Dear  Parents  &  Guardians:  

 
My  name  is  Ms.  Trapp  and  I  will  be  your  child’s  first  grade  teacher  this  year.    I  am  a  recent  
graduate  of  the  University  of  Illinois  with  a  BA  in  Elementary  Education  and  a  
concentration  in  Spanish.  I  wanted  to  take  this  opportunity  to  not  only  introduce  myself,  
but  also  to  discuss  some  of  the  activities  and  topics  that  will  be  covered  this  upcoming  year.    
 
First  grade  is  the  start  of  enriching  so  many  talents  and  skills  that  your  child  has.  We  will  be  
spending  time  everyday  during  our  literacy  block  working  on  reading  fluency,  writing,  and  
building  our  written  and  spoken  vocabularies.  We  will  be  reading  plenty  of  great  stories  
this  year,  both  individually  and  as  a  group  as  well  as  writing  many  great  stories.  I  believe  in  
building  your  child’s  creative  abilities  through  imaginative  writing,  and  making  text-­‐to-­‐self  
connections  to  help  build  interactive  stories.  We  will  engage  in  a  writer’s  workshop  once  
every  two  weeks  and  you  can  watch  your  child  develop  as  a  writer  throughout  the  year.    
 
We  will  be  building  our  number  sense  in  math,  working  on  counting,  writing  numbers,  
telling  time,  coin  and  money  counting,  addition  and  subtraction,  and  many  more  skills.  We  
will  build  on  our  math  each  day,  using  manipulatives  to  help  make  abstract  concepts  more  
concrete  for  your  child.    
 
Science  and  social  studies  will  be  explored  throughout  the  year  as  well.  In  social  studies  we  
will  be  learning  about  the  importance  of  community,  what  it  means  to  be  a  part  of  a  
democracy,  and  also  looking  into  the  idea  of  conflict.  In  science,  we  will  be  investigating  the  
transition  from  caterpillar  to  butterfly,  the  solar  system,  and  seeds.    
 
I  really  look  forward  to  learning  with  your  child  this  year!  It  is  going  to  be  such  a  fun  and  
challenging  school  year,  but  I  have  the  confidence  that  with  your  help  and  support  it  will  be  
extremely  successful.  I  hope  that  this  letter  is  just  the  beginning  of  a  very  communicative  
relationship.  I  plan  to  make  contact  with  each  family  at  least  twice  every  month  in  regards  
to  your  child’s  progress.  I  want  to  get  to  know  your  child’s  strengths  and  weaknesses,  so  
that  we  can  build  on  those  strengths  in  the  classroom,  and  improve  those  weaknesses.    
 
Following  this  letter  is  an  “About  my  Student”  questionnaire  that  I  hope  you  will  take  the  
time  to  thoughtfully  fill  out  so  that  I  can  get  to  know  some  things  about  your  student  before  
the  school  year  even  begins.  This  will  help  me  plan  and  prepare  for  the  upcoming  school  
year  and  also  help  me  get  acquainted  with  his  or  her  abilities,  interests,  home  life,  and  prior  
educational  experience.  Please  send  back  as  soon  as  it  is  completed.  I  look  forward  to  
meeting  your  student  on  the  first  day  of  school,  promptly  at  8:00  am.  
 
Sincerely,  
 
Miss  Emily  Trapp  
emilyltrapp@gmail.com  
  
 
 
 
 
 
Your  name:  __________________________________________        Your  email:  _________________________________  
 
Name:  __________________________________________________      Nickname:  ________________________________  
 
Birthday:  ___________________________________________  Gender:  ________________________________________  
 
1. How  does  your  child  get  to  and  from  school  and  where  does  he/she  go  directly  after  
school?  
 
 
 
 
2. What  kind  of  interests/hobbies  does  your  child  have  outside  of  school?    
 
 
 
 
3. How  often  do  you  read  aloud  to  or  with  your  child?  
 
 
 
 
4. What  is  your  child  looking  forward  to  most  about  school?  What  is  he/she  most  
apprehensive  about?  
 
 
 
 
5. What  are  you  most  looking  forward  to  about  this  school  year?  What  are  you  most  
apprehensive  about?  
 
 
 
 
6. What  responsibilities  does  your  child  have  at  home?  
 
 
 
 
 
 7. How  does  your  child  learn  best?  
a. By  watching  
b. By  listening  
c. By  doing  
d. Other  
  Please  explain...  
 
 
 
 
 
8. Who  lives  at  home  with  your  child?  
 
 
 
 
9. Does  your  child  have  any  allergies  or  take  any  medications?  
 
 
 
 
10. What  time  does  your  child  generally  go  to  bed  every  night?  
 
 
 
 
11. Are  you  interested  in  helping  out  in  the  classroom?  (room  parent,  field  trip  
volunteer,  class  presentation?)  
 
 
 
 
12. Is  there  anything  else  you  feel  I  should  know  about  your  child?