Kindergarten Parent Survival Guide

Kindergarten Survival Guide  For Parents

 

General Information:

  • School starts at 7:45.  Students arriving at school between 7:20-7:45 will come in their classroom and begin their morning routine.  Look for the “Kiss Goodbye Zone” at your child’s classroom door.  Please say goodbye to your child outside the classroom and allow them to enter the classroom independently. This will help to make the transition as smooth as possible.
  • It is expected that your child complete the morning routine independently (enter the classroom on their own, hang up backpack, put folder away, make their lunch choice, and begin morning work).
  • Students will bring their backpack each school day.  It is the student’s responsibility to get their belongings in the appropriate place. All correspondence and money from home must be placed in the zippered pouch in your child’s daily folder.
  • All jackets, sweaters, lunch boxes, regular-sized bath towels (for quiet time), and backpacks should be labeled with the child’s name. 
  • All money sent to school needs to be in a sealed envelope labeled with the student’s name, teacher’s name and purpose for the money. Your child’s lunch money must be placed in the zippered pouch in your child’s daily folder.
  • For SAFETY reasons, please ensure that you or any visitor sign in at the front office. 

 

Going Home Information:

  • School is dismissed at 2:45.  Students are escorted by teachers to their dismissal areas.  For the sake of safety and to reduce confusion, parents are not allowed to meet their child inside the building at dismissal time.
  • We are providing a tag indicating how your child is going home.  The dismissal tag will be placed on your child’s backpack, please do not remove! Please notify us by email or phone message at least one day in advance of any changes to how your child will go home.
  • IMPORTANT-In the case of "Emergency Same-Day" dismissal changes, do NOT leave voicemail or email. Call the office only at 424-8000 by 12:00 if you must change the way your child goes home.  Otherwise, no matter what the student tells us, we are required to send them home the way you established from the beginning.

 

Volunteering:

  • We encourage parents to volunteer in the classroom. We always welcome an extra pair of hands and another smiling face when we are working with the children. However, we would like to give the class time to bond before volunteers start.
  • We will discuss volunteer opportunities at our Kindergarten Parent Information Night on Tuesday, August 30 from 6:00-7:00 in your child’s classroom. 

 

 

Breakfast

  • Your child can purchase a breakfast and eat it in the cafeteria.  Breakfast begins at 7:20.  The cost for breakfast is $1.35.  If your child is buying breakfast, they should go to the cafeteria prior to going to the classroom.

                           

Lunch:

  • Lunch is paid for through the cafeteria.  We strongly encourage parents to send a check at the beginning of the week or month to ensure proper credit is applied to your child’s account.  You can also credit your child’s lunch account online at www.pamslunchroom.com 

If your child does not have sufficient funds in their account, they will receive a cheese sandwich and milk.  Your child’s lunch account information is available through the cafeteria.

Lunch: 

Student   Cost            $2.05

              Milk            $0.50

  • Kindergarten policy is that on Fridays your child may purchase ONE “EXTRA” such as ice cream, chips, or fruit roll-ups. Please talk to your child about your expectations regarding these items. If you do not want your child to buy an extra item, you may send a note to the cafeteria to block these transactions.
  • To help with the transition of lunchtime, we are asking that all kindergarteners bring a lunch from home for the first week of school.  After the first week, your child may purchase a lunch from the cafeteria.
  • Beginning the third week of school, parents are welcome to eat lunch with their student any time.  Please remember that this time is a wonderful opportunity for your child to develop his or her friendship skills.  Consequently, you and your child might develop a schedule of when you will be coming to eat lunch.

 

Snack:

  • Your child needs to bring a “sports” bottle of water to drink throughout the day.  Please refrain from sending juices or any other type of drink for classroom use.
  • Your child may bring a healthy snack each day.  You are responsible for sending snacks for your own child.  Please remember that snack is a brief time in our classroom.  Your child should bring 1 item. Appropriate snacks would be: crackers, fruit roll-up, fruit or granola bar. Please do not send fruit cups, yogurt, pudding, juice box or candy.

 

 

Birthdays:

  • Due to the FMNV law, we must celebrate birthdays after the lunch hour.  Please talk with your child’s teacher to schedule a time. 
  • Your child may pass out birthday invitations at school, provided there is an invitation for every child in the classroom.  It will go home in the daily folder.
  • There is a “Birthday Book” program offered through the CRE library.  The library will be sending home more information.

 

 

Correspondence:

  • Please put notes inside the zippered pouch of your child’s Daily Folder.  We will check it each day.  Please remember we will not be checking backpacks.  A folder will also be sent home on Tuesdays with general school-wide information and flyers. Please do not return forms in the Tuesday CRE folder; place them in your child’s classroom Daily Folder.
  • We check e-mail on a regular basis, and it is one of the quickest ways to share information.  Please feel free to e-mail us at anytime. Classroom TeacherWeb page :  http://teacherweb.com/TX/CactusRanch/Vernon/h0.stm  Email:  stacy_vernon@roundrockisd.org
  • Each week you will receive a classroom newsletter explaining our learning experiences and activities. 
  • We will have a parent conference in person on October 10th. This conference will be to set your child’s goals for the year and to discuss any questions you may have. 
  • My conference time is from 12:50-1:40 pm each day.
  • My school phone number is 424-8062. Please leave a message on my voice mail.  I will return your call ASAP. If there is an emergency, please call the front office at 424- 8000.
  • Please keep me up to date on all changes in your address (home or e-mail) and phone numbers.
  • You will receive regular correspondence from your classroom teacher to let you know about our days at school. 

 

Quiet Time:

  • We will rest each day for a brief time while listening to a story or soft music. Please make sure your child has a regular-sized bath towel with their name on it for resting. Your child’s towel will be sent home weekly for cleaning.  Due to space limitations, we cannot accommodate beach towels, blankets, pillows, comfort items, etc. 
  • We will no longer have quiet time after Winter Break.

 

Homework:

  • Homework in kindergarten serves three important purposes. First, it helps build on the concepts and skills your child has been learning at school. Second, and perhaps the most important at this stage, it teaches your child to be responsible for getting something from school to home, doing something to it at home, and returning it back to school. Being able to accomplish this is important for later school success.  Third, it begins to build the very important partnership between school and home.  Please allow your child to complete their homework independently.  Homework will be fully explained at the Parent Information Night on Tuesday, August 30.

 

 
Last Modified: Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011
 
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