Welcome to First Grade!
Hi, my name is Katie Snowden and I’m going to be your child’s First Grade teacher! I can’t wait to share the many stories, games, and activities I have planned for your child! We will also sing songs, learn poetry, and make many new friends! I am looking forward to working with your child this year and getting to know him or her. I am sure you are eager to know a little bit about me too. I am married and have three children. I also have a dog. I love spending time with my family- especially sharing our day over good food and laughter. I also enjoy playing with my children and reading books to them. I am very excited about the upcoming school year and I have been working in the classroom getting it ready for an awesome new year of learning! Again, I am so excited your child is in my class!
Our days will be very busy learning many new and valuable skills. You can help your first grader by checking their backpack each evening and discussing the day’s events. Please make reading a nightly habit- 15 minutes each day can make a tremendous difference in their reading ability and fluency. New spelling words will go home on Monday and the spelling test will be on Friday unless there is a short week. Any homework sent home will be due the following day unless otherwise noted. I try not to give a large amount of homework. Reading nightly for 10-15 minutes, can greatly improve your child’s reading fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary skills. Asking questions about the stories, modeling how stories are read, and rereading the confusing text, are also great strategies to improve reading skills. I also ask that math assignments when sent home as homework, be completed at home and returned the next day. I also highly recommend that you and your child practice his/her basic math facts, counting money, and telling time. You will not see a lot of math work sent home because our Everyday Math program requires our students to do a lot of their pencil-paper work to be done in a workbook. The workbook is kept at school and will be sent home at the end of the year. I will try to send one math assignment per lesson home to better their math skills. I will be sending home the Math Home Links book with your child. The assignments for the book will be on Monday’s newsletter. Please complete the assignments and send the assigned pages back the next day.
- Backpack without rollers
- 4 boxes of 24 Crayola Crayons
- 20 Elmer’s Glue Sticks
- Scissors
- 24 Yellow #2 Pencils
- 1 Box of Crayola Classic Markers
- 6 Expo Dry Erase Markers (Black Only)
- 2 Hi-Polymer Erasers
- Regular Size School Box
- 3 Large Kleenex Boxes
- Headphones for Computer Lab (No Ear Buds)
- Clorox Disinfectant Wipes
- 3 Rolls of Paper Towels
- Large Bottle of Hand Sanitizer
- 2 Pocket Folders (Red and Yellow)
- Markers
- Paint
- Play-Doh
- Highlighters
- Multicolored Printer Paper
- Multicolored Cardstock
- Whiteboard Erasers
- Extras of any of the Regular Supplies
- 1. Follow directions quickly.
- 2. Raise your hand for permission to speak.
- 3. Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat.
- 4. Make smart choices.
- 5. Keep your dear teacher happy.
- Plus following the school-wide behavior matrix
Weekly Schedule
Monday: P.E. (Please wear tennis shoes)
Tuesday: Music
Wednesday: Library
Thursday: Computer Lab
Friday: Art
Daily Schedule
School day begins at 8:15 a.m. Children may enter the school at 7:55 a.m. Any students arriving after 8:25 a.m. will be counted tardy. Please have students here on time because we begin promptly and being tardy causes students to miss a lot of essential information and learning!
8:00-8:30– Arrival- Breakfast and Morning Work
8:30- 8:45– Morning Meeting
8:45-10:00– Reading
10:00-10:30– I/E time. This is intervention/enrichment time. Students will work in small groups to master needed skills.
10:30-12:00– Math
12:00-12:40-Lunch and Recess
12:40-1:20– Language Arts
1:20-2:00– This is our art, p.e., music, library, and computer time. Please be sure your child is wearing tennis shoes on Mondays.
2:00-2:30– Science and/or Social Studies.
2:30-2:40– Clean up, organize, recap, and announcements. Line up and dismiss at 2:40.
