Welcome to Lacher’s Lemurs’ 2014-2015Classroom

Aug. 1, 2014

Dear Lemur Families,

I am so excited to begin this year’s adventure together! It will be a pleasure getting to know you, and your childrenwill charm me, I am sure.

Let me briefly introduce myself to you all. This is my nineteenth year of teaching. It will be my fifteenthyear teaching 4th grade, and my 12th year at Sope Creek. My Master’s Degree is in Early Childhood Education. I earned my Ed. Specialist degree in Instructional Leadership from Nova Southeastern. In my past career (for 15 years), I was an interior designer after earning a BFA in Interior Design and a BA in Art History from the University of Washington in the beautiful city of Seattle, WA.

SCHOOLWIDE EXPECTATIONS

Schoolwide, facultyand students will be utilizing the “TAME” procedures in all school locations. Tame stands for (T) talk quietly; (A) arms to yourself; (M) mind your manners; and (E) for eyes forward. We will be practicing these behaviors especially in the hallway and lunchroom.

FRIDAY FOLDERS

Friday folders will come home every Friday. Once you have looked at and discussed all of your child’s fabulous work, please clean out the papers. There is a colored sheet of paper in the inside cover of the folder. On the left side of the form are notes about work habits and classroom behaviors that your child has exhibited for the week. On the right side is a space for you to sign off that you have seen it and write any notes about your concerns. The empty folder is due back to me on Monday mornings. It is also a place for returning any signed tests and/or other items that need your signature.

HOMEWORK

Homework will be assigned every weeknight, and is an opportunity to practice the days’ learning as well as hone previously learned skills. It should take no more than 50 minutes to complete. I will strive to make weekends homework freetimes, but an occasional project or some test preparation may have to occur.

SUPPLIES:

Sope Creek’s website had a list of supplies by grade level. I will not need the binder and pocket dividers. If you have already purchased these items, a good use for them would be for organizing papers that come home in your child’s Friday folder. Instead of binders this year, we will use the 2 spiral notebooks and the 2 Mead composition books.

ROOM REP, SNACKS, HELPERS

Christy Spurlinhas kindly “volunteered” to be our room rep this year, and thank you very much! I do not do story parent, but instead ask for parents to volunteer to be a snack parent by sending in a special Friday snack to cap off our busy weeks. It could include items such as granola bars, packaged cookies, fruit roll ups/chews, bagged grapes, etc. Once I have received all clinic and other information forms from all of our families, I will let you know of any allergies.I will put together a snack schedule that will basically be in alphabetical order. If you cannot provide snack for your appointed Friday, please coordinate with another parent on the list to switch days. Christy’s phone number is: 678-362-1871. Her e mail is: .

I usually ask for Helper Parent on Thursdays at our specials time, which is 9:00 – 9:40. A schedule of days and volunteers will be forthcoming. If that day or time does not work for you, please e-mail me and we can arrange something else.

COMMUNICATION

Weekly newsletters will begin next Friday. After the routines and announcements are more standardized, they will be posted every other week. Newsletters will keep you informed of upcoming helper parents, snack parents, and many other events in the classroom and school.

CONTACT ME

There are a myriad of ways to contact me. The best is through e mail at school: . Sometimes your mail may get transmitted to our spam, so if I do not respond to you within 24 hours, please try leaving me a phone message at 770-916-7085.

OPEN HOUSE

I am looking forward to meeting you again and greeting new faces at our Open House which is scheduled for Thursday, August 7. The meeting (for parents only), will begin at 6:45 p.m. in the café and classroom visits will commence at 7:00. This meeting will go over classroom routines, expectations, field trips, volunteer opportunities, etc. If you would like to individually discuss your child, please e-mail me and we will schedule a conference for a not too distant date.

PROFUSE THANKS PROFUSE THANKS PROFUSE THANKS

Many thanks in advance for the generous donations on my wish list that you took from my board last night and the kind offers for classroom assistance. They will ensure our safety, efficiency, timeliness, organization, and creativity.