Welcome to First Grade! August 11th, 2006 Welcome to D5! I am so glad to have you in my class this year! I hope you and your family have had a wonderful vacation and are as ready as I am to start the school year. Now that we are getting closer to school, I have spent the past few days planning the year ahead with the other first grade teachers and am so anxious to get started. It will be a busy, fun-filled year! Once school begins the children and I will be spending time getting to know each other. The children will take part in many team activities to not only build friendships but to help them see themselves as an important part of our learning community. Each of the children will have different interests and abilities. Our goal will be to build upon those differences in order to assure better learning for everyone. Back-to-School night will occur shortly after school begins. (As I write this, I do not know the date but will send a note to keep you informed as soon as I know.) During our time together I will be sharing some of my thoughts on teaching the various subjects covered in first grade. I will be explaining our homework, the topics we will be covering during this first grade year, and will share other information pertinent to the class. At that time, I will also be arranging a volunteer schedule and asking parents to sign up for a conference time. (Conferences will take place at the end of October.) I do have one request as you prepare your child for school. Please label your child's lunch box and backpack with their name. At this time of year, so many of the backpacks look alike and the children are not familiar with their belongings so confusion is a common result. You can help by labeling! Well, that's it for now. Be sure to let me know if you have any questions. You can email me at jgretlein@powayusd.com. I'll get back to you as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to meeting you! Best wishes, Jan Gretlein