First GradeParent’s Night

NHE2013-2014

What Math Looks LikeWe use the Georgia Common Core standards for math

• Students participate in math lessons, followed by small group and independent hands on activities.

• Math groups may get noisy but we are learning.• Students need to develop math skills and practice

explaining how they solve problems.• Students participate in Number Talk activities to build provide students with meaningful ongoing practice

with computation.

Language ArtsWe follow the frameworks for the ELA Common Core

standards

• We practice reading skills in small groups based on your child’s instructional level.

• We participate in phonics lessons.• We practice spelling and reading skills during

literacy centers.• We answer comprehension questions about

stories and books we read.• We write about our experiences, books we

read, topics we research and much more.

School Wide Discipline Plan• Our school wide discipline program is based on a

point system and students must earn 85% of the month’s total points to earn Fun Fridays.

Strive to be Bright Knights!

• Keep your hands, feet, and objects to yourself• Never give up• Include others• Give your best everyday• Have work completed• Talk only at appropriate times and places• Show respect for yourself and others at all times

5=great day 4=Warning 3= 10 minutes off of recess2=Miss all of recess 1=timeout in another classroom and

phone call0=Office referral

• You need to look inside your child’s bee book to see how many points they have. You must initial the agenda daily or else your child will loose a point the following day.

• To earn Fun Friday, a student must earn 85% of the month’s points.

• Fun Fridays will be on the last Friday of the month from 1:30-dismissal. The students that do not earn Fun Friday will come to the cafeteria and work on goal setting and/or work sent by teachers with administrators, counselor, and other school personnel.

• At any time it is up to the teacher to determine if a student’s action warrants skipping consequences and resulting in an automatic office referral.

• Students may get points taken from our media specialist, paraprofessionals on duty, specials teachers, lunchroom staff, and staff on duty during morning room and bus dismissal. Students should be on their best behavior at all times!

Attendance• Attendance is very important at New Hope.  However, if your child

becomes ill before leaving for school, please keep him/her at home. When your child returns to school after an absence, you must send a note the following day to school. The note should include the following information: Child's name, date of absence, reason for absence, and Parent/guardian signature. Please refer to the student handbook for excused absences and tardies

• Tardies - If your child arrives at school after 7:45 a.m. an adult must sign the child in at the office.  A tardy slip is then given to the child to give to his/her teacher. 

• Students will earn a reward at the end of each month if they have NO tardies, early dismissals, or absences. This is for excused as well as unexcused. While we understand things come up, we want to reward kids for coming to school on time, staying at school for a full day, and being at school every day.

Weekly Newsletter

• The newsletter can be found on the first grade website.

• The newsletter contains weekly phonics concepts, home work, skills being taught, upcoming events, and important announcements.

• It is very important for you to read this newsletter every week. If you can not access the newsletter please let me know and I will get you a copy.

Helping Your Child Read

• Have your child read to you.• Do shared reading. You read a sentence. Your

child reads a sentence• While in the car have your child read street signs

and billboards. • Ask questions during the story. Why…?, How do

you know…?, What do you think will happen next?, What might happen if…?(Just ask a few. This will let you know if your child is understanding the story.)

• Asking open ended questions allows the child to think about their answer. Yes or no answers don’t help with the student’s comprehension of the story.

Practicing Math

• Each week in the newsletter you can find the strategy we are working on in math. You will also receive a math homework calendar.

• It is important that your child work on a strategy to solve a problem not just find the answer.

• Math in our classroom is very hands on. We don’t do a lot of pencil and paper assignments.

Weekly Assessments•Phonics: This concept will change weekly depending on the focus for the week. Look on the weekly newsletter to see the phonics concepts that are being taught and look nightly in your child’s phonics journal. These are words we use weekly and are being checked on Friday for accuracy as well as usage within a sentence. They should be spelled correctly. Phonics dictation sentences will also be graded for spelling, correct capitalization, end punctuation, and finger spacing. We work with these words all week and they are a part of your child’s daily homework

•Comprehension: The student’s comprehension will be checked using a passage read by the teacher. This question and answer assessment is used to check the students understanding of the information being read to them. Later in the year the student will be expected to read the story independently.

Weekly Assessments Grading Scale3 – meets standard2 – progressing to meet standard1 – does not meet standard0- no progress toward achieving the standard

Your child should be receiving 2s and 3s on the weekly assessments. This lets you know that your child understands the standards in first grade.

Graded papers will be sent home on Wednesday in an assessment  folder. Please sign and return the graded papers(the papers with a 0, 1, 2, or 3 on them) by Friday.

Sight Words• The students must master Levels 1- 5 in first grade. Once they have

mastered those levels they will move to the next level until reaching level 13.

• The student studies a column of words nightly.• The teacher will test the students twice a week on words, mark through

the words students know. • After all words are checked once, they are rechecked before the child

reads phrases. If a child gets “stuck” on 3 or fewer words, the teacher may write them on the next list so they can begin practicing the next set of words.

• The teacher may randomly choose words to check for retention.• Students must say the word with automaticity (within in 3 seconds).• After the students have learned the entire level of words, he or she must

read them in phrases before moving to the next level.• A list of phrases will be read after a child masters a list before they move

their clip to the next level.• Bring sight word folders daily.

Good news! Our students have BrainPOP!We’re happy to inform you that BrainPOP is now part of your children’s curriculum. Your school

has purchased a subscription to this award-winning web-delivered resource, enhancing children’s engagement in the classroom.

BrainPOP creates animated, curriculum-based content that supports educators and engages students. Hundreds of topics within Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Technology, Arts & Music and Health are all brought to life through short, animated movies and related interactive

quizzes and features. BrainPOP Español provides BrainPOP content in Spanish. All content is aligned to and searchable by state standards

BrainPOP!Username: newhopeelem

Password: brainpop 

Your school now has access to :www.brainpop.com (grades 3-8)   www.brainpopjr.com (grades K-3)

http://esp.brainpop.com// (Spanish version of BrainPOP)