Ms. Danielle Griesbach
Mirror Lakes Elementary
First Grade Teacher
Room # 601
239-369-2200
Daniellelg@leeschools.net





Welcome to the new school year! I want your child to have a fun and successful year in First Grade. Above I have listed the school phone number. Please feel free to contact me if there are situations that need to be discussed. The best times to reach me at school are from 7:15a.m. –7:45 a.m. and 2:15p.m. -3:00p.m. I am always willing to schedule a conference at any time!

Breakfast will end at 7:45am.
School Hours: School begins promptly at 8:00a.m.and ends at 2:15p.m.
Your child will be marked tardy after 8am. Parents please allow your child to walk to class with a friend.

Attendance:
A successful school experience is the responsibility of the children, the parent, and the school. Your child's progress, both academically and socially, is influenced to a great extent by daily participation. Regular attendance without tardiness is a key.

Transportation:
If you plan to pick up a child that normally rides the bus or you wish for your child to ride a different bus than usual, you must send a written note. If no written note or phone call is received, your child will be sent home by his/her usual method of transportation.


School Work:
Please look in your child’s backpack each day. We send all school news by way of your child in your child’s HOME/SCHOOL COMMUNICATION FOLDER. These folders will come home daily and are to be sent back each day. Please send all notes, money and other important things you want me to find to school in your child’s folder. Be positive and value the work your child has done at school. Please plan to read 10 to 15 minutes to your child daily. Also, daily review of the week’s sight words will truly help your child feel successful with reading. All homework is a reinforcement or extension of class instruction. I use it as a teaching tool each morning and make a point to give each student positive reinforcement for completing it. It is a great way to teach responsibility and foster good work habits. Also, please initial the agenda book nightly.


Curriculum
First Grade curriculum is based on the Sunshine State Standards and includes Language Arts, Reading, Math, Social Studies, and Science. I use a wide variety of tools to teach. This year at MLE we will be using SRA Open Court reading Series and Saxon Phonics for language arts/reading. The program combines comprehension, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, writing, and oral
language.

Math is taught using Voyages Math & Scott Foresman. The students will be introduced to number concepts, measurement, geometry, patterns, and graphing. The students will be introduced to a variety of mathematical skill using various hands on activities, cooperative learning activities, and group and oral exercises.

Science is taught using the Harcourt Brace Series. This science series focuses on six areas at the kindergarten level. We will study Plants, 5 Senses, Animals, Earth’s land, Air, and Water, Weather, and Objects Around Us.

Social Studies is taught using the McGraw Hill Program. This program focuses on the student and how they relate to others in their Families, Classroom, School, and Community. We focus on rules/laws, changes over time, transportation, US history, community needs, jobs and money.
Activities will help the children focus their natural curiosity for the world around them.
Lunch
Lunch may be purchased for each day. No student will ever go without
lunch. Your child may also bring his/her lunch each day. Please label
lunch boxes with your child’s name. Please find free/reduced lunch program
applications available at the office.

Snack
The class will have a small morning snack everyday. I will choose one
child to bring in the snack for the entire class for one week to make it
simple. You should only have to do this three times per year. I will send
out a schedule and reminder notices. Only store bought foods are allowed.
Some ideas are: pretzels, crackers, cereal, Goldfish, animal crackers,
cookies and fruit snacks. You may also send in a small water bottle each
day or plan to have them drink from the water fountain.

Supplies:
The supply list is online at the school website. If you need a copy please let me know.

Birthdays:
We love to celebrate birthdays. It replaces our snack that day. Just give
me a couple days notice and remember it must be store bought.

Book orders
Your child will have the opportunity to order books from Scholastic for your
home library each month. It is always optional, but they offer wonderful
books at great prices.

Behavior and Discipline
Our classroom rules include:
Be kind to others
Raise your hand to speak
Listen while others are talking
Keep hands, feet and objects to yourself
Always do your best work

I believe in having high expectations of the children to follow classroom rules and to help them understand the reasons behind rules. I want all of the children to have the opportunity to learn and for no student to keep another student from being able to learn. I strive to provide a safe and comfortable learning environment for the children in which we work and live as a team family in our classroom.

If a child is continuously having difficulty following room rules I will send home a daily report to communicate areas, which need improvement. If for any reason I feel like a child may benefit from taking home a daily report I will contact the parent so that together we can discuss our options to get the child back on track with behavior.

Fighting, disruptive behaviors that keep others from learning or dangerous behaviors require removal of a student from the classroom and must be reported immediately to our Principal, Ms. Holliday. I will contact you immediately if a situation occurs in which your child must visit with Mrs. Holliday.

In addition, I will always contact you by phone if there is ever a situation that needs to be discussed. It is important to me that we keep our lines of communication open and work together to meet the needs of your child.