Friday, September 11, 2009

Dear Parents and Guardians,

The first few days of school have been very exciting.  I am having a wonderful time getting to know your children.  They are incredibly charming and very helpful.  The fifth graders are quickly learning their way around the school and their schedule.

We have spent most of the first week getting acquainted with each other and starting to build our classroom community.  As you may have noticed, I hold off from giving homework during the first week.  Starting the second week, your child will have at-home reading assignments while I train the students on my standard for completing work.  Their first “real” homework will begin the third week of school.

As you may expect, the hot topic is Off-Campus Lunch (OCL).  This is a lunch period when the students may visit Shattuck Avenue to purchase a lunch from their restaurant of choice.  The children are required to follow a few rules:  1) they must stay on the west side of Shattuck, between Hearst Avenue and the Cheese Board, 2) they must not run, 3) they must stay in their group or with their partner, and 4) they must look both ways and obey traffic laws and stop signs when crossing the street.  To train the students on these rules, I chaperone the fifth graders on their first OCLs until I am satisfied of their safety. Two parent chaperones have agreed to accompany me the first week and I have one chaperone for the second week.   It is helpful to have parent volunteers for the following weeks. If you can help chaperone, please contact me.  The fifth graders have their OCL on Friday between 12:40 pm and 1:30pm.

Shauna