Grades 1 – 2 A to Z
Ms. Susan Foster
Arrival and Departure: For safety reasons, non-staff cars are not permitted on campus. Parking is available at the library on chemin de la Bastero (which is to your immediate right as you turn at the lights into chemin du Grand Roule), or on rue de Verdun (outside the Mulatiere Hotel de Ville).
Assemblies: Primary school assemblies are an opportunity for the students to share some of their projects with a larger audience. Parents and families are encouraged to attend when possible. The dates and times for the assemblies will be announced in the newsletters and home book.
Attendance: The school opens at 8.15am. Classes begin at 8.30am and finish at 3.10pm. To foster independence, and to ensure the day runs smoothly, children should arrive with enough time to carry out morning tasks, organise their personal belongings, and be ready on the mat before the 8.30am bell rings. My classroom will be open and supervised from 8.15am every morning for this purpose.
All absences must be accompanied by an explanatory note upon the child’s return to school.
Birthdays: Student birthdays will be acknowledged at school; after all it is a special day. However cakes, sweets and celebrations should be enjoyed outside of school hours. Birthday invitations should not be distributed at school unless all students in the class are invited.
Classes: Students in Grades 1-2 stay with their homeroom group for most of the day, but will move to a different area for art, French and PE. Students are provided the expertise of specialised teachers, but retain the class cohesiveness of a primary school environment.
Classroom Location: The primary school is located on the second floor. As you enter the school foyer, walk to the left of the atrium area in the center, go through the green double doors to the stairwell on your left and climb the stairs to the next level. This is the primary area. The Grade 1-2 class is Room 231 at the far side of the corridor.
Correspondence: Personal notes to parents will be written in the Home book. Please check it every night and sign it when there is an entry to show that you have read it. You are also welcome to write notes to me in this book. Your child should make me aware of any communications on arrival at school. However, I also regularly check for comments at reading time.
Clothing: There is no school uniform or formal dress code. However children in Grades 1-2 must wear loosefitting clothing suitable for outdoor play and fitness (including sports shoes) to school everyday. No thin shoulder straps, short skirts or revealing clothing should be worn.
When weather requires more solid outdoor footwear (eg snow boots), please send sports shoes to school in a separate bag for inside use. As children will be expected to have year round outside play, a named raincoat is essential during the rainy season and in the winter months. If you feel your child is not well enough to play outside, please keep them at home until they are fully recovered.
Field Trips: There will be a number of school-sponsored field trips throughout the year. Parents/guardians are asked to sign a general permission slip allowing their child to leave the school campus, on foot, to participate in neighbourhood activities or projects relevant to a particular topic being studied. This permission also covers day trips in the region using public transportation or school buses. Parents/guardians will be informed in advance of all day trips planned. No further response will be needed unless the parent wishes to withhold permission for the specified activity. Students cannot participate in field trips unless they have this written general permission from their parent/guardian.
First Day: On the first day parents are encouraged to accompany their child to the classroom. Children in Grades 1-2 will be developing their independence over the first few weeks. Please encourage your child to come to the classroom independently, and to organise themselves for the start of the day.
Please ensure your child comes to school with all of their stationery supplies labelled with their name, grade and subject. This can otherwise take up a lot of valuable class time. I also recommend that they bring a bottle of drinking water which can be filled up at the water fountain.
Homework: I would like children, at the end of their working day, to have the time to enjoy their childhood through a variety of home interests. As such, I do not wish for homework to dominate after school hours. Children have varying needs regarding homework and so all reading, maths and spelling homework set will be specific to your child’s needs.
Homework in Grades 1 and 2 will consist of daily reading of their instructional reader, as well as practicing a little maths and a few spelling words given weekly. I would expect this not to take more than 20 minutes per night. There will be the occasional project which will require some use of home time (eg interviewing parents etc).
For protection, homework will be sent home in the plastic reading folder. Please ensure this folder comes to school every day. New readers are given daily, on return of the previous reader.
Please take the time to revise your child’s homework and sign the reading log each night. Homework is a great opportunity for parents to observe what their child is covering at school as well as a chance for your child to receive positive, individual attention for an extended period.
Illness: If a student is sick, parents will be contacted and requested to collect the student promptly. If your child is ill, please keep him/her at home until fully recovered.
Lateness: Any child arriving after the 8:30am bell should report to the office and will be marked as tardy.
Library: Students have time built into their schedules to visit the library for book talks, reading time, or research. The timetabled days will be communicated to you during the first weeks of school. Please ensure your child brings their library bag and books for return on their library days.
Parents are encouraged to visit the library after school with their child. We also hope to visit regularly the Mulatière library across the road. Further information about this will be sent at a later date.
Lost Items: If an item is missing, a systematic search is a good first step to recover it. To recover an item, students should check the lost and found in the lunchroom and on the shelf behind the glass windows of the secretary’s office, then inform their teacher. Remember to label all of your child’s school items, including school bags, lunch boxes, sweaters, and jackets.
Lunch: The lunch break extends from 12:20 to 13:10. Grades 1-2 students eat lunch with the whole school. Students are required to bring their lunch from home. This may be a cold lunch, or food that can be heated in the microwaves that are available for student use in the lunchroom. After 20 minutes of eating, students clean their area and go to the playground to play. Unfinished lunches will be sent home. Please do not send soft drinks.
Mobile Phones: Students are discouraged from bringing expensive personal items to school such as mobile phones, computers, i-pods, gameboys or money. If mobile phones are brought on to the school campus, they are to be switched off at all times and kept out of sight, otherwise they will be confiscated and parents will be asked to collect them from the office. IS Lyon is not responsible for damage to or loss of personal belongings.
Parent Contact Details: After the first couple of weeks at school, you will be sent a list of the telephone contact details of all primary students. This list can be useful for arranging after-school gatherings and meeting other parents.
Parent Helpers: Parents interested in assisting with (or adding to) the smooth running of the classroom and school programmes are always welcome. This could range from PTA involvement to ruling up books, organising craft/cooking activities, helping in the library, to name a few. If you have an interest and the time, we would love to see you at school. Throughout the year we will also be looking for guest speakers to enhance our units of inquiry. Students love to see a different face in the classroom and hear a different voice… as do teachers. Think about it… we’d love to hear about your fields of expertise.
Parent Meetings: Parent communication is a critical part of the primary school experience, and we would like to keep in contact regularly throughout the year. Parent meetings to discuss your child’s progress are held twice a year, in fall and in spring. Written reports are sent home after Christmas and at the end of the year. The precise dates will be indicated on the school calendar on the Website (under “Practical information”). Additional meetings can be scheduled at the request of the parents or the teacher if a more thorough discussion of a child’s progress appears useful. We will also be happy to chat with you over the telephone should you have a concern and be unable to come to the school due to other commitments.
Physical Education: Grade 1-2 children are expected to be wearing PE appropriate clothing and footwear to school everyday. Where weather requires alternative footwear (eg snowboots), your child should bring their sports shoes to school in a small drawstring bag.
Reading: Your child will have reading books four nights a week. When your child has read to you please write the date, title of the book, and any comments in the reading log in their Home book. During the first few weeks the reading levels will be variable while your child’s appropriate level is ascertained.
Reading should be an enjoyable, worthwhile experience for you and your child. Please take the time to create a quiet and comfortable environment. It is best to choose a moment when time pressures are less, as this added stress can sometimes create unnecessary distress. Praise is an essential element of the three P’s: Pause, Prompt, Praise. (Meaning, if your child is stuck, allow them a moment to reflect, then prompt with a question such as ‘What is the first sound?’ followed by praise, no matter how small, ‘Well done you worked out the first sound’.).
Children should be taught to take care of books; this includes turning pages, transportation to and from school, keeping books away from food, drinks, younger siblings and pets…. For protection the homework, newsletters and the class readers will be sent home in the plastic reading folder. Please ensure this folder comes to school every day. New readers are given daily, on return of the previous reader.
School bags: Once the school bags have been emptied of the reading folder and any other equipment needed during the day, they are to be hung on your child’s hook outside the classroom.
Snack Break: There will be a 20 minute snack and play break from 10:40 to 11:00 daily. Please ensure your child has a separate snack packed for this time.
Supplies: Throughout the year we require a few supplies for craft, art, science and language arts. Schools are a wonderful place for recycling. If you have anything which you feel could be creatively useful, please let us know. Some items we always welcome are colour magazines, newspapers, colourful advertising, paper towel rolls, egg cartons, feathers, cones, polystyrene, gift ribbon, walnut shells, plastic containers, ice cream containers and lids to name just a few. Please send them in with your child; they will be greatly appreciated.
Welcome Evening: On Tuesday, September 19th at 19:00 a Welcome Evening will be held at the school.