Welcome once again to Room 10! A new school year has begun. 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!
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.
Included in this post is some general information about our class and school. Please be sure to read the other Memorial School notices sent home by the office (or check the school’s website – www.medfield.net) for lots more detailed information about schedules and procedures. It is particularly important that you read information regarding the arrival and dismissal of your child. If you ever make arrangements for your child to be dismissed from school via another form of transportation, other than his/her scheduled bus or MAP routine, please be sure to write a note to me on that day. It is important that I inform the office of any such changes. In the case of different arrival plans, please be sure to check in at the office before sending your child down to the classroom. All of this will make coming and going to Memorial much easier for the children, office and for me.
Your child received a Home/School folder last week. 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. Thank you for helping your child to remember to bring it to school daily.
The children will have time for snack each morning. As a reminder, information regarding pre-paying for school lunch via the My School Bucks program can be found on the district website. One note about food at school, the children are told that we never share food with our friends. This is a rule in the classroom, the cafeteria and at other special occasions such as field trips.
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 that you can get involved in the classroom if you’d like to do so. I will have sign-up sheets at Parent Information Night on Thursday, September 15 if you would like to volunteer in the classroom this year. 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 early November. I will give you a more definitive timeframe after a few weeks have passed.
Some additional information for you:
Each week we will have a special Kid of the Week. This child gets to be our line leader, to decide the morning greeting, lead our daily calendar time, 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 art projects. Please send a smock in for your child as soon as possible.
You may find your first grader quite tired (and 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.
I hope that this information is helpful to you and gets us all off to a good start. I will send regular updates to keep you informed about our plans and activities here in Room 10, including ongoing descriptions of my first grade program. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns about any aspect of the school or classroom, you may reach me at Memorial by phone or by sending a note to school with your child. I can also be reached via email at kravinski@email.medfield.net.
Enjoy the cool air!
