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First Grade Team
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Ms. Kearns
Contact:
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Mrs. Lasko
Contact:
phone: (847) 433-0090 x227, after hours dial x2272 for voicemail
e-mail: blasko@nssd112.org
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Mrs. Paulsen
Contact:
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Ms. Shapiro
Contact:
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Teachers Hours:
Monday - Friday: 8:40 - 3:17
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Units of Study:
Science:
Living/Non-living things
Pushes & Pulls (forces and machines)
What’s Up (Sun, Moon, and Stars)
Organisms |
Social Studies:
School
Family
Holidays throughout the year
Maps |
Math:
University of Chicago/Everyday Math |
Language Arts:
Literacy Activities
Reading and Writing
Spelling
Read Alouds
Reading Response (oral and written) |
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Specials Schedule:
| Ms. Kearns |
| Monday |
Art, Music |
| Tuesday |
Music, PE |
| Wednesday |
PE |
| Thursday |
Spanish |
| Friday |
Technology, Music |
| Mrs. Lasko |
| Monday |
Music |
| Tuesday |
Art, Spanish |
| Wednesday |
Music, PE |
| Thursday |
PE |
| Friday |
Music, Technology |
| Mrs. Paulsen |
| Monday |
Music |
| Tuesday |
Spanish, PE |
| Wednesday |
Music, PE |
| Thursday |
Art |
| Friday |
Music, Technology |
| Ms. Shapiro |
| Monday |
Music |
| Tuesday |
PE |
| Wednesday |
Art, Music |
| Thursday |
PE, Spanish |
Friday |
Technology, Music |
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Classroom Procedures:
Snack:
Our class will enjoy a HEALTHY snack each day at around 10:00. Snack choices are limited to fruits, vegetables, and yogurt and cheese. Please have the snack cut, cleaned and ready for eating and be sure to send along a fork or spoon if one is needed.
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Lunch/Recess 11:55 - 12:45:
It often helps if you include your child in planning and making lunch. Together you can make healthy choices and your child may be more likely to eat something that he/she has chosen to pack.
After lunch, the students have outdoor recess every day (unless it is dangerously cold or raining) so please make sure your child comes to school dressed for outdoor play. Each child should keep an extra sweater, jacket or sweatshirt in his/her locker all year for those days when the weather changes unexpectedly. It is also a good idea to keep an extra pair of socks in his/her locker. If your child needs to stay indoors after lunch, they must have a note for the nurse explaining the reason. |
Birthdays:
In celebration of your child’s birthday, you are invited to read a book to our class. This can be any kind of book that your child likes, and would like to share with the class. The children enjoy a birthday treat, but please make an effort to choose healthy treats. Please let me know a week in advance if you would like to come in for a birthday celebration and check with me if you are not sure of the acceptable treats.
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Homework:
Reading to or with your child (and discussing what you have read) for at least 10-15 minutes a day should be a part of your regular routine. Our Book Buddy Bags (see next heading) are one great way to meet this goal. A home library is just as important as a classroom library, and loving books is contagious. Your enthusiasm for literature will breed a similar enthusiasm in your child.
Our Everyday Math Program has a component called Home Links which enables you to participate in math learning with your child. Its purpose is to review and apply concepts taught in the classroom. When Home Links are sent home, please see that they are completed and returned to school the next day.
As the school year progresses, the children will be asked to complete specific projects or activities at home and to review spelling words. |
Book Buddies:
Each child has a Book Buddy Bag with his/her name on it. It is your child’s responsibility to carry the book to and from school in this bag each day, and to practice reading the book at home. The students know that they may not take another book home until they have returned the previous book and Book Buddy Bag to school. We have not read every book that your child may bring home, so please do not feel that your child should always be able to read the complete text. This is another way to encourage reading at home, one that I hope will be enjoyable for you and your child.
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Traveling Book Box:
Each child will have the opportunity to take home two Traveling Book Boxes. Each box will contain a book to share at home with the family, as well as a composition notebook in which to write a response. It is not a book that your child is expected to read to you, but rather a book for you and other family members to read aloud to your child and to talk about with him/her after the reading. Your family may write or dictate messages in the composition book, including favorite parts, what they found funny, what made them think, or what the story reminded them of. This box will always come home on a Monday. When you and your child finish reading and writing, please have your child return the box to school no later than the following Monday so that another family may enjoy it. |
Traveling Teddy:
Traveling Teddy will visit each student’s home. The teddy bear and his journal will come for a weekend visit. Your child will be asked to record the events of Teddy’s visit in the journal and the class will enjoy hearing the journal entry the next day. |
Field Trips:
We will be going on field trips that are planned to coincide with our curriculum. You will receive a note before each trip with a permission slip to sign and return. The Head Room Parent will arrange for parents to accompany us on the trips. Dads are always encouraged to participate!
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Show & Tell:
Show and Tell will be held on the last Friday of each month, and the children are invited to share their treasures. Craft projects, books, vacation souvenirs, and family pictures are always good things to share. Guns or other weapons are not permitted. We will not be sharing live pets in the classroom as some children may have allergies to certain animals. |
Home-School Connection:
Progress Reports will be given out at conferences in November, in March, and again at the end of the school year.
Hopefully, this will be a healthy school year. Please do not send your child to school if he/she has not been fever-free for at least 24 hours or if he/she has thrown up the night before. Germs spread easily at school. If your child should miss school, please call the nurse’s office to report the absence.
If your child is going somewhere different from the ordinary after school, or if someone else is picking him/her up, please send a note in the morning. It is for your child’s own safety that I be aware of his/her destination at the end of the school day. Bus riders will be sent home on their regular buses unless I receive a note or phone call letting me know about alternate plans. |
Goals & Expectations:
We will be reading and writing daily, sharing literature and poetry, and developing math skills. We will also be learning about ourselves, our families and our country. Science units include living/nonliving things, life cycles, forces, and objects in the sky. In addition, we will be working on listening skills, problem solving, cooperation, self control, responsibility, and independence. Some daily expectations I have for each child include:
- Being responsible for his/her own work
- Getting work and notes home daily
- Having his/her own supplies at all times
- Keeping tables and lockers neat
- Remembering to bring lunch and Show & Tell
- Arriving at school on time
- Being thoughtful, polite, and kind to fellow students and staff
- Learning to resolve conflicts peacefully and independently
- Doing his/her best each day.
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Ways to Help:
Ways to Help Foster a Positive First Grade Experience:
- Sensible bedtime for your child
- Good breakfast and appropriate lunch
- Keep me informed of any developments at home which may effect your child's school behavior (loss of a pet, parents out of town)
- Remember that each child develops and learns at his/her own rate and in his/her own way
- Continue to let your child know you are interested and pleased with his/her efforts by talking with him/her about school, checking their home and back folders each day, and asking your child to explain work that he/she has brought home
- Please be sure to labael everything that comes to school
- Help your child to learn his/her address, telephone number, and birthday.
- Review the names and sounds of all the letters of the alphabet, both upper and lower case
- Please get your child his/her own public library card, and visit the library often
Ways You Can Help Your Child at Home:
- Practice counting money
- Read, read, read!
- Keep a journal
- Tell time using analog clocks
- Cook, together, reading recipes, and measuring ingredients
- Skip count by 2's, 5's, and 10's
- Review letters and sounds
- Find places you have visited on maps
- Write grocery lists together
- Write letters to family members and friends
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