CLASSROOM INFORMATION SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME BASED ON CURRENT DISTRICT GUIDANCE

• Communication

• The daily blue or red folder (including the monthly behavior calendar) will be sent home each day. If you have notes that you need to send to me, please put them inside the folder, making them easier for me to find. Also, please look in the folder each day to find all important papers and notices that are being sent home. Make sure to remove all papers from the folder daily.

My email address is: elizabeth.mumma@oside.us

• Behavior

• In kindergarten, it is important to keep our rules short and simple, making it possible for every child to be successful at having great behavior.

These are our rules:

1. Be Responsible

2. Be Respectful

3. Be Safe

4. Be Ready to Learn

I have positive reinforcements that I use at school to motivate the children towards good behavior:

1. Happy notes to parents: I will send home good notes/emails/texts throughout the year to let you know about the good things that I see happening in the classroom.

2. Plenty of praise: Kids always love to hear about the nice things they are doing. I love to acknowledge good behavior, which in turns becomes an encouragement for other students to follow suit.

3. Extra recess on Fridays: The class works together as a team to get all names to "GROOVY." This is a weekly challenge. When all students land on "GROOVY" by Friday, they get extra recess time.

In addition to the rewards, there are also consequences if a student chooses not to follow our rules.

1. If a child shows inappropriate classroom behavior, he/she will get a verbal warning. After an initial warning, if inappropriate behavior continues the child will be warned a 2^nd time and I will add a quick note on your child’s calendar in the daily folder. If this should happen, please be sure to talk to your child about ways to make better choices the next day.

2. If the inappropriate behavior continues, I will call to discuss with you the behavior and ways to encourage your child to follow all our classroom rules.

3. Should we be unable to resolve the inappropriate behavior through a phone conference, the child will then be referred to the office so that our assistant principal or principal can be made aware of the situation and take appropriate action.

In the event of a severe behavior or actions, I may need to skip one or more of the above consequences.

• Evaluation

• Please check your child’s folder each day to find work that has been completed in class. This is one of the best ways for you to check on and be aware of your child’s progress.

• Please contact me if you should have any questions about your child’s progress. I will be happy to meet with you to discuss your concerns.

• School Office

• Please call the front office if your child is absent. Also please let us know if there are ever any changes in your child’s emergency and contact information.

• Please send a note with your child in advance if there is any change in your child’s transportation. Please do not send last minute information in an email or phone message that I may not receive until after the school day is over. If you need to call for a last minute change, please contact the front office.

• I am unable to come to the phone during the school day. Please leave a message or send in a note if you would like to discuss anything after school.

• Please sign your child in/out at the front office if you are picking your child up early, or he/she is arriving late.

• Other Notes

• Please send in a small healthy snack for your child daily (no cookies, candy, or junk food). This is important so your child can still have time to play, and they won't have a sugar crash/or rush during learning time!

• Please talk with your child about the importance of going to the bathroom before school, during lunch, and during recess time so that they can focus on learning while in the classroom.

• If your child has a birthday during the school year, I make sure to make his/her day special. We sing “Happy Birthday” and gets to be my special helper for the day. Unfortunately, food of any kind is not allowed for celebrations per district policy. Also, a birthday party is a very personal event for you and your child. If you would like to hand out invitations to a party, you are more than welcome to do so before or after school. The only exception to pass them out in class (at the end of the day) is if every student is invited and receives an invitation.

• Dismissal

Dismissal is a very busy time at our school. To speed up the process all school staff ask of you a couple of things that can help the pick up process move as fast as possible.

• If you are picking your child up in your car, PLEASE remain inside your car the entire time. We will walk your child to you when your car is pulled all the way forward and stopped. Also, please make sure to wait in the car line with the rest of the kindergarten cars. We are unable to bring your child to your car unless it is pulled up along the curb.

• If you are picking your child up and you are not in your car, please wait to take your child until the entire class is sitting down and a staff member individually dismisses your child. We want to be able to make eye contact with each person picking up the children to ensure they are as safe as can be.

• Every Wednesday is early dismissal (1:05pm). Please wait in the car line with the rest of the school. If you attempt to pull to the front without staying in line with the rest of the parent pick up cars you will be sent back around to the back of the line.

• If your child has a sibling that walks to the back gate to meet you on Wednesdays and you would like that sibling to also walk your kindergartener, please send me an email by Tuesday with the sibling’s name and your permission.

• Finally, PLEASE show patience during pick up. Our number one job is to keep every child safe. This sometimes means that the process may take extra time to ensure safety for everyone. If everyone follows the above procedures it will speed up the process for all students being dismissed.