Welcome
to first grade! A new school year has
begun! We will be engaged in a wide
variety of learning experiences throughout the year. I’m looking forward to learning more about
your children as we move through our first few weeks of school together.
We made it through our first few days of first grade
in great shape. The children are doing a
terrific job with all of the new routines they are learning. Thank you for sending your children to school
so well prepared. And thank you also for
your generous donation of supplies for our year together. They are appreciated and will be put to good
use!
As you know, your child has received a Home/School folder for the year. These folders are intended to help the
children get important notes, papers and notices back and forth from
school. If you have a note for me,
please put it in your child’s Home/School folder. Your child will bring the folder back and
forth to school every day so that new materials or information come to me or to
you on a daily basis.
Please be sure to check your child’s backpack each day
to help keep track of notices and papers.
I will send more detailed information about home assignments and/or
projects as I introduce them to the children.
As parents, your input and participation will be very
important to the success of our program this year. I will let you know about the different ways
you can get involved in the classroom at Parent
Information Night on Tuesday, September 17. While I do invite parent volunteers into the
classroom, please keep in mind that I do not get my volunteers up and running
until I feel that the children and I have had enough time to establish strong
classroom routines and have begun to come together as a cohesive learning
community. This “settling in” period is
a big priority for me because it is so important for the children to feel
secure and confident with their new classroom, peers and teachers. I tend to get volunteers started towards the
end of the fall. I will give you a more
definitive timeframe after some weeks have passed.
Each week we will have a special Kid of the Week (starting
this Tuesday). This child gets to be our
line leader, to decide the morning greeting, and to bring one special possession to school to share on the first
morning of his/her special week. The
child will tell why he/she brought this item and why it is special. The other children in the class will then
have an opportunity to ask questions and make comments about the share. When it is your child’s turn, please help
him/her choose something other than a toy.
It could be a photograph, a favorite book, a letter or postcard from
someone special, an item from a collection, a scientific experiment, an award,
a drawing, etc. Please know that it is
perfectly fine if your child would rather not bring in an item to share. Each Friday, we will draw the name of the
next Kid of the Week so the child can
be prepared to share on Monday if he/she chooses. A note will go home when your child is
chosen.
Each child will need an art smock for the year.
Old t-shirts, or men’s or women’s collared, button down shirts work
well. Obviously, the shirts can be old
and worn as they will be used for messy art projects. Please
send a smock in for your child as soon as possible - and if you have an extra
one (or two) we can put them to good use!
You may find your first grader quite tired (and/or
hungry) after school. This is very normal for the first few
weeks. Our days are busy and they are
taking in a lot of new information each day.
We will settle in slowly and take our time to adjust to our new
schedule. Please be in touch anytime
with questions you may have.
Enjoy the week ahead!
Kathy Ravinski
