August 25, 2017

Dear Parents,

Hello my name is Angela Forland and I am excited to be teaching 3rd grade for the fourth year here at Kingsland and can’t wait to get to know your students this year.    

I graduated from Morningside College in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education. 

I am married to Ryan Forland and I have two children, Hadleigh (6) and Cole (4).  I love spending time with my family, reading, writing, playing games, enjoying the outdoors, and learning.  We spend a lot of our vacation time traveling to visit my family in northwestern Nebraska and spend a lot of time in the Black Hills while visiting them as the hills are close to where I grew up.  

In the third grade we learn many different things:  many of them are new to your students.  Some of these things include cursive writing, multiplication, and this year I am implementing flexible seating (alternative seating).  We will begin the cursive writing curriculum the beginning of the year and will hopefully finish in January.  It is my requirement that once students have completed the whole cursive alphabet that the student only uses cursive the rest of the year.  I am looking forward to teaching your children multiplication and being able to use creative ways to teach these facts.  I am sending home a separate letter about the flexible seating. 

I will send a schedule home very soon as many things have changed this year.   Some of these changes are: I will begin my class day with a bell ringer.  It will be on the board when students arrive in the classroom and they will know to sit down and start.  This is a little something for the kids to do while everyone is getting settled and allows everyone a chance to get into school mode.  It will be something such as: What is your favorite animal and why?  Another switch this year is having a two-way switch between the Mrs. Capelle and me.  Mrs. Capelle will teach Social Studies and I will be teaching Science.  

So students will have recess from 10:15- 10:45 and lunch from 11:30-12:00 except on early out Wednesdays and then recess is from 9:30-10:00 and lunch is from 10:30-11:00.  Students will also once again attend specials (P.E./Music/PLTW/Media) in the afternoons with a few changes.  First, if we have a no school day we are treating that day like it never happened-- this means if your student misses P.E. because we have a snow day, they will get P.E. the next school day.  Remember tennis shoes are required for P.E.   

If you choose to bring snacks for birthdays or any other reason, please remember that they must be store or bakery-bought (a state law).  Another option is to contact our cooks (ext. 3126) and have them bake cookies for you for the occasion and you can pay for them through the e-store or school secretaries. 

Please call the office (507-346-7276 ext. 1000) when you know your child will not be attending school so that I do not worry. I do inquire from the office if your student is not here when the day starts.  If the office has not heard from you they also worry about your student, so please keep us informed.  Thanks a ton.

These are some of the main points/changes for this school year.  Thanks for allowing me to guide your student in learning this year.  If you ever have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call or send me an email.  I can be reached at 507-346-7276 ext. 1125 or forland.angela@kingsland2137.org.  The best times to reach me by phone are from 7:30-8:00 or 3:30-4:00.  I am looking forward to a great year. 

Sincerely,

Angela Forland