Dear Parents,
Welcome to kindergarten at Quaker Ridge School! I am so excited to be your child's teacher this year. Each day will bring opportunities for wonder, curiosity and discovery. What a wonderful age to be!
Please join us on Wednesday, August 30th, from 11:30-12:00 for our annual Meet-the-Teacher event. You are invited to stop by our classroom and see where we will be spending our days learning, laughing and making so many precious memories. Your child will be able to take a look around, meet me, and hopefully feel a bit more comfortable about coming to school the following day! Please enter through the back of the building, near the back parking lot. Our classroom door is labeled 125C.
We will also have a school bus arriving at Quaker Ridge at 12:00pm. After visiting the classroom, feel free to tour the bus with your child. This may help them feel a bit more comfortable about their trip to school on Thursday. Additionally, the PTA will be reaching out to families regarding a kindergarten playdate on the back playground at 12:00 that day as well.
I also ask that you bring two wallet sized pictures of your child . This picture will be at your child's cubby, as well as on a display board in our classroom. If you are unable to bring it on Wednesday you can place it in your child’s backpack for the first day of school.
I look forward to a very special year with you and your child. With your support, it will be a most successful and enriching experience for all.
The First Day of School: The first day of school will be an exciting time for all of us! Our doors will open at 8:35 a.m. On the first day of school please use the door in the back of our classroom by the playground (125C). We ask parents to please say your goodbyes at the door. I will be there to greet each child as they walk in on their own. They will have several activities to start as we wait for the whole class to arrive.
If your child is riding the bus, our Kindergarten aides will be greeting the children as they exit the buses and walk down the halls. It's normal for some students to feel apprehensive and nervous to come in, but please know that even if there are a few tears they quickly dissipate as soon as the day really starts.
Prior to the first day of school, we encourage you to spend some time with your child reading Audrey Penn’s, The Kissing Hand. This is one of our favorite books and we will spend the first week of school doing some "Kissing Hand" activities.
Dismissal Information: Please make sure to fill out Dismissal Manager everyday! It is vital that you have it ready for the first day of school to alleviate any dismissal anxiety or questions. Please be sure your child is aware of their dismissal plan each morning. I will create bus tags for backpacks for each student once dismissal is finalized.
Lunch: Lunch time can be a bit of a chaotic time in the cafeteria. We like to give our youngest students a couple of weeks to acclimate to the busy atmosphere as well as adjust to their responsibilities before taking on the additional task of ordering lunch from the cafeteria. We suggest that you do not order lunch from the cafeteria website, Nutrislice, for the first week or so, and instead send a lunch from home.. This will give our students and our aides adequate time to become familiar with a very important part of the day.
Snack: We will have one afternoon snack in kindergarten each day. We recommend snack be packed separately from lunch. Candy is not permitted. All snacks must be NUT-FREE.
Water bottle: Please send in a reusable water bottle labeled with your child’s name. We ask that you NOT send a bottle with a twistable cap, as these tend to spill very easily. Water bottles should be filled at home each morning.
Extra clothes: Please send in an extra set of clothes, including socks and underwear for your child to keep in school. Please place clothes in a gallon Ziplock bag clearly labeled with your child’s name. These clothes are invaluable on days a student has an accident or simply slips in the mud outside. I will inform you via email if we needed tp use the extra clothes on a given day. Please be sure to replenish the items that were used so that we may have them if they are needed again.
Smock: Each student will need an art smock, which will be kept in school. (An oversized t-shirt works best.) Please be sure your child’s name is on the smock.
Communication folders: I will provide each child with their own take home folder. This folder will go back and forth to school each day. It may contain some of your child’s work from school and/or some work to be done at home. Please be sure to check the folder each day and empty out anything that does not need to be returned to us.
Getting in touch: I understand that you’ve been bombarded with information and the school year hasn’t even begun yet. If there is anything that I haven’t answered, please don’t hesitate to ask. My SchoolWires/Google Sites page is continuously updated and will hopefully provide answers to most of your questions.
I am here to help. I aim to answer all emails within 48 hours.
kpaterno@scarsdaleschools.org
I hope you enjoy the last few weeks of summer. I look forward to a most successful kindergarten year with you and your family.
With love,
Kristina Paterno