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Kindergarten News
September 2008
Dear Parents,
Welcome to Kindergarten! We’ve been busy preparing our classrooms for your children’s
arrival and we’re excited that the beginning of school is finally here. We’re looking forward to
getting to know your children and anticipate a fun, successful year of new adventures in
learning.
Kindergarten News
Near the beginning of each month, we will send home a Kindergarten Newsletter which we
hope will keep you informed of our classroom activities. We will also include a “Scrounge List”
which indicates items we need at school that you may be able and willing to donate from home. We
appreciate everything that you are able to send in to school.
You may also visit our webpage each month to check for important dates and other
pertinent news. You may access it by going to: http://www.wrsd.net. Click on:
Schools>Naquag>Faculty WebPages>Kindergarten>Hedlund.
We hope that the monthly newsletter and webpage will be useful to you in reinforcing at
home what your child is experiencing at school. HOME-SCHOOL COMMUNICATION is vitally important
to your child’s success and to the success of our program. We welcome your questions and
comments.
The First Month of School
We will be spending the first month of school getting to know your child through
observations, conversations and formal and informal assessments.
You will soon be receiving a great deal of paperwork concerning your child and
Kindergarten. Much of this paperwork will need to be returned to school and some of it will
require your signature. It would be helpful to us if you would return these forms as soon as
possible so that we may get on with the important task of teaching. Thank you in advance for
your cooperation.
During these first few weeks of school, we will be establishing routines, rules and
responsibilities. It takes much time, repetition, patience, practice, energy and good humor to
learn all these new things in such a short period of time. It would benefit your child to be
well rested, well fed and dressed appropriately for an active school day. Comfortable, easy-to-
manage clothing is usually best for busy children. We recommend sneakers as being safe shoes to
wear at school; flip-flops and sandals without heel straps can be dangerous, especially on the
playground. And above all, please assure your child that he/she will have fun at school and will
be well cared for while there.
Curriculum
Our Kindergarten curriculum is interactive, integrated and developmentally appropriate
for five and six year old children. We follow the curriculum frameworks established by the state
and by our school district.
One of the most important goals in our Kindergarten class is to build a sense of
community. We consider ourselves a classroom family in which we learn to value and respect one
another and ourselves. We acknowledge each other’s uniqueness and importance as a member of our
class. We learn to help and take care of one another; to be respectful and polite listeners; to
share and take turns and to be patient. We also learn to always work hard and try our best. One
of the ways we reinforce these lifelong skills is through the Responsive Classroom approach. We
will be sending home more information soon describing this program in more detail.
In September, we will be focusing on learning about ourselves and one another through a
teaching unit called, “All About Me.” Various activities will be planned in all curriculum
areas: reading and language arts, math, science, art, social studies, fine/gross motor skills
and social skills. We will be working toward acquainting children with teachers, aides,
classmates and their school building as well as administrators, teacher specialists, nurses and
other support staff. Classroom routines will be established as children become familiar with
school expectations and their new surroundings. Classroom, school and bus safety will be
emphasized this month as well.
We’ll also be spending much time during the school year on courtesy, manners, community,
friends and family.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be checking to see if children know their full names,
addresses, telephone numbers and birthdates. It would be helpful for you to practice this
important information with your child at home.
An integral part of our reading and language arts curriculum is our Fundations – Wilson
Language Basics program. We will be using this program as well as all aspects of early literacy,
including the children’s real life experiences, to teach letter recognition, letter sounds,
letter formation and beginning reading and spelling skills. We will be spending part of each day
working on phonemic awareness skills: rhyming, matching beginning sounds, blending sounds
together and segmenting sentences, words and syllables, and hearing ending sounds in words.
Children will be listening to stories and poems and will have many opportunities to practice the
language/literacy skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing and performing in class.
During the course of the year, we will be introducing the children to read-alouds, shared
reading, guided reading, independent reading, and readers’and writers’ workshops. More
information about our balanced literacy program will be forthcoming.
Each monthly newsletter will include a Literacy Corner section, which will give you
practical information about our balanced literacy program that you can use at home with your
child. For this month, we would like your family to do some “homework.” Each day, have one
family member tell a story about something they know a lot about. We know that for young
children, accurate storytelling leads to accurate drawing which in turn leads to accurate
writing. And one of our many goals in Kindergarten is to help children to feel confident and
competent in being able to tell “their” stories, whether it be orally, by drawing or through
their writing.
Our Everyday Math program is designed to help your child learn a wide range of
mathematical concepts as well as teaching the basic skills as outlined in the National Council
of Teachers of Mathematics standards. This method stresses hands-on experiences rather than
paper and pencil exercises. The children become actively involved with concrete materials and
make discoveries using pattern blocks, Unifix cubes, attribute blocks, tangrams, bottle caps,
buttons, seeds, mirrors, etc. as well as a variety of measuring devices. During the school year,
the children will work with the concepts of number, patterns, sorting and classifying,
estimating, graphing, geometry, measurement and problem solving.
In our Science-Technology/Engineering curriculum, we again stress a hands-on approach to
discovering the wonders of our world through life science, earth science and physical science
experiences. Our History and Social Science curriculum in Kindergarten will focus on three
main areas: history and geography, civics and government and economics. The history and
geography component will focus on learning words relating to sequential actions, chronology and
time, location and direction; national holidays; maps, globes, neighborhood and learning
personal information – name, address, telephone number and birthday. In civics and government,
children will learn about family and community members who promote the welfare and safety of
all; American symbols and the concepts of: authority, fairness, responsibility, rules, honesty,
courage, friendship, and respect. The economics part includes learning about work, jobs and how
we use money.
Labels
Please be sure to label your child’s backpack and outer clothing with his/her name.
Also, if you send in money or notes to school, please put your child’s name on the envelope, so
that if it gets dropped or misplaced, we’ll know to whom it belongs.
School Bags
Every day, children will need to bring to school, a LARGE schoolbag that is easy to use
to transport home all the important class creations, notes and papers.
Snack
Every day, children will need to bring a snack and drink to school. Please note that: 1)
we have children in our school with severe peanut, tree nut and seafood allergies. Please do not
send in any snack with these ingredients; 2)snack time usually takes about 10 minutes, so
children’s snacks should be small and easily manageable; 3)drinks should be brought to school in
non-breakable containers; 4)children’s names should be on their snack containers; 5) no
refrigeration is available in the classroom and snacks will be kept in the children’s cubbies in
the room; 6) we recommend healthy snacks such as fruits, vegetables, crackers, pretzels, granola
bars, cheese, yogurt, etc.
Birthday Celebrations
In an effort to encourage healthy eating habits and to minimize exposure to certain
foods by children with food allergies, we ask that you not send birthday treats to school. We
will, however, recognize and honor your child on his/her birthday in our classroom and in our
school in a special way.
Regarding at-home birthday parties, we respectfully request that you do not send invitations to
school to be distributed, unless you will be inviting the whole class. This avoids hurt feelings
for the children who are not invited. Thank you in advance for your help with this.
Notes
Please be sure to check your child’s schoolbag on a daily basis for notes from school.
And please return all notices the next school day if possible. This will eliminate the need for
additional reminders or phone calls to verify if the note has been received.
Please remind your child of the importance of giving to the teacher any notes from home
as soon as he/she enters class. We ask the children to check their bags for notes upon arrival
at school, but find that some children still end up carrying around important messages for days
before they are discovered! This is especially important for any bus notes or notes regarding a
change in plans for the child’s after school routine.
If your child is absent, it is your responsibility to call the school to notify us that
he/she will not be coming in that day. If we do not hear from you, the school will call your
home.
Also, please send in a note if you know in advance that your child will be absent from school on
a given day.
Permission Notes
Please write us a note if you plan to pick up your child at the close of the school day
or if your child will be dismissed early. Also, we will need to have written permission if your
child is to go anywhere other than home after school. We do not want to assume that you have
given your permission without a note. (If you are unable to write a note, please call the school
office).
A note is also necessary if your child is to be picked up by anyone other than you
either at school or at the bus stop. We may ask the person for identification if he/she is
unfamiliar to us.
Arrival and Departure Times
A.M. Session: 9:05-11:45
Please note: Morning classes begin at 9:05 A.M.; children who arrive at school after 9:05 are
marked as “tardy.” Children in the morning class who leave school before 11:45 are marked
as “early dismissals.”
IMPORTANT!!!
If you drive your child to school, please drop off him/her at the front of the building
(near the flagpole), not at the side bus entrance door. That driveway is for busses only. A
Kindergarten aide or other school personnel will be waiting at the front door for children to
arrive and will escort them down to the classrooms, before school in the morning.
If you drive your child to school and are late in arriving, please bring the child to
the school office to check in. Please do not drop off your child at the front door or at the
side classroom doors.
If your child walks to school in the morning, again, the front door should be used, not
the side bus entrance door. If you plan to pick up your child at the end of morning
Kindergarten, please park at the front of the building and come in to the foyer where an aide
will be waiting with the children.
If you are not able to write a note or call the office to inform us that you will be
picking up your child, you will need to check in at the front office when you arrive and they
will notify us that you are there to pick up your child.
Morning children who are driven or who walk to school should plan to arrive between 8:50
and 9:05.
For children who are bussed home after school, please be sure that a parent (or a
responsible adult) is visible to the bus driver. Drivers are instructed to not allow a child to
get off the bus if a parent is not there to greet him/her. Children who are not met by parents
will be brought back to school to ensure their safety. If you have given your permission to
someone else to take your child off the bus, please notify us in writing and we will relay the
message to the drivers.
Phone Calls
If you need to reach us at school, please call the office, 508-886-2901 and we will
return your call as soon as possible. If it is an urgent call, please let the office know this.
Specialists
Students in our classes will be having Physical Education, Music and Art classes on a 3-
week rotating basis this year. Please be sure that your child wears sneakers on Gym days.
You may consult my webpage for the specialists’ schedules.
Communication Envelope
Children will bring home on Fridays, a large, white communication envelope, which will
contain notices from the school. Please look at and remove all notices each week and sign your
name on the front of the envelope so that we will know that you have received the notices.
Please return the envelopes on Mondays.
Kindergarten Homework
You may expect occasional Kindergarten homework assignments. Some homework will be
written and some will not. On the days when there is no specific assignment, please plan to use
the 15 minutes of homework time, which is suggested in our school handbook, to read to your
child or to review some schoolwork.
P.T.O.
Our parent, teacher and friends organization is now known as Naquag P.T.O. This group of
hardworking individuals has been responsible in the past for planning/providing many fine
enrichment programs and for funding special teacher grants for classroom projects and materials.
Membership in this organization is a great way to get involved in your child’s school! Forms
will soon be coming home.
Parent Volunteers
All parents who would like to volunteer in our school or on school field trips must have
a CORI check done. If you have not yet done this, you will find a blank form within the Naquag
School Handbook which was sent home with your child this week.
Parent volunteers for my classes will be asked to come in to school on an as-needed
basis.
Webpage/E-mail
If you would like to communicate with me via e-mail, you may reach me at:
paula_hedlund@wrsd.net.
You may access my webpage at: http://www.wrsd.net. Go to Schools>Naquag>Kindergarten>Mrs.
Hedlund. I will be updating my webpage every month.
During the school year, it may be easier for me to reach you by e-mail, rather than by
phone or by written notes.
Attached to this newsletter is a form for your e-mail address if I may contact you by this
means. If you do not regularly check your e-mail, then perhaps, phone calls or notes would work
better.
Sibling Information
Also attached to this newsletter is a form for you to indicate your child’s siblings.
Since we talk a lot about our families at school, it’s helpful for us to know if your child has
brothers or sisters. Please fill out the form and return to school.
Class Telephone/Address List
We will be compiling a Kindergarten class telephone/address list so that children may be
in touch with one another outside of class. Please fill out the attached permission slip and
return to school.
See-Saw Book Club
Our class will be participating in the Scholastic See-Saw Book Club this year. Attached
to each monthly newsletter, you will find a book order form. If you would like to order books
for your child, please fill out the form, send a check (made out to Scholastic Books!) for the
amount and return both to school. It usually takes about two weeks for the orders to come in
once we place the order.
Curriculum Night
Our school will be having a Curriculum Night. Kindergarten’s program is planned for
Monday, September 15, from 5:45-6:45 PM. This is an evening planned for parents and guardians,
so we respectfully request that children not be in attendance.
If you have any questions or concerns, please call the school or write a note. Again, welcome to
Naquag School Kindergarten!
Sincerely,
Paula Hedlund– Kindergarten Teacher
Jennifer Gentleman– Kindergarten Aide
Scrounge List
paper towels – Viva or Bounty preferred
magnetic tape – available at craft stores
self-stick Velcro
gallon and quart size Zip-loc bags
6-cup muffin tin (used/old – not for cooking)
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