My goal is to have my classroom be a home-away-from-home, a comfortable learning environment where your child feels safe to explore new concepts, make mistakes, and try again.
What To Bring
Supplies – Please see Parent Responsibilities.
Personal Items – Personal items such as backpacks, lunch boxes, and coats/jackets/sweaters should be labeled with your child’s name. Please do not send any extra items such as toys or valuables unless specifically requested. It’s never fun when beloved belongings get misplaced…Â
Water Bottles – Students are allowed to bring water bottles to class, but please make sure that students are able to open and close their water bottles on their own. We also have a drinking fountain in the classroom that students can use.
Daily Schedule
An average day may look something like this:
8:00-8:20am – Morning Meeting and Attendance
8:20-8:40am – Calendar
8:40-9:45am – English Language Arts (ELA)
9:45-10:05am – AM Recess
10:05-10:50am – Mathematics
10:50-11:20am – Reading Centers
11:25-12:10pm – Lunch
12:10-12:30pm – Silent Reading
12:30-1:10pm – Science or Social Studies
1:10-1:30pm – Physical Education (PE)
1:30-1:45pm – PM Recess
1:50-2:15pm – Choice Time (where students are offered a variety of activities designed to build social skills or help them catch up on schoolwork)
2:15-2:25pm – Clean up and Dismissal
Of course, while we strive for a routine, sometimes we have to move things around for special events or specialist teachers. In first grade, we practice being flexible!
Homework
Students will be receiving homework this year. Homework will be sent home in their homework folder on Monday (or the first day of the week) and should be returned on Friday (or the last day of the week). This homework is intended to be practice for what we have learned In school. Homework should take no longer than 5-10 minutes a night.
Please make sure to read for 20 minutes each night as well, which can greatly benefit students’ ELA skills. Students will be taking AR tests, and getting points for all of the books that they read! Keep it fun: reading shouldn’t be a chore, but a skill that brings lifelong enjoyment.
Specialist Teachers
We’re very lucky at Parkview to have several specialist teachers, who have furthered their professional education in order to bring more precision to certain subjects than what a general education classroom can provide.
Fine Arts – Fine Arts will be taught in our class approximately every three weeks for half a day. Our talented Fine Arts teacher Mrs. Thersa Mallinger will provide an exciting, hands-on art project that includes an in-depth art education involving methodology, history, culture, and more!
Music – Students will participate in music class every week with the lovely Anne Campbell. We will have music on Fridays from 10:05-10:35am, where they will learn early music theory and then put it to practice! I am a steadfast supporter of music and fine arts, as the benefits of both are numerous and outstanding.
SEL: Social Emotional Learning (SEL) takes place in our classroom with the incredibly warm hearted Nicole Kermen. In this, students will practice their ability to calm themselves down, work with others, and find peace and joy in this chaotic world.
S.T.E.M Lab – Once every three weeks or so, students will visit our unique S.T.E.M. Lab! Here they will create hypothesizes, perform experiments, and get hands-on with the clever Jaime O’Brien. Of course, this isn’t the only time students will receive practical science education, as we’ll do plenty in the classroom, but the S.T.E.M. Lab has access to many more opportunities.
Library – We will visit our school library and the awesome Ms. Abby once a week. In first grade, students will keep their books at school. At the library, students will be encouraged to explore different genres of books and broaden their horizons!
Curriculum
English Language Arts (ELA) – University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI)
Mathematics – Ready Math (boosted with Building Thinking Classrooms)
Science – Mystery Science
Social Science – Reflections
Report Cards – Report Cards will be sent home three times per year. Please expect to receive your child’s report card in November, February, and June. The first grade report card will look very similar to the Kindergarten report card if your child attended Parkview last year.
