.ABC's of KINDERGARTEN
A
Arrival – The kindergarten day begins at 7:45. Your child may arrive between 7:15 and 7:45 a.m. Keep in mind that it may take your child’s little legs a few minutes to walk down the hall so please have your child at school by 7:40. Children who are not in the classroom ready to begin the day at 7:45 will be marked tardy. NOTE: ALL CHILDREN MUST ENTER & EXIT OUR SCHOOL THROUGH THE MAIN FRONT DOOR.
Attendance - Your child’s regular and prompt attendance is crucial to his/her success. Most kindergarten learning activities are hands on, group oriented, and involve peer and/or adult interaction. Therefore, it is next to impossible for your child to make up work that is missed when he/she is tardy or absent. Arriving late to school deprives your child of a smooth transition into the day. Please view school – even kindergarten – as a priority and see to it that your child’s attendance is regular and prompt.
B
Birthdays - I know how special and significant birthdays are and appreciate the opportunity to celebrate with your child. Please talk with me ahead of time if you would like to provide a special snack for your child and his/her classmates. All snack items must be store bought and shared during lunch.
BOOK BAGS – Please make sure your child has a book bag large enough to include a daily folder. Also, no wheels on the book bags. These book bags will not fit in our cubbies.
C
Communication - Throughout the year I will communicate with you through notes, emails, telephone calls, weekly newsletters, quarterly reports, daily folders, our class website (http://mrsscarboroskindergarten.weebly.com) and school conferences. I encourage you to contact me at any time if you have any questions or concerns. You may reach me at school (570-2220), send a note with your child, or send an email to [email protected].
Conferences – Conferences will be scheduled at the end of the first and third quarters. More details regarding conference sign up will be sent home in your child’s daily folder. You are welcome to schedule a time to talk with me whenever you have a question or concern. Please know that I enjoy talking with you about your child’s accomplishments but will not be available during the instructional day without a scheduled appointment.
D
Discipline - Establishing good classroom discipline is essential to each child’s success, confidence, and well-being. It is my goal to provide opportunities for your child to develop self-discipline, independent thinking, decision-making, and problem solving skills. As a class we will learn the purpose of classroom rules and work together to build our classroom community. Through class discussion, the children and I will develop a list of classroom expectations which we will call “Our Classroom Promises”... Emphasis will be placed on making positive and beneficial behavior choices. Your child will be expected to make appropriate choices and inappropriate choices will be viewed as teaching opportunities. If necessary, consequences for inappropriate choices will be logical and related to the behavior as a solution to the problem. If inappropriate choices are consistently made, I will contact you so we may meet to discuss your child’s individual behavioral needs.
Dismissal - We will dismiss at 2:15 Daily. Children who carpool will leave the gym, exit through the front doors, and wait for you at their assigned colored cone once his/her number has been called. Please help your child learn his/her carpool number. In addition, please call the school call if your child’s dismissal plan changes so the office can notify me.
E
Email - Email is the fastest way of getting in touch with me. I check my email throughout the day. If you have questions, concerns, or transportation changes, or anything else you need to let me know, that is the best way to reach me. My email is [email protected]
F
Field trips – We will participate in fun and educational trips throughout the year. Please be sure to complete BOTH sides of field trip permission slips when they are sent home and return them as soon as possible. We are always in need of parent volunteers to help chaperone field trips so please be sure to register as a volunteer! Field trip details will be included in weekly newsletters.
G
Guests – Family members are encouraged to visit our school for lunch and special classroom activities throughout the year. Whenever you, or a family member, enter the building please be sure you sign in and receive a Visitor sticker from the front office.
H
Health – For the sake of your child, your child’s classmates, and your child’s teachers please keep your child home if he/she is not feeling well. Learning is impossible for your child when he/she is sick. The BEST thing you can do is to keep your children home when they are sick. This will help stop the spread of illness to other children and teachers. Children need to be kept home when they have any of these symptoms:
- Fever of 100.6˚ or higher. Children should stay home until they have been fever free for at least 24 hours. Children should not be given Tylenol or Advil (ibuprofen) to reduce the fever and then sent to school. The child may be highly contagious to others.
- Nausea or vomiting within the last 12 hours
- Severe headache
- Diarrhea within the last 12 hours
- Red, watery eyes with yellow drainage
- Unexplained rash
“If you are called to pick up a sick child at school, please come quickly.”
from Wake County’s Human Services Memorandum
Homework – Students will have a quarterly calendar of activities to do. All calendars will be posted to the class website for you to reference. Nightly homework will also consist of reading TO and WITH your child with a book in a baggie. Please return baggie books DAILY. Family projects will be included at the beginning of each month. Family projects are optional but a great way to interact with your child!
I
Independence – A major part of our kindergarten classroom is the development of independence and ownership over the learning environment. You are welcome to walk your child to the room for the first couple of weeks but after that your child will be expected to walk to the classroom independently. My assistant or I will greet each child every morning so locating our classroom will not be an issue. Your child will also have a morning routine that will include signing in, unpacking his/her book bag, and completing an assigned morning task.
Instructional assistant – We have an amazing instructional assistant as a key part of our classroom community. Her name is Mrs. Lee.
J
adJustment – Kindergarten is a time of adJustment for most children. Many children struggle with the length of the day, expectations, being away from family, newness of routines, etc. Please feel free to talk with me at any time if you have questions about your child’s adJustment.
K
Keep it Brief – Transitions into the kindergarten day can be difficult for some children so keep the goodbyes brief! Many families establish routines to help the goodbyes go smoothly.
L
Lunch - We will have lunch from 11:30-12:00 each day. You are welcome and encouraged to join your child for lunch but we ask that you give us a couple weeks to help all of the children adjust to the expectations of their school day before entertaining visitors. If your child has difficulty separating, please reconsider visiting during lunch as it can make the remainder of the day difficult for your child. If your child will be eating hot lunch, please register on line on the WCPSS site. Then, help your child learn their student locator number, which is now being used by WCPSS for hot lunch purchase. Parents are encouraged to pay for hot lunch online to streamline this process for your child. NOTE: You can monitor what your child purchases and limit additional “treat” type purchases.
M
Money - On occasion, it will be necessary for your child to bring money to school. To ensure that it gets to the appropriate place, always send money in a sealed envelope with your child’s name, teacher’s name, and purpose for the money on the front. Please put this in your child’s daily folder so that we can find it.
N
Newsletters – A paper copy of our newsletter will be sent home at the beginning of the year and posted on our class website each week. These will provide important school and classroom information.
Notes – If you plan to send a note to school with your child, please make sure it is in your child’s daily folder or in his/her hand. I do not check book bags so it will be your child’s responsibility to give me any information you send in with him/her.
O
Objectives – Copies of kindergarten objectives by quarter are posted on our class website. Please let me know if you have any questions as you review the skills we will introduce, teach and assess.
P
Parent involvement - Your support of classroom activities are important. I believe we work in partnership to maximize your child’s academic achievement. In addition, your involvement will send the message that you value his/her school experience and support our classroom community. If you are interested in volunteering, be sure to fill out and return the “How Can I Help?” sheet. There are additional opportunities to be involved in the classroom and at home. Throughout the school year there will be a variety of special classroom activities and celebrations. I encourage you to attend these functions when possible and to support them by sending in needed materials and/or attending when it is a classroom community event.
P.E. – Your child will participate in physical education class each week. On this day please be sure your child wears tennis shoes to school.
Q
Questions - Please question your child each day after school! Ask what they learned, who they played with, and what they ate.
If you have any questions for me, a note in your child’s daily folder or an email will be the fastest way of communication with me.
R
Recess – We will play outside daily unless it is raining, extremely hot/cold, or a red ozone day. Tennis shoes are recommended for playground play!
Report cards – Your child will receive a report card at the end of each quarter. Interims reports will be sent half way through each quarter giving you an update on your child’s performance.
S
Schedule - A copy of our daily schedule is posted on our class website. Please refer to our class schedule when planning appointments for your child.
Snack – Please send in a ‘ten-minute snack’ for your child daily. Snacks should be nutritious and easy for your child to open. If your child brings a lunch from home, please put their snack in a separate area (a different bag, container, or another pocket of their book bag). This helps to clear any confusion they may have with snack and lunch.
Supplies – Please refer to the supply list posted to my class website.
T
Transportation - It is very important that we know how your child will get home each day. If you plan to change your child’s typical method of afternoon transportation, please send in a note with your child. I must have any transportation changes in writing. I also strongly encourage you to allow your child to adjust to whatever his/her method of transportation home will be, during the first full week of school. Avoid making exceptions as this can create confusion for your child.
U
Unexpected – Please keep me informed of any unexpected changes in your child’s environment. Changes in family dynamics (loss of a family pet or family member, move to a new home, birth of sibling, etc.) can greatly impact your child’s social, emotional, behavioral, and academic performance at school.
V
Volunteering – If you are interested in volunteering IN the classroom, please register in the computer lab during school hours. Volunteers must be registered and approved at a level 3 in order to work with children in small groups at school and on field trips.
W
WEBSITE – Please visit our website on a regular basis. It will be used as a major tool for communication. If you are not able to access our website, please let me know.
Wish list - If you would like to make a contribution to our class wish list, please send in those items with your child as you have them. We will also have a wish list that will be updated as needed on our class website. All contributions will be greatly appreciated!
Workdays - We will have 2 workdays during the year. The dates are September 30 and March 9. More information about this will come as it gets closer to those dates.
X
EXtra clothing – Kindergarten is full of fun, and sometimes messy, projects. Please make sure you have sent in a complete set of clothing for your child - including underclothes and socks – in a Ziploc bag labeled with your child’s name. Accidents happen and we would like to be well prepared.
Y
Younger SIBLINGS – I encourage you to take advantage of opportunities to volunteer throughout the year. Please make arrangements for the care of your kindergartener’s younger sibling(s). Your time at school should be focused on your kindergarten child and assisting our class.
Z
ZZZ’s – The transition into the expectations of a full day kindergarten can be physically exhausting for young children. Please make sure your child is getting plenty of sleep each night. Setting and keeping a bedtime is a wonderful gift you can give to your child. It will help him/her to be alert and ready to learn each day!
A
Arrival – The kindergarten day begins at 7:45. Your child may arrive between 7:15 and 7:45 a.m. Keep in mind that it may take your child’s little legs a few minutes to walk down the hall so please have your child at school by 7:40. Children who are not in the classroom ready to begin the day at 7:45 will be marked tardy. NOTE: ALL CHILDREN MUST ENTER & EXIT OUR SCHOOL THROUGH THE MAIN FRONT DOOR.
Attendance - Your child’s regular and prompt attendance is crucial to his/her success. Most kindergarten learning activities are hands on, group oriented, and involve peer and/or adult interaction. Therefore, it is next to impossible for your child to make up work that is missed when he/she is tardy or absent. Arriving late to school deprives your child of a smooth transition into the day. Please view school – even kindergarten – as a priority and see to it that your child’s attendance is regular and prompt.
B
Birthdays - I know how special and significant birthdays are and appreciate the opportunity to celebrate with your child. Please talk with me ahead of time if you would like to provide a special snack for your child and his/her classmates. All snack items must be store bought and shared during lunch.
BOOK BAGS – Please make sure your child has a book bag large enough to include a daily folder. Also, no wheels on the book bags. These book bags will not fit in our cubbies.
C
Communication - Throughout the year I will communicate with you through notes, emails, telephone calls, weekly newsletters, quarterly reports, daily folders, our class website (http://mrsscarboroskindergarten.weebly.com) and school conferences. I encourage you to contact me at any time if you have any questions or concerns. You may reach me at school (570-2220), send a note with your child, or send an email to [email protected].
Conferences – Conferences will be scheduled at the end of the first and third quarters. More details regarding conference sign up will be sent home in your child’s daily folder. You are welcome to schedule a time to talk with me whenever you have a question or concern. Please know that I enjoy talking with you about your child’s accomplishments but will not be available during the instructional day without a scheduled appointment.
D
Discipline - Establishing good classroom discipline is essential to each child’s success, confidence, and well-being. It is my goal to provide opportunities for your child to develop self-discipline, independent thinking, decision-making, and problem solving skills. As a class we will learn the purpose of classroom rules and work together to build our classroom community. Through class discussion, the children and I will develop a list of classroom expectations which we will call “Our Classroom Promises”... Emphasis will be placed on making positive and beneficial behavior choices. Your child will be expected to make appropriate choices and inappropriate choices will be viewed as teaching opportunities. If necessary, consequences for inappropriate choices will be logical and related to the behavior as a solution to the problem. If inappropriate choices are consistently made, I will contact you so we may meet to discuss your child’s individual behavioral needs.
Dismissal - We will dismiss at 2:15 Daily. Children who carpool will leave the gym, exit through the front doors, and wait for you at their assigned colored cone once his/her number has been called. Please help your child learn his/her carpool number. In addition, please call the school call if your child’s dismissal plan changes so the office can notify me.
E
Email - Email is the fastest way of getting in touch with me. I check my email throughout the day. If you have questions, concerns, or transportation changes, or anything else you need to let me know, that is the best way to reach me. My email is [email protected]
F
Field trips – We will participate in fun and educational trips throughout the year. Please be sure to complete BOTH sides of field trip permission slips when they are sent home and return them as soon as possible. We are always in need of parent volunteers to help chaperone field trips so please be sure to register as a volunteer! Field trip details will be included in weekly newsletters.
G
Guests – Family members are encouraged to visit our school for lunch and special classroom activities throughout the year. Whenever you, or a family member, enter the building please be sure you sign in and receive a Visitor sticker from the front office.
H
Health – For the sake of your child, your child’s classmates, and your child’s teachers please keep your child home if he/she is not feeling well. Learning is impossible for your child when he/she is sick. The BEST thing you can do is to keep your children home when they are sick. This will help stop the spread of illness to other children and teachers. Children need to be kept home when they have any of these symptoms:
- Fever of 100.6˚ or higher. Children should stay home until they have been fever free for at least 24 hours. Children should not be given Tylenol or Advil (ibuprofen) to reduce the fever and then sent to school. The child may be highly contagious to others.
- Nausea or vomiting within the last 12 hours
- Severe headache
- Diarrhea within the last 12 hours
- Red, watery eyes with yellow drainage
- Unexplained rash
“If you are called to pick up a sick child at school, please come quickly.”
from Wake County’s Human Services Memorandum
Homework – Students will have a quarterly calendar of activities to do. All calendars will be posted to the class website for you to reference. Nightly homework will also consist of reading TO and WITH your child with a book in a baggie. Please return baggie books DAILY. Family projects will be included at the beginning of each month. Family projects are optional but a great way to interact with your child!
I
Independence – A major part of our kindergarten classroom is the development of independence and ownership over the learning environment. You are welcome to walk your child to the room for the first couple of weeks but after that your child will be expected to walk to the classroom independently. My assistant or I will greet each child every morning so locating our classroom will not be an issue. Your child will also have a morning routine that will include signing in, unpacking his/her book bag, and completing an assigned morning task.
Instructional assistant – We have an amazing instructional assistant as a key part of our classroom community. Her name is Mrs. Lee.
J
adJustment – Kindergarten is a time of adJustment for most children. Many children struggle with the length of the day, expectations, being away from family, newness of routines, etc. Please feel free to talk with me at any time if you have questions about your child’s adJustment.
K
Keep it Brief – Transitions into the kindergarten day can be difficult for some children so keep the goodbyes brief! Many families establish routines to help the goodbyes go smoothly.
L
Lunch - We will have lunch from 11:30-12:00 each day. You are welcome and encouraged to join your child for lunch but we ask that you give us a couple weeks to help all of the children adjust to the expectations of their school day before entertaining visitors. If your child has difficulty separating, please reconsider visiting during lunch as it can make the remainder of the day difficult for your child. If your child will be eating hot lunch, please register on line on the WCPSS site. Then, help your child learn their student locator number, which is now being used by WCPSS for hot lunch purchase. Parents are encouraged to pay for hot lunch online to streamline this process for your child. NOTE: You can monitor what your child purchases and limit additional “treat” type purchases.
M
Money - On occasion, it will be necessary for your child to bring money to school. To ensure that it gets to the appropriate place, always send money in a sealed envelope with your child’s name, teacher’s name, and purpose for the money on the front. Please put this in your child’s daily folder so that we can find it.
N
Newsletters – A paper copy of our newsletter will be sent home at the beginning of the year and posted on our class website each week. These will provide important school and classroom information.
Notes – If you plan to send a note to school with your child, please make sure it is in your child’s daily folder or in his/her hand. I do not check book bags so it will be your child’s responsibility to give me any information you send in with him/her.
O
Objectives – Copies of kindergarten objectives by quarter are posted on our class website. Please let me know if you have any questions as you review the skills we will introduce, teach and assess.
P
Parent involvement - Your support of classroom activities are important. I believe we work in partnership to maximize your child’s academic achievement. In addition, your involvement will send the message that you value his/her school experience and support our classroom community. If you are interested in volunteering, be sure to fill out and return the “How Can I Help?” sheet. There are additional opportunities to be involved in the classroom and at home. Throughout the school year there will be a variety of special classroom activities and celebrations. I encourage you to attend these functions when possible and to support them by sending in needed materials and/or attending when it is a classroom community event.
P.E. – Your child will participate in physical education class each week. On this day please be sure your child wears tennis shoes to school.
Q
Questions - Please question your child each day after school! Ask what they learned, who they played with, and what they ate.
If you have any questions for me, a note in your child’s daily folder or an email will be the fastest way of communication with me.
R
Recess – We will play outside daily unless it is raining, extremely hot/cold, or a red ozone day. Tennis shoes are recommended for playground play!
Report cards – Your child will receive a report card at the end of each quarter. Interims reports will be sent half way through each quarter giving you an update on your child’s performance.
S
Schedule - A copy of our daily schedule is posted on our class website. Please refer to our class schedule when planning appointments for your child.
Snack – Please send in a ‘ten-minute snack’ for your child daily. Snacks should be nutritious and easy for your child to open. If your child brings a lunch from home, please put their snack in a separate area (a different bag, container, or another pocket of their book bag). This helps to clear any confusion they may have with snack and lunch.
Supplies – Please refer to the supply list posted to my class website.
T
Transportation - It is very important that we know how your child will get home each day. If you plan to change your child’s typical method of afternoon transportation, please send in a note with your child. I must have any transportation changes in writing. I also strongly encourage you to allow your child to adjust to whatever his/her method of transportation home will be, during the first full week of school. Avoid making exceptions as this can create confusion for your child.
U
Unexpected – Please keep me informed of any unexpected changes in your child’s environment. Changes in family dynamics (loss of a family pet or family member, move to a new home, birth of sibling, etc.) can greatly impact your child’s social, emotional, behavioral, and academic performance at school.
V
Volunteering – If you are interested in volunteering IN the classroom, please register in the computer lab during school hours. Volunteers must be registered and approved at a level 3 in order to work with children in small groups at school and on field trips.
W
WEBSITE – Please visit our website on a regular basis. It will be used as a major tool for communication. If you are not able to access our website, please let me know.
Wish list - If you would like to make a contribution to our class wish list, please send in those items with your child as you have them. We will also have a wish list that will be updated as needed on our class website. All contributions will be greatly appreciated!
Workdays - We will have 2 workdays during the year. The dates are September 30 and March 9. More information about this will come as it gets closer to those dates.
X
EXtra clothing – Kindergarten is full of fun, and sometimes messy, projects. Please make sure you have sent in a complete set of clothing for your child - including underclothes and socks – in a Ziploc bag labeled with your child’s name. Accidents happen and we would like to be well prepared.
Y
Younger SIBLINGS – I encourage you to take advantage of opportunities to volunteer throughout the year. Please make arrangements for the care of your kindergartener’s younger sibling(s). Your time at school should be focused on your kindergarten child and assisting our class.
Z
ZZZ’s – The transition into the expectations of a full day kindergarten can be physically exhausting for young children. Please make sure your child is getting plenty of sleep each night. Setting and keeping a bedtime is a wonderful gift you can give to your child. It will help him/her to be alert and ready to learn each day!