Class+Information

 Hello students and parents of room A18 and welcome to fifth grade. I would like to introduce myself to you.

I am Mrs. Janet Vlasaty-Smith.When I began my teaching career, I spent two years teaching sixth grade at McKinley Middle School in Racine. I have been teaching in the Franklin district since 2002. From 2002-2009, I taught at Country Dale Elementary School. I taught second grade for one year and first grade for four years. I have been teaching fifth grade since the 07-08 school year. I had a fantastic year with my fifth graders last year and am ecstatic to return to fifth grade and am excited about my new placement at Ben Franklin. I look forward to getting to know you!

I live in Milwaukee with my husband Pete and my Great Dane, Vegas. I would like you to take a few minutes to read through this in order to familiarize you with some to the things both you and your child can expect in fifth grade.

Your child will be eating lunch at 12:00. Since this is a long time after breakfast, if your child would like to bring a quick and healthy snack they are welcome to do so. I have a refrigerator they are welcome to store things in. We will have a working snack and will not formally stop for a snack break. PLEASE, if you send something for your child, be sure it is healthy. (Mrs. Vlasaty-Smith’s list of not such good choices of snacks: fruit snacks, Little Debbie’s, potato chips, cookies, etc. Mrs. Vlasaty-Smith’s list of great choices for snack: cheese and crackers, fruit, veggies, pretzels, granola bars (not loaded with chocolate), yogurt.) Please be aware that we will have a student in our classroom that has a severe peanut allergy. Please be sure that there are absolutely no peanut products sent as a snack for the classroom.
 * __Fruit break/Snack__**

We would love to help your child celebrate their birthday or half-birthday. If they would like to bring a treat to share, that would be fine. Please be sure they bring enough to share with the whole class. There are currently 22 children in our class.
 * __Happy Birthday/Half-birthday!__**

Fifth grade has outside recess from 12:15-12:45 every day. Your child will head outside each day unless the weather is one of the following: raining or winter temperatures of -20 degrees. Please have your child dressed for the weather. There is nothing worse than being too cold and not enjoying the only recess for the day. Please label all jackets, hats, boots, sweatshirts, lunch boxes, etc.
 * __Recess__**

__**Hot lunch**__ Please send money for hot lunch sealed in an envelope with your child’s name and pin number written on the outside of the envelope. It is also helpful to list my name (Vlasaty-Smith) and our room number (37) the assist the cooks in getting the money in the correct account.

__**Voice mail/email**__ Due to the busy schedule of the school day, teachers may not have the opportunity to check voicemail until the evening. If there is an immediate concern, please contact the main office. To access the voicemail system, please dial (414) 529-8240 extension: 2037 This will put you directly into my voicemail box.

Please feel free to email any questions or concerns that you may have at any time to simthj@franklin.k12.wi.us. I can be reached directly in my classroom at 525-7037.

