Classroom Procedures

Classroom Procedures

Dear Parents, 

One of my goals for each child is to provide a positive school experience. Our classroom 
needs to be a safe and fun place where everyone can learn and grow. The partnership between 
parent and teacher is very important in your child’s education. To help develop that partnership, 
I have provided a brief overview of some classroom policies and procedures. 

Communication 
Principal Blog / Classroom Blog – Every week Jenny Brown, our principal, sends her blog to all parents at Gold Rush.  I strongly encourage you to read this each week!  It will have important information regarding important upcoming dates and highlights from the week, school-wide.  I also have a blog / website for our class.  I will update it monthly and share all of the learning we’ve been doing in class.  I will also post important dates on the front page. You can also find our schedule, classroom procedures, and special pages for reading and math.  For example, there are links to all of the math games we will play in class.  This is a great place to get information!  If you go to the Gold Rush website you can find links to our blogs.

Thursday is our school/home communication day. This year our school-wide communication
will be electronic and send home via email each Thursday.  Please take time to review this 
email.  Each child will also bring home a folder with work from our week together.  Sometimes
there is a lot of work sent home, and sometimes you might not see anything.  It just depends
on what we are doing in class.  Much of our thinking and learning is done in class and may be 
not be something that can be sent home.  Please look over any of your child’s work with 
him/her and celebrate their successes! Please return the envelope the following day. 

If your child’s after school arrangements are different than usual, please send a note to school. In 
order to assure your child’s safety, I need to know if he/she has permission to go home with a different
adult or on a different bus. 

Anytime you need to contact me, you may send a note to school with your child or call the school at 
303-387-7700. You can also email me anytime with any questions or concerns. I check email each 
evening. It is difficult to check email during the school day. My email is Stacie.Martino@dcsdk12.org. 

We will have two scheduled conference times this year. Progress reports will be sent home two times 
during the school year. The Douglas County School District has a website which contains information 
about a variety of topics such as district standards. The address is www.dcsdk12.org. 

Classroom and School Rules 
Gold Rush has created school-wide rules that all students are expected to follow. The rules follow the 
acronym within the phrase “Go for the Gold.” G stands for Give Respect, O stands for own Your 
Action, L stands for Listen and Learn, and D stands for Do Your Best. The kids are all very familiar 
with these rules and the acronym, as we continually demonstrate what it looks like in all aspects of our school day. In order to show what “Going for the G. O. L. D.” looks like in our classrooms, we willI create a ”Class Promise" that we will follow throughout the year. 
Here is an example of our Class Promise:
Our Promise
  
                  Give Respect:            We promise to be a good friend, use polite words, and when someone
                                                                      asks us to stop, we stop!  
                                   Own Your Actions:  We promise to tell the truth and apologize when we need to.  We 
                                                                       understand that everyone makes mistakes.
                                   Listen and Learn:    We promise to listen to the person who is talking.  Our voices are off.
                                                                      We promise to follow directions.
                                   Do Your Best:          We promise to stay focused during work time and always do our best!

We promise to do these things, even when no one is watching!
    
  
I remind students that this promise is meant to keep each other safe and to ensure each other that maximized learning can take place in our classroom. Please review this agreement and the idea of “Going for the Gold” with your child. It is an effective way to let your child know that you are aware of the rules and support our school.

Homework 
The recommended amount of time a first grade student should spend on homework is 10 to 20 minutes daily. Each child is different. If your child has a longer attention span and is enjoying homework, then increase the time spent. You know your child best, so use your judgment when deciding how much time your child spends doing homework. 
As a first grade team we feel the most important homework activity your child can do is reading daily. This could include either your child reading to you, or you reading to your child. 
Book Bags: Students will bring home a daily Book Bag Monday through Thursday. As long as they return their book they may check out a different book from our classroom library each day. The comment sheet in your child’s Book Bag serves as a way to comment about your observations about your child’s reading. 
Another aspect of our homework is playing math games that support our Investigations math curriculum. These give the opportunity for the children to practice what they’ve learned in class. Look for materials that might include game boards and cards. Please create a place to keep these materials. Your child will need them throughout the year. 
Homework folders will come home each Monday and should be returned each Friday. 
Homework provides the opportunity to begin to learn responsibility and time management. Please help your child practice these behaviors. If you or your child ever has any questions about the homework, please contact me! 

Lunch 
Please see the "Our Schedule" tab to see our scheduled time for lunch.  It is helpful to go over the lunch choices with your child ahead of time. When students bring lunch, please send containers they can open on their own. You are welcome to come to school and have lunch with your child. Please let me know if you would like to order a lunch – or tell your child to order one for you! In our experience it is best to wait about three weeks before you come visit. 

Snacks and Water Bottles 
We will have an afternoon snack time. Please send snacks that are healthy and manageable to enjoy. (No Gogurt, please!) Help your child become more independent by setting a routine for packing a snack in their backpack each day. They get upset when they don’t have a snack, and we have a long day! 
Also include a labeled water bottle each day. This eliminates the need to leave the classroom for drinks. Students may bring only water, not juice or other drinks. Students may use the bathroom as needed. During instructional time we may encourage students to try and wait, unless it is an emergency.

Appropriate Dress 
When it is your child’s turn for P.E. they need to have tennis shoes in order to participate. Children will be playing outside during the day, so please keep this in mind, as well as our rapidly changing Colorado weather. Please help your child dress appropriately and come prepared for the weather. 
Birthdays 
Your child may celebrate his/her birthday with the class if you wish.  Please let me know if you’d like to bring treats for the class.  We request a small, individual, manageable snack for each child in the class, such as Rice Krispie treats and cookies.  Please be sensitive about our class’ allergy needs.  No juice or cupcakes please.   This will help keep our classroom clean!  Please send/bring the treats in the morning. 

I am looking forward to our partnership in your child’s learning! 
Sincerely, 
Stacie Martino

No comments:

Post a Comment