excited and cannot wait to see all my sweet new little firsties in the morning! I have everything ready and waiting…..books, crayons, pencil pouches, cubbies, notebooks and most of all LOTS of fun learning!!  We are going to have an amazing year full of learning, love, and fun!

You may walk your little one to the room on the first day, take a few pictures and say your goodbyes.  I promise I will take wonderful care of your sweet baby. Tuesday you will need to drop off your child at the front of the school.  There will be plenty of teachers on hand to make sure everyone gets to their classroom.  Students may enter the classroom between 7:50 and 8:10.  Teachers are on duty in the lunchroom for children who are dropped off early between 7:30 and 7:50.  If your child arrives before 7:50 they must report to the lunchroom and then will be dismissed at 7:50 to come to the classroom.  Children my not be dropped of before 7:30 in the morning.

Your child will be bringing home their Take Home Notebook Monday.  There is a note in the front explaining the purpose of this notebook.  If you walk your child to the class, there will be a manila envelope on their desk for you to take home.  There is a checklist of forms that need to be signed and returned inside the envelope.  Please return the completed forms in the envelope as soon as possible.  There is a monthly newsletter from the PTA that contains news, reminders and the month’s menu for breakfast and lunch.   Our lunch time is 11:05 – 11:30.  You may sign in at the office and we’ll pick you up on the way.  Please give us two weeks to establish procedures and expectations before joining us for lunch.

During these first few weeks of school we will spend a lot of time learning the expectations of the school and our classroom. I’ll be very explicit in teaching procedures and routines so that every child knows the expectations and the consequences for misbehavior in our classroom.  You’ll have information on First Grade’s Behavior Management in their Take Home Folder that your child brings home tomorrow. (We will discuss this further in our Small Group Meetings scheduled for the last week of August.  Information will come home this week about Small Group Meetings.)

We have our Specialists time (my planning period) each day from 1:25 – 2:00.  This is a three week rotation between P.E., Art/Music and Computer Lab.  Our first rotation is Computer Lab.  After 3 weeks in the computer lab we will go to PE for three weeks, and then we will go to Art/Music for the last 3 weeks of the nine week grading period.  When the children do not go to PE I will take them outside for PE.

We will have Small Group Meetings the last week of August, more info to come on that.  This takes the place of Open House for First Grade.  I will discuss our curriculum, grading, behavior management and lots of other stuff that you’ll be interested in knowing. The first grade teachers feel that meeting in a small group setting allows for more one on one conversation and gives you the opportunity to ask questions as they arise.

One last thing, please be patient with carpool for probably the first two weeks of school.  We do have a good plan in place but it will take some time for everyone to get used to the flow. Please place a sign in your car on the driver’s side with your child’s first and last name.  Your child’s name will be called on the intercom and given a number that corresponds to a numbered cone along the side walk.  If your new to Blount, don’t worry, your child will be directed down the hall, out the front door and to the appropriate cone to await your arrival!  I’ll also give your child a slip of paper with the  number for the first week or so in case they forget it before they get outside.  Bus riders will get a similar reminder as they leave to board the bus.  Bus riders enter and leave the building at the doors to the back parking lot.  Car riders leave through the main doors at the front.  Remember, teachers are on duty each day to direct and monitor the students.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.  My school email is amy.wright@mps.k12.al.us.com MPS usually sends all personal emails to my SPAM folder.  I will check it daily, however if I have not responded to your email within 1 day please resend it.  I try to be prompt at responding to your emails.

I want to say thank you to each of you for entrusting me with your greatest treasure! I hope your new little “firstie” comes home happy, excited and with a desire to love learning! We are going to have an amazing year in Room 123! See you on Monday!!

Lots of Hugs!