What Your Child Will Need for School: (All labelled with child’s name)

1. Large backpack

2. Lunch bag – including a lunch, reusable drink container and 2 snacks

3. Extra set of clothes to stay at school (pants, underwear, shirt, socks)

4. Indoor running shoes to stay at school (Velcro is preferred)

Clothing

Our Kindergarten class is likely one of the most fun, interactive, busy, and sometimes messy rooms in the school! Please send a full change of clothes clearly labelled. If you know that your child may need additional help please include wipes and other items needed for your child’s comfortable transition and change. Please do not send your child to school wearing an item that anyone would be heartbroken if it were to become stained. We also want to foster independence in our young learners. Each child is asked to dress him/herself, so for this reason we ask you to consider purchasing clothes and shoes that can be easily put on independently. Zippers or Velcro on clothing tend to be easier to manipulate than buttons. Please practice with your child putting on hats, mittens, jackets, especially as seasons change.

Toys

Please leave all personal toys at home. If your child then brings a toy home, you will know it belongs to the class so your family can return it to school. Thank you for watching out for classroom toys that need to be returned.

School Attendance

The DDSB provides an easy and convenient way to report your child’s absences. Information on how this program works will be sent home at the beginning of the school year.

School Entry

Our school day commences at 8:00 a.m. Please do your best to ensure punctuality. Please be aware that traffic congestion at the front of the school is a concern. Whenever possible, please walk with your child to school. Supervision in the Kindergarten pen begins at 7:45 a.m. Please ensure that there is an educator present before leaving your child. Please do not leave your child with the before school program. Once the bell rings, your child is considered late and parents will need to sign their child in at the office.

Children and parents should say all goodbyes BEFORE entry into the fenced yard. This helps foster independence and allows your child to build a daily routine. Parents are not to bring their children into the Kindergarten pen in the morning and should wait outside the fence to pick up your child after school.

If during the day you must enter the school for any reason (early pick up, late drop off, lunch drop off etc.), please enter via the main doors and then buzz the office to be let into the building. Please then report to the office where you will be assisted. Due to safety concerns we ask that families not walk directly to our classrooms.

Dismissal

Our school day ends at 2:30 p.m. however for Kindergarten, dismissal begins at 2:20 p.m. Your child will be escorted to the kindergarten pen where they can be picked up. Bussed students will be escorted to busses.

Please be aware that we must be notified in writing or phone-call to the school of changes as to how your child will be transported home. Without detailed and written instructions from you, your child will be sent home in the usual manner.

Communication/ Mail Bag

The best place to obtain current, up to date and important information about the school is our school website: https://agbell.ddsb.ca/en/index.aspx#. Your child will be sent home with a mailbag. Please check your child’s mailbag daily for forms and notes sent home from school, and send it back each day. We will check the mailbag each day at school for notes from you.

Please feel free to send a note with your child in their mailbag, or make an appointment for an interview anytime you have a question, comment, or concern. We will do our best to respond to you as quickly as possible.

Remind

Please sign up for our class Remind. We will use this tool to communicate classroom information. Parents can choose to be notified via email, text, or app notification. Class codes will be sent home at the beginning of the new school year.

Medication

If your child has allergies or a condition that requires any kind of medication, an epi-pen, or an inhaler, a form must be filled out. These forms are available at the office.

Money

Occasionally, your child may bring money to school. Most items will be made available via School Cash Online – for easy, online payments please visit ddsb.schoolcashonline.com. Student OEN numbers are required to create an account (which follows your child through to high school), this OEN number will be available in late September.

Lunch and Snacks

Our lunch begins at 10:45 a.m. If you are planning to pick your child up for lunch, please meet them outside the Kindergarten pen as early as 10:40am. Lunch ends at 11:45pm

* Due to severe and life-threatening food allergies within our class, please ensure that your child’s snacks and lunch do not contain any nut products (no peanut butter, no Nutella, no WOW butter, no granola bars with nuts, no sesame seed products or things containing sesame oil). We may have more allergies to report in September based on new student allergies.

We encourage healthy food choices for snack: fresh fruit, raw veggies, muffins, yogurt, cheese & crackers. Feel free to label your child’s snack containers and water bottle. For drinks, we suggest a no-spill, reusable container filled with water, milk, or juice. AG Bell has a “Boomerang” program in place where all snack/lunch garbage is sent home to be disposed of accordingly. Sending a reusable plastic baggie to put garbage in will help create less mess.

Please make sure your child’s lunch bag and containers are labelled with his/her name. We also suggest you have your child practice opening and closing their containers at home before sending them to school so that containers can be opened and closed independently.

Celebrations and Birthdays

We will be commemorating the many holidays celebrated throughout our year. If you would be willing to share in a cultural tradition that you celebrate in your family, please contact us! We greatly enjoy and benefit from learning about diverse traditions!

Birthdays tend to be special celebrations in many households! We will recognize your child on their special day here at school. We kindly ask that no birthday cakes or any food be sent to school. If you would like to give anything to our students, we suggest pencils, erasers or objects that children would not have to put into their mouth.

Parent Volunteers

Parent volunteers are of great assistance to us for school field trips.

Please note: It is a requirement of all school volunteers to have a valid police reference check. This reference check is valid for one year. If you have any questions, please speak to the office.

Library Book Exchange

Your child will have the opportunity to visit our library once a week once a schedule is created. We will let you know the day once we know. Please assist your child creating a safe place at home for books to be kept for the week.

Thank you for taking the time to read through all this information. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. We look forward to a great year with you and your child. If you have any questions or concerns during the school year, please do not hesitate to contact us; the door is always open.

Your Partners in Education

The Kindergarten Team