Ms. Overbye's 
First Grade

Click here to edit subtitle


Policies and Procedures


Arrival

Students can be dropped off at school as early as 7:00 A.M. and are dismissed to classrooms at 7:35 A.M. from the cafeteria.  Please make sure your child is at school on time every day.  Students need to have time to unpack and get settled before starting their day. Students who arrive after 7:45 are considered “tardy” for school.


Attendance

Excused absences consist of:

- Illness or medical situation when attendance in school would endanger the health and well being of the child and/or other students

- Serious illness or death in the child’s immediate family that reasonably necessitates absence from school

- Special and recognized religious holidays observed by the child’s faith

- Serving as a Page in the Legislature

When a student returns to school, he or she must bring a note from the parent including the student’s name, date(s) of absence, reason for the absence, and the signature of the parent or guardian.  Each school day is filled with important lessons and activities, so please don’t schedule vacation time and appointments during school hours, if possible. 


Dismissal

Please be sure to send a note or email if your child will be dismissed a different way than usual.  Emails are checked in the morning before school starts and in the afternoon after dismissal.  If you forget to send a note or email before the school day starts, call the office and inform them of how your child is getting home. 


Birthdays

Food is not permitted to be provided in celebration of birthdays.  We will sing and give students a crown to wear on their birthday.  If you would like, we would love to have you send in a book to donate to the class on your child’s birthday.  We will read it and make it available for all students to enjoy. If you choose to pass out birthday invitations at school, please invite the whole class to avoid hurt feelings.


Show and Tell

We do not have “Show and Tell”; however, if there is something important that your child would like to share, let us know and we will allow him/her to share it. 


Clinic

Clinic hours are 8:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. every school day. The clinic is designed to provide basic health services to students. Please note that the nurse cannot put insect bite cream or antiseptic cream on students.  Medication(s) should be given at home. According to DeKalb County policy, no medication will be administered at school without written permission by the parent as well as a written order from the physician. This includes all over-the-counter medications, such as Tylenol and Ibuprofen.


Sick

The main reasons for keeping your child home are:

– He’s too sick to be comfortable at school.

– He might spread a contagious disease to other children.

As a rule of thumb, a child should stay home if he has:

– A fever higher than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit

– Vomited more than once

– Diarrhea

– A very frequent cough

– Persistent pain (ear, stomach, etc.)

– A widespread rash


Communication

Communication is the key to a successful home and school partnership.  Please do not hesitate to address your questions or concerns.  You may reach me through email or by calling the front office and leaving a message.  Newsletters will go home on Friday in your child’s folder.  A communication sheet will go home daily.


DEAR

D.E.A.R. “Drop Everything and Read” occurs in every classroom at 7:55 AM.  This is a time where parents volunteer to read to their child’s class.  You may either bring two books from home or I will provide two books for you to read.  We have a DEAR coordinator and use the signupgenius.com system for DEAR scheduling. If you are not a member of our DEAR signupgenius, please send me an email.


Dress Code

Our dress code is designed for the safety of your child.   It is requested that your child wear tennis shoes every day to school.  It is required that every child wear closed toed, rubber soled shoes to school.  If your child wants to wear a dress or skirt to school, they must wear shorts underneath.  Spaghetti straps are not allowed. Please check the Parent Teacher Handbook for more details on dress code.


Homework

Math homework and a handwriting practice sheet will be sent out each Friday and expected to be returned by the following Friday. 

Reading Logs
In addition to homework, a reading log will be sent out each Friday in the communicator.  Students are expected to read 15-20 minutes a night.  Please make sure 5 days of reading are included on the log and the questions are answered to receive full credit.


Lunch

Our lunch time is from 10:45-11:15 We have two designated tables, and students must remain with his/her class during lunch, except when parents join him or her for lunch. After each meal, students discard trash in the designated bins. Four students, 2 table washers and 2 sweeper, choose to help clean and prepare the area for incoming classes.


Lunchroom Payment

Parents may prepay meals by the day, week, or month, online at MyLunchMoney.com, or with cash or checks payable to Oak Grove Elementary (reference student’s name/teacher).


Lunchroom Visitors

Oak Grove welcomes parents, and other visitors to join the students for lunch. When lunchtime is over we transition to outside time, please remember to stop by the office to sign out before leaving the school. Parents should not plan to visit the classroom, accompany the class to the restroom or playground after lunch unless specifically invited by the teacher. While visitors are always welcome, parents who come several times per week or daily for lunch inhibit the child’s social development as lunchtime is when students are allowed to interact with their peers and practice appropriate social skills.


Menu

DeKalb County Schools establish menus based on federal government guidelines. Check the Oak Grove website: www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/oakgrove for the lunch menu. There are 2-3 entrée selections daily. Each meal includes milk, vegetables and fruit. A vegetarian option is available each day. Extra milk, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and water are offered as extra a la carte items throughout the year at an additional charge.


Snack

Each 1st grade class will have snack in the morning. Please send an individual snack in with your child each day. This should be a snack that is individually packaged and no larger than a Ziploc sandwich bag. 


Parent-Teacher Conferences

Conferences are a means of sharing with the parent the academic and behavioral status of his/her child. Oak Grove has scheduled four afternoons set aside for conferences during the 2015-2016 school year. If needed, conferences may be scheduled at other times by contacting the teacher.


Our Discipline Plan

•Clip Chart- In our classroom we follow a behavior clip chart system.  Every student starts the day off on green and has the opportunity to move up to blue or purple, if showing exceptional behavior, or down to yellow, orange, or red, if he/she needs to be redirected throughout the day. 
•Daily Color Form- At the end of each day, the Daily Color Form will be filled in with the color your student was on at the end of that day.  Please sign in the Parent Signature section every day so we know that you saw the sheet and any comments written by one of the teachers.  At-home follow-up of behavioral issues and successes will help increase positive behavior at school.
Class Store- At the end of each day the students receive pennies based on what color they ended the day on. If a student ends the day on green, he/she will receive one penny, blue two pennies, and purple 3 pennies. Every Friday the students have the opportunity to shop at our class store with the change they have earned throughout the week. Students have the option to either save their money to buy a more expensive item, or spend their money immediately on a less expensive item in the store.  
•SOAR Cards- Students who go above and beyond expectations (typically without being asked), such as helping another student, assisting the teacher, etc. may be given a SOAR Card by any adult in the school.  These are brought to the front office.  Each Friday on the morning announcements, several cards are randomly chosen from the pot of SOAR cards to receive a special prize.