Thank you

Thank you so much for attending the curriculum night. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedules to come find out about the things your child will be working on in first grade. Please remember if you have any questions please feel free to email me, write a note in your child's planner or call me.



Here are a few dates to mark in your calendar for September:

9/ 6 No School

9/10 Movie Night 7pm

9/15 The last day for Entertainment Book orders and to return books

9/ 15 Early Release Day 1:40 Dismissal

9/29 School Pictures, Be There Day

Curriculum Night

Families-
Please remember that our Curriculum Night is tomorrow at 6pm. You may come to the classroom at 6pm (room 131). I will discuss several things tomorrow night. Some things on the agenda include: classroom expectations, office information, curriculum information- spelling program, homework, and student spotlight. This will be very informative so I hope you can make it. Please remember that this is an adult only event. Thank you for your support and I hope to see you tomorrow evening.

* New families to Truman may attend a "Town Hall Meeting" in the cafeteria at 6:45pm.

Fill up your Bucket.

We have had 2 wonderful days of first grade so far. The students are so cute and they are going to have a great time getting to know each other this year. They are doing a great job trying to learn new routines and getting adjusted to such a long day of school. First grade is such a big change for them and so much learning take place this school year. The reading and writing alone are amazing to see how it will develop over the next few months.

I introduced the behavior plan to the students yesterday. Maybe you heard about it from your child last night. The main way I encourage positive behavior in the classroom and here at school is with the "fill your bucket" idea. I read a story to the class How Full is your Bucket? by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer. It is describes how everyone has an invisible bucket and when we make good choices our buckets get filled up and when we make poor choices our buckets drip out. When we make good choices and do good for others we fill up our own bucket even more. So, each day I pass out little papers that say "thanks for putting a drop in my bucket" when I see great choices. This is an individual reward. They put their name on the back of the paper and put it in the bucket. At the end of each day I choose 4 pieces of paper and call those names to pick from the treasure chest. The next day we start all over. You may want to ask your child each night, "did you help fill a bucket today?"

The whole class reward is based on pod points. Pod points are points that each pod can earn throughout the day. I keep these points for a month. The pod with the most points "wins" ice cream. Then they all get new seats, new pod names and I start over for the month. This encourages team work and helps the students realize that their choices not only affect them , but the choices affect others as well.

Three strikes and 5 minutes off recess is how the students have a consequence to their poor choices. This will be altered throughout school year to meet the needs of the students who continue to make poor choices.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions. I will address this during curriculum night again if need be. Thanks so much for your support and involvement!

* If you would like to send in a folder all that is needed is: one per child, paper folder with 2 pockets, any color and any design. Thanks so much!

Reminders:
8/20 Spirit Day- wear Truman gear
8/26 Curriculum Night 6-6:30pm in the classroom (no kids please)

Welcome to First Grade

I just wanted to tell all of my students that I am so excited for the first day of school tomorrow! We are going to have so much fun getting to know each other and learning about the classroom. Tomorrow is a day to learn names, make new friends, organize supplies, enjoy lunch and recess and learn what first grade is all about!

Good luck and I can't wait to see you in the morning!
Love,
Mrs. Boyd

School Supplies for 2010-2011

Hello First Grade Families!

You are welcome to visit our classroom and drop-off your child's school supplies at our Meet the Teacher from 5:00 - 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, August 12, 2010. If you are unable to make the Meet the Teacher time, but are planning to attend the Truman Ice Cream Social from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. on August 12th, your child may put his/her supplies in the bin marked "Mrs. Boyd's Classroom." Please be sure to put your child's name on the supplies. The bin will be located outside of our classroom. If you haven't had a chance to get all the items yet, don't worry. Just bring what you have so far. You can send the rest of the items on the first day of school.

1 bookbag or packpack (not rolling)

3 bottles of Elmer's washable school glue - 4 oz. size

12 Elmer's glue sticks

1 plastic pencil box - size 5.25" x 8.25" x 2"

3 dozen, #2 sharpened pencils

2 pink pearl erasers

1 box of Crayola crayons (24 count)

1 pair of scissors

1 pkg. of low-odor Expo dry erase markers - not BOLD (4 count)

2 box of tissues

1 roll of paper towels

1 box of plastic, zip lock storage bags (Boys: gallon size, 20 ct.; Girls: sandwich size, 50 ct.)

1 three-ring fabric pencil case with grommets, 10" x 6"

1 PURPLE & 1 RED wide-ruled spiral notebook

1 container of Clorox disinfectant wipes

1 pkg. of Crayola Classic markers (10 count)

1 pair of headphones with earbuds and wind-up spool case

1 pad of Post-It Notes, 3"x 3"

1 paintshirt (a man's shirt with collar cut off,sleeves cut above the elbows, and the student's name on the back of the shirt; Velcro works well to close the front opening of the shirt)