Starting School!

Greetings as we begin our 2014-2015 school year! My name is Mrs. Julie Brown, and I am very excited about the opportunity to be the Kindergarten through 2nd grade teacher at the Walter Northway School this year.

For the next two weeks, I will be teaching about six key things we need in our classroom to have a successful year. This week I will address four topics:

 1.) Safety- The story to be used is Never Bring an Elephant to School and we will discuss what it means to have a safe class and things we can do to help each other be safe. For a symbol, we can cradle our arms like rocking a baby. The craft will be a key with students drawing themselves doing some of the safe things we discussed on a safety ring.  Life saver candies will be the treat and a safety ring will be used as a key chain tag on the “Our Six Keys” board.

2.) Love and Belonging- The story to be used is Rainbow Fish and the focus will be that fish need to school and stay together to create a caring community. We will discuss what it can look like to have a feeling of love and belonging in our classroom.  For a symbol we can cross our arms as a hug, and students will create another key with a rainbow fish.  Students will get chocolate kisses for a treat, and a heart will be used as a key tag on the display board.

 3.) Freedom and Independence- The story to be used is All By Myself. We will talk about how the main character in the story wanted to do things by himself. He was able to be independent and had the freedom to do things on his own.  Then we will reflect on how we could model that behavior in our class. For a symbol we can place our hands and arms pointing forward like a super hero, and students will create another key with a superhero on it. To celebrate the lesson, the students will get  a Starburst candy treat because they are all bursting superstars. The key tag on the board will be a picture of a young boy flying like a superhero.

4.) Fun and Enjoyment- The story to be used is Amazing Grace. Using Grace’s fun loving experiences, we will talk about what it looks like to have fun and be happy in our classroom. For a symbol we will make big smiles, and each student will create another key with a smiling face or doing something fun on it. Red licorice sticks will be the treat and we will make them into smiles on our faces before eating them. A happy face will be the key tag on the display board.

Next week I will teach about the last two keys, Valued Purpose and Success. I will have more on that in my next blog post.

Everyday, I will be sending home a ‘GO FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR” card. Please be looking for it daily. 

On the first day of every week, I will be sending home a letter explaining important events taking place in our classroom. Also, I will be posting the information on a blog. In addition, I would like to post pictures and attached a permission form with the parent letter sent home on the first day of school. I would like it returned by the end of the week, if possible. On the same page as the Internet release, I have added a local outings permission slip for the school year. If we will be going further than walking distance in the Northway area, I will send home a specific permission slip at that time.

If you have any questions, please contact me at the school or email me at: jbrown@agsd.us. I am looking forward to an amazing year with the students of Northway!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown