Open House

Just a reminder that Open House is on Sunday. There will be a presentation at 9am and again at 10am to allow for parents to go to more than one classroom. The purpose of Open House is for you to get a chance to see our classroom, meet the teacher, and to learn a little about how our classroom works and what our learning looks like. It is not a time for personal conferences or questions about your student. However, if you feel like you need a personal conference, you may stop by the office while you are here to schedule a time.

I am really looking forward to meeting all of you on Sunday!

Also, as a reminder, there is no school for students on this day.

Thank You!!!! and a Reminder

I was happy to see all of the children eating healthy lunches today in both Grade 1 and 2! As I walked around, I saw lots of fruits, veggies, healthy sandwiches, juices, waters. It was a great sight! Thank you so much for helping us with our new healthy food policy! It is so great to see the children eating such healthy meals!



Reminder: Library books are due back tomorrow! Make sure they come in their zip file to protect them.

Also, please keep the behavior report that went home yesterday in the home folder. It should be at school every day so that we can fill it out and tell you how our day has been. Thank you!!!

Behavior Report and Arabic Supplies

Today your student will be coming home with a behavior report in their clear home folder. This is to inform you of how your student is behaving in school every day. This will stay in the home folder and go home each day. It will need to be returned on Sundays with a parent signature so that I know you have seen it. This is a good opportunity to discuss with your child how their day went and how they are behaving in school.

I will explain more about what this means and how it works on Sunday at the Open House. In the meantime, you can ask your student to tell you what the colors mean. I am sure they will be very excited to share with you!  :)


Also, some Arabic supplies were sent home today. Ms. Mai does not need the A4 copy book because we have to use the GP copy books, so if you sent it, it will be returning today. Also, you have received a notice if you are missing any Arabic supplies. Please send them as soon as possible.

Have a good evening!

-Miranda

New Look

I have changed the design of the blog. I hope it is much easier to read now!

-Miss Miranda

Food Policy and Homework/Paperwork

• Please note that chips, sweets, chocolate and gum are not allowed at GP School. This includes cookies/sweet biscuits, chocolate biscuits, Nutella/Nutella Sandwiches. Also, please note that chewing gum is a very serious offense and can result in school suspensions. If your student is caught with gum on more than one occasion, they will be sent to the office. Please DO NOT send gum to school with your children. Please see the student handbook for more information. During this week, if we see food that is not allowed, we will tell your child to not bring it. Starting next week, we will start taking it away from them.

• Your students now have all of their supplies. Any paperwork sent to school from now on needs to be in the designated My Clear Bag.

           -- Clear should contain the channel book, notes/notices, or work handed back to go home
           -- Blue is for English homework ONLY  (Please do not send homework unless it is in the blue plastic folder. It can get ruined in their backpacks.)
          --Red is for Arabic

• Please do not send money to school with your child. If you want your student to buy a school lunch, you, as a parent, need to come to the school to purchase lunch coupons. You should only send the coupons with your student.

A great week!

We have had a great week in Grade 1b! We worked on practicing our basic addition facts in Math. We learned and practiced how to do silent and buddy reading in class the correct way. And we spent a lot of time reinforcing the correct behaviors and procedures to get the most out of our learning time and ensure that it goes smoothly. Your students have done a GREAT job! You may have noticed that several days this week they came home with stickers and one day some even came home with TWO! Grade 1 is much more independent than KG2 and I have very high expectations for my students. But your students are doing wonderful and really learning independence and of course, I am here to support them when they need it.

Here are some pictures of our learning time during the week. Everyone is hard at work!

This was supposed to be their serious face.

Copybooks and supplies

Parents,

Please send ALL GP School Copybooks back to school with your student's name on them. I am missing them from several students. The only copybooks that need covers are three for Arabic with a red cover. The English copybooks do not need covers.

Also, please send all required supplies. I need them as soon as possible. Thank you!

I will send a note home tomorrow stating if you are missing anything.

-Miranda

Channel books

Channel books are on their way home today. Please sign that you recieved them and return them tomorrow. There are also two notices in the channel book, one from me and one from the school. Please be sure to read them.


Please note: Homework is due tomorrow.

Sorry for the confusion

It was brought to my attention that Miss Mai had asked for pencil cases and I had said they were not allowed. I completely understand that this is very confusing. I have talked to Miss Mai and she said that she asked for them before she knew that they were not allowed. This is our mistake.

In Grade 1, we keep a container on our tables that holds our pencils, erasers, sharpeners and any other supplies that we may need for our learning. Pencil cases become a distraction and they take time away from our learning. We have a very busy day and we don't have time to go out to our backpacks and get pencil cases and put them away every time we need them. This is why we just keep our supplies inside the class on our table so they are ready whenever we may need them. We never have to waste precious learning time to go get some pencils.

I hope this helps with any confusion you may have had. I apologize for our mistake.



Also, I now have a GP School email. If you have any personal questions about your student, please send me an email from now on, instead of posting a comment on the blog. Or you may send a note to school as well. My email is mirandabenfer@gpschool-eg.com

Thank you!

Homework

Parents, 

Please check the homework tab for an update.

Most importantly, homework is due on Thursdays. Please do not send it in any other day. Also, do not let your child work ahead. Only do the assigned work for each day. If your student works ahead and does all of the work on Sunday, then they will have no other homework for the week. I send the whole week's homework home on Sunday. The packet you received yesterday is for the whole week, not just for Monday. Please make note of this. Thank you.

-Miranda

Important

1. The lunch procedures were sent home on Thursday. Please DO NOT send money with your student. Students are not allowed to purchase anything with cash.

2. Pencil Cases are not allowed in Grade One. Please keep them at home. See the Grade 1b Welcome Packet for more information.

3. The supplies are listed in a tab if you need them again.

4. The Arabic teacher does not check the blog. She gives me the homework, and I put it up. I cannot read Arabic so please do not put comments on the blog in Arabic. If you leave a comment in Arabic, I will not be able to read it and therefore I will not be able to help you. As always, if there is something important you need from me, please send a note or call the office. Thank you. 

A great first week

We have had a GREAT first week in Grade 1b!!! There was lots of fun had, lots of learning, and lots of new friendships made. Your students are very sweet and very friendly to each other and are happy to share when they have made new friends. We have several students who are new to GPS this year and the returning students welcomed them in very nicely! It was great to see all the friendly attitudes. I meant to take a picture of our class to share, but we were so busy with our learning that I forgot. I will try to get one up next week.

I am very excited about this year with your students. It is going to be a great one!

-Miranda

Three Important Announcements

1. We do not have channel books yet. They are on order and should be in soon. If you need to contact me, either leave a message on the blog, or send a message on a piece of paper with your student. Please note that I will try my best to check the blog daily for messages, but I may not get back to you as quick as you need. If you need to contact me quickly, it is better to send a note or call the Elementary office.

2. A note on the copybooks that were sent home: Students are required to use GPS Copy Books. GP School is giving you the first round for free and after these run out you will need to purchase more. They were sent home so that you could check the contents and sign that you received your free copybooks and then you need to send the copybooks back to school for your student to use in class. If you want to wait to send them back until you have bought covers for them, that is fine. Please try to get them back in by Sunday September 16.

3. The air conditioner in the classroom is running at a comfortable level for the students and teachers in class during the summer months. If you would like to send a GP sweater with your child in case they get cold, that is fine. Please remember to label it with their name if you do.

Class Schedule

Parents,

I know some of you have been interested in our class daily schedule. I have created a new tab for this purpose. Feel free to reference it so you can see what your student is up to during the day.

Leave a comment if you have a question about the schedule.

I hope having the schedule up answers any questions you may have. :)

-Miranda

Two Announcements

1) Please send your student with enough water to get them through the day. Our class gets two outdoor breaks during the day and with the hot weather, they are finishing their water before the end of the day. Two bottles of water would probably be sufficient to get them through the day and for the drive home. Thank you!

2) I haven't noticed this problem in our class, but it is an announcement that I need to make regardless. Please do not send money with your student to buy food from the cafeteria. There will be a new process for this and we will send home a note about it tomorrow. Be sure to send enough food for the day until you receive this information.


Thanks for your cooperation. Have a nice night!
Miss Miranda

Arabic and Religion Homework is Posted

I know I mentioned that the students would not have any homework this first week, but that is just from me. They will have Arabic and Religion homework and I have just posted that under the homework tab. Please be sure to look it over and have your student complete the homework for each day.

I apologize for any confusion. 

Thank you,
Miss Miranda

Welcome to Grade 1A!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to our classroom blog. We have a fun and exciting year ahead of us in Grade 1. The blog will be a place for me to communicate things with you, whether it be an announcement, a fun lesson we did in class, or your child's homework. The blog will be updated on a regular basis so please be sure to check it often so you can be informed on what is happening in the classroom.

The homework will be posted on the blog every Sunday. There will be no homework for the first week of school, but be sure to check back next Sunday.

I am so excited for this year with your students. I look forward to working with you to create the best learning environment for your child.

Have a great week!

Miss Miranda