Mrs. Conyard’s Open House Newsletter
Dear Parent(s)/Guardians,
I am very excited for the beginning of the school year and I’m especially looking forward to getting to know allof my new first grade students. First grade is an exciting year of learning and growing! Below is some information that I thought you might find useful prior to the first day of school.
Personal Background
This is my 18th year of teaching first grade at Sweeney and my 26th year of teaching. I grew up in St. Cloud and went to the College of St. Benedict. After college, I moved to Oregon and taught there for 8 years. In Oregon I taught 1st, 4th, and 5th grade. I was also a Student Supervisor, which meant I worked with student discipline and other student related activities. My husband and I are busy at home with our three boys, ages 17, 15, and 12.
Red Folder
Please look for this folder every Monday (or the first day of the week) as it contains papers from our school and the community. This folder should be emptied and returned as soon as possible. You can send correspondence in this folder as well.
Take Home Folder
We will label one of the folders that your child brings to school as a “Take Home Folder.” This folder should come home each day, be emptied and returned the next day. Please recognize that many lessons do not have worksheets. This canalsobe a good spot to put notes, lunch money, etc. that your child can give me.I will check the red folders but rely on your child to check the “Take Home Folder.” You can email me if you send something and you want me to help remind your child to turn it in. These two folders should help with our home/school communication.
Newsletter
I will send home a First Grade newsletter in your child’s red folder at the beginning of each month. There will also be a monthly calendar that will include information about specials so you will know which days your child has gym, media, music, and/or art. Please note the days in which your child has gym, and help him/her remember to wear appropriate clothing on those days. Comfortable clothes will help them enjoy this time to the fullest. Tennis shoes and socks on these days are necessary and an extra pair can be left at school. You can also keep a pair of socks in your child’s backpack in case they don’t have tennis shoes and need to borrow them on occasion. The newsletter will also include information about what we have been learning, what your child can look forward to in the month ahead, and calendar dates.
Specials for our first few days: Mon.Aug. 22nd: Gym, Tues: Music, Wed: Art, Thurs. Music, Fri: Gym, Mon. Aug. 22nd: Gym
Lunch
Every day your child will have three lunch choices. They can bring a lunch from home (milk can be purchased), choose the hot lunch (listed on the menu), or choose the “alternative” or “Saber Meal”(which is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cheese or a meat sandwich;fruit, assorted veggies and milk). Hot lunch the first day is cheese pizza. The lunch menu will be in their red folder the first day of school and can be found on the district website.
Dismissal Information
I will ALWAYS send your child home their “typical” way unless I receive a note, phone call, or email from you. Sometimes they misunderstand a conversation they’ve heard and I can’t rely on your child telling me for their own safety.
Communication
I will contact you when I have concerns about your child’s academic progress or school behavior. I want you to feel comfortable to contact me anytime you have a question or concern. Conferences are in November and March. You can contact me by sending a note with your child, calling my voice mail, or sending an email. Please don’t send any messages to my voice mail or email in the afternoon regarding a dismissal change (or call the office if I don’t respond to your message). Sometimes I don’t have the opportunity to check them until after school. Please contact the office in this situation and they will get the message to me. Please check-out my website which is on the Shakopee Schools site (go to Sweeney under Schools and Mrs. Conyard under Teachers). I will post newsletters there and additional information about eating lunch with your child, pictures, high frequency words, etc.
Homework
I believe that it’s helpful for your child to have a nightly homework routine. For first graders, 15-20 minutes is appropriate. All Sweeney students will be coming home with a daily book bag (15 for Fun) the 2nd week of school. Sometimes it works best to let your child relax or play when they first get home and then find an evening time when it’s quiet and you can focus your energy just on them. For other children, they get too tired at bedtime to focus and read so earlier is better. There will be a weekly math sheet (starting week 3) a weekly sheet (starting week 4) with several choices. We will introduce these the first few weeks. I will discuss homework expectations in more detail at Parent Information Night on Sept. 24th.
Snack
We will have a snack time every afternoon. Please help your child remember to pack a snack the night before. Please send a healthy snack (no candy please). We have a drinking fountain in the classroom. We are discouraging juice during snack time to help eliminate the mess it can make. Please send something ready to eat and include a spoon if necessary. I will keep a “snack shelf” stocked with the graham crackers that have been sent to school for anyone that wants one. Thanks in advance for contributing to this “snack shelf.”
Birthdays
Your child can bring a treat to celebrate their birthday if your family chooses to do so. The treat has to be store bought. Children with summer birthdays can celebrate a “half birthday” or chose a different day if they would like. I do ask that if you are sending treats to school, you let me know ahead of time so that I can plan our schedule according. Please let me know if your child has any allergies (the school nurse shares information with me if you already provided that).
I hope you will be able to attend the Parent Information Night onThurs. Sept. 1st. More information will come home in the red folder on Monday. Please make other arrangements for your children or you can fill out the form to receive childcare at school that evening.Our 1st Grade time is from 5:15-5:45.
I look forward to working with you and teaching your child this year. You are your child’s most important teacher! I hope you will have opportunities to join us at school for special events and/or volunteer in the classroom. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Stacey Conyard
(952) 496-5832 (extension: 6902) Email: