Hello Parents,
It has been such a busy, exciting week. RED RIBBON WEEK: On Monday we kicked off our Red Ribbon Week with an assembly hosted by the Bobby Lawrence Karate studio. They taught students about respecting their parents, their teachers, and their bodies. An invitation to a free karate class was sent out this week. If you would like to attend, have your children write down 5 good things they can do for their body, and join instructor Justus Lawrence at the studio. (An school email was sent out with time and location.) HEARING SCREENINGS: Our school did hearing screenings for all of our students today. You will be contacted soon if there was any concern regarding your child’s hearing. BOOK REPORTS DUE NEXT WEEK: Book reports will be due next Friday, September 29th. Please begin working on this if you have not already done so. An email was sent today with our classical literature book list, and I will attach a copy with this email. We do ask that your child’s book choice would be from this book list. However, this book list is not exclusive. The goal is for our students to be exposed to quality literature. If you have another book in mind, please let me know. I want to share this note from our librarian regarding our Classical Literature Reading Lists: “As we work toward a classical education for your child, our goal is that we use books that are classical in nature, proven quality literature, and somewhat time-tested, enabling [each] child to become a great thinker, learner and contributor to society. Students may pick from any of these books for book reports, as long as they are reasonably challenging. Teachers or the Librarian may approve books not included on this list.” Ms. Beckstrand PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES AND EARLY OUT DAYS: Parent teacher conferences will begin next Wednesday, September 27, from 2-7, and will continue on Thursday, September 28, from 2-5. The front office has sent an email for you to sign up on the conference schedule. Due to Parent-Teacher Conferences, both WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY (27th-28th) will be EARLY OUT days. Please be prepared to pick up your children at 1:30. BOOK FAIR: Our school Book Fair will begin next week, September 25-29th. This is a great opportunity to purchase some great books for your child, and raise money for our school library as well. Stop by and check out the book store while you are here for parent-teacher conferences. I will have a classroom wish list at the book fair if you would like to purchase any books for our classroom. SCHOOL PICTURES: Picture day is Tuesday, October 3rd. Fliers have been sent home if you would like to purchase photos of your child. Thank you for the opportunity to work with your children. I am so proud of their hard work, and I love being their teacher! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
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Hello Parents,
Thanks to all of you who came out to our Parent Night last week. It was nice to see you again and to be able to talk with you about your questions and concerns. I am so thankful for each of you and for all of your support. If you were not able to attend, I sent our class disclosure letter home with your child. I want to briefly remind you of a couple items: HOMEWORK FOLDERS: Please be sure to check your child’s homework folder each evening, and send it back to school the next day. Any school-to-home communication, stamped school work, and daily phonogram papers can be kept at home. Please have your child complete his/her homework each night and return it to school the next day. ASPIRE: I sent home flyers about the ASPIRE program, with your student’s ID written on it. You can set up an ASPIRE account to see how your child is doing with schoolwork, and to see if there are any missing assignments. If a child is missing an assignment, I will mark it with an M. If it is an excused assignment, I will enter an E. If an assignment is blank on ASPIRE, I am still working on entering those grades. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * CARNIVAL - This Friday, September 15th, is our school Carnival!! The fun will begin at 3:30 and continue until 7:00. Tickets can be purchased in advance through the office, or on the day of the carnival. I hope you will be able to come! Thank you so much to all of our generous families who were able to donate Legos for the Carnival raffle prizes. We appreciate you! HOME READING PROGRAM - Books were sent home last week for our Home Reading Program (AKA “Baggie Books”). I chose a reading level for each student to begin with, but if the books are too easy or too difficult, send a note with the returned books, or send an email to Ms. Beckstrand, our wonderful Librarian: [email protected] NETSMARTZ INTERNET SAFETY PROGRAM: Last week we had a school assembly and the Netsmartz group taught the students about internet safety. Today our class took a look at the Netsmartz website. There is a variety of fun songs, videos, games, and activities for you to do with your child. You can check it out together at http://www.netsmartzkids.org/ RED RIBBON WEEK: Next week our school will be participating in Red Ribbon Week, which is a time to remind kids to protect their bodies and their minds by making the choice to say no to drugs. Take a look at the flier to see ways that they can participate in the spirit of this week. AMBASSADOR OF EXCELLENCE: Congratulations to Madyln, our Ambassador of Excellence. Madlyn shows such excellence, both in the quality of her work, and in her genuine desire to be a great student and a great learner. We are proud of you, Madlyn. I will be watching for others in the class who exhibit the quality of excellence throughout the month of September, and will choose 3 students to receive an ambassador “honorary mention”. I am looking forward to a great week. Sincerely, Ms. Novotne Hello Parents,
I hope that you all enjoyed your Labor Day weekend. It is often difficult for these first graders to return to school after having such a great time at home, but they all did wonderfully. I wanted to let you know how proud I am of your children. It is a really big adjustment making the change from half-day kindergarten to a full day of school, but these kids are such hard workers! BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT FOR PARENTS: This Thursday, September 7th, you are invited to come and learn about how things work in our classroom. If you have any questions, this is a great time to ask. Beginning at 6:00, each teacher will give a 20 minute presentation, with rotations continuing until 7:00, so that you can visit each of your children’s classes. I hope to see you then. CARNIVAL: Our school Carnival is NEXT FRIDAY, September 15th!! The fun will begin just after school lets out, from 3:30 - 7:00. You can purchase individual tickets or a carnival wristbands at the front office. Our first grade classes are collecting legos for a grand prize drawing at the Carnival. If you would like to contribute, please send your lego set (any size, any style) to the school in the next day or two. Book Reports & Reading Calendars: Yesterday I sent home a September reading calendar and book report form for your child. BOOK REPORTS: Each month our students are expected to create a book report on a book within a specific genre. This month’s genre is fiction, and the class will be doing a report on their favorite character in the story. Reports will be due September 29th, the last Friday of the month. Please choose a book from our OCS approved classical literature list, or send a request to me via email if you have another book in mind. We want our students to be exposed to excellent literature selections. The book for their report does not have to be at the student’s reading level; You are welcome to choose a book to read to your child. Just be sure to help them to do their own work on the report. You can find the book lists here: https://novotnenews.weebly.com/book-report-forms.html READING CALENDARS: The best way for your child to become a great reader is to READ! Please encourage your child to read every night, or have your child listen as you read to them. We want our students to be reading at least 20 minutes every day, for a total of 400 minutes each month. Record the minutes read on the calendar, which will be due on September 29th, the last Friday of the month. THANK YOU: Thank you to our room parents, Kathleen Huntsman and Alysa Davis for the awesome door decoration. (Shiver me Timbers! Ye lasses arrrr amazing!) Thanks also to all of the parents who helped to assemble the pages for our “Me and My World” book! I hope to see you all this Thursday. Hello Parents,
I think your children are fantastic! I am so happy to be working with these students - we have such a great class. We have had a busy, exciting week. SAFETY LESSONS - We have been learning about safety, and this week we practiced our first fire drill. The kids did an excellent job. We also had our first school assembly today, and saw a fun NetSmartz presentation on internet safety. SCHOOL LUNCH - Next week we will begin our school lunch program. Please help your child to understand if they are bringing a home lunch, or if they will be buying school lunch. They will be responsible to move their lunch clip to the correct placement in our classroom. Lunches are ordered by 9:00 a.m., so if you arrive at school later than that time, please send a home lunch with your child. PARENT NIGHT - Please mark your calendars for a back to school night on Thursday, September 7th from 6:00 - 7:00. This is a time scheduled for parents only, where you can learn more about how things work in our classroom, and ask any questions that you may have. I hope to see you then! LABOR DAY HOLIDAY - I hope you all enjoy the 3-day weekend! We will not have school on Monday, September 4th, but we will be back together again on September 5th. I wish you all safe travels and lots of fun and refreshing as you spend time with your families this weekend. Hello Parents! Thank you for coming to Back to School Night. I was delighted that so many of you could be here. It was a pleasure to meet you and your lovely children. Thank you for pitching in with so many school supplies. I wanted to share this picture, because it is amazing to see how much we can accomplish when we all work together: Parents, I am attaching the “All About Me” worksheet for you to download if you did not receive a copy, or if you were not here. Please have your child bring it to school on Wednesday. Some of the spaces on the worksheet are small, so it is fine if you want to write in the answers for your child.
If you were not able to make it last night, please send supplies to school with your child on Wednesday, along with the All About Me worksheet. DON’T FORGET TO SEND A LUNCH WITH YOUR CHILD THIS WEEK! Our school will not be serving lunch until September 5th. Thank you for your understanding. Please remember, also, that Wednesday is an EARLY OUT DAY - School will be in session from 8:30 - 1:30. Thank you so much for all of your support. I look forward to seeing your kids on Wednesday! Hello Parents,
The final countdown is on! I hope that you have been enjoying these final days of summer vacation. In just a few days we will begin our wonderful 1st grade adventure. You will be amazed at how much your child is going to learn and grow this year. Are you ready? BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT: Come and get a sneak peek at our classroom this evening! I can’t wait to meet you and say hello to your child. This is such a great opportunity to help ease any back-to-school jitters. You can stop by anytime between 4:00 - 6:00 pm. If you have already purchased school supplies, please bring them with you so that I can get them ready for the first day of class. (If you would please unpackage the erasers, glue sticks, scissors, and watercolors it would be such a big help to me - thank you!) SCHOOL LUNCH: Our school is working with a new lunch vendor this year, and our school lunch program will begin after Labor Day. Your child will need to BRING A LUNCH FROM HOME each day until SEPTEMBER 5th. There will be bottled water and milk to purchase (.25 / .35 cents) if you would like. WATER BOTTLES: Please send a water bottle to class with your child. It is very important for students to stay hydrated! Water bottles stay in our classroom so that the children can have free access to water throughout the day. I will send water bottles home each Friday to be washed. (If you want water bottles to come home more often than that, please let your child know - but don’t forget to send them back!) HALF DAY: School begins Wednesday, August 16. It will be an early out day, so our schedule is 8:30 - 1:30. Please review the carpool policies, and let your children know what color they should remember (blue or red, depending on your home location). This will help them to be ready and waiting when you arrive. If you have any questions, please contact the front office. WEBSITE: Please take a look through my website. You can find the answers to most of your questions here. You can see what we are learning, find information about our class, and stay informed about upcoming events. I am so thankful to be working with you this year! • 1 box facial tissue • 1 bottle hand sanitizer (with a pump for distribution) • 1 pack sanitizing wipes • 1 pencil case (fabric with zipper and name printed on; approximately 5” x 8” size, large enough to hold crayons, scissors, 2 pencils, 2 erasers, 1 glue stick) • 2 heavy duty poly two-pocket folders (durable plastic, solid blue) • 1 package of #2 Ticonderoga pencils (Ticonderoga brand lasts longer) • 4 pink Pearl erasers • 2 boxes Crayola crayons (Crayola brand lasts longer) • 8 Elmer’s glue sticks (Elmer’s brand lasts longer) • 1 pair scissors (right or left handed according to need) • 1 package of Crayola washable markers OR 1 container of Crayola watercolor paints (8 colors) • 1 pack of cardstock (white) OR 1 pack of colored copy paper (single color packs) • 1 package of dry erase markers (black or multicolored) Optional: • 1 roll paper towels • 1 package dry erase markers (black, thin tip) • 1 bottle whiteboard cleaning spray • 1 box Band-Aids If you are unable to provide any of these items, consider them optional. Please bring your child’s supplies to Back-to-School Night on Monday, August 14th. Thank you! You can print out a copy of this supply list by downloading the file below.
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