Arrival:
Students
will report to the dining hall. A teacher
will meet students by 8:00 and lead them to 3rd floor classroom by 8:15.
Students who arrive after 8:15 are considered tardy. When they arrive, students will have morning
work to complete. Following our morning
work, we gather together for a morning meeting and begin our day.
When a student is late to
school, not only is instruction being missed in the classroom but disruption is
created when a student enters after the lesson has begun. Please remember that
all students need to be at school by 8:15 a.m. Four tardies will be marked on
your child’s record as an absence. (If the problem becomes habitual, parents
will be asked to come to a conference at the school to develop a plan to
alleviate this situation.)
Schedule:
This year, First Grade
will begin to use a Monday- Friday schedule. This means that our daily schedule
and specials will be consistent from week to week. At times, schedules get
confused. I understand there will be times a child is wearing their dress
uniform on a gym day and vice versa. I assure you that the gym teacher and I
will understand of such mistakes. However, if you would like to keep a spare
set of sneakers in your child’s bookbag to prevent confusion, you are welcome
to do so.
The school day is split
into 8 periods. Our classroom schedule can be found on our class blog.
Gym Days:
A copy of
the weekly schedule will be sent home.
We will be having gym on Tuesday and Friday. Please remember that on gym days students
must be in their gym clothes. All other
days, students must be dressed in the appropriate uniform. In accordance with Philip’s Academy’s
policies and procedures, students are not permitted to wear any jewelry to
school (other than dime-sized earrings).
Clothing and Uniforms :
Please be sure to clearly
label all uniforms, clothing, and other belongings. First graders are often
forgetful when it comes to their belongings.
It is common for sweaters, gloves, lunch boxes, etc. to be left at
school. When these items are labeled, it
is much easier to return said items to their owners! Gym sneakers should be black, gray, or
white. Please also check Philip’s
Academy’s parent and student handbook for more information about proper
uniforms. When a student is not following dress code policies, he or she will
be asked to see an administrator for a substitute clothing item, similar to how
one rents shoes at a bowling alley!
School Attendance:
Your child’s regular and
prompt attendance at school is crucial to his/her success. Learning at the first grade level is very
social, and therefore a lot of our learning activities are group oriented and
involve interaction with classmates. For
this reason, it is next to impossible to make up this work at home. Please view school as a priority, and see to
it that your child attends every day, except in cases of illness or emergency.
Refer to the school handbook for more information about school policies
regarding absences.
Of course if your child
is sick, it is best not to send them to school. (Germs spread quickly in first
grade!) If you child is absent, they
will have the same number of days that they missed to make up their work. For example, if your child is sick for 2
days, he/she will have 2 days to complete any missed work. Assignments may be picked up after school at
the front desk or given to the child when they return to school. If you choose to pick up your child’s
homework at the front desk, however, please do inform me the morning that your
child is absent, so I am sure to have the assignments ready and waiting for
you.
Bathroom
Use:
The first graders will be
using the bathroom down the hall. It is shared with many other classrooms and
students on the 3rd floor. In order to ensure safety in the bathroom, we do our
best to limit the amount of students using the bathroom at the same time. Each
class has one “boy’s pass” and one “girl’s pass”. Students may only use the bathroom if the
pass is available in the classroom. Of
course, if it is an emergency, we will make sure children are able to use the
bathroom as needed. Children may go to
the restroom upon arrival, during independent work time, during transitions,
and on an as-needed basis. I ask that students avoid using the restroom during
large group instructional time unless it is an emergency. We strongly
encourage you to send a spare set of clothes with your child in the
event of an accident.
Folders:
Throughout the year, I
will communicate our daily and weekly happenings through various folders. Your
child will have two folders that will go home and be returned: one for homework
assignments and to communicate classroom behavior and another for completed
assignments and school announcements.
Homework Folder:
Every Monday to Thursday,
your child will return from school with a homework folder. This folder will
contain a homework packet, their monthly behavior calendar, and any other
important notes or reminders for that day. Items on the right side, labeled
“bring RIGHT back” should be returned to school the next day. Items on the left
side of the folder, labeled “LEFT at home” should be removed and kept at home.
The Behavior Calendar
will be used to communicate behavior and conduct. This page contains a calendar and a list of
first grade behavior expectations. When
a student experiences difficulty in following a particular rule or meeting a
behavior expectation, I will mark the areas in which the child needs to improve
on the calendar. If you see no marks, it means your child has a great day
(think “no news is good news!”). I ask
that you please review and initial this calendar each day. The purpose of this calendar is to keep you
informed of your child’s behavior in class and provide you with an opportunity
to discuss the behavior with your child at home.
Please remember to return
child’s homework folder daily.
Friday Folder:
All work completed during
the week will be sent home in your child’s Friday Folder on Fridays. Completed work is not sent home during the
week (Mondays through Thursdays).
Notices, updates, and/or newsletters from Philip’s Academy or me may
also be included in this folder. Please
sign the log to indicate that you have received these papers and have your
child return the empty folder and log sheet on Monday.
Specials:
Students will attend
specials throughout the week, including gym, Spanish, music, STEM, and art. Please
note that students are asked to wear gym clothes on days that we have gym (Tuesday
and Friday).
Water
Bottles:
Unfortunately, the
nearest water fountain to our classroom is down the hall near the
bathroom. To reduce the number of
students leaving the classroom for water breaks, I require students to bring in
a water bottle each day. Water bottles
should be labeled with the child’s name.
I have found that bottles that have a pop-up top work best and avoid
spills.
Parent
Volunteers:
I am
always impressed with the willingness of Philip’s Academy parents to volunteer
their time to our classroom and school.
There will likely be times this year when I will be in need of extra
assistance in the classroom. Examples of
volunteer opportunities include, chaperoning a field trip, assisting with a
special class activity, and/or assisting in prepping materials (cutting, pasting,
etc.) for a class lesson or project. If
you would like to volunteer some time in our classroom, please let me know your
availability and I will keep you updated as opportunities become
available. If there are no classroom
volunteer opportunities at a time the parents are available, I will communicate
when a task pops up and will have volunteers come as a first-come-first-serve
basis. Volunteering to assist with lunch and recess is also a wonderful way for
you to help the teachers, staff, and students of PACS. Please reach out to the front desk if you
wish to assist with lunch and recess.
Snack:
Healthy snacks can help
boost a child's mental and physical skills.
However, with so much learning and playing to do, we have very little
time for snack! Our lunch is also much earlier this year at 11:20 AM. In first grade snack is optional. For these
reasons, we will be having snack every afternoon at approximately 2:00 PM,
which is also the same time as our afternoon recess or brain break time. They
may choose to eat ONE snack while they participate in recess centers. I encourage parents to send their child to
school with one healthy snack each day, where they can easily
discard their wrappers. It is best to send a snack that a first grader can
quickly eat and clean up, so they have ample time for recess. Our snack time is supposed to last no longer
than 5 minutes, so snacks should be small enough to eat in that time
period. Please send napkins, spoons or
spreading utensils with your child's snack if needed.
It is the goal of
Philip’s Academy to teach students healthy eating habits. With this goal in mind, the following is a
list of acceptable morning snacks:
●
Crackers
●
Pretzels
●
Fruit
and/or vegetables
●
Yogurt
or pudding
●
Granola
bars
●
Cereal
●
Popcorn
●
Rice
Cakes
●
Applesauce
●
100
calorie packs
●
String
cheese
●
Mini-muffins
●
Raisins
●
Bagels
Please note that chips,
cookies, cakes, candy, etc are not permitted as snacks. Students should bring water to drink if they
would like. As teachers, we have
found that the high levels of sugars in fruit juices and sugary snacks make
students excitable and unfocused. For
this reason, we ask that your children bring water (not juice) if they’d like a
drink with their snacks. Students
will have an opportunity to visit the water fountain at an as-needed basis.
Please know that students
who bring an unhealthy snack will not be permitted to eat it during our class
snack. If available, a healthy
alternative may be provided to your child.
The first grade greatly appreciates your understanding and assistance in
helping PACS and our first grade classes meet our nutrition goals.
Lunch:
Philips Academy has an
amazing lunch program, where we teach students the value of “family style”
meals and the importance of healthy eating. We anticipate that most community
members will participate in this great lunch program, but also realize that some
may bring in bagged lunches. Please note
that we are unable to microwave or refrigerate any meals. Below is a list
of our school’s healthy lunch guidelines. If a student brings in a meal that
does not follow the guidelines, the family will be asked to pay for a healthy
meal that the food service staff provides!
- Daily offerings from each of
the food groups (3 out of 5 is a great idea!)
- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- Whole grain breads, pastas,
and baked goods.
- No artificial trans-fats
- No fried foods
- No processed foods
- No high-fructose corn syrup
- No flavored milk; 2% or less.
No rBST/hormones in milk
- No artificial colors, flavors
or sweeteners
- No soda. 100% fruit juice
only
- Low or no refined sugar
-
We are a NUT FREE SCHOOL.
Birthdays:
Birthdays
are exciting times in the life of a child.
We happily celebrate each child's birthday in first grade. There
have been some school-wide changes to our monthly birthday party policy.
As per administration “no outside food is permitted for birthday celebrations
for individual students’ birthdays in the classroom”. As always, we
want to make sure your child is recognized on his or her birthday! On the day of your child’s birthday
you are invited to come read aloud your child’s favorite book from
3:00-3:20. If your child’s birthday is
over a weekend, you may come in the Friday before or the following Monday.
Please reach out to your child’s teacher if you would like to come in!
You
may bring in 1 non-edible, non-food treat for each child in
the class (pencil, stickers, coloring books, etc.). We have 20 students
in our class this year.
As a class we will
celebrate your child’s actual birthday by singing to him/her. In addition, your child will wear a special
birthday pin (or hat) during the school day and receive a birthday “gift”.
Please note that
invitations to personal parties, sleepovers, etc. are NOT to be passed out at
school unless an invitation is given to all students in the class. I
realize it may seem convenient to pass out invitations at school, but this
easily results in hurt feelings and upset students.
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