The ABC's of Kindergarten
| A | Attendance-Regular school attendance is essential for your child to make the most of his/her time here at school. Please make an effort to have your child at school everyday. Being at school on time is also essential. School starts at 7:50. If your child arrives late, he/she must get a tardy slip from the office. Also, if your child is late, he/she will probably miss the snack cart when it comes by. This is the only opportunity your chils will have to purchase snack. So, if you are running late you might wanna pack a snack in stead of money that day. When your child is absent you must send either a handwritten note or a doctor's note within the next two days of school. |
| B | Backpacks- Please check your child's backpack everyday for notes. Their take home folder should be in it everyday. |
| C | Clothes-Your child should come to school in comfortable clothes and shoes. NO FLIP FLOPS! We will be in the floor a lot so please have your daughter wear shorts under her dress or skirt. If you would like to send a change of clothes in case of an accident that will be fine. Please send it in a large ziploc bag with your child's name on it and my name on it. |
| D | DIBELS- Three times a year your child will be tested on 4 basic skills (Letter Naming, Initial Sounds, Blending words and Segmenting Words) We will be working on these skills in class. Our goal is to Benchmark on each test. When I test your child in class I will send home a report so that you know how your child is doing. I will also send home a report in August, December and May when the official test is complete. |
| E | Emergency-We need a way to get in touch with you in case of an emergency. Please keep your phone number on file here current. If your number changes or you change jobs, please send me a note and I will send you a form to update your phone numbers. |
| F | Folders-Your child will have a folder that will come home everyday. It will have papers in it for you to look at and keep-on the "KEEP" side, and papers for you to look at and return-on the "RETURN" side. There will also be a behavior/homework sheet in it so you can see what homework we have and if there were any behavior problems that day. You will initial this folder each night. This is VERY important, please check your child's folder every night. |
| G | Goodies-We cannot allow parents to bring goodies to school for their child's birthday anymore. We are also not allowed to give out goodies ourselves. Sorry!! |
| H | Homework-I do not like to give homework on Wednesday or Friday, but there may be some kind of homework on other days of the week. This may include: having someone read a book to them, writing their name, writing the alphabet, writing their numbers, reading to you, or some other activity. This will also come home in your child's "Daily Folder." |
| I | Immunizations-All students must be immunized against certain diseases or must present a statement that the student should not be immunized. Proof of immunizations must be presented to the school within 30 days of enrollment. |
| J | Jobs-All jobs will be completed by the Student of the week and his/her helper. |
| K | Kisses-It is best for your child if you give goodbye kisses at the door. Most students are fine when their parents leave, but there are always a few that get a little homesick those first few days. Please give kisses and hugs and then reassure your child that you will be back this afternoon-just as I will be reassuring them all day those first few days. When parents decide to linger with those who are upset, it usually just makes the issue worse. Later in the year we would love to have all of you come and visit our classroom, but these first few days of separation are tough, so please, Kisses at the door!! |
| L | Lunch- Our lunch is at 11:10. Please come and join us for lunch anytime! |
| M | Money-When you send money to school please send it in an envelope. On the envelope please include your child's name, my name (Mrs. Gray), what the money is for, the amount and if it is for lunch, include their lunch number. All money should be sent in separate envelopes: lunch, milk money, snack money, etc. Do not combine purchases. |
| N | Nap- We do not have time in our schedule for a typical nap, however we will try to make time (at least 15 minutes) for the students to lay their heads down. We understand that a lot of them are still use to taking an afternoon nap, but with all that is demanded of us in Kindergarten these days, we just don't have time to spend napping. |
| O | Objectives- We will be working on the Alabama Course of Study (ALCOS) objectives for Kindergarten. Here is a link to those objectives. |
| P | Parent Involvement-I need you to help your child learn some basic skill this year. I am sending home a note explaining these skills. |
| Q | Questions-Feel free to contact me with any questions that you might have. You can send me a note, or email grayc@bibbed.org or you can request a conference at any time to discuss your concerns. |
| R | Report Cards-You will receive a report card after every nine weeks of school. Please feel free to ask questions about it. If you see that your child has a U or N in an area try to help them with this skill at home, just as I will be here at school. Reading-It is important that your read to your child every night, or have them read to you every night. Rereading books is also very helpful in their fluency (how fast they read). |
| S | Schedule- Once I get our schedule set I will send a copy home to you. Please be sure that your child is at least here for Reading and Math each day. If you have to make an appointment, please make it at another time if at all possible. Thanks! Snack- We will have snack every afternoon. Please send a healthy snack with your child each day, or money to purchase a snack from the snack cart in the morning. Snack will be sold door to door from 7:45-8:00 each day. If your child is tardy or misses the snack cart however; there is not a second chance to buy snack. *NO CARBONATED DRINKS!! |
| T | Transportation-I need to know how your child will be going home each day. If they will be going home a different way, you must send a note that day to let me know how they will be going home. The only exception is busses. They cannot ride a bus that they aren't assigned to without the proper paperwok from the bus shop. |
| U | |
| V | Visitors-Visitors are welcome at all times, but you must sign in at the office. I will be looking for your visitor's sticker. |
| W | Words-Once we have learned our letters and sounds we will begin to learn to read words. Please help your child read words at any opportunity (example, at home, at the grocery store, on the road, etc.) As well as sounding out words your child will need to be able to recognize immediately some basic high frequency words. There is a list of High Frequency words on our classroom website as well as included the packet at the beginning of the year. Website- I am trying really hard to setup and run a classroom website. I will post announcements, reminders, homework, student of the week, etc. on this website. I hope that you will check it out if you have Internet access. The address is http://mrscgray.educatorpages.com. |
| X | Expectations-I have high expectations for your child. Please set high expectations for them also. If you think they can't do it-they probably won't. But, if you think they can do it, then they probably will!! |
| Y | Yearbook-You will have an opportunity to order a yearbook later on in the year. These are fun for the students to keep and remember their first year of school. |
| Z | ZZZ's-Your child needs to get plenty of rest at night in order to be focused on their work here at school. |