ARRIVAL DISMISSAL

							ARRIVAL & DISMISSAL
Students should arrive at school between 7:35 and 7:45am. Students who arrive
before 7:35 should go to the cafeteria. Students who arrive after 7:35 may go to
their classrooms. Students may also go to the cafeteria during this time for
breakfast. Breakfast prices are: Reduced - 30 cents, Regular - $1.25.
Students are tardy at 7:50am. Please make sure your child is in class on time.
In the afternoons, buses will begin loading at 2:45. Car-riders can be picked up
at the classroom door at 3:00. Please do not enter the room or knock on the door.
Teachers will dismiss students when the day’s activities are over. All students
must be signed out. If your child will be riding a bus home, please make sure the
teacher knows which one. If there are any changes in transportation, please send
a note. Students will not be allowed to change modes of transportation home
without a note from the parent.

BIRTHDAYS
For your child’s special day, you may send or bring cupcakes for snack time, but
they must be store bought and preferably sugar-free. Please make arrangements
with the teacher ahead of time.

CHECK-IN AND CHECK-OUT
If your child must check-in late or check-out early, this must be done through the
office. Please do not come to the room without the check-in or check-out slip.

DISCIPLINE
One very important part of Kindergarten is learning how to get along with others,
listen and behave in a school setting. Inappropriate behavior distracts from
learning, which is why we go to school. Students are expected to RESPECT
their teacher, the other students, property and themselves. Your child will
bring home a note if he/she has had behavior problems on a particular day.
Please discuss it with your child, sign it and return it to school the following day.

ENTERING THE ROOM
When your child arrives at school, he or she will need to enter the room by
themselves and unpack his/her own backpack and binder. Please say good-bye
outside the door.

FUND RAISERS
In order for our school to have what we need and to serve our students the best we
can, we occasionally have fund raisers. When we do, please remember that this
is for your child and always do your best to help us. Also, please be sure to turn
in money by the appropriate deadlines.

GIFTS TO YOUR CHILD AT SCHOOL
Sometimes on special occasions, parents like to send flowers or balloons, etc...to
your child at school. If you send something like that to your child at school,
please be prepared to come to school to pick up your child that day. The
balloons and glass vases are dangerous and not allowed on the school buses.

HEAD LICE
Kindergartners are prime candidates for head lice. We do everything we can to
prevent it, but sometimes our best efforts are in vain. If you get a letter saying
your child has head lice, you not only have to get rid of it on your child’s head
with the special shampoo, but all bedding, stuffed animals, clothes, etc...must be
washed in HOT water and dried on HOT to kill the nits. If every nit and bug is
not removed, the eggs will hatch and your child will be re-infested. Please do
not take this as an insult to you. It can happen to anyone.

INCLEMENT WEATHER
Anytime there is a threat of bad weather, please stay near a radio. It may not be
possible for us to call each parent if school is going to be dismissed early because
of severe weather. If you hear that school is dismissing early, please come to
pick up your child or arrange for someone else to pick him or her up as soon as
possible. Phone trees will be sent home with car-riders so parents can help us in
contacting other parents.

JEWELRY AND CLOTHING
Please send your child in appropriate clothing for school. The children go to the
playground almost every day and they do get dirty. They also need comfortable
shoes. Please do not let children wear nice jewelry to school. It often gets lost.
Also, please print your child’s name in any clothing that will be taken off during
the day. It, too, may be lost. Also, please don’t let your child wear perfume
or after-shave to school. Some people are allergic to it.

KIDS LEARN BEST THE HANDS-ON WAY
Your kindergartner will not be bringing home a lot of worksheets this year.
That’s a good thing! All research shows that children learn better by doing
hands-on activities, not worksheets.

LUNCH & LUNCH MONEY
Regular price for lunches is $2.00 per day. All kindergartners must pay this price
until approved for free or reduced priced lunches. The price for reduced lunches
is 40 cents. Lunch money should be paid on Mondays for a week or more.
Lunch accounts can accept up to $99.00. All lunch money should be sent in a
sealed envelope with the child’s name, teacher’s name, your child’s account
number, amount of money and what it’s for clearly labeled on the front.
Students have a choice of purchasing lunch in the lunchroom or bringing lunch
from home. If they do bring their own lunch, please don’t send sodas. All
children who buy a plate will have to drink milk unless you have a letter from a
doctor saying they can’t drink it. They do have a choice of chocolate,
strawberry, white or low-fat white. Students may also buy ice cream on
Thursdays for 60 cents after Sept. 1. Please include this with your lunch money.
Snack money will be totally separate.


MEDICATION & ILLNESS
We will not be able to call you every time your child complains, but if your
child’s teacher feels like it is necessary to send him/her home, you will be called.
Please don’t send your child to school if he or she has been vomiting or has a
fever. If your child has to take medicine at school, you will need to get the
doctor to give you or fax us a letter that authorizes our office to give the medicine.
You will need to bring the letter and the medicine to the office yourself.
Students are absolutely not allowed to bring any type of medication to school
themselves.
NOTES
When you need to send the teacher a note, please do that on the first page of
loose-leaf paper in your child’s folder. Do not tear it out, just leave it as the top
sheet. The teacher will tear it out when she reads it. Teachers will do the same
when writing notes to you. You may tear these out when you read them.

ORGANIZATION
Our students will be using folders to keep organized this year. The LEFT pocket
is where we put things that should be “LEFT AT HOME,” like finished work,
reminders, etc. Please empty this pocket each night. The RIGHT pocket is
papers that need to be “BROUGHT RIGHT BACK.” Please put all money
envelopes in the zipper-pouch.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT
Research has shown that students who have parents that are involved in their
education do much better in school than those whose parents are not. We will
have some type of homework on our newsletter every week night. This is
something for you and your child to do together that will help with what we are
studying. This is not homework that has to be turned in. Most importantly...
Read to/with your child every night.
Conferences - We want to keep you informed of your child’s progress and want
you to feel free to talk to us, but please remember that our classes need our
undivided attention from the time they arrive in the mornings until they leave in
the afternoons. So please send a note or call the office to arrange a time for a
conference rather than dropping in to talk.

QUESTION AND UNPACK
That’s what you need to do as soon as your child gets home. Ask what he or she
did today and don’t accept “nothing” as an answer. Help your child unpack
his/her binder and look over their papers for the day.

RESTROOM
Having only one restroom in a room full of children sometimes poses a problem.
Everyone always needs to go at the same time and that’s impossible, so we have
to wait our turn. Please remind your child to be patient and ask to go as soon as
they need to go and not wait until it’s an emergency. ALL STUDENTS NEED
TO GO TO THE RESTROOM WITHOUT ASSISTANCE. If your child has a
“restroom accident,” you will be called to pick him/her up.

SNACKS
We will have a snack each afternoon. We have a variety of foods and drinks to
chose from or you can send your child’s snacks if you prefer. If you want your
child to buy his or her snacks, the cost is $1.20 per day for 1 food and 1 drink.
Please send $6.00 on Mondays for the week. Snack money should be sent in a
labeled envelope with the child’s name, teacher’s name, amount of money
and “SNACK” on the outside. This is separate from lunch money. It goes
to our office, rather than the cafeteria.

TOYS
Please don’t let your child bring toys to school unless we have asked them to
bring something specific.
UNITS
Our Science and Social Studies in kindergarten usually revolve around a unit or
theme like: Bears, Family, Farm, etc... At home, your child would benefit from
reading, writing and talking about this topic.

VISION AND HEARING SCREENINGS
Kindergartners are screened for vision and hearing problems near the beginning
of the year. If there is a problem, you will be notified.

WRITING
It’s important that kindergartners learn to write correctly. We teach them to
make each letter a certain way. We don’t want them to just make their letters
LOOK right, we want them to MAKE THEM RIGHT, with each letter beginning
where it should begin. So if you are working with your child on handwriting,
please use the letter guide to help them do it correctly.

EXCUSED AND UNEXCUSED ABSENCES
It is very important that students be at school each and every day. If your child
does have to be absent, please send a Doctor’s excuse within 3 days of the time
your child returns to school. We can also accept 2 handwritten excuses from
you.

YEARLY CALENDAR
A yearly calendar is enclosed. Please keep it handy all year for reference.

ZIPPERS, BUTTONS, SNAPS & LACES
Students need to be able to fasten these things without assistance. The teacher
just can’t do it all for everyone! That doesn’t mean everyone needs Velcro
clothes and shoes, but please do help your child to learn how to zip, button, snap
and tie.

*Please keep this packet and refer to it as needed throughout the year.
THANK YOU!