Kindergarten Information
Welcome to the 2009-10 school year! I have compiled the following information to address any questions you may have about our kindergarten program, routines and procedures. There never seems enough time during open house to go over all the information I need to share with parents. With this guide, I can be sure I have covered everything, and hopefully it will allow more time to personally meet each of you and discuss any concerns or information, specific to your child that you would like to share. Please read through the entire handbook when time allows (but prior to opening day), and save to refer back to throughout the year, as needed. If you have questions not addressed here, please do not hesitate to ask. I look forward to working with your child and with you this year!
Morning Drop off: Kindergarten drop off in the morning is in the front under the awning. There will be a staff there each day to help your child out of the car and to his/her room. Please make sure that your child wears the bear necklaces for throughout the first full week of school. It helps make sure everyone arrives in the proper rooms. Please allow your child to walk in by his/herself after the first day. This will help to avoid traffic congestion while making them feel independent. Extra staff members are stationed around the hall the first few days to help find their classrooms, if needed. The children may be dropped off beginning at 7:30. They will be supervised in the computer lab until 7:45 and then called by classes to go to their rooms.
Pickup/Car Tags: Kindergarten classes begin loading at 2:35. K Parents will need to be in line by this time in order for us to load all of the kindergartners before first grade begins loading at 2:50. For pickup in the afternoons, please use the (bear) car tag provided. Place the tag in the front window --driver’s side. It is very important that you use these every day. This helps us to identify you and have your child ready when you pull up. Please be patient. Traffic flows much more quickly after the first few days. Your child’s safety is our biggest concern! Parents can help us move the line more quickly by keeping the back seat clear (behind driver) of packages or other items, rearranging car seats if necessary, etc. so that we may load all children from the sidewalk.
Please strive to pick your child up on time each day. Many children become anxious if their parent is not waiting for them at the end of the day. Also, keep in mind that, latecomers will most likely be caught in the first grade traffic. Our school policy is that any kindergartners not picked up by 3:00 should be brought back into the building to wait by the computer lab. Teachers rotate to supervise until 3:15 when the children will go and wait in the office until their parent arrives. Parents, whose schedules do not allow them to pick up their child before 3 p.m. will need to arrange for extended day care for your child. A form can be found in the yellow folders to register for this service. I completely understand that emergency situations arise at times. If so, please call the office and ask our secretary to buzz me and let me know. I can pass that on to your child and ease any concerns. Also, it is very important that if someone other than those you specify will pick your child up that day, I will need to be notified by note or call to the office. If possible, pass along the bear car tag so we can easily identify the new vehicle. I can send an extra car tag if more than one parent will be picking up to make this a little more convenient for you. Just ask if you need it.
Tardy/Attendance: The first bell rings at 8:00. At 8:05, Mrs. Culpepper begins our school-wide pledge and morning announcements. Children who come in after 8:05 are considered tardy. Parents must sign child in at the office and allow your child to bring the tardy slip with them to the classroom. Three tardies equal one absence. It is very important that your child has regular attendance so that they will not fall behind in their schoolwork. If your child is absent, please send a written excuse with him/her on the day he/she returns to school.
Early Check Outs: Please check your child out early only when necessary. To avoid class disruptions, parents are asked to go directly to the office to sign your child out. The office will call your child and he/she will meet you there.
Lunch: Student lunches are $1.80 per day. Extra milk is 50 cents. Free lunch forms are inside your child’s folder if needed. Lunch envelopes are also inside the folder. Lunches may not be charged. Most parents find it best to send lunch money and other important correspondence in your child’s yellow folders, which are returned to school each Tuesday.
Visitor lunches are $4.00. We love to have our parents come for lunch with us! Visitors are asked to pick up a visitor pass and sign in at the office and then meet us at the lunchroom. Please allow a three-week grace period at the beginning of school to allow for your child to get adjusted before visiting him/her for lunch. If parents come before their child has had a few weeks to adjust, he/she many want to go home with mom or dad when they leave and may begin to cry. It also may upset other children that are missing their parent. We have found it is much easier on all if parents wait until we have all settled. After that, we enjoy and welcome all parents to come as often as they wish! Please try to send a note to me or call the office so that we may order you a lunch. Send no money—you may pay cashier as you go through the line. I will pass our lunchtime on to you as soon as we have our schedules. Please note: No fast food or colas (juices are fine) allowed in the lunchroom.
Snacks The children will have a snack time each day provided by the parents. The system I have found works better for most parents is to send one box of cookies, crackers...or individually wrapped snacks, anything non-perishable at the beginning of each month Please send enough to feed the whole class—one time per month. We place all into our snack cabinet and take out a snack each day. This way, parents do not have to remember to send a snack every day, and the children are not upset because-“ someone has a better snack than me” or “I forgot my snack today”. Extra snacks are placed in a container and eaten for “pot luck day”. Please send nutritious snacks if possible. When possible, individually wrapped snacks work best; saving us on time and ensure everyone gets equal share. It is very important that you let me know of any food allergies that your child has. These will be posted inside the door of snack cabinet and watched carefully. Each child will need a water bottle (school rule-not allowed to bring juices in the classrooms) to school at the beginning of every week. They may fill these up when needed and leave on their desks to drink as needed. Please label these with child’s name with a permanent marker. Though they are encouraged to rinse them out often, we will send them home at the end of the week so that you may run them through the dishwasher.
Yellow Student Folders: This is the folder that you received at open house loaded with papers of information! It will serve as our school/home communication folder. Please send any papers that needed to be returned/signed etc. from open house as soon as possible back to school in this folder. On each Monday, I will send a class newsletter home in the folder that will tell about activities for the week, as well as any items your child may need for school that week. I try to send all important correspondence on Mondays since it’s more likely that it will arrive to you without being lost. And also, because you know to expect the yellow folder to come home every Monday, and will be looking for it. Please read and remove all papers except those that you are asked to return to school. Please send these back to school the following day—each Tuesday. If possible, please try to send all important correspondence, lunch money, notes, and etc.on Tuesday in your child’s yellow folder.
Class Website: Please add this link http://teacherweb.com/AL/CullmanCityPrimarySchool/AL/CullmanCityPrimarySchool/AmyFarr to your favorites list. If for some reason you misplace your weekly newsletter, you can find it posted there. I hope to also add pictures and other features to this site throughout this school year. Please bear with me---I am new to maintaining a website and this is a learning process for me!
Money: Any money sent to school for any reason needs to be sent in an envelope marked with your child’s name, amount, and what the money is for, and teacher’s name. Please do not consolidate money. For example, do not send lunch money combined with picture money.
Supplies: Please send supplies in your child’s backpack or separate sack. Please mark your child’s name supplies with a permanent marker. We will combine some of the items to be shared as a class, instead of placing into individual desks. If you are not able to purchase your child’s supplies at this time, please let me know. Not all supplies will be used right away, and we can work on a plan together. Having several children myself in school to buy for, I know it can become expensive.
Rest Time: Your child will need a rest mat. These can be purchased in the school office or at many retail stores, if you wish. Large towels are fine also. Please mark your child’s name on his/her mat with a permanent marker. These will be sent home each Friday to be washed. Please return on Mondays.
Medications: Teachers cannot dispense medications of any kind in the classrooms. It must be stored and dispensed through the office. You must fill out a medication form before any medicine can be given. A form can be found in the student folder.
Discipline: A discipline plan is included in this handbook. Please discuss rules and consequences with your child at home. We will be discussing these, (as well as rewards for good behavior) at school also.
Wish List: We will have a wish list posted in our room of items that we need to keep our classroom running. This will be posted at open house. Parents, who wish, may remove any items from the wish list and return to the classroom. I do add items to the list as needed for different units introduced throughout the year. Because parents drop off and pick up children in the designated lanes outside of the school and rarely get to see the chart, I do periodically include our wish list on the weekly newsletters. Any items that you can help us with are so appreciated!
Conferences: We will have parent-teacher conferences in October. This is the only required conference; however, if you have questions about your child’s progress, please do not hesitate to let me know. I will be glad to set up at time to discuss any questions you may have.
Many times parents have questions about a specific assignment or a need to inform me of a specific need that your child may have during the school day. Please feel free to call the school and leave a message with the office staff for me to call you. If it is urgent, please let them know this. Teachers, of course, are not allowed to leave the children to accept phone calls, but I will return your call as soon as possible. You may also email me during the school day at: a.farr@cullmancats.net. (You might still inform office to “buzz” me to let me know you have sent email, as I rarely have time to check emails during the day). For not-so-urgent correspondence, my home email is teach4k2@aol.com.
Class Parties: We are allowed parties at CCPS for 2 holidays only—Christmas and Valentines Day. The homeroom chairman is responsible for planning, sending out a class letter to parents about the upcoming festivities, and for contacting parents to help with needed supplies. If parents have questions or ideas for holiday parties please contact the homeroom chairman directly. Parents are welcome to come to both of the parties to celebrate with us.
Birthday parties are not allowed at CCPS. Parents may, however, send a special snack (cake, cupcakes, cookies, etc.) to be enjoyed by the class on your child’s special day. We are allowed to use only our daily snack time (15 mins) and are asked not to include special drinks, decorations, etc…for birthdays. If your child has a planned birthday party outside of school, please consider the feelings of all kids in the class: Only send invitations to hand out at school if ALL of the children in the room are to receive one. Otherwise, please mail invitations to the invited children’s homes.
P.T.A.: Please join the PTA! You may do this at open house or any day thereafter! We want to have 100% participate
Looking forward to a great year!