Back to School Night

Back to School Night Mrs. Matelski First Grade George Kelly Elementary

Welcome 1st grade Families! I hope you had a safe and wonderful summer break! It is a privilege to have your children in my class, and I look toward to being a part of their learning experience this school year.

Enclosed in this packet is information regarding classroom expectations, discipline, curriculum, homework, classroom procedures, etc. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me by phone or via email. Email is best, but I will return your call as soon as possible.

Our class would enjoy your help on special occasions and whenever you have some free time. Please let me know if you are interested.

Respectfully,

Mrs. Matelski [email protected] 209-830-3390 ext. 5731 https://www.tracy.k12.ca.us/sites/ematelski/Pages/default.aspx DAILY SCHEDULE 8:20-8:40 Seatwork; Calendar 8:40-9:15 Open Court: Phonics/Spelling/Sight Words 9:15-9:30 Recess 9:30-10:15 Reading Comprehension /Open Court 10:15-11:15 Mathematics 11:15-11:33 Read Aloud 11:33-12:15 Lunch 12:15-12:52 Writing/Spelling/Sight Words 12:52-1:22 Physical Education (Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri) 1:22-2:15 Writing/Science/Social Studies 2:15-2:20 Clean up; Appreciations; Dismissal

**Special Activities

 LIBRARY Days & time varies  Music Once a week for 30 minutes

1. EMERGENCY FORMS: Please fill out and bring the emergency forms in as soon as possible.

2. BACKPACKS & SCHOOL SUPPLIES: Please make sure your child has a backpack everyday. Students accumulate a lot of beautiful art work and school work that needs to go home. Please label your child’s belongings to lessen conflicts. Student supplies needed: Pencils, glue sticks, crayons, markers, sharpies, expo markers, folders, erasers, white copy paper and dry erase white boards and earbuds for computer use. BOYS: 1 bottle Purel hand sanitizer (per TUSD it must be Purel brand, no generic) GIRLS: 2 large Kleenex boxes (no individual packets) Wish List (class use): ream of paper, sharpies, Ziploc bags (gallon size) white index cards, tangible prizes, art supplies: unwaxed paper plates, white/brown lunch sacks, balls for PE, colored copy paper, sheet protectors and stickers/stamps.

3. SNACKS & LUNCH: Just a few reminders…. ...We have AM recess and students get hungry. Please send a healthy snack, such as, fruit, yogurt, granola bars, etc. Please no candy or soda for snack. We do have SEVERE nut allergies, so please do your best to NOT send food with nuts or nut products.  …Students must eat their snacks at the designated area. …Students may bring a lunch or buy one in the cafeteria. Lunch is $2.25. Pay for your child’s lunch account in the office before school, or you may pay online at myschoolbucks.com 4. HOMEWORK: Homework pages will be due the next Friday. Reading 15-20 minutes each night is also part of their daily homework. Homework should be about 30 minutes each night.

5. SUPER STAR OF THE WEEK: During the year each child will have a chance to be featured. The 1st grader will complete a poster to share, will receive a class book, will be our line leader all week as well as other special tasks.

6. KELLY PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION (PTO): We urge you to join. Money raised by PTO helps all grades with things for the school and each individual class.

7. PARENT VOLUNTEERS: We love to have parents helping in the classroom or at home. We have lots of way to help so please sign up for the activity you that you can help out with. We appreciate you!!

General overview of our curriculum: LANGUAGE ARTS: TUSD has adopted the SRA Open Court Reading program. We use small and large group instruction to work on alphabet recognition, phonetic sounds, spelling patterns, decodable short stories, and whole group reading comprehension. Students are required to read or be read to at home for a minimum of 15 minutes a day.

MATH: Our district adopted math series is Mc Graw Hill My Math. It is a comprehensive program that introduces basic math skills, and it has a great deal of hands-on materials. Students will learn skip counting, place value, addition and subtraction facts to 20, money, telling time, and much more.

SCIENCE: Our science curriculum has activities in life, physical, and earth science. Students will have the opportunity to observe, describe, predict, and classify using hands-on materials. Topics will include Living/Nonliving things, animals, plant life, and matter.

SOCIAL STUDIES: Our lessons will focus on our country and its symbols, holidays, traditions, citizenship, and many more. Each unit lesson uses a student “newspaper” and students will have the opportunity to take these reading materials home to share.

ASSESSMENTS: Students will be taught and assessed in the areas of Reading, Writing, Spelling, Speaking, Listening, Mathematics, and participation in Art, Science, Social Studies, and P.E. TUSD uses the rubric system on the students’ report cards. These subject areas will be evaluated using the following rubric: 4-Above Grade Level 3-Meeting Grade Level 2- Approaching Grade Level 1- Below Grade Level **For more information on the 1st grade standards and benchmarks, please visit http://www.cde.ca.gov/index.asp

1. Click on STANDARDS & FRAMEWORKS 2. Then click on CONTENT STANDARDS 3. Choose any subjectScholastic and choose pdf file for 1st grade.Book Orders Scholastic Book Order forms will be sent home monthly. If interested, you may order quality books at very reasonable prices. Book orders will be sent home at the beginning of the week and will be due at the end of the same week it is sent home. Please fill out the order form and return in an envelope with a check payable to “SCHOLASTIC BOOKS.” Or pay online with your debit/credit card. Please do not make a check out to the school or the teacher.

Our grade level field trip will be tentatively scheduled for the Spring 2016. Info will go home regarding this trip. Parent volunteers are greatly appreciated to assist.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS: Birthdays are a wonderful time to celebrate how special your child is! Each child’s birthday will be highlighted on our HW calendars. If you would like to bring in treats to celebrate your child’s birthday, please bring it on their designated celebration day. Please only bring store bought cookies, cupcakes or bite-size brownies. Something small is best. NO homemade cupcakes, sheet cakes or pizza. Also, students will not be allowed to distribute party invitations due to conflicts. Thank you for your consideration & understanding!

RESTROOM PROCEDURES: There is no restroom in our class. Students are encouraged to use the restroom before school, during recess, during lunch recess, and during our afternoon break. I am aware of emergencies, and students are able to leave in that case. However, students will miss valuable instruction during that time so it is not encouraged. Miscellaneous  Students are welcome to bring bottled water in class. Please no soda, juice, Gatorade, or milk.  Please leave toys or any electronic games at home.  Students should wear closed-toe shoes or tennis shoes during PE days. Also, please help your child with shoe-tying skills at home. This is for your child’s safety.  Please keep a set of school supplies at home for homework. Also, students should do their homework in an area that is free from distractions, such as, TV, video games, and windows. My role is to create clear expectations for positive behavior and model those expectations to the students to learn in a safe, nurturing, and comfortable environment. Success depends on the choices we make. Students are rewarded for their efforts, and consequences occur when it’s necessary. The Six Pillars of Character Education— Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Respect, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship—are practiced in and outside of our classroom. A behavior colored-stick system (stoplight, green, yellow, red) is used to assist students to self-monitor how they are doing in class.

CLASS RULES:  Listen carefully.  Keep your hands and feet to yourself.  Raise your hand and wait for your name to be called.  Try your best.  Have fun!

REWARDS:  Positive praises: verbal praises. High fives, pat on the back, thumbs up, etc.  Student of the month  PAT time (Preferred Activity Time)  Table group points  Happy note/phone call home  Tangibles, such as, stickers, erasers, pencils, etc. (Prize Box)  Sit on the teacher’s chair for the day  Read a story to the class  Special activity, such as, read books from teacher’s special shelf, learning game, art project, puzzles, listen to music, sit with a friend, etc.  Extra time with our class mascot Max during table work or centers

CONSEQUENCES: 1- Verbal Warning 2- Sits on the bench for 5 minutes (stick moved to yellow). 3- Loses privileges/free time; a letter to parents about rule that was broken. (stick moved to red). 4- Parent & teacher conference: create a behavior plan. 5- Talk with the asst. principal. **Serious or dangerous actions will require immediate consequences, such as, loss of recess (for the week), lunch detention, citations, or referral to the office.

PARENT VOLUNTEERS must be fingerprinted as per district policy. If you would like to lend a hand this year please indicate any items that interest you and return the helper form. I’ll be in touch. Thank you so much! 