Welcome!

Dear Families,

Welcome to the new school year!  I am thrilled to be your child's teacher and cannot wait to begin our journey together.  

This is my third year keeping a blog rather than sending out weekly paper or e-mail newsletters.  Families have enjoyed this format.  Please enter your email address in the "Follow By Email" box in the right margin, so that you will receive notifications of new blog posts by e-mail.  Grandparents or other special family members are welcome to sign up as well.  I will e-mail you directly when there is a time-sensitive issue or announcement, but the blog will be the place to read about what your children are up to in class each week. I aim to post once or twice a week. Aside from this first post, I will intentionally try to keep the blog posts on the short side.  The goal is to give snippets about the week and allow your child to tell you more details about their personal experiences and perspectives on what we've learned.  Most posts will be more photos than text. We all know a picture says a thousand words, and I encourage you to look at the photos with your child (if time allows) so that he/she can tell you the stories/lessons behind the photos. Ideally, your child should be the one telling you about what is happening at school. This gives them ownership in the learning and sharing process. I hope the blogs will be a good conversation starter about your child's days at Angell.  Any feedback is more than welcome.  I will also try to share resources with you through the blog- whether it be useful educational websites, children's books, or events happening around town.   

I look forward to seeing you all on Curriculum Night,  Monday September 21st, to talk about our school day and curriculum.   Sign-up sheets for fall parent-teacher conferences will be available on Curriculum Night, so if you are unable to attend please email me after to set up a date and time.  In the meantime, I would like to outline a few procedures/routines/etc that may be helpful as we start the new year. 

SNACK-  Each child will need to bring his/her own snack each day.  I will  have a "back up snack drawer" for kids who may forget their daily snack (donations are welcome).   Because our school day is about 20 minutes longer this year, I am going to try allowing the students to have two snacks each day.  Or, you could pack a morning snack, and a little extra in your child's lunch if they bring a packed lunch.  In the afternoon, the students can have their second snack, or any unfinished part of his/her lunch.

I have one request for snacks: I ask that you send in ONLY Fruits & Veggies as snacks.  We have done this the past two years and had a very positive response from both the parents and students.  It was so exciting to hear the students say "Look what I brought!" each day, and show each other different fruits and vegetables, some of which they were trying for the first time. I know it might not be the most convenient idea as parents, but I do think it's the healthiest one.  We all know that chips and candy are unhealthy foods, but even crackers and pretzels are processed and contain preservatives.  We all enjoy these snacks occasionally, myself included, but moderation is key.  Because we have snack daily at school, this is a great opportunity to get your child's daily fruits & veggies in.  I would also like the children to be aware of nutrient dense foods, and "brain foods" that help fuel their brains rather than make them sleepy or possibly even give them a tummy ache.  Even more importantly, we have food allergies in our classroom, including eggs, nuts, dairy and sesame.  We will not be doing birthday treats in class either (please see below).  This is not a school-wide policy, but it is something I feel strongly about as a teacher and I appreciate your cooperation.  **Please see the "Snack" tab on the right margin for snack guidelines and suggestions.  If you have questions or concerns, please let me know.  I appreciate your willingness to try out this approach with me.  I believe it's the best for these young children and their growing bodies and minds.

While we are talking snacks,  I'd like to request that we do not have treats sent in for birthdays as I mentioned above. I apologize in advance if this disappoints anyone.  Instead, I invite each child to share a special book, family photos, tradition, game, lesson, etc that they would like share with the class as a birthday celebration.  I love food and cooking, and I love the sense of community and the way it can bring people together, but I also think that we can create our own tradition with a shared hobby/interest/talent/etc.  This can be something that is special to your child- weather it be playing their violin, sharing a favorite book, photos from a family trip, teaching origami- there are several possibilities. This will be a shared learning experience that will allow the class to get to know each other even better.    Parents are of course welcome to come in to help/participate/ watch, and classmates will make cards for the birthday boy/girl and yes, we will still sing Happy Birthday!  If your child really wants to pass out something special, in the past some students have brought in pencils or stickers for the class.

PICK-UP- If your child's end of school routine is going to be different than usual, please send a note or email to notify us.  If they are riding the bus with another student on a bus they typically don't ride, they need a hand-written note which will be signed by our secretary, Mrs. Fishwick.  If you need to make last minute changes to your child's pick-up routine, please call the main office and Mrs. Fishwick will relay the message to me.  Last minute emails may not be seen in time to tell your child about the change.  

HOMEWORK- There will be no homework for the first two weeks of school.  I will explain our homework routine in a later blog post when the time comes.  The first two weeks are quite an adjustment for students, the weather is often still very warm, and your children will likely come home fairly exhausted!  We will ease our way into the homework routine soon.

BACKPACKS:  Your child should have a backpack large enough to transport library books, artwork, the Wednesday Envelope, homework folder, etc.  Please help your child get into the habit of bringing it every day and remembering to look inside when they get home in case anything needs to be given to you! 

CLOTHING:  It is very helpful if you label your child’s clothing, jacket, lunchbox, and backpack.  The school lost and found grows quite quickly!

I know this is a lot of information at once, so I will sign off now.  Please know that we will go over more details and info on Curriculum Night.  However, if there are any pressing issues or concerns that you want to have addressed before the first day, please don't hesitate to drop me an email!

Here's to a wonderful school year!