Mrs. McEachern's Message
January 6, 2014
Welcome
Welcome to Room 3's newsletter. I hope this new form of communication is a helpful tool and source of valuable information about our classroom. This newsletter will share important events and information happening in our classroom. I look forward to an exciting new year with Room 3's Fabulous First Graders!
Happy New Year!
Happy 2014! I can hardly believe that 2013 is behind us. I am excited to start the new year with these fabulous first graders! I have been busy planning ahead and making new changes in our classroom. I even did a bit of rearranging while off over break! The students were surprised to see things looking a bit different upon their arrival from Winter break. The most exciting change to our classroom is our new behavior mangagemnet reward incentive. The students will have the opportunity to earn and be responsible for their own classroom money!!! I have written our new reward incentive in more detail below for you to become more familiar with how the reward will work in our classroom. Most importatnly, I am looking forward to seeing the growth over the next few months as the students become closer to 2nd graders! I look forward to watching them develp as independent and confident readers, challenging them in math, discovering and exploring in social studies and science and of course, watching them blossom into wonderful authors. I love first grade and all of the excitement it brings each day! A Happy and Healthy New Year to you and your families!
Money Reward Sytem
Since we are entering a new year, I thought it would be a good time to try some new things in our classroom. The students have been introduced to money and counting by 1's, 5's, and 10's, so why not incorporate that into our reward system? Well, here you go!
The students will each start off with five $1 bills that I will give to them. They are responsbile for their money. A special envelope marked with their name will be given to them to hold their money and kept in their desk. They can earn a $1 a day for good behavior in the classroom. If their stick gets moved to yellow they will not recieve a dollar that day but they will not lose a dolloar. If their stick gets moved to red they will not recieve a dollar but will also lose a dollar from their money. At the end of each week they can trade their dollar bills for $5 bill or $10 bill. Great way to reinforce exchanging money! At the end of the month they can use the money they earned to shop at our classroom store. I will have school supplies and reward cooupons that can be used in our classroom (example - lunch with a friend in the classroom, sit in teacher's chair for writer's workshop, etc.) for purchase with their money. I am looking forward to implementing this new system and hoping it will reinforce and motivate the positive behavior in our classroom.
Upcoming Events
January 10th - Game Day!
- Bring your favorite board game to school to play with your friends. The last hour of the day will be dedicated to good old fashioned board games. NO ELECTRONICS PLEASE! Please bring board game to school in a bag labeled with your child's name on it.
January 10th - Family Bingo Night
- Please join the Gayman Elementary staff and students for a fun night of bingo at Tohickon Middle School.
January 20th - No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
- CB Cares Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service @ Gayman Elementary
January 24th - Early Dismissal - End of 2nd Marking Period
January 27th - No School