Kindergarten Handbook

 COMMUNICATION FOLDER

       

Each student will receive a communication folder that will be sent home every day.  The folder needs to be returned to school every day.  Your child’s behavior calendar, weekly homework sheet, progress reports and notes will be sent in the folder.  Information from the front office and the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) will also be sent home in the communication folder.  Check your child’s communication folder daily and empty its contents by the end of the week (except for the behavior calendar).

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT

          Our theme for behavior management is “Let your light shine!”  Everyone has a light inside that we can choose to let shine.  Doing things that reflect positive character traits including responsibility, respect, and building relationships make our light shine.  Each month, a behavior calendar will be placed in your child’s communication folder.  The following colors will be used on the behavior calendar to represent your child’s behavior each day.

Green: Excellent Day! Your child behaved with
                     few reminders of the rules.

Yellow: Your child needed frequent reminding of
                      rules.

Red: Your child did not follow directions or
                      control talking today. 

Each student has a clip labeled with their name.  If your child has to be reminded of the rules frequently, then he or she will move the clip to the appropriate color.  For the first half of the school year, students will have opportunities to move their clip back to the previous color if appropriate behavior is demonstrated and maintained.  As students mature, modifications will be made during the second half of the school year.  When we return to school in January, students will no longer be given opportunities to move their clip back to the previous color.  The purpose of this strategy is to help your child to be more responsible for his or her behavior and to avoid further behavior issues.  Your signature is required on the behavior calendar at the end of each week.  Please keep the calendar in your child’s folder and return the folder daily.  You may also write a note in the notes section.

PROGRESS REPORTS

Half way through each quarter, you will receive a progress report to inform you of your child’s academic and behavior status.  The scoring scale on the progress report is identical to the scoring scale on the report card.  A score of 3 means your child has met the standards, 2 means your child has some understanding but has not met the standard yet, 1 means your child does not have any understanding of the standard taught.  The progress report will indicate your child’s areas of strength and areas needing improvement.  Suggestions for improving your child’s understanding of concepts are included on the progress reports.  The expectation is that students will spend additional time practicing at home to improve their grade before the report card is issued. 

HOMEWORK

Homework is designed to provide practice with skills taught in school that will help your child to meet and exceed the standards.  A homework sheet will be sent home every week and assignments are expected to be completed daily.  Your child will be receiving a reading bag to bring home.  The expectation is that students will practice reading the books in their reading bag every day at home.  A list of suggestions will be included in your child’s reading bag.  The books are to be kept in the reading bag and returned to school daily.  Show and tell will also be included as a weekly homework assignment.  Students are expected to come to school prepared to talk about the item they choose to share during show and tell.  Refrain from sending expensive items and living things for show and tell. 

                                                                         

READING IN KINDERGARTEN

At the beginning of the year, students are not expected to read the words in books.  Instead, students are encouraged to look at the pictures, think about the pictures, tell a story about the pictures, and eventually find the words.  Help your child to talk about books and stories by asking questions such as; who, what, where, when, why, and how.  Recognizing all the letters of the alphabet and their sounds as well as learning sight words will prepare your child to read books on their own. 

                                                                                                    

WRITING IN KINDERGARTEN

          Handwriting is a huge focus in Kindergarten.  In order for students to share what they know or what they are learning, they need to be able to write.  Help your child practice writing at home by holding the pencil correctly, forming the letters correctly, and using the lines on primary paper correctly.  For example, writing a letter “t” by starting at the bottom is incorrect.  Use the handwriting resource pages to follow the directions for writing each letter.  It is a lifelong benefit if students are able to form the letters the correct way since, they will be writing throughout their life.

There are three types of writing that we will expect students to master; narrative, opinion, and informational.  Narrative writing is a personal story that can be about things we do, places we visit, our favorite things, a story about ourselves or our family.  Opinion writing is telling our feelings about a topic or what we think about a topic.  Informational writing is telling facts about a topic, things that are real and true.  When students are asked to write, we will expect to see pictures with details, a label for the things in the picture, and sentences that tell about the picture. 

    

SENDING MONEY TO SCHOOL

          If you send your child to school with money, it must be in a sealed envelope.  Label the envelope with your child’s name, their teacher’s name, the amount of money, and what the money is going to be used to purchase.  We will give students a special money envelope from the front office.  Students will then put their envelope from home in the money envelope from the office and place it in the safe.  Lunch money does not go in the safe.  Students will take their lunch money to the cafeteria.                                       

BIRTHDAYS

If you wish to celebrate your child’s birthday at school, the procedures are as follows:

1.      The classroom teacher needs advance notice of your plan to celebrate.

2.    A parent or guardian must be present to distribute the treat.

3.     Limit the amount of sugar you are providing to the students.  The school day is not over, so students still need to function appropriately.

4.    Celebrations will occur during the assigned lunch time for the class.

5.    Balloons and decorations are not allowed.