Attendance: We will spend a lot of time teaching the children how important
it is to come to school, work as a team and get our jobs done. Please try
and have your child to school each day. The school opens at 7:30 AM. Our
school day begins at 7:45 AM.
Behavior Management: We use a very positive, proactive approach to
classroom management that fosters individual and social responsibility.
This approach encourages the use of self-control skills that are child-
driven. We incorporate teacher directed, guided choices, which have been
proven to give children a sense of personal power and respect which, in
turn, increases self-awareness of behavior. We teach children that they are
in control of their behavior and they may choose good or bad choices. They
learn that all of their choices have consequences. We focus on the
individual responsibility for choices and the natural consequences which
occur from those choices. We focus on the actual behavior, not the specific
details of the behavior. We encourage them to examine strategies that could
have been used in making a better choice when needed and celebrate positive
choices!
If your child has an “out-of-ordinary” day, you can expect a brief note or
phone call to let you know that you should prompt your child into a
discussion about his/her choices for that day. The focus should be on the
behavior and other positive choices that could have been made. Please try
not to focus on specific details. If you do this, soon your child will
start to focus on the power he/she has in decision making. Our goal is to
make the child responsible in all aspects of their behavior and that entails
individual responsibility and ownership of behavior. Together we can make
your child become more aware of actions and choices and consider the ways
those directly impact his/her life with natural consequences.
Communication Folder: On the first day of school, each student will be
bringing home a purple folder which will be used to help facilitate
communication between school and home. This folder needs to be checked over
and SIGNED daily. Please take the time to admire your child’s work and
praise your child’s effort. Your interest and help in their education is an
extremely important motivator.
Any items that you need to send to school (notes, lunch money, etc..),
should be placed in this folder. These folders are checked by a teacher
each morning.
I-Care Rules: Included in your Open House folder is a copy of our I-Care
Rules that will be taught to your child. These are rules that we follow all
the time, wherever we are, at school, on the bus, home, grocery store,
playground. They are rules that celebrate the fact that we are responsible
individuals who care about others and our community. We made it on colorful
paper so you can display it and reinforce them at your home. Soon we will
be compiling a list of promises that will help us stay focused during our
school day and will help us work together towards our classroom goals. We
will refer to these throughout the year as “Our Promises to Each Other!!”
Snack Time: Snack time will be offered to your child every day. We
encourage you to send in a healthy snack; crackers, fruit, cereal, pretzels,
raw veggies, etc. This will reinforce our attempts to teach your child
healthy eating habits. SNACKS NEED TO BE CLEARLY LABELED WITH YOUR CHILD’S
NAME You may send in a juice box or water bottle, no soda please.
Terms You May Hear:
Kindergarten Stations- Once a week, all the K classrooms get together and
participate in grade-level learning activities. During the three rotations,
one lesson will be a theme lesson, another will cover science and a third
will focus on Second Step, our county-wide character development program.
The children rotate between each teacher and the classrooms are usually
split so they can meet new K friends.
Thinking Maps- Graphic organizers used school-wide. These will be
discussed in detail at our parent information meeting.
Work Stations- Theme/skill related small group instruction adapted to meet
the need of all students.
Book Bags- Individual take-home bags that have level reading books on each
child’s instructional and independent level.
Data Notebooks- A binder/folder that stores individual/classroom goals and
writing samples. The children used these notebooks to continuously monitor
and update their progress and take an active role in their learning.
Zero Voices- We use three types of voices in our classroom--Quiet voices
that we use most of our day, Whisper voices when we talk without feeling a
vibration in our throat and Zero voices when no talking is allowed.
Four Checks- Check your Eyes, Voice, Hands and Feet. These prompts are
used to have children check their body and get it under control. At the
beginning of the year, we will verbally repeat these rules, later we will
just use cues like “Please do your checks.”
