Welcome to our super Kindergarten year! I am so excited for our up coming year! I’m sure you are too! All of us will be working together to make this year great and for the benefit of your children.
Arrival & Dismissal Please make sure your child arrives on time for school. You may drop off (no earlier than 7:30am) or park and walk your child to school. The bell rings at 7:50am. Your child is late if he/she is not in line at that time. Please make sure to say your goodbyes at 7:50 am and exit the yard once the bell rings. If he/she arrives after 7:50 am, he/she needs to go to the office and check in. When this occurs, please say goodbye and leave your child at the classroom door. At the end of the day, I will walk the children outside. Please remember to have your child give me a high-five before leaving so I can physically see your child leave with the appropriate person. Behavior ExpectationsI have a positive reinforcement system in the classroom. We utilize a behavior clip chart, in which students can move up and down the chart all day. Green: All students start on green at the beginning of every day. Yellow: After being given a warning students move down to yellow if the behavior does not change. Students have the opportunity to move back up to the green card back if the behavior is modified. Orange: Students are given several warnings throughout the day. If a negative behavior continues, the student earns an orange card. Any student receiving an orange card may be asked to sit out of the activity or may miss recess time so that he/she may gather his/her thoughts. Red: At this point, a note will be sent home to notify the parent. You may also be asked to come in for a meeting with Ms. Palmer and/or Mr. Watson depending on the severity. Any student receiving a red card will lose playtime privileges. Also, any physical aggression is an immediate cause for being moved to red. Please be aware that we have a ZERO tolerance policy for physical aggression. This includes, but not limited to “rough housing”, games that include guns or other weapons, and any play that includes physical moves such as karate, etc. Please refer to the Visitation School Handbook for school guidelines. On a more positive note, students can also move up the chart to purple, or to pink. All students who end the day on the purple will earn 1 “Cactus Cash” dollar. And the students ending on the Pink Outstanding Card, will earn 2 “Cactus Cash” dollars. Once students have earned 10 Cactus Cash dollars they may go to the Treasure Box to select a prize at free time. Birthdays Birthdays are a wonderful celebration and I would be more than happy to set time aside to celebrate! Please notify me at least one day in advance if you would like to bring treats for the entire class (19). You may send items such as cupcakes, donuts, cookies, etc. Please do not send a full sheet cake or anything that requires cutting or scooping. We will sing to your child and make him/her feel very special. Birthday invitations for private parties may not be distributed at school, unless every child is receiving one. If your child’s birthday is during the summer, please see me so that we can arrange a time to celebrate it around his/her half birthday or the end of the school year. We are lucky to not have any severe allergies in your class, please me know if there is a food you are not comfortable with your child having. Class Schedule Monday: Music with Mr. M Tuesday: Planet Bravo Technology Wednesday: PE with Mr. M (Please wear PE uniform to school) Yoga, Spanish Thursday: Library Friday: Spanish Field Trips Kindergarten will take a few field trips this year. More information on about field trips will be discussed later this year. Please note that if you would like to volunteer to chaperone a field trip, you need to be fingerprinted & Virtus trained before doing so. Please see Mrs. La Pata for training dates. Siblings are also not allowed on field trips. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. But, this is a special time for you to spend with just your kindergartener! HomeworkHomework is assigned every night (including some Fridays). Please note that there are some exceptions (i.e.: testing days, field trips, special celebrations). A homework sheet will be enclosed in your child’s homework folder on the first day of the school week that outlines the nightly homework. Please initial it daily. Please have your child complete all homework assignments in pencil, colored pencil, and crayons (do not use pen and markers). Also, please review your child’s homework every night and ensure that he/she understands the material. As the school year progresses other projects and assignments will be added and explained at that time. In addition to nightly homework, if your child does not complete assignments in class, he/she must complete them at home and return them the following day. Any missing homework will need to be completed at home and returned the next day. Homework is a part of the Work Habits section in the report card and the students will be graded on it. IllnessPlease keep your child home when he/she is sick. We ask that students stay home until they have been 24 hours fever, diarrhea, vomit free, or until they are not contagious (with another illness). Personal Growth Over the course of the year we will also work on developmental milestones and becoming more independent. Some of these personal growth goals include: tying shoes, writing last names, knowing addresses and phone numbers. Report CardsI will be assessing the students on a regular basis through completed assignments, formal assessments, and informal observations. Report cards will be completed each semester (end of January and the last day of school). SnacksPlease pack healthy snacks and lunches that are kindergarten appropriate. Please make sure that the items can be opened easily and please don’t forget any necessary utensils. We don’t have any utensils in class to hand out. Please also do not send gum, candy or soda. Additionally, please pack the snacks in a bag or lunch box to make it easier for them to carry and do not use glass containers. On Fridays, please pack an extra snack for your child as our dismissal is not until 12:15pm and it’s a long stretch for little tummies. Star of the Week Almost every week a student will be chosen as our Star of the Week. When your child is chosen for the week, you will receive a survey the week before. Please have you and your child fill this out and send in either 3-5 pictures that you do not mind having tape on the back or you may create a poster board with them. During their week, you may send in one or two of his/her favorite books, and your child can also bring in something to share (for Sharing Time—anything they like). VolunteeringPlease let me know if you are interested in helping me with some projects at home (tracing, cutting, coloring, collating books, etc). Please also see the student information sheet for other volunteering opportunities. X,Y, Z…Contact meIf you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Please send a note with your child, call the office regarding an appointment, or send me an email. My email is [email protected] . Thank you for your continued support to our class. All of us together can make this a wonderful year. Curriculum Kindergarten focuses on developing a love of learning and a positive self-esteem. Students will learn to take turns, share, solve problems, and work in small and large groups. Language Arts: Our reading curriculum is a strong literature based and phonics program by “Super Kids” (Zaner-Bloser). Students will systematically learn to read and write letters, to associate letters with sounds, to blend letter-sounds to form words and sentences, and to read and write phonetically regular words as well as sight words. We also use the “Sadlier Phonics Reading” series to further enhance phonic skills. In addition, we make class books, act out stories and play various phonics based games. Handwriting: We use the Zaner-Bloser program. This program complements our Super Kids program. Religion: We use the “Call to Faith” series. The program is enhanced with a variety of fun activities to experience God’s love, His world, our families, and our church. Math: Kindergarten uses the Houghton Mifflin Saxon program. Manipulatives are also used to enhance learning and to explore patterning concepts, graphing, sorting, classifying and counting, addition, subtraction, time and money. Social Studies: We use the Houghton Mifflin program. Students will learn about our community, families & friends, a big wide world, long ago & today, and our country. Science: Kindergarten uses the STEMcopes program. We will learn about life science (animal & plant needs), physical science (pushes & pulls) and earth science (weather & habitats). Technology: Planet Bravo's technology curriculum instills a wide range of skills as valued by the National Educational Technology Standards as well as our own proprietary technology standards. Specific skills include basic computer functions, mousing, keyboard recognition, academic games (both onine and locally installed), word processing, digital art, and OS familiarity. Art: We are all creative individuals and all projects will require us to use our creativity. There is no right/wrong or good/bad, as long as we try our best. We also have the Gate way to art program where we parents to volunteer once a month as a dosent. Thank you so much an looking forward to an awesome Kindergarten year!!!!! |