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SUPPLY LIST 08-09
Dear Kindergarten Parents:
I am looking forward to an exciting year with your child. Kindergarten is a very important time in your child’s life. This is a time when the foundations of learning are established.
We, at Rudy Elementary School, will provide a positive learning environment for your child. We hope to stimulate your child’s interest through a variety of learning activities. Our ultimate goal is to instill in your child a love for learning that will continue throughout life.
The following information will help you to understand the various activities and programs used throughout the year.
All Day Kindergarten
8:00-2:30 Monday-Friday
Drop-off and Pick-up Procedure
Breakfast begins being served at 7:35. If your child is eating breakfast at school they may go into the gym for breakfast when they arrive. Breakfast is served from 7:35-7:45. After breakfast all students will stay in the gym until 7:50.
Students who are not eating breakfast should not be arriving at school before 7:50. If your child does not eat breakfast, please do not drop him or her off prior to this time. At 8:00, I will open our outside classroom door and meet your child to begin our day.
The pick up procedure is as follows: All kindergarten students will be escorted to the loading zone in the front of the school. At this time, when you drive up to the pick up point, I will release your child to you. All students need to be picked up from the pick up point at the front of the building. Please do not meet us at my door, as I will not release your child until we have arrived at our pick up point in front of the school. When picking up your child after school, the students are to tell me “Goodbye Mrs. Kramer, I am leaving with…” and give me a high-five. This will ensure your child is accounted for and leaving with the correct individual. Please remind your child of this policy during the first few weeks of school. I want to make sure that your child is safe at all times. Please keep in mind that the end of the day is very hectic. Again, please do not come to the classroom to pick up your child.
Promptness
We greatly appreciate your child’s prompt arrival to school, as late arrivals are very disruptive to a smooth opening. Your child will also greatly appreciate you picking him or her up promptly at the end of the school day. Children often become upset when parents are late and I have no explanation for them. If you wish to pick up your child early or if you are going to be late, please call the office in advance. To limit disruptions, please do not come to the classroom to pick up your child. You must sign out in the office and the office will call your child down.
Communication
Parent/Teacher Communication will be made in several ways. You and I will be able to visit via e-mail, if you have e-mail. My e-mail address is krameam@d11.org. I am happy to take phone calls before and after school. I can be reached at the following number 328-7661. In the daily planners, you may write me a note daily and I will respond that day. D-11’s policy is for a response within 24 hours and I hope to beat that time, by getting back in touch with you by just a few hours. If you would like I am more than happy to set up a time to meet with you individually. In addition, I will be sending weekly newsletters home so you will be aware of what is happening in our classroom. If you have any questions, regarding how to get a hold of me, please let me know and I will do my best to meet your needs.
Money
Any money sent to school should ALWAYS be placed in a sealed envelope with your child’s name and teacher’s name on the outside. Please indicate the purpose for which the money is being sent.
Toys
Toys should not be brought to school at any time. Show and tell will begin as the year gets started. Look for more information to come home.
Birthday Celebrations
We will celebrate everyone’s birthday during the year (Summer birthdays will be celebrated at the end of the school year). On the day of your child’s birthday, or one close to the day, I will send a letter home notifying you we will celebrate your child’s birthday. We will not have a party for them, however, you are invited in to read a story to the class and bring a birthday treat for snack time during that day to help us celebrate. More information will come home in the birthday letter.
Book orders
When a book order is sent home, your child does not have to order. If you do, however, please send a check made out to the appropriate book company (not to the teacher or to Rudy) and place it in a sealed envelope. Book orders take from 1 to 3 weeks to come in.
Recess
Students will have recess and they generally play outside---weather permitting. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather.
Lunch & Snacks
Our lunch time will begin @ 10:50 and end at 11:25. You child will eat lunch in the gym and then be allowed to play after eating. You are welcome to bring a sack lunch daily or you may purchase a school lunch.
Please send two boxes of a nutritious snack to school for the whole class to share. Please send one box at the beginning of the year and another after our Winter Break. This snack should take no longer than 5 minutes to eat. Some suggestions include: raisins, cheese crackers, graham crackers, popcorn, pretzels, etc. Prepackaged snacks are preferred. Please avoid peanut butter and other nuts due to allergies. CANDY AND SODAS ARE NOT ALLOWED.
Daily Folders And Homework
Everyday your child will bring home a folder filled with important information from the school office and the classroom teacher. In the front of the folders there is a calendar that acts as a behavior page that will be marked with your child’s behavior face. Please make sure to initial the day and make comments/ask questions if you would like. I will be checking for notes and will get back to you ASAP. On Fridays, you will find homework assignments that should be completed and returned by the following Thursday. Please look carefully through the folder and keep all graded paperwork at home, promptly return papers as required. It is very important for you to help your child bring their folder back to school everyday, as they will be rewarded for doing so.
As mentioned above, weekly homework will be sent home in their daily folders on Friday. Please, remember that this is not due until the following Thursday-It is often too much for your child to complete in one evening. Please be aware, this is extra practice and reinforcement of what we do in school. It will be kept track of, but not graded. Please have your child complete one page a day. I am asking you as a parent to support me, in making sure your child has completed the work correctly and is returning the work to school. Those students who have turned in all homework quarterly will be rewarded. Please encourage good study habits and help your child with their homework. Practice is necessary for your child’s learning. Thank you for your support in helping educate your child.
Please help me recognize your handwriting from your child’s by using a different color when working with them.
If your child comes home with an assignment marked “Please Complete”, this is class work that your child did not finish. If you see this stamp more than twice a week, you may want to discuss with your child why he/she is not getting class work completed.
Discipline
My classroom discipline consists of positive reinforcement and time-out opportunities (recess). The children are rewarded with praise and encouragement. The day is very positive and happy.
Each child begins the day with a magnet on green. When an undesirable behavior occurs, a verbal warning will first be given. After that, if the behavior continues, their magnet will move to yellow, red, and blue with each occurrence.
Green= Great day at school! Yeah! (Happy face)
Yellow= 2 minutes from recess (Straight face)
Red= 5 minutes from recess (Sad face)
Blue= I had a very “blue” day. (Sad face plus a call home)
During the minutes from recess I will address the behavior by discussing ways your child can improve next time. I will mark your child’s behavior chart daily with a happy face, straight face or a sad face. This is immediate positive feedback for those students doing a great job. Please look for their behavior chart in their folders as it gives you a daily report on how your child is doing. Praise your child for doing a great job. If your child does not have a happy face, then he or she has broken a rule and did not stay on green. Please discuss with your child the importance of following the rules. I will keep track of daily behavior on a chart at school. Students who stay on green all month will get a treat from the treasure chest.
Sight Words
We will be learning to read all year in kindergarten. A fun way to do this is for us to find “honeybee” words in our reading. These words are our “Sight Words”. You will get a list of these words as we learn them. Please keep them handy, as I am expecting your child to read them at the end of each quarter. I want expect all of my students to be able to read these words at the end of the year. Sight words should be read by sight, rather than by sounding them out. You may work ahead with your child by making flash cards and doing 3-5 words per week.
Bead Read
A reading chart will go home each week to record reading time at home. Your child should read at least 15 minutes a day. These books can be books read to them (by any member of the family), or they can read to you. Re-reading is valuable at this stage because they can begin to follow the words even if they cannot sound them out: practice pointing to each word as you read. For the first semester, a monthly chart will be sent home to track the bead reading. After winter break, I will then send a weekly read at home chart, as our expectations will be higher of independent reading. Color one picture/ bead after every 15 minutes read, and return the reading chart in the Thursday folder at the end of the week. Your child will earn a bead for his of her necklace.
Giving Tree
We will have a “class giving tree” in our room. On this tree, you will find sticky notes of items that we need in our class. If you are willing to help out our class, we would greatly appreciate your help. You may stop in at any time to check to see if we are in need of any items. Please send any items that you have purchased to school with your child.
Volunteers
Parents are welcomed in our classrooms and your help is greatly appreciated. Please see the attached volunteer sheet if you are interested. My only request is that you wait until the second week in September before coming into the classroom in order to give the children enough time to become adjusted to being in Kindergarten. Your volunteer time is most beneficial to the students if you come on a consistent schedule or if you schedule in advance to allow adequate planning.
Kindergarten assessment and evaluation
I will keep a portfolio of your child’s assessment and evaluations. In this file, the following will be kept:
1. Notes and comments gathered by myself and other teachers
2. Personal evaluations
3. Ongoing samples of your child’s work
4. Copy of any formal testing or screening done
All information gathered in your child’s portfolio will be evaluated and reviewed before a report card is issued at the end of each quarter. Please feel free to schedule an appointment to examine your child’s portfolio at any time.
Things you may want to work on at home
· Address, Phone number, Birthday
· Tying shoes, Zipping and Buttoning
· Colors (11 basic)
· Shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, rhombus (diamond))
· Counting (1-100)
· Recognizing and writing numbers 1-30
· Left and Right
· Months of the Year
· Cutting
· Printing first and last name (Capital Letter on the First letter only)
· Skipping
· Recognition of capital and lowercase letters
Remember that praise for even small accomplishments in any of these areas reinforces your child’s willingness to try harder.
The first few weeks of school will be primarily a review of many things that your child may have learned in pre-school. It is important to take this time to allow for your child to feel comfortable in his or her surroundings, methods, and rules before we begin with our curriculum.
There is a state standards/essential skills (e-skills) and benchmarks District 11 follows and you are welcome to review it. If your child is struggling or excelling in any areas of our curriculum, I will try my best to challenge your child and meet the needs of your child.
Our Kindergarten team will have a quarterly parent meeting to discuss academic expectations of the upcoming quarter and special events. Please plan on attending these meetings.
Kindergarten is an exciting year. Together we can make it a great experience for your child. My aim is for your child to excel in academics and to keep communication open between you and me. Having a successful kindergartner is all about you and me working together as team to provide the best education for your child. Please feel free to contact me at school if you have any questions or concerns.
Welcome to Kindergarten!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Kramer
328-7661