DOUGLASS

First Grade is PAW-sitively Awesome!!! 

Hi! I am Krisi Taylor. This is my 15th year of teaching. I am married to Jeff Taylor. Between the two of us we have 6 grown children and in May we added a grandson to the family!!! Jeff and I like to spend time working in our yard, playing with our dogs, exploring new places, and, of course, being with the g-baby. I look forward to helping your child be successful and watching them grow as a reader and mathematician! If you ever need anything or have a question, please let me know. You can message me through SEESAW, call the school, or email me at ktaylor@usd 396.net.

Teamwork – Educating a child is only accomplished by students, parents and teachers working together as a team.  By working together, we can give your child the best possible start in school. I can’t wait to see your child grow and learn in First Grade!

Behavior – We will use links  to recognize good behavior.  Your student will have the opportunity to trade in their links for reward when they have earned 10 of them. Links can also be taken for inappropriate behaviors by any adult throughout the building.

Behavior Page- This will be kept in the yellow communication folder. It will tell you how many links your student has each day. Please initial this each day and leave it in the folder. If there is a major behavior issue, I will send you a message or call you.

Conduct Card – Every student will have a conduct card to track “strikes” The goal is to not receive strikes during the month so they can attend our extra recess. If they break a rule, they will get a warning and pay me some links.  If a behavior continues, they will get a strike on their conduct card. After 3 strikes, they will be “out”.  Every 9 weeks we will have a “Mystery Bash” for those students who have attended all of the extra recesses.

Seesaw – This will be our main form of communication. I will post classroom information here. As well as, send you individual messages about your child.

Newsletter – This is another important form of communication we use. I will send a NEW newsletter home in the front of the yellow communication folder every Monday. Please read over the newsletter so you can help your child with Spelling Words (2nd 9 weeks), Sight Words, Math Facts,  and other important learning activities.  

Snack – We will have a snack break in the afternoon.  We would love it if you could send snack items such as: cereal, animal crackers, or Goldfish!

Bring Everyday – Please make sure your child brings their backpack, yellow communication folder, and water bottle everyday.

Absences – If your child is going to be absent, please call the office to let us know. 

Security –Please enter and check in through the office when you visit.

Birthdays- We would love to help celebrate this special day at school.  Please feel free to send treats with your child. Summer birthdays are important too!  We will celebrate summer birthdays with one big party at the end of the year.  Please message me or write a note to let me know if you will be sending treats.

Math- We use the “Bridges” curriculum. It is VERY heavy in Number Sense. We will be sending homework pages for extra practice sometimes. When your child completes it and brings it back, they will earn links. We will also be using Dreambox as an online math component.

Reading – In first grade we spend a lot of time on phonemic awareness (hearing/manipulating sounds in words), and phonics (writing all of the sounds in words). We will be using “Pathways to Reading '' to teach your child.

Spelling – There will be spelling words to practice. These words will go with our phonics skills each week. This won’t start until the second 9 weeks.

Sight Words- We will be working with a new set of sight words every week. They will be a mixture of “HEART” words (words that they need to know by heart, because they can’t be sounded out) and “FLASH” words (words to sound out and know in  a Flash). These words will be in the weekly newsletter.

Specials - The kids will go to Music/Library M-W-F and PE/Computer Lab/Art on T-Th for the 1st semester. Then it will switch for the second semester. Please remember to send a pair of PE shoes and maybe an extra pair of socks to keep in their locker!

Time Capsule – This is a 1st grade project that we do throughout the year.  You can help with this later in the year. Find a large shoe box and put mementos of 1st Grade in it.  We will keep some things also. It will be sealed at the end of the year, only to be opened upon graduation of their senior year. More information will be sent later. 

It’s going to be a PAW-sitively great year in First Grade!