Welcome to Concord! We hope the ABC’s of kindergarten will help you and
your child be more comfortable and informed about our school.
A – Awesome! This is going to be an awesome year! I look forward to
spending this year with your child and watching her grow and learn. Your
child’s first year at Concord Elementary is going to be both fun and
educational. I hope you are ready for an awesome Kindergarten experience.
Absences – Due to the amount of material that your child misses when absent,
please try to limit absences to as few as possible. If there is work that
needs to be made up, I will send it with your child when he/she returns to
school. Please send a written note or doctor’s excuse within two days of
your child returning to school. It is also important that your child arrive
on time and stays until the end of the school day.. We will begin classwork
as soon as the students arrive. If your child arrives after 8:00, you
should report to the office to check your child in.
B- Birthdays Your child’s birthday is a special time and should be
celebrated! You are invited to send a special snack on (or the day closest
to) your child’s birthday. Please send cupcakes, cookies, or donuts –
something that does not have to be cut and served. You may also send
birthday plates for snack time if you would like.
Backpacks- Our class does not use backpacks on a daily bases. I find that
kindergarteners forget to get things out of their backpacks and it takes too
much valuable class time for me to go through backpacks each morning. It is
a good idea though to have a backpack for your child to use on days when she
may have lots to carry like snack, a homework binder or other extras. Most
of the things your kindergartener need to carry will fit nicely in her daily
take- home folder.
C – Calendars In your child’s take-home folder will be a monthly calendar.
This calendar will inform you of your child’s snack day and special
school/classroom events. Your child’s behavior will be marked each day.
Please be sure that you do not remove monthly calendars from your child’s
folder.
D – Donation Money The $25.00 donation that is asked for from each child is
greatly needed for our classroom. This money goes to pay for classroom
materials, art supplies, craft supplies, supplemental books, and other
materials needed to provide the best teaching for your child. If you have
already paid your donation money, THANKS!!! If not, please do so as soon as
possible.
Dismissal – The dismissal bell rings at 2:45 on Monday and 2:55 Tuesday-
Friday. You may wait in the car line to pick up your child or wait in the
front of the school (in the grassy area). If you choose to go through the
car line, please put your child’s name in large print and dark letters on a
piece of paper in your windshield. If you pick up your child out front,
please wait in line and be ready to tell the teacher at the door your
child’s name. Be patient with the dismissal process. It can take a little
while at the beginning of the year but is usually a simple process within a
week or two. If your child will be a bus rider, he/she will wait in the
lunchroom at a table with other children who ride the same bus. I must know
the bus number and the drivers name so that I can help him/her find the
right spot to wait. Please be sure that I know how your child is getting
home. I will give you a separate sheet to fill out for me. If there is
ever a change in how your child will get home, I must have it in writing. I
can not go on your child’s word alone.
E – Emergencies Please make certain that I have current phone numbers where
you may be reached in case of an emergency.
F-Field Trips We will go on field trips this year in addition to 2
Children’s Theater performances. Children’s Theater tickets are purchased at
the beginning of the school year, so please be sure to pay for these in the
office if you have not already done so. You will be given further details
about trips and chaperones later in the year.
G – Goals My goal for your child is this: That your child have fun while
learning, as well as gain independence and responsibility throughout the
school year. It is also my goal that your child be adequately prepared for
success in first grade. Please support your child in any way possible in
reaching these goals.
H – Helpers Two children per day will be our classroom helpers. They will
have many jobs that will help our classroom run more smoothly. Each child
enjoys the chance to be a helper.
I – Illnesses If your child is running a fever, please keep him/her home
until he is fever free for 24 hours. We practice regular handwashing, but
it is hard to keep everyone well if someone comes to school sick. If your
child has something that is highly contagious such as pink eye, please send
your child to school only after it has cleared up. If your child begins to
feel poorly at school, I will do my best to determine if they should call
home to be checked out. Sometimes, however, it is hard to determine if your
child is truly sick. If your child tells you he doesn’t feel well before
school and you think he is able to come to school, PLEASE do not tell him to
call home if he doesn’t feel better. A child will not feel better if given
the option to call home. Instead send me a discreet note in your child’s
folder to let me know what is going on so that I can monitor your child more
closely. Thank you for your help in these matters.
J – Journals Your child will write in a journal many times each week.
Journals will be mostly pictures at first and will become more complex as
the year goes on. The children will begin writing sentences, and some will
even write stories.
K – Keep in Touch You are a very important part of your child’s success in
Kindergarten. Please put a note in your child’s Take Home folder if your
have any questions for me. I will try to respond with either a note or
phone call or e-mail on the day I receive it. Likewise, I may also send
you a note from time to time. If you would like to speak with me in person,
please call the office to set up a conference. It is very important that we
meet during my conference times and not in the mornings as you drop your
child off. I hope not to sound harsh, but routine and structure are very
important to a smooth day in Kindergarten. If I am distracted meeting with
a parent at the start of a school day, it starts the day off on a bad foot.
Again, I am very interested in maintaining open lines of communication with
you. You are my best resource when it comes to learning how to meet your
child’s needs.
L – Lunch Your child will receive a lunch menu each month. Lunch costs
$1.75 daily. It is very helpful if you will send lunch money on Mondays for
the week or even monthly. Your child’s money will be kept in her own lunch
account. I will give you the lunch number ASAP. Please review this number
with your child until she has memorized it. Please try to discuss lunch
choices with your child daily to avoid confusion when we get to the
lunchroom. If your child brings a lunch box, please send foods that your
child can open easily and manage by him/herself. I will help as much as
possible in the small amount of time that we have for lunch.
On Fridays your child may purchase an ice cream to enjoy after she eats her
lunch. Ice cream cost 75C and will be taken out of your child’s lunch
account. Please include ice cream money with lunch money and mark on the
front of the envelope if your child has permission to get ice cream. We
will start getting ice cream the first full week of school.
M – Money All money should be sent in an envelope with your child’s name,
my name, and what the money is for. The children usually don’t remember what
it is for by the time they get to school. This helps return lost money and
cuts down on confusion with accounting and receipting. Thanks!
N-Nine Week Grading Period-We are on a nine-week grading period. You will
receive your child’s report card at the end of each grading period. Progress
reports will come home in between these reports.
O – Open House Our school will have an Open House for you to visit our
classroom. This usually happens in September. Stay tuned....
P – Play I firmly believe that children can learn a tremendous amount
through play. We will have playtime daily, and this will be outdoors as
much as possible. We also play a wide variety of games that focus on
concepts and skills taught in kindergarten. It is a great way to keep
students motivated and involved in learning.
Q – Quick Goodbyes You are welcome to walk your child to my room the first
few days of school, but please encourage your child to walk alone after
that. Children think they are so big when they do this. You are doing your
child a great favor by letting them come to class on their own!! What an
easy way to boost pride and self-esteem! If your child arrives before 7:55,
he/she will wait in the gym with the rest of his/her classmates. Please drop
your child off at the side door of the school. Do not come in the back
parking lot of the school. This is a very dangerous and busy area with
teachers pulling in. It is also against school policy, and is strictly
enforced.
R –Rest Time- We will have rest time for approximately an hour. Your child
is not required to sleep but is required to rest on his mat. Please be sure
to send a cloth rest mat. I will send rest mats home at the end of each
month to be washed. You may also send a small blanket or beach towel that
rolls up easily in your child’s mat if you would like.
S – Snack We will have a daily snack time, and your child will be
responsible for supplying snack for the class approximately once per month.
Please do not send candy, candy bars, or gum. Some ideas: goldfish or other
crackers, cookies, Little Debbies, and dry cereal (Fruit Loops, etc.). Of
course, you may send other things as long as they are individually wrapped.
Individually wrapped snacks allow the children to have a choice, and
independently help themselves. I will let you know how many children to send
snack for on each monthly calendar. Watch for your name on the snack
calendar! The children will also have juice with snack daily, which costs
$0.35 per day. Please send a month’s worth of juice money at the beginning
of each month in an envelope marked “juice money.” Juice money must be sent
separately from lunch money. These go into different accounts, and I have no
way to separate the two.
T – Take-Home Folders This will be my primary way of communicating with
you. Your child will bring it home daily. Please remove your child’s work
and look over it with him. He is very proud of his work and will love
sharing it with you. This is also a great way to keep your child motivated
and yourself more informed about his progress. It is important for your
child to return his folder each day. I will replace your child’s folder at
the beginning of each month or as needed.
Traffic light- Our discipline system consist of a traffic light. You will
get a separate not on this. I will also review it with your child in class.
U – Units We will study many different units and topics through the year.
Some of these are: farm, ocean, community helpers, plants, and animals, just
to name a few. Some units that we will focus on in the beginning of school
will be our names, colors, and learning all about each other and our new
school.
V – Volunteers I love to have volunteers for various jobs that help us have
a more productive school year. Please complete and return the attached
volunteer sheet if you are interested in helping.
W – Weekly Notes You will receive a weekly note in your child’s folder to
let you know of current happenings. Please read and keep it at home for
your reference.
X – eXciting eXperiences There are many to be had this year, and I hope you
and your child are looking forward to them like I am!
Y – Yearlong Calendar You will be given a school year calendar from the
Board of Education. Please keep it for your reference throughout the year.
Z – Zippers and Buttons Please send your child in clothes that he can
fasten himself. This helps greatly with restroom time. Keep in mind that
it is a good idea to send your child in clothes suitable for play. If you
tell your child not to get dirty he will worry about it all day. With our
daily playtime, lunch, and art projects clothes can be messy at the end of
the day. Please send your child in shoes that will work well for PE and
outdoor play. Most of the time tennis shoes work best. Flip-Flops are very
popular right now but they are not appropriate and safe for PE or other
school activities.
Wow! That was a lot of information. I hope I didn’t overload you. Please
keep this is a safe place so that you can refer back to it if needed.
I am very excited about this new year. Please trust that I will love and
nurture your child and treat him as my own. I will have high expectations
for your child’s learning. I will do everything within my power to help
your child reach his full potential. Please let me know if I can help you
in any way! My love and best wishes to all of you as you begin this new
school experience.
