Welcome to Curriculum Night

1. Welcome to Curriculum Night Mrs. Ferber 1st Grade

2. Mrs. Ferber’s family • I grew up in Okinawa, Japan as a military brat. My parents still reside there. • My husband, Chuck and I have been married for 12 years! We have two boys, Zaiden (7 yrs) and Athan (5 yrs).

3. Mrs. Ferber-Education • I earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Hawaii. • I obtained my teaching credentials from San Diego State University. • I earned my Master’s Degree and Reading Endorsement from NAU.

4. First Grade • I am so excited to be teaching first grade at FULTON! This is my 3rd year at Fulton teaching 1st grade. I previously taught first grade at Erie Elementary for 7 years and kindergarten for 2 years before that. • First grade is a year of incredible growth. You will see your student increase their reading ability, comprehension skills, and fluency skills. You will see growth in their writing skills as they write personal narratives, reports, informational text, and poetry. • Your child will grow in maturity, reasoning and problem solving skills, as well as gaining personal responsibility for their daily tasks, personal belongings, and being prepared for their day.

5. Housekeeping • Harcourt leveled readers and anthology signoff. Please sign purple paper tonight, I need to have all parent signatures prior to books going home next week. (Our anthology will go home). Books are bar coded and have been checked out to your child. • District Handbook – front page must be signed (please sign and return tonight) • Internet user agreement and discipline plan (please sign tonight) • Artist in Residence 1Q, no lunch on Fridays with students until 2Q • Club CUSD catalogs on desks • mylunchmoney.com – great way to add money to your child's account. $1.95 service fee. • Bus – please call the front office if your after-school transportation will be different. • Walkers – must have gold tags • Grandparent’s Day, September 2nd. This is a special event at Fulton for grandparents only. We have many opportunities for parents to be involved and share in special celebrations, please allow grandparents to share in a special day with your child. • Volunteer orientation must be attended before volunteering in the classroom. Session tonight, Wed night, and Thurs night. Returning volunteers can sign a form rather than attend an orientation this year if they see Mrs. Shroka tonight in the front office. • Fulton Handbook – Fulton website, under information. Also linked on our class website.

6. In our effort to save on paper, we are asking parents to print 2-3 items per week. Print your child’s reading log weekly. Print your child’s homework weekly. Print or view my weekly newsletter. Reducing paper cost

7. Mrs. Ferber’s Website • Go to CUSD website. • Go to Fulton Elementary • Click on Staff • Click on 1st grade – Mrs. Ferber • Sign-up for alerts! 

8. Communication • Your child’s Home folder is our daily form of communication. It will travel back and forth from home to school each day. Please put all notes from home, lunch money, or anything needing to be returned to school in your child’s green folder. • My phone number is 480.224.3347. Your message will go to voicemail and I will call you back as soon as I can. • You can email me anytime, I will get back to you as soon as I am able.

9. Home Folder • Your child will bring this folder everyday to color in their behavior for the day. • In your child’s Home folder is a monthly calendar. This calendar will inform you of your child’s day using green, yellow or red to color in their day. I’ll also list birthdays, holidays, and specials on here. • Your child may bring home unfinished work from that day that needs to be returned the next day. • Your child will color in green for a good day. A week of green days earns a trip to the treasure box. • Your child will color in yellow if they receive more than a couple of reminders to listen, stay on task, or follow directions. A yellow will result in 5 min. of reflection time away from the group, and loss of treasure box on Friday. * • Your child will color in red when their behavior continues to disrupt the learning of other students, after reminders to check their behavior and reminding them of their choices. Red consequences include reflection time, loss of free choice time on Fridays, and loss of treasure box, as well as a note home. * • Please initial the box if it is colored yellow or red.

10. Positive Actions • Tickets – Students can earn tickets to use towards extra treasure box trips. (Individual) • Table points - Table groups can earn tickets at the end of each week for having the most table points. (Small group) • Compliment Stars - The class can earn compliments for whole-class positive actions. When 25 stars are earned, we have a class celebration – Pajama Party. (Entire class)

11. Backpacks • Your child will bring their folders back and forth from school to home in their backpack. A non-rolling backpack is best as it fits on the back of our chairs and doesn’t cause others to trip. • Please help your child remember to pack their folders, lunch, and water bottles and bring their backpack each day.

12. Snack • Your child may bring a daily snack to have for morning recess. (10:15am) • I would appreciate donations of snacks since students may occasionally forget to bring one. (Graham crackers, pretzels, goldfish are easy to hand out.)

13. Lunch • Fulton offers lunch for $2.25 and breakfast for $1.00 on a Meal Pay system. Fulton encourages breakfast at school as mornings can often be very busy and a full tummy lasts until snack time. • Each child is assigned an account which can be refilled at anytime via cash, check which is delivered to the café when students bring it to school. • Parents can visit www.MyLunchMoney.com and refill your child’s account from home.

14. Water bottles • I encourage your child to bring a water bottle every day during the hot weather. • If your child brings a commercial water bottle please put their name on it in permanent marker.

15. Birthdays • Fulton is continuing Birthday Book Club to celebrate every child’s birthday. Information is posted on my website. Mrs. Sanders can answer any questions you have related to birthday celebrations. • Birthday treats can be enjoyed at Birthday Club Parties. • Your child will still get a birthday crown and we will sing to them in class!

16. On-time, daily attendance is crucial to the academic success of your child. In the event of an illness, please call the attendance line. Our school day begins promptly at 8:25. Please have your child waiting in our class line when the bell rings. Your child may not arrive earlier than 8:05 a.m. as there is no supervision on the playground. If your child arrives after the tardy bell at 8:30, they must stop by the office and sign in as they will be marked absent in the classroom. Children are not to be picked up or dropped off at any other location other than parent pickup lane. We want to keep all our children safe. If your child needs to leave school for the day, stop by the office and they will call down to my room and your child will be sent up to the office. Only those people listed on their emergency card will be allowed to take them from school. The school day ends at 3:00, please be prompt when picking up your child. Attendance and Tardy Policies

17. Thinking Maps • We are a thinking maps school and you will see thinking maps related to all content areas of learning. There is a link on our website where you can learn more about the thinking processes that are the basis of Thinking Maps. Your children will be able to name, tell you how to use, and draw all 8 thinking maps by the end of the year.

18. Language Arts-Reading/Writing • Chandler School District’s adopted Language Arts curriculum is Harcourt. Our weekly anthology story will be the basis for our learning objectives for that week. Learning objectives build on each other and regardless of your students reading level, he/she will implement the focus skill and strategies in their daily work related to their anthology story as well as in their guided reading stories. • Some of our main reading objectives in first grade include decoding, fluency, vocabulary building, comprehension. • Harcourt is one of the components of our language arts program at Fulton. • We utilize Write From The Beginning, which is a thinking maps based writing program implemented throughout our school, grades K-6

19. Reading Harcourt incorporates the 5 components of reading into their program: Phonemic Awareness isthe ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds-phonemes in spoken words. Phonics instruction teaches children the relationships between the letters of written language and the individual sounds of spoken language. It teaches children to use these relationships to read and write words. Fluency – oral fluency is reading with speed, accuracy, and expression. “Reading like you speak” will be a fluency phrase your child hears. Vocabulary – the words we must know to communicate effectively. Oral vocabulary refers to words that we use in speaking or recognize in listening. Reading vocabulary refers to words we recognize or use in print. Text Comprehension is the result of purposeful and active reading in which readers construct meaning through an interactive exchange of ideas with the text.

20. Guided Reading • Another part of the reading program at Fulton is “Guided Reading.” This program allows the teacher to assess the individual student and assign a specific reading level. The level will be designed so that the book read will be difficult enough for the student to figure out using the skills they have learned, yet not too hard so as to be frustrating to the student. • The guided reading book that your child will bring home nightly (except Fridays) will be based upon the level he/she has been assessed. Assessment includes not only reading level, but comprehension and vocabulary skills as related to reading material. • Reading Block will occur daily. This is one of the most important parts of your child’s day and learning to read. Please schedule any appointments outside of this time. We will work on a rotation procedure and your child will be working independently at their seat as well as at literacy stations. (8:45 – 10:15am) • Your child will be assessed periodically in many areas this year: high frequency words, also called sight words, comprehension of material read, vocabulary skills and reading level.

21. Reading Folder • Your child will begin bringing home their reading folders on Aug. 16 when reading block starts. • Please have your child read their book to you each night, fill out the title and author’s name in the space provided on the reading log, how many minutes your child read that night, (we aim for 20 minutes each night) and parents will sign their students reading folder in the place provided. • It is the expectation that students read to someone each night, and they receive a signature for reading. It will be checked during reading block.

22. Spelling • Your child will have spelling words that will be tested on Friday. These words follow the vowel pattern of our anthology story for that week, these words will be included in our weekly homework that will be posted online on Fridays. • We will also practice applying our spelling by writing them in a sentence. A dictation sentence will also be included with the homework.

23. Writing • Your child will incorporate writing into almost everything they do at school in first grade. • We will continue to practice D’Nealian letter formation, placement and spacing. • Journal Writing • Story Predictions • Science Observations • Personal Narratives • Report writing • Functional Text – friendly letters, schedules, thank you’s, directions, posters, graphs/tables. • Expository Text – lists, observations, journals, summarize information from a graph or table. • We will focus and refine the use of 6+1 traits of writing- ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. • We will also work continuously on the writing process, it is exciting to watch their personal growth in this process.

24. Math • Our adopted math program is Scott Foresman and Investigations by TERC. • Math lessons are designed in three steps: Step 1-modeled by the teacher (I do) Step 2-practiced whole group (we do) Step 3-practiced independently (you do) • We use a hands-on approach in math with the use of a variety of manipulatives. I believe hands-on approaches are the best when teaching math. Students learn math more concretely when they can directly apply their knowledge to something that they can either identify with or manipulate with their hands. • By the end of the year, your first grader will be adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers, interpreting data from a variety of charts, graphs and pictographs, and using logical reasoning to explain their answers.

25. Operations and Algebraic Thinking • Number and Operations in Base Ten • Geometry Measurement and Data • Mathematical practices are embedded Math Domains CCS

26. Science Scientific Method Body Systems Important People Living Things and Life Cycles Objects in the Sky Weather and Clouds

27. Social Studies People and events of the past Mapping Government & Citizenship Places (Arizona & Egypt) Communities National symbols and holidays

28. HOMEWORK • Homework in first grade is a review of objectives we have already learned. It is a critical part of their development of skills. Homework is simply extra practice to develop a concrete knowledge of skills learned in the classroom. • Homework will be posted online on Friday and is due the following Friday. It should be signed and returned in your child’s Home Folder. Students should spend about 10-15 minutes a night on homework. In addition, nightly homework also includes reading their guided reading book to an adult. • All students have busy social calendars with sports, music, and extra activities after school. The first grade expectation is that all students complete homework and turn it in by Friday morning. Students who do not complete their homework join homework club during Free Choice time on Fridays. • http://www.mychandlerschools.org/20172092215497773/site/default.asp

29. You may see your child’s papers coming home with symbols in the top corner. These are the symbols I will enter in my gradebook for report cards. I will not typically grade daily practice work. I will take a grade on a test after we have had lessons on a topic. A rubric sheet will be sent home for your reference. Grading Rubrics MS – Meets standard with 80% accuracy P – Progressing 70-79% AC – Area of Concern 69% and below

30. Specials • We are on a 6-day rotation with 2 days for PE, music and 1 day for library, our 6th day will be used as a Computer Lab or Community building day. • On your child’s monthly calendar is a specials schedule. • Each child is allowed and encouraged to check out 2 books on our library day, the books must be returned before our next library day. • Be sure to have your child wear tennis shoes on PE days, girls wear shorts under their skirts (or avoid skirts on those days). • Day 1 – Library • Day 2 – Music • Day 3 – P.E. • Day 4 – No special/Computer • Day 5 – Music • Day 6 – P.E.

31. Computer Lab • I love teaching my students through the use of technology. We have 3 computers in our room, and full-size computer lab! • We will be creating a power point presentations where we will learn to use colored backgrounds and fonts, and perhaps even using sound and slide transition techniques. • We will become familiar with Microsoft Word and practice reading and math skills on approved educational websites.

32. Our daily schedule Our day is full of learning • 8:25 Bell rings • 8:30 Word of the Day • 8:45 Reading Block • 10:15 Morning Recess • 10:30 Harcourt Reading • 10:45 Specials • 11:20 Lunch & Recess • 12:00 Calendar/Read Aloud • 12:25 Harcourt Reading • 12:40 Math • 1:30 Writing • 2:20 Science/Social Studies • 2:50 Stack chairs, clean-up • 3:00 Dismissal

33. Tax Credit Donation • Our school benefits greatly from your tax credit donations. • $400 for a family • Tax credit donations are due by December 31st, but can be dropped by the office at any time before that. • Link on my website

34. YIPPEE for VOLUNTEERS!!! • If you have not yet let me know you are interested in volunteering to help our classroom please let me know, as I am putting together a schedule soon. • I will be posting the volunteer schedule online on the calendar. Please check to be sure you can come in on the days I scheduled you. I will put a copy of this calendar in your child’s Home Folder • When reading block begins I will have volunteers run a station, or assist students who are working independently. • I can also use helpers at home. 

35. Back to School!

36. We love first grade!

37. First Grade 2011 - 2012

38. Having fun in 1st grade

39. First Grade is great!

40. Thanks for coming tonight!!