Class Information

Expectations & Procedures

o Keep hands, feet and other objects to yourself.

o Listen while others are talking.

o Follow directions the first time.

o Raise your hand when you need the teacher’s attention.

o Use kind words.

LORENA KINDERGARTEN HANDBOOK

This handbook was written by the Lorena Kindergarten Teachers.

ATTENDANCE

Regular attendance is vital to your child becoming a successful student. Please have him/her at school each day if at all possible. If your child is ill or cannot be in class, please let the school know with a phone call to the office. If your child has an appointment at the doctor or dentist and cannot make it to school by the 9:00 am attendance bell, let the office know before 9:00 and please have a doctor’s note stating that your child has been seen that day and your child will not be counted absent. If your child does miss a full day or does not arrive before 9:00 am with the doctor’s excuse, the parent is required to send a signed and dated note explaining the absence. These notes are kept on file in the office in case there is a question about your child’s absence.

Tardiness is discouraged and your child needs to be here on time to get a good start on the day. Please see the handbook for more information on tardiness and absences.

ARRIVAL / DISMISSAL / VISITING

The door opens at 7:30 a.m. If students are going to eat breakfast, they must do so at that time. The students are seated in the gym with their classmates while they wait for the school day to begin. During this meeting time, there are movement activities, songs are sung, birthdays are announced and other fun things happen. The classes are dismissed at 7:45 to go to their classroom and classes begin at 7:55 a.m.

If you want your child to go home a different way than usual, please call BEFORE 2:30. (This is due to the fact that the office is very busy at the end of the day and phone lines are limited.) Your child telling us is NOT sufficient. ALL changes in dismissal must go through the office. Please call and they will let the teacher know about the change.

All visitors must enter through the front office door and show identification. This is for the safety of our children. Please sign in at the front when visiting. Also, please sign your child out if you pick them up early for any reason. Please do not be offended when a grandparent, aunt, etc. is to pick them up and we have not heard from you either by phone or note and we do not allow this to happen. We must hear from you that someone different is picking up your child for obvious safety reasons. This also applies when a child says that he/she is to go home with a friend. Again, the office must have a phone call from you.

MONEY

Please send all money (lunch, book order, special events, etc.) in a labeled envelope with your child’s name on it. Lunches may be paid for daily, by the week, or by the month. When paying for multiple days, I STRONGLY advise you to pay by check so you have a record of payment. Parents may also pay online--go to www.myschoolbucks.com. Cost of a student’s lunch tray is $2.80, $.75 for milk only, and $4.50 for an adult tray. Parents are welcome to come for lunch, but please send a note and let me know you are coming. It is important that we let the cafeteria know an exact count to insure that there is enough food prepared each day. Breakfast is $1.75 and there is NO charging at breakfast time. Breakfast is served from 7:30-7:55. Children are NOT allowed to bring breakfast from home and eat it in the cafeteria.

CLOTHING

The children will be taking part in various activities---such as painting, gluing, cooking and playing outdoors. All precautions are taken to avoid soiling clothes, but accidents do happen occasionally. It is very important that each child have a change of clothes in a labeled bag in case an accident happens. This change of clothes will be kept in your child’s locker all year.

Outdoor play and P.E. are a very important part of our Kindergarten curriculum. For this reason, the children need to wear shoes that are comfortable and easy to keep on. Shoes MUST have a back strap and not be elevated. Sandals are allowed if they have a strap to hold them on. Flip-flops and high heeled shoes may be fashionable, but they are very unsafe on the playground equipment. Tennis shoes are the best shoes for a kindergartner due to the many activities that we do.

Girls need to wear shorts under dresses at All TIMES. The comfortable biking type shorts are a good choice for all the climbing and running activities outside and in the gym. A child that is comfortable will be more apt to participate in the fun activities. See the handbook for a more detailed dress code.

PLEASE LABEL all coats, sweaters, jackets, towels, mats, lunch boxes and any other personal items with first and last names. It will help us to return lost items. You may send a light jacket or sweater in your child’s backpack daily or your child can leave it in his/her locker.

TOYS

Toys are not allowed at school, unless it is a Show and Tell that begins with the letter we are studying or the unit we are learning about. The only other exception is when your child’s teacher requests a special item be sent for some other special occasion. All items that are sent must fit inside your child’s backpack. Please do not allow your child to put toys in his/her backpack for after school care. We really appreciate your help in this matter as it will eliminate misplaced and broken items that are valuable to your child.

MEDICATIONS / MEDICAL EXCUSES

If your child is to receive medication at school, a form from the school nurse must be filled out. Please see Mrs. Huggins for procedures to follow. Even cough drops must be kept and administered by the nurse. If your child must remain indoors or sit out during P. E. for any reason, I must have a written note from the doctor or you. Otherwise, your child will be expected to participate. Even in extremely hot or cold weather we do go outside for a short break, so please dress your child accordingly.

SNACKS

If we are planning to cook a special snack in the classroom that relates to our unit, I may send a note requesting a cooking ingredient. It will have a response section for you to reply and a date for which the ingredient will be needed. Please return the reply form, so that if you are unable to help I can ask another parent.

BIRTHDAYS

Birthdays are very important to young children. Please discuss with the teacher when the best time and date would be to celebrate. We are allowed to let you bring or send a snack and drink for us to celebrate. Due to the fact that we will have to be very “tidy” when eating in our room, the teachers would like to ask that simple snacks like individual cookies, a large cookie, rice krispie squares, brownies, fruit snacks, etc. Cakes, cupcakes and colorful icing are not allowed. We also prefer juice boxes/pouches versus cups of juice. We would really appreciate your help in this matter. If you would like to send a party favor, please make sure they are small enough to go in the backpack--this is optional NO BALLOONS as party favors.

Summer birthdays can be celebrated in May if you would like, but please get with the teacher to pick a good day because May is extremely busy. If you are giving out invitations at school, it must be for the whole class or if you are having a “girl” only party or a “boy” only party you may hand out invitations to ALL of the girls or ALL of the boys in our class. This keeps feelings from getting hurt. If you are only inviting a select group of children, we ask that you mail the invitations to their homes.

CLASSROOM PARTIES

We will have three celebrations throughout the year. These celebrations are: Christmas, Valentine’s Day and an Easter Egg Hunt. If you would like to be involved, please sign up to help.

HOMECOMING MUMS/GARTERS

Children at the Primary campus are not to wear homecoming mums or garters. These items create a distraction during the day and they could get messed up while at school. Also, please arrange to have any homecoming items delivered to your home or place of business, not to school.

BOOK ORDERS

I will be sending home book order forms once a month. There may be multiple order forms from Scholastic. Each book /item that you purchase helps our class earn points toward more classroom items and books. If you are interested in ordering books, please return the form and payment to school by the deadline date that is specified. Please make the check out to the book club. Do not make the check out to the school. Books can also be ordered and paid for online with our class code: H66GR. Thank you so much!

REST TOWELS

Towels will come home EVERY OTHER Friday to be washed. Please return them on the following Monday. The children rest so much better if they have something to rest on. The rest towel must fit nicely in your child’s locker alongside a coat and a backpack.

FRIDAY FOLDER (red)

Your child will be bringing a Friday Folder home every Friday. It will contain notes from me, including a monthly newsletter letting you know about the upcoming events, units of study, letter-sounds of the week, etc. It will also have any of the work we have completed that week. Please look through your child’s papers and discuss them with your child. This will enable you to see your child’s progress and reinforce the topics discussed during the week. Please make sure this folder is returned empty on Monday morning.

Zipper Bag for Home Practice

This bag will contain letter cards, phonogram cards and sight word cards for hands-on practice at home. This bag MUST be checked daily, practiced and returned to school every day.

LIBRARY BOOKS

Your child will go to the library every week. Once they have learned the rules for properly taking care of a borrowed book, we will begin checking out books to bring home. Our day to attend the library will change every week. Therefore, it is very important that your child keep their borrowed library books in their backpack at all times so that the book is at school on our library day. I always encourage them to return the book to the backpack after reading it to keep it safe and to keep it from getting lost. Any damaged or lost books must be paid for so that it can be replaced.

We are all looking forward to a fantastic year of fun and learning!

Grading policy

We are on a nine week grading system. Report Cards will be emailed. Please be aware that P.E. and Music grades are given by those teachers. If you have any concerns in these areas, please schedule a conference with that teacher. Please call me during my conference period anytime you are concerned about your child in any way. If you call me at any other time during the day, please realize that my conference time is the only time I can talk with you and the office will take your message and I will have to get back with you after school.