1-D Information
Dear Families,
Welcome to first grade! I am so happy to have your child in my class this year! As a class, we've had a lot of fun getting to know each other in the first few days of school. Our class is adjusting well to new routines and expectations and are a motivated group! I can't wait to see all that these students will accomplish in their first grade year!
School Day: 8:40 a.m. – 3:17 p.m.
Home Folder:
Please make sure that your child brings his or her backpack/bag to school everyday with your child’s Green Home Folder. The Green Home Folder’s pockets are labeled “Keep at home” and “Return to school” for your convenience. Any notes going home will be in your child’s Home Folder along with their work, so please go through this with them on a daily basis. Written notes sent in your child’s Home Folder are a good means of communication with me in addition to voicemail and e-mail.
Specials’ Schedule:
Monday: Music and P.E.
Tuesday: P.E. and Music
Wednesday: Music and P.E.
Thursday: Library and P.E.
Friday: Art and P.E.
*Your child needs to wear or bring gym shoes everyday. A pair of gym shoes can be kept at school.
*An art smock needs to be brought in and kept at school for art class on Fridays. A large old t-shirt works well as a smock.
Snack Break:
Indian Trail promotes a vegetable or fruit for our morning snack break. I also encourage you to send a water bottle with a sports top or straw to school with your child during the hot times of our school year. We have found that sports top water bottles minimize the amount of spilling that tends to occur more often with screw tops. Additionally, water bottles help to maximize learning so students do not need to leave the room to get drinks of water.
Lunch/Recess (11:50-12:40):
Students will have about 25 minutes to eat their lunches in the lunchroom. Our class has one or more students with allergies to tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds (can be found in hummus) and sunflower seeds. For the safety of all students, if your child brings any of these items to school they will be able to eat them with other students at another table in the lunchroom designated for this purpose. After lunch, the students will have outdoor recess for about 25 minutes, unless it is raining or dangerously cold. Please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the outdoor weather. As winter approaches, you may want to send an extra pair of socks to keep at school, in case your child’s feet get wet.
Library:
Students will be allowed to check out books from our school library. Books can be checked out for one week and must be returned before new ones can go home. Children may return library books to school any day of the week.
Buddy Class:
Our class will be doing some multiage learning with Mrs. Weinstein's 5th grade class throughout the school year. Some of our activities will include opportunities for students to engage in S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lessons.
Field Trips:
We will be going on curriculum-based field trips during the school year to enrich our studies. I will send you information about these trips as they are planned and scheduled. Permission slips will be sent home and must be signed and returned before students will be allowed to go on a field trip.
Class Celebrations:
The room parents and parent volunteers will be helping plan class celebrations for Halloween and Valentine’s Day. You will have the opportunity to sign up to be a parent volunteer at Indian Trail's Open House.
Birthday Celebrations:
In first grade, your child is invited to bring a favorite storybook to celebrate his/her birthday with our class. Your child can bring a special storybook from home or a book chosen from our classroom library. Your child will get to sit on my bench while I read it aloud to the class in their honor. If your child has a summer birthday and would like to celebrate his/her birthday at school, we would be happy to celebrate your child’s half birthday during the school year. Please do not send in food/treats of any sort for your child's birthday celebration.
Scholastic Book Orders:
Throughout the year I will be sending home book order forms for you and your child to share. These monthly book order forms include quality literature for reasonable prices. These orders will also help our class earn points to add new books to our classroom library. Students love to have new books for “read to self” time so those points are exciting for our class to earn!
Homework:
It is important that your child reads with you every night, including having them read to you and also reading to them. Other homework will be sent home based on individual student need.
After School Arrangements:
If your child is going somewhere different after school, please send me a note, e-mail me, or call the school office. If you need to get a message to me before the end of the school day, please leave a message with Mrs. Garcia in the office (224-765-3500). There is not always time for me to check my voicemail and email throughout the day. It is for your child’s own safety that the school knows your child’s appropriate destination at the end of the school day.
Classroom Expectations:
Indian Trail School Rules
Be Safe
Be Respectful
Be Responsible
There are times we all forget the rules and need reminders. There are also times when students need their positive behavior to be acknowledge and rewarded. In our class I use a color coded chart to allow students a chance to assess their own behavior at school. Students begin everyday on green.
Purple: Students may be able to move their clip to purple when they are showing continued excellent behavior. If students are still on purple at the end of the day they will receive a tiger stripe and a Dojo point.
Green (Good to go): Students begin everyday on green which means they are making good choices and following the school rules.
Yellow (Warning): Students may be asked to move their clip to yellow as a warning that they need to make good choices.
Orange: If a student continues to have a hard time making good choices they may be asked to move their clip to orange. Students will write an apology letter.
Red (Consequence): If a student, again, continues to have a hard time making good choices they may be asked to move their clip to red. Parents will be contacted. Students always have the option (and will be reminded) to improve their behavior in order to move their clip back to green.
Writing Tiger Stripes is another way that the Indian Trail staff acknowledges good behavior. Please praise your child at home if they receive any Tiger Stripes. This can help encourage first graders to continue to display good behavior at school.
Home-School Communication:
I post on our blog at least once a week. Please access our classroom blog at: http://mrsdecristofaro.weebly.com/. Communication between home and school is very important to me and I am available to answer any questions or concerns you may have throughout the year. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please call me at school at 224-765-3447, e-mail me at [email protected], or send a note in your child’s Home Folder. I will get in touch with you as soon as I possibly can.
Blog:
In order to maintain good communication with parents I will be posting on my blog often. It is important that you check my blog on a regular basis to learn about curriculum, upcoming events, assignments, etc. It would be extremely helpful if you subscribe to my blog so you will receive emails when I have added a new post. You can subscribe by typing your email into the “subscribe box” on the lower right-hand side of the page. After you subscribe in the box on my blog, you will also have to check your email to confirm your subscription. My classroom blog website is: http://mrsdecristofaro.weebly.com/.
Welcome to first grade! I am so happy to have your child in my class this year! As a class, we've had a lot of fun getting to know each other in the first few days of school. Our class is adjusting well to new routines and expectations and are a motivated group! I can't wait to see all that these students will accomplish in their first grade year!
School Day: 8:40 a.m. – 3:17 p.m.
Home Folder:
Please make sure that your child brings his or her backpack/bag to school everyday with your child’s Green Home Folder. The Green Home Folder’s pockets are labeled “Keep at home” and “Return to school” for your convenience. Any notes going home will be in your child’s Home Folder along with their work, so please go through this with them on a daily basis. Written notes sent in your child’s Home Folder are a good means of communication with me in addition to voicemail and e-mail.
Specials’ Schedule:
Monday: Music and P.E.
Tuesday: P.E. and Music
Wednesday: Music and P.E.
Thursday: Library and P.E.
Friday: Art and P.E.
*Your child needs to wear or bring gym shoes everyday. A pair of gym shoes can be kept at school.
*An art smock needs to be brought in and kept at school for art class on Fridays. A large old t-shirt works well as a smock.
Snack Break:
Indian Trail promotes a vegetable or fruit for our morning snack break. I also encourage you to send a water bottle with a sports top or straw to school with your child during the hot times of our school year. We have found that sports top water bottles minimize the amount of spilling that tends to occur more often with screw tops. Additionally, water bottles help to maximize learning so students do not need to leave the room to get drinks of water.
Lunch/Recess (11:50-12:40):
Students will have about 25 minutes to eat their lunches in the lunchroom. Our class has one or more students with allergies to tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds (can be found in hummus) and sunflower seeds. For the safety of all students, if your child brings any of these items to school they will be able to eat them with other students at another table in the lunchroom designated for this purpose. After lunch, the students will have outdoor recess for about 25 minutes, unless it is raining or dangerously cold. Please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the outdoor weather. As winter approaches, you may want to send an extra pair of socks to keep at school, in case your child’s feet get wet.
Library:
Students will be allowed to check out books from our school library. Books can be checked out for one week and must be returned before new ones can go home. Children may return library books to school any day of the week.
Buddy Class:
Our class will be doing some multiage learning with Mrs. Weinstein's 5th grade class throughout the school year. Some of our activities will include opportunities for students to engage in S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) lessons.
Field Trips:
We will be going on curriculum-based field trips during the school year to enrich our studies. I will send you information about these trips as they are planned and scheduled. Permission slips will be sent home and must be signed and returned before students will be allowed to go on a field trip.
Class Celebrations:
The room parents and parent volunteers will be helping plan class celebrations for Halloween and Valentine’s Day. You will have the opportunity to sign up to be a parent volunteer at Indian Trail's Open House.
Birthday Celebrations:
In first grade, your child is invited to bring a favorite storybook to celebrate his/her birthday with our class. Your child can bring a special storybook from home or a book chosen from our classroom library. Your child will get to sit on my bench while I read it aloud to the class in their honor. If your child has a summer birthday and would like to celebrate his/her birthday at school, we would be happy to celebrate your child’s half birthday during the school year. Please do not send in food/treats of any sort for your child's birthday celebration.
Scholastic Book Orders:
Throughout the year I will be sending home book order forms for you and your child to share. These monthly book order forms include quality literature for reasonable prices. These orders will also help our class earn points to add new books to our classroom library. Students love to have new books for “read to self” time so those points are exciting for our class to earn!
Homework:
It is important that your child reads with you every night, including having them read to you and also reading to them. Other homework will be sent home based on individual student need.
After School Arrangements:
If your child is going somewhere different after school, please send me a note, e-mail me, or call the school office. If you need to get a message to me before the end of the school day, please leave a message with Mrs. Garcia in the office (224-765-3500). There is not always time for me to check my voicemail and email throughout the day. It is for your child’s own safety that the school knows your child’s appropriate destination at the end of the school day.
Classroom Expectations:
Indian Trail School Rules
Be Safe
Be Respectful
Be Responsible
There are times we all forget the rules and need reminders. There are also times when students need their positive behavior to be acknowledge and rewarded. In our class I use a color coded chart to allow students a chance to assess their own behavior at school. Students begin everyday on green.
Purple: Students may be able to move their clip to purple when they are showing continued excellent behavior. If students are still on purple at the end of the day they will receive a tiger stripe and a Dojo point.
Green (Good to go): Students begin everyday on green which means they are making good choices and following the school rules.
Yellow (Warning): Students may be asked to move their clip to yellow as a warning that they need to make good choices.
Orange: If a student continues to have a hard time making good choices they may be asked to move their clip to orange. Students will write an apology letter.
Red (Consequence): If a student, again, continues to have a hard time making good choices they may be asked to move their clip to red. Parents will be contacted. Students always have the option (and will be reminded) to improve their behavior in order to move their clip back to green.
Writing Tiger Stripes is another way that the Indian Trail staff acknowledges good behavior. Please praise your child at home if they receive any Tiger Stripes. This can help encourage first graders to continue to display good behavior at school.
Home-School Communication:
I post on our blog at least once a week. Please access our classroom blog at: http://mrsdecristofaro.weebly.com/. Communication between home and school is very important to me and I am available to answer any questions or concerns you may have throughout the year. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please call me at school at 224-765-3447, e-mail me at [email protected], or send a note in your child’s Home Folder. I will get in touch with you as soon as I possibly can.
Blog:
In order to maintain good communication with parents I will be posting on my blog often. It is important that you check my blog on a regular basis to learn about curriculum, upcoming events, assignments, etc. It would be extremely helpful if you subscribe to my blog so you will receive emails when I have added a new post. You can subscribe by typing your email into the “subscribe box” on the lower right-hand side of the page. After you subscribe in the box on my blog, you will also have to check your email to confirm your subscription. My classroom blog website is: http://mrsdecristofaro.weebly.com/.