Our First Day!

Wow! That was the fastest day I have ever experienced! I was overwhelmed by the number of parents I got to meet today. You were all, parents and students, so welcoming! I really enjoyed my first day as a second grade teacher. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful class of students to spend my days with! We are going to have a great year. Here are a few bits of information for you to know about our first day:

- Today, we collected all the supplies that were brought in. If your child did not bring in a supply, please try to get it here by the end of the week (baby wipes, tissues, baggies, pencils, markers, post-its, etc.). Most importantly, send in a pair of headphones (can be earbuds, too) and a zip drive as we are going to attempt to keep ALL student work on the zip drive this year. I will keep both items in a gallon size zip loc for your child to take to computer lab. Most likely, we will need to replenish some items, like tissues, half way through the year. There NEVER seems to be enough! Thank you so much for bringing these items in.

- Today, we put out home binders together. Like this blog, the home binder is an important tool used to communicate between home and school. In it, there are papers that should stay in for the school year (I have hole punched these) and they should be behind the page protectors, loose. It is very important that when you are done reading these that you intial or sign the top, just so I know you are aware of the information. I will let you know when a new sheet has been placed so you know to find it and read it. I will teach the kids to routinely add to the very back of the binder, so the notes are in sequential order (of course, with 28 kisd, there may be a time I don't catch incorrect placement). The page protectors are for work the children are doing that I also want to keep safely inside. It is a place to keep projects, ongoing work, favorite work pieces, etc.) The things that are to stay home or be signed and return to school will always be in the Dolphins home folder in the binder. The things on the left should be read over, possibly signed, and returned to school. The things in the right pocket should be looked through and kept at home - I will not ask for these back. Teaching students to be organized is very important to me. I model it and discuss it often and I hope a small part will rub off.

- One of the items in the Dolphin Folder was a green information sheet. Please take a minute to fill this out, especially your email. I use email to send important messages. I promise I will not bombard you with anything that is not related to helping your child succeed! Kids receive a reward if these are returned by Wednesdsay!

- If you did not return the green dismissal sheet, please do so as soon as possible. I need to make sure that your child knows exactly how to get home at the end of the day. A few kids were uncertain how to get home, even when the sheet was turned in. I would appreciate a quick discussion at home and frequent reminders about how your child should be leaving the school daily. Please remember to let me know if there is a change in plans!

HOMEWORK - We will get into a routine of using a homework sheet in the home binder, but for today - we worked on a simple writing assignment at the end of the day, right after our Back to School Assembly. The students were to write at least three sentences about their day. We brainstormed some ideas to write about and some kids only wrote the words down from the board, but they are to show me how they can construct sentences. It is important for you to let them do the work with little guidance, so I can see what they do with an assignment like this.

- Snack time will be in the morning, so please send a healthy snack that is not messy.

- Classroom volunteers are needed. I will put my requests up here and will send emails out when I need help in the room. They will be random requests mostly until I get my routine going. Right now, I could really use some help tearing out some of the pages from our math Homelinks book. These workbook pages are very difficult to tear out for young hands, so if you could donate a 30-60 minute chunk of time, it would be such a help. If you are able to help out in the computer lab, I believe we will have lab on Monday afternoons, so that would be a regular 50 minute chunk of time you could sign up to help out with. Art Awareness is a program through the PTA, so let me know if you are interested in teaching a lesson about an artist and I will get you the information (generally 30 minutes long).

-We have peanut allergies in the room, so please refrain from sending snacks made with peanuts. Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to check the blog today. Always feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, and suggestions. Have a wonderful evening!