Thursday, August 23rd, is picture day. Students are to wear their school uniform. That evening is the spaghetti dinner, courtesy of the PTO, open house will follow the dinner. I hope you can come by the classroom to say hello and see how well your child is acclimating to First Grade!

We had a great first day! All of the kids were able to calm their “jitters” as the morning progressed! We even had a special juice to help us relax our nerves! This is going to be a great year with a great bunch of kids! ​​​​​​​Next week we have PE on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Please make sure your child wears sneakers on those days. Please send in a sweater or sweatshirt because I do keep the classroom cool. Please follow the guidelines that are written in the handbook for the appropriate shoes and uniform sweater/sweatshirt. Students may bring in a bottle of water to drink throughout the day. Please do not send in any disposable water bottles. Only the kind that have a straw or a lift top. Nothing that they have to screw on and off to drink. This will help prevent accidents from happening. Please do not forget to sign up for the reminder app. This is the best way to communicate with me. We will have our first spelling test on Friday. The first set of words are listed below under reading and spelling series. They will also be sent home on Monday. Have a great weekend!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE make sure I know how your child is going home on Friday AND then how they are going home regularly after that. I realize that Friday might be different than normal since it is the first day of school and a half day. Please email me the information or send in a note with your child on Friday. Thank you! kimberly.wheaton@saintmaryschool.net

Since we are NOT having supply drop off on Thursday ... DO NOT WORRY ABOUT WHEN YOU GET EVERYTHING TO OUR CLASSROOM! DON'T MAKE YOUR POOR BABY CARRY EVERYTHING ON THE FIRST DAY! :-) Feel free to send in one thing at a time as I have plenty of everything to get us started. You may also walk your child in and help them carry on Friday morning.

This year we will be using our brand new Journeys books for Reading and Spelling. We will continue to use Saxon for Phonics and Math. We are just learning all that Journeys has to offer and we ask for your patience as we decide what works best with our students. The first Spelling test will be on Friday, August 17. Click the blue link above to see the first five lists.

This is my 15th year of teaching, I started out teaching at Saint Mary School in 1992. I moved away in 2001 with my husband. I returned to St. Mary’s in 2016. It is great to be back working at this wonderful school. I have taught kindergarten through third grade, but first grade has a special place in my heart. I have been married to my husband for 24 years and we have a 14-year-old son who is a graduate of Saint Mary School. He will be starting high school at Fort Walton Beach this year. Go Vikings! When I have free time I enjoy reading, swimming, going to the beach, and traveling. My family and I have lived in several places and we are a military family. But we have “retired” and are calling Fort Walton Beach our home.

Welcome to first grade! I am so happy to have your child in my class! Within the next couple of weeks, you should be able to find anything you need to know right here on my webpage! First of all ... I will be sending home important letters in your child's folder on the first day of school. Please read them carefully and return the bottom of the discipline letter the next day. I am looking forward to watching your child grow with me this school year.