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Dear Parents,
I am thrilled to be your child’s Kindergarten teacher this year! To help you and your child start off the school year, I have listed some information that will be pertinent:
· We will begin Morning Kindergarten at 8:23 am. Pledges and prayer will be done outside on the playground.
· Due to our extreme heat, water bottles are encouraged! Only water will be permitted. Please send no larger than a 16-ounce bottle that will be kept in a crate while not being used. Your child’s name must be printed on the bottle with permanent marker.
· Students may bring a snack for morning recess. This snack must be something healthy such as fresh fruit or raw vegetables.
· Dismissal is at 11:30 am. You may wait outside our classroom door to pick up your child. I will open the door, which will signal that the children are ready to be dismissed. At approximately 11:40, I will take any children who have not yet been picked up to after school care. Please be aware that childcare charges will occur for students who attend.
· Your child will be given a folder that he/she will use for daily correspondence. In the left pocket, you will find items that will stay at home: papers, projects, notes etc. The right pocket will contain things that need to be returned to school: permission slips, notes from home, etc. Please make it a priority each day to collect your child’s folder and gothrough it each evening. Sometimes the folder may include homework that your child needs help with. I will note on a daily behavior chart what your child’s behavior at school is. This chart will be included in the folder. Please sign this chart on a daily basis. There will be an “In” box outside of our classroom for your child to drop the folder in each day.
· Each Monday, I will send home a letter to you in a packet including any additional correspondence from the school. This letter will include information about what we learned at school the previous week and what we will be learning in the upcoming week. Again, it will be important that you sign the Monday packet and return the parent signature note on the next day.
· We will be featuring a Student of the Week. This activity helps build self-esteem. I will send home an interview sheet prior to your child’s week. During the week, he/she may bring in pictures, sit on our “star carpet” and share the mystery can. The mystery can is to be filled with things beginning with our weekly letter that will easily fit inside the can.
· We will begin our school year by establishing relationships. Therefore, we will do a lot of “getting to know you “activities. These experiences will encourage manners, sharing, responsibility and of course friendship.
· Academically, we will begin by focusing on emerging literacy, math skills and Bible teaching. After the first week of school, we will begin working on our initial letterbook. We will take a letter each week and learn about its sight and sound.
· At the end of the week your child will bring home his/her letter book. I encourage you to continue to review these books at home. As we have our letters mastered, we will start blending sounds and words together to begin to read.
· Each day we will learn and review all letter sounds. In addition, we will have a “Word Wall” which will include sight words. By the end of the year, each child will have 100 sight words that he/she will be reading with fluency.
· Our Math curriculum will consist of daily lessons covering objectives such as addition, subtraction, building numbers to 100, counting money and telling time to the nearest half hour.
· Our Bible lessons will cover stories from the New and Old Testaments and children will be expected to memorize weekly bible verses.
Our daily schedule consists of circle time where we sing, share, read, learn Bible stories and verses and celebrate our student of the week. In addition to P.E, Kindergarteners will experience music, PE, computer and library class throughout the week. I will be teaching Spanish lessons in the classroom.
· Your child will be graded on his/her progress. He/she will receive a mark of 1 for consistent, 2 for usually, 3 for improving and 4 for experiencing difficulty. A progress report will be sent home mid-term and a report card issued each quarter. There is a parent-teacher conference at the end of the first quarter. I will be available for informal conferences throughout the year.
· Please anticipate your child bringing home some homework. I will not assign any work that should take your child more than fifteen minutes to complete.
· Parents are strongly encouraged to be involved in our classroom. I will appreciate any help that you are willing to give. In my experience, it is wise to hold off on parent volunteers until we have completed the first week of school. The children need time to learn classroom expectations. If you are unable to work in the classroom, I will be happy to send class work home for you to grade.
· If you would like your child to celebrate a birthday at school, you are welcome to send in treats for all of the children. Please let me know what your plans are ahead of time so that I can make appropriate scheduling arrangements.
· I believe that life-long success depends on self-discipline. In order to provide your child with the excellent learning climate he/she deserves, I will be implementing a Discipline Plan, which will encourage your child to develop self-discipline. This plan is a form of assertive discipline using a “stoplight system.” Everyday, each child begins on a green light, showing the child is choosing to use acceptable behavior. To encourage students to follow classroom rules, appropriate behavior will be reinforced with lots of praise, positives notes and phone calls. If a child chooses to misbehave, a first consequence for the student is to receive a verbal warning. After the second incident, the student’s light will be turned to yellow and he/she will miss 5 minutes from recess on the following day.. The next consequence results in a red light and the student will miss his/her entire recess. The final consequence will result in a double red light. This time a parent will be called and the child will miss two recesses. For severe cases, the student will have a visit to the Principal’s office. Detention may also be served. Thank you for your cooperation regarding your child’s behavior!
Please know that we will have much communication throughout each week. I am looking forward to an awesome school year and a blessed opportunity to be a part of your dear child’s life!
Please keep this handbook as a reference during the entire school year.
In His Service,
Heather Kitchen
Chandler Christian School
Room 3
480 963-0748
hm. 480 813-8308
cell 480 234-3263
hak2229@aol.com
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