First Grade Picnic

The First Grade Picnic is Tuesday, June 10th from 9:30am – 1:00pm at Marinwood Park.

Students will bring their own backpacks. Be sure your child has a BIG lunch from home and water. All kids need their own beach towel labeled with their name. Please join us to chaperone as we walk to the park and back.

Volunteers and Donations are needed:

– Volunteers to arrive at the park at 8:00 a.m. and save tables for us.

– Volunteers to transport extra food, snacks, supplies to and from the park.

– Six volunteers to bring 50 filled water balloons each.

 Volunteers to bring:

– soccer balls

– rubber balls

– wiffle ball & bat

– badminton racquets & shuttlecocks

– colored chalk

– bubbles

– jump ropes

– paddle ball

– trac ball

– coloring books

Volunteers to bring snacks:

– Pirate Booty (popcorn)

– pretzels

– clusters of cleaned grapes

– wedges of watermelon

– goldfish crackers

Volunteers to bring paper products:

– paper cups

– napkins

– hand sanitizer

– disposable baby wipes

Sign-up sheets are posted in the first grade hallway, however if you are not able to come to campus to sign up you can email me  and I will put your name on the sign-up sheet.

Thank you,

Susan Ritscher

Hello!

Hello!  My name is Susan Ritscher (pronounced “richer”) and I will be your child’s first grade teacher.  This will be my 17^th year teaching. For the past 13 years I have been teaching first grade at Silveira.  Prior to teaching at Silveira, I taught Kindergarten for 4 years in New York.  I live in Novato with my husband, Jon, our 5 year old son, Logan, and our dog, Naya.

In the first few weeks, the children will be getting to know each other, learning about the classroom, and settling into routines. All Wednesdays for the rest of the school year, dismissal will be at 1:25pm.  On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays your child will be dismissed at 2:35pm.  Please let your child know who is picking him/her up at school each day, or if he/she is going to aftercare, or taking the bus.  It may take your child a while to adjust to their new first grade schedule and feel comfortable with the longer day.

Our classroom door opens at 8:05am each morning.  Please do not have your child arrive earlier as there is no supervision.  Instruction begins promptly at 8:14am (when the bell rings). Please help your child get to school early enough to hang up their backpack, get out their folder, and be in their seat, by the time the bell rings.  This also means that you need to say goodbye to your child at the door before he/she enters the classroom.  I prefer that parents stay outside in the morning since the extra movement and talking in the classroom makes it more difficult for the children to focus on their work.

All notices will be going home with your child in his/her folder.  Please empty the folder each day and have your child return his/her folder the following day.  The folder is sent home every day, even if it is empty, so that if you have a note to send to school you can put it in the folder, as it is checked each morning.  Please make sure your child has a backpack to carry his/her folder and books, and a lunch bag for your child’s lunch and snack.

Please provide a healthy snack for your child everyday, in addition to his/her lunch (even if your child has ordered lunch), and let your child know what you are packing as their snack vs. lunch.

I look forward to working with you to make first grade a successful and fun experience for your child!

Classroom Schedule

Monday =

Tuesday = PE

Wednesday = PE

Thursday = Tech Lab and Music

Friday = Library

Please have your child wear sneakers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays!

Important Dates

May 16 = Walking Field Trip to the Old Dixie School House

May 22 = Tech Lab Open House, 10:20 – 11:05am

May 26 = NO SCHOOL, Memorial Day

May 29 = OPEN HOUSE, 6:00pm – Art Show in MPR, 6:30-7:30pm – Classroom

June 10 = First Grade Picnic at Marinwood Park

June 11 = Field Day (Minimum Day, 1:25pm dismissal)

June 12 = Last Day of School (Minimum Day, 1:25pm dismissal)

Classroom News

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Room 15 Families,

While they continue to learn new reading rules, the standard for fluency (speed) continues to increase.  So not only do they have to keep up with learning how to read these new words, their speed needs to continue to get faster.  That is why repeat-readings of the homework stories are critical.  You can time your child yourself.  Have them read an assigned homework story at the beginning of the week, counting how many words they read correctly in 1 minute.  After they practice that story during the week, time them again.  Make sure their speed has increased!  If it hasn’t, have them read it some more!

Our new GLAD unit is about Our Changing World, comparing the past and the present. We have been focusing on inventors and inventions that have made a significant impact to our world. Children have been learning the definitions for new words such as technology, transportation, communication, timeline. We practice using the new words in a sentence and children often bring home awards with the definitions of these words on them.

We have also been reading and discussing new stories about Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, the Wright Brothers and the inventors of the Slinky, the Superball, Play-doh, Legos, and Twister. We made a timeline of inventors that included Tsai Lun (paper), Henry Ford (Quadricycle), Stephanie Kwolek (Kevlar), Jacques Cousteau (aqualung), Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), and Shigeru Miyamoto (nintendo Wii – Mario Brothers).

Rocket Math is helping the children build “fact power”. Please practice the facts at home for about 3-5 minutes each day.

Always remember, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to stop by after school or send me an email or note.  I want first grade to be the best experience for you and your child!

Susan Ritscher

Folders

Your child will be bringing home his/her folder every day. Please check it every day for important notices and homework.  Math homework should be returned in the folder and weekly homework, including the Homework Journal (on Fridays), should be returned in the folder as well.  If you have a note for me, or I have a note for you, please put it in the folder.

We will begin this routine after Back to School Night!

 

Welcome to Room 15!

Our class mascot is Clifford the Big Red Dog. I have a large collection of Clifford books and stuffed animals in the classroom. When your child is scheduled to be our class “Star of the Week”, he/she will be able to take a Clifford stuffed toy home for the weekend. Your child will be given paper, to draw and write about their adventure with Clifford.