Welcome To First Grade!
Dear Parents,
Hello and welcome to a new and exciting school year! My name is Mrs. Polson and I will be your child’s first grade teacher. I am excited to have your child in my classroom this year. I am looking forward to the many educational, fun and rewarding experiences that we will encounter and strive towards together. I am also looking forward to working with you throughout this year.
A new school year is an exciting time for children, teacher, and parents. It means making new friends, taking part in new activities, learning new skills, and trying new things.
To have a successful learning environment, I will stress the importance of cooperative learning and building a community in the classroom. This encompasses good study skills, listening skills, and responsible and respectful behavior. I would like to make you aware that our school and teachers promote positive management techniques that motivate children to be responsible for their own behavior. The set of school wide agreements that cover all areas and create a positive classroom environment are as follows:
1. Attentive listening.
2. Appreciations/No put down.
3. Right to pass (This gives a child the choice to answer or share at times.)
4. Mutual respect
To encourage children to follow the rules, be respectful, and learn responsibility, there are many positive teaching techniques I will use for individuals and the entire class. I will always strive to reinforce appropriate behavior by giving the children positive feedback either with positive comments, awards, stickers, choice time, lunch with the teacher, positive phone calls home, extra responsibility such as helping the teacher and much more. I am confident that the list will grow as the year progresses.
In order to help the children grow in becoming their own problem solvers and encourage them to be responsible for their own behavior, I have developed a few classroom management techniques that you should be aware of so that we may work together to create a positive learning experience for your children:
· Marble Jar – This is a positive reinforcement system that involves working together as a class. Whenever the class accomplishes something as a whole, such as getting started on work as soon as they get to their desks, without any reminders, they receive marbles in the jar. Once the whole jar is filled with marbles there will be a party to celebrate their accomplishments.
· Homework Responsibility - Each morning I will check for signatures/completed homework. This is a great way to have home/school communication.
· Independent Behavior - Students that are displaying behaviors that are not following our community agreements will be given a warning. If behavior continues they will take a short time out at recess.
Promoting Community/Self-Confidence
From the first day of school one of my goals for your children is to create an environment in which they feel safe, welcome, and comfortable in an effort to build their self-confidence and a love for school. There are various ways in which I go about doing this.
· We will spend time at least once a week doing activities that bring us together as a community.
· We will have class meetings to decide on ways in which to create a feeling of safety and belonging or to review our class agreements.
· Character education is used to promote such values as respect, acceptance, honesty, generosity, courage, and good judgment.
I truly want to take the time to get to know your child beyond their academic abilities. Each child is unique, yet has connections to those in their classroom. I want to help them teach more about themselves this year to create a well-rounded experience in 1st grade.
I look forward to having close communication with parents. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
EACH DAY IS A NEW BEGINNING!
Yours in education,
Mrs. Polson