Dear Parents,

Welcome to first grade!  We are going to have an exciting learning experience. My name is Mrs. Fata, and I am very excited to be your child’s first grade teacher. This year is going to be full of new and fun learning experiences. This is all new to all of us and we are in this together. I am here to help and guide you and your child through this new virtual learning process. The amount of learning success your child will achieve this year will amaze you. While we are virtual some suggestions for optimal learning will be to have a quiet space for your child to work. Please have their device charged and ready to use. If you do not have a device, please go to the Yonkers public schools' website and look for our loaner program to get a device. Please have a notebook, sharpened pencils and crayons available at your child’s work area. We will be using many forms of communication this year. I use DOJO which I know many are familiar with from last year. If you have not signed up yet please do so. I can also be reached through my email at smartinez@yonkerspublicschools.org. We will continue to use the clever app to login. To access clever, you can use your child’s login badge that I will send to you or sign in with the username: your child’s ID password: your child’s birthday(mm/dd/yyyy). If you need any help to log on, please reach out to me through dojo. We will be using Microsoft Teams this year. This platform will allow us to be live teaching during different parts of the day. In order to access teams, log onto clever, go to my teacher page, click on Microsoft 365, and it will take you to teams. It is important that your child log on at the specific time of meeting, so they understand the work being assigned for the day. More information will follow about logging onto Microsoft Teams. I will be incorporating Bitmoji classrooms into Teams to make it fun and interacting for the children. I am looking forward to meeting you all virtually and hopefully soon in person!

Sincerely yours,

Darlene Fata