Classroom Information

Classroom Information

Hello!  Welcome to Kindergarten with Mrs. Johnson!

My name is Shana (rhymes with banana) Johnson, and I am excited to be your child’s teacher this school year.  We are going to have a fun year in kindergarten!  I hope our year together sets a strong foundation for your child’s future, and helps them see that there is a lot to love about learning!  I wanted to give you some helpful information on school and classroom procedures.  I’m sure there is even more to share than what I will type here, so don’t hesitate to ask if you ever have any questions.

School Drop-off and Pick-up

Students can arrive at 7am, and kindergarteners will wait in the hallway with hallway supervisors until classroom doors open at 7:30am, or can go down to the cafeteria to eat breakfast.  If your child gets dropped off by you in the morning, please get them to school between 7 and 7:20 if you plan on having them eat breakfast at school.  School officially starts at 7:45, but our learning begins in kindergarten right at 7:30 when the classroom door opens, and arriving by 7:30 gives your child time to unpack, greet friends, and really settle into their fun table time activities before the bell rings at 7:45.  Our school policy is to mark students tardy if they do not arrive in their classroom by 7:45.  Shooting for 7:30am is best!

Dismissal is at 2:10.  If your child goes to aftercare, they will be picked up from our classroom by their aftercare staff person.  Reminder: there is no bussing until Monday, August 31.  The first week of school, all students not going to aftercare will get picked up by an adult at the end of the day.  I will lead our class outside door number 2 (the door that faces the tennis courts) at the end of the day, and we will wait in a group together until you come up to us to let me know who you are taking with you.  It’s a busy zoo outside at pick up time, and I don’t want to lose sight of anyone, so thank you in advance for coming up to our class group to pick up your child from me, or waiting in the car line until you make your way to where our group is waiting😊 If you have an older sibling in the building, the older sibling should come to the kindergarten area to wait with their kindergarten sibling.

Contacting Mrs. Johnson and Communications

During the school day, it is best to call the office at (507) 452-3766 and leave your message with Mrs. Allen.  She will make sure to get the message to me ASAP.  We also have a classroom phone (507-453-5143), which I will answer when we are in the classroom, but I hope to use it as little as possible so I can stay engaged with whatever we are working on in the classroom.  My cell phone number is 608-738-8226.  I will also check my email regularly, but during the school day I will probably only be able to check it during my lunch break.  So it really is best to call the office during the school day if you need to give me a message, especially if it is about a change in how your child will leave school for that day.  I wouldn’t want to miss a message, and then have a child get on the bus instead of going to aftercare, or something like that.  I will use email to send messages and reminders.  Each student will have a folder that should go back and forth from home to school each day, and I will check folders each morning to make sure I’m not missing notes from home.  I send home a weekly newsletter on Mondays so you know what we are going to be working on in class.  We also have a class website where newsletters and other important information will be posted, and I will also use our website to share pictures with you that I take in class each week.  I make sure to update the website with new pictures at the end of each week.

If your child is going to be absent, or has an appointment coming up, please notify Tracy Allen in the office.  If you would also like to include me on the message or email, that would be great!

Snack and Lunch

School will provide kindergarten students a small snack each day.  There is usually an option of 4 or 5 things for students to choose from each day, ranging from cheese and crackers, yogurt, applesauce or fruit cups, granola bars, trail mix, goldfish crackers, pretzels, and apple slices.  Students can also choose milk at snack time.

Lunch menus are available on the Cotter website, but if you’d like me to print one for you and send it home in your child’s folder, just let me know.  If your child brings a cold lunch, please use ice packs if things need to be kept cold, because we don’t have a refrigerator available for student lunches.  We will put the lunches in a basket in our classroom, and our classroom aide will bring the basket down to the lunch room so everything is ready for lunch time.

I highly recommend sending a water bottle with your child each day!  There is a drinking fountain in our hallway, but it’s nice to have a water bottle in the classroom to access whenever they need it, and they can fill it back up if needed.  Please only fill water bottles with plain water.  Thank you!

Reading and Language Arts

In kindergarten, we use the Zoophonics program to teach letter names and letter sounds at the start of the year.  This program uses fun music and animal characters to help students recognize letters, and learn the letter names and sounds.  You will soon be hearing your child sing the Safari Sid song at home 🙂 We will also work through the Groves Methods and Knowledge curriculum, which is a highly recommended curriculum that is based on the principles of the science of reading.  This is our third year using this curriculum and we have had great success with it!

Math

Our math curriculum is called Eureka, and you will see some of the table work we do come home in folders each week.  We do lots of games and other hands on activities during math, and I will make sure to take pictures of those to post on our class website so you can see all the fun we are having in math this year.

Science/Social Studies/Health

In kindergarten, we use the Scholastic Let’s Find Out and Science Spin magazines to cover a variety of science, social studies, health, and social/emotional topics.  We also have weekly themes in kindergarten that help us explore different seasonal, holiday, and science topics.

Special Classes

Kindergarteners get to participate in lots of classes with our specialist teachers!  They will have art with Mrs. Berhow, gym with Mrs. Lilla, music with Mrs. Monson, Top 20 (our social/emotional curriculum) with Mr. Qinn, a special religion class with Sister Mary Angela, and library with Mrs. S (Schneider).  Please make sure students come to school with athletic type shoes on gym days. (see our weekly schedule in this folder of information).  Speaking of footwear, crocs aren’t allowed at school, and sandals need to have a back strap.  Thank you!

Star Student

There is a star student schedule in this folder, and a letter that explains what your child gets to do during their star student week!  A week before it’s their turn, they will come home with an “All About Me” book to fill out at home, and they will share it with the class during their special week.  

Homework

The only homework we will have at the start of kindergarten will be to read together at home as often as you can, with a goal of reading at least 10 minutes each day.  I suggest scheduling a time to read together each day so it becomes a habit, and a part of your daily routine that you all look forward to.  Reading some favorite stories before bed time seems to be an easy way for lots of families to fit it in.  Kindergarteners will get to visit the school library, but the library books will stay here in the classroom during the first semester.  Starting second semester, students will get to take their library books home for the week.  If you ever need books to read at home, or want book suggestions, please let me know.  Sharing my love of reading is one of my favorite things to do as a teacher, and just as a human in general 😀  As we progress through our reading curriculum, we will start sending home sight word cards for you to practice with your child each week.  In September, we will start sending home an at-home homework calendar, full of fun activities you can try at home.  We will ask that the calendar come back to school at the end of the month with a certain number of activities crossed off.  In November, we will start sending home a kindergarten homework packet every other week, to be completed at home.  The packet will come home on a Monday, and will be due back at the end of the week.  More information will be sent with the first homework packet.

Class Website

I have a google site for our classroom where you can find general information.  When I send one of our first classroom emails, I will include the website link so you can save it however you want to for easy access to our class site.  It is a private site, so only people who have the link can access it and see our class pictures.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns with this.

Birthdays

Birthdays are very important to celebrate at school, and I will do my best to make your child’s birthday a special one!  If your child has a summer birthday, we will plan on celebrating their half-birthday at school.  It is ok to bring birthday treats, they just need to be store-bought.  We have 17 students in class, and no food allergies at this time.

Scholastic Book Orders

I will be sending home Scholastic Book Order flyers about once a month, but you can browse and order through Scholastic at any time at clubs.scholastic.com.  On the Scholastic site, you can list me as your child’s teacher by typing in our classroom code TMZL4.  When you order books, they will be sent to school and I will send them home with your child.  If you ever order books that you want to keep as a surprise, let me know and I will get them to you a different way to keep them a secret.  Scholastic may still offer the option to have your books shipped to your home, so you can check for that option, too.

Thank you for allowing me to be your partner in your child’s education!  This is a privilege I do not take lightly!  It is my number one priority to make sure your child feels safe and cared for at school so they LOVE coming to school every day like I do.  We are going to have so much fun this school year, and we are going to learn so much together.  I can’t wait to get started!  I am always here for you.  Please reach out any time you have a question or concern, or something you want to share.

Shana Johnson

Star Student Schedule