First week of 1st grade and haven't gotten one thing sent home- is this normal?

[Hoopin' Mama]

Five days of school and ds's backpack empty, everday. This is so different from kinder, where I was given lots of info about the classroom, the upcoming year, goals, stuff he completed in the classroom, etc. Back to school night is next week, so maybe we will be receiving everything then. I would think something would have come home by now.

I'm still kind of unsure about the teacher, and wondering if this is normal. She may be have a really low-key style, which is fine by me. Other times I'm afraid she seems, i dunno, burned out or something.

[CarrieMF]

yup normal here.   The kids get a monthly newsletter though the first one doesn't usually come out until the 2nd week of school.  the classes usually have a newsletter but it also doesn't get sent out until the 2nd week.  We only have parent night for K & Grade 1, we got information on parent night.

on then first day they bring home all their registration papers & permission slips.

[Rani]

I would email her or call.  Just explain how it was the year before and that you are just wanting to make sure of the new rules and process. Most teachers I know are happy to have calls like that. Means you are interested.  Now there is a possibility that dc is not bringing home things and she is wondering why she is not hearing back from you. So, if it were me, I would contact her.

[ollyoxenfree]

Every year, early on we received a bunch of information sheets, requests to confirm/update records (contact information, medical information etc.), etc. Some years it came home in dribs and drabs over the first couple of weeks. Other times it was sent as one big package, which is what I much preferred. Maybe the teacher will hand it all out at the meet-the-teacher night. Getting nothing is unusual. 

[CarrieMF]

it could also be that your dd isn't bringing stuff home.  Here the kids all have mailboxes in school & they are responsible for taking the stuff out of them, now early in the year & in the earlier grades they are reminded more.  As they get older they're reminded if they're getting overfull.

[One_Girl]

That sounds typical.  When my dd was in public school she didn't have much coming home except classwork in her end of week folder once they got past the introduction and routine set up stage of the year.  In her current school the teachers do a weekly newsletter via e-mail and graded work comes home in their folder.  First grade is very different from kindergarten. 

I feel like in Kindergarten the teachers did a lot more to ease parents into public school because a lot of the kids came from daycares where teachers had to be very hands on about communication and some came from home where the parents always knew what was up.  First grade was a time when the teacher spent her time on helping the students adjust to full day care and the school didn't seem to care if parents felt comfortable or informed.  They required a monthly newsletter and teachers let you know if your child is being difficult but that was it.  There are some teachers who value parent involvement and try to get it by building relationships, but it didn't seem to be the majority of them when I did observations and student teaching (and it wasn't something my dd's first grade teacher seemed to want). 

[beanma]

We got a ton of papers the first couple of days! I say contact her if you're concerned. You can make it like you want to make sure your child is bringing everything home he's supposed to.

[Hoopin' Mama]

Thanks for the replies. Back to school night helped me understand what was going on in the classroom at least. Take-home work starts after Labor Day.

I am wishing the teacher would do something that might reverse my opinion of her. I don't have a bad opinion, I'm just not thrilled. And then DH casually asked her how Ds was doing and she says -with absolutely no sugar coating - that ds is having trouble focusing and while he's not goofing off he just stares at his work sometimes. This assessment after 7 school days, one of which she had a sub.

I was chatting with another mom at pickup and it turned out she is friends with the teacher. She said that the woman doesn't sugar coat anything but also that it is way too early to make that kind of assessment and was surprised she said it. She also told me that the teacher does absolutely love her kids every year. So we'll see. I guess it's disappointing when coming from a kinder class where the teacher was awesome.