ABC's of Kindergarten

Allergies - In order to keep all students safe, our classrooms are NUT FREE. All snacks must be nut free.

Attendance is so important! In Kindergarten, most of our learning is hands on and very difficult to make up. However, if your child needs to be absent please call the front office 508-429-0647 and let me know by e-mail. Thank you!

Art Class will be on Mondays with Ms. Ferland!

Birthdays - We do celebrate birthdays in the classroom, however it does not include any food. Please do not send birthday party invitations to be distributed at school.

Book Order Form will be sent home for you and your child to look over monthly. Scholastic Book clubs offer books at reduced prices. It's a great way to build your child's home library, and our class receives free books from points earned by student orders!

Communication is very important to me. Please reach out any time you have a question or concern via email. (burnsst@holliston.k12.ma.us)

Conferences will be held via Zoom. Dates are TBD - more information to come!

Clothes It is a good idea to leave a change of clothing in your child’s backpack in case of an accident. Due to COVID, the nurse’s office has limited supplies and would prefer that the children have clothing available within their classroom in case of emergency. If your child needs to use their extra clothes, please send new ones to replace to be kept at school.

Classroom Management is an opportunity to use positive reinforcement. We like to highlight when children are being kind and following directions. We use "Open Circle" curriculum to teach social and emotional skills.

C.A.R.E– (Cooperation, Acceptance, Responsibility, Effort) is based on PBIS, a positive school wide systems approach that is research-based and data driven. It is designed to:

· Establish clearly defined expectations within the school setting and define consistent responses to those positive and negative behaviors

· Explicitly teach and reinforce appropriate behaviors across all areas of the school

· Provide a common school-wide language

· Pro-actively utilize data to guide decision-making with the goal of increasing positive student behaviors in all areas of the school

Clever - This is new this school year, and is supposed to assist with student logins on their chromebook. You can find a link to CLEVER on the Placentino home webpage.

Dismissal for Students is at 3:20. Please post the paper provided with the QR code in the window of your car if you are picking your child up. If your child is going to be a "Walker", please send this information as early as possible to both myself and the office.

Emergency Numbers If your emergency numbers or contact person changes, please inform me and the office.

If you need to reach me quickly or in case of an emergency during the school day, please call the Placentino office (508-429-0647) and have them page my room directly!

Our school is GREEN This means most notes will be posted on the “Backpack Express” on the Holliston school site. However, PLEASE LET ME KNOW if you are unable to access this and may need a hard copy of notes.

What to do at Home...

· Read, read, read

· Zip, button, snap, tie

· Practice learning your address, phone number, birth date & 911

· Responsibility skills (small chores)

· Letters

· Sounds

· Name printing (first & last using upper & lower case)

· Appropriate clothing

Our goal is to maintain a Healthy classroom. We will be doing a lot of hand washing and hand sanitizing! Please help to keep our classroom healthy by keeping a sick child home.

Independence is a goal for students because it builds self‐esteem and self‐confidence. Kindergarteners are very capable of doing many things on their own and I encourage them to do as much as they can for themselves in the classroom. Please work on the following self‐help skills at home with your child: zipping, tying shoes, dressing, etc.

Internet access - Please let me know if you are unable to access the Internet at home.

Journals Writing will soon take place almost every day in Kindergarten. One way we accomplish this is through writing stories in our journals or on separate journal pages. Encourage your child to write at home for a variety of purposes. Keep in mind, “pretend writing”/ "inventive spelling" is practice for the real thing! We like to encourage students to "stretch words out" and "write the sounds you hear"

Keeping Updated by reading our classroom website, weekly email updates and checking the “Backpack Express” on the Placentino homepage for other notes and information.

Library Class will be with Mrs. Canal. The start date is TBD.

Literacy - We have a new literacy curriculum, Fountas and Pinnell. We are closely following the phonics, interactive read aloud, shared reading, independent reading, and guided reading lessons.

Music is on Thursdays. Our Music teacher is Mrs. Anderson-York.

Math - Our children are participating in the Envision mathematics program. Mathematics in Kindergarten offers hands on experiences designed to meet the developmental need of young children. This includes opportunities to sort, categorize, recognize and create patterns, learn 1-1 correspondence, count, explore conservation of numbers and form numerals. Ongoing diagnosis & intervention and data-driven differentiation ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed.

We are a NUT FREE classroom! This means that all food (including snacks) entering our classroom should be peanut and tree nut "free".

Paraprofessional - We have a classroom Paraprofessional who assists between the two classrooms. Our classroom Paraprofessional is Mrs. Ahern.

P.E. is on Wednesdays. Our P.E. teacher is Mr. Kiley. Please be sure to send your child in sneakers or send sneakers in a bag to change into.

Did you know that our school has a mascot? We are officially the Placentino Penguins and our mascot; “Peppy” makes appearances during the year.

Questions - Please feel free to call email or send me a note anytime.

Reporting Progress

· Assessments

· Two Report Cards

· Mid-year Conference

Recess - Kindergarten children will have 30 minutes outdoor recess in the morning and 15 minutes of Recess in the afternoon, barring inclement weather. If weather prevents us from going outside, the children will have a play centers (indoor recess) in the classroom. Please send appropriate outdoor wear for your child to be comfortable.

Reading - students have their own book bins with independent reading books, sight word rings, poems and songs. We have many read alouds, interactive read alouds and shared reading as well.

Snack - Our classroom is nut free. We are allowing children to bring their own “nut free" snack daily. Please make sure that your child’s snack is in a labeled separate bag or container.

Spanish is on Tuesdays. Our Spanish teacher is Senora Avila.

Science is on Fridays. Our Science teacher is Mrs. Day.

Traditional Classrooms are language and literacy based offering a variety of opportunities for cooperative learning strategies to be incorporated throughout the day. This model uses flexible grouping strategies, print-rich literature-based environment, and an integrated approach to the Holliston standards based curriculum. The philosophy of this model recognizes content areas are naturally interrelated and emphasizes learning as a process rather than a collection of facts.

Technology - Located on the Placentino webpage under "Quick Links", is a location that you may submit Technology questions to. This is called incidentIQ. Click on this link and submit your question, and one of our Technology staff members will get back to you.

U & V & W

Writing - is something that we will practice a lot this year as we learn the name of letters and sounds, and practice decoding words. We will write “grown-up” writing under some key words. However, children in Kindergarten are encouraged to write what they hear or “inventive” spelling. We talk a lot about how the picture tells a lot about a story as well, so we practice drawing detailed pictures to go with our writing.

Our class has a website. You can locate this by going to the Placentino home page www.holliston.k12.ma.us and clicking on the class WebPages list on the side bar. You will also be sent emails with frequent updates. A link to our website is located in the signature part of my email.

Your ideas are always welcome!

Zzzzzzz… Make sure that your child gets plenty of rest. Setting and keeping a bedtime is a wonderful gift you can give your child.