End of the First Week

I can hardly believe the first week of kindergarten is over! We worked hard to learn how to be at school. Your sweet kids have done so well and worked so hard! Kindergarten is a fun place to be, but it's not like home. We have to be more structured and follow certain rules so that we can all function in our classroom.

Calendar:
Please check out the calendar on the back of your student's folder. It has important dates for the month on it as well as the student's name on the date you signed up to send in snacks. Please remember to send in healthy snack options that feed little brains for learning :).

Book Orders:
Your student will bring home book orders each month. The date they come home and the date they are due back are on the calendar. I always let students know that parents might say "no" this month, and that is ok! Please don't feel pressured to buy anything. I always offer this to parents as it is a great way to build libraries at home with age appropriate books for very little cost. You can order books online by clicking the link to the right of my blog. The code for my class should be listed on the flyer your student brought home. Our class earns free books with every purchase you make, so it is a win-win!

Jackets:
I told my class today that they are welcome to bring in a jacket to keep in their back pack. I keep the classroom on the cooler side to help keep germs at bay. They are welcome to wear their jacket in class if they need to.

Family Crests:
Mrs. Rice sent home their Family Crest assignment yesterday. They are due on Tuesday, September 4th. Please help your child get these done and turned in so that they can share them with the class!

This week has been fantastic! Please email me if you have any concerns or questions!

Wonderful First Day!

We had a wonderful first day of kindergarten! I am so excited to continue getting to know your sweet kids! Today we worked on the rules, transitions, and practicing walking in line. We will keep working on getting to know each other and practicing how to be at school through out the week. I am sorry I didn't get a chance to take any pictures today for the blog, we were too busy! But I know this year is going to be great, our magic play dough said so!

Harvest Festival:Harvest Festival is Monday, October 29th 6:30-8:30 at the Farmstead! We will be having items to raffle/silent auction off as well as one of our Administrators will be kissing the pig at 7:30pm! Admission for this event is discounted to $5.66 per person (plus tax). The Farmstead will donate $1.00 per admission back to our school. If you are interested in donating any items for our raffle or silent auction, please email shereeboothby@visioncsd.org. No food items are able to be accepted. Thank you!

Class DojoBe looking in your child's folder for a flyer about Class Dojo. It is a point system I use in class that helps my students redirect themselves. They hear a specific sound for either a point gained or a point lost and I teach them to self evaluate when they hear either sound to see if it could have been them, and then adjust accordingly if needed. You will get a code for your child that lets you see if they earned or lost any points for that day. Some days they won't have any points because I just can't give points for every little thing :). 

Thank you for entrusting your little one to me this year! I love them each already!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Hello parents and families! I am so excited for this school year! Kindergarten is so much fun and Mrs. Rice and I are looking forward to all the great times we are going to have!

In an effort to make sure everyone is on the same page, I am going to put all the information that I gave you at our meetings in this post. I worry that I didn't tell everyone all the things I was supposed to remember, and some information changed after I already met with some of you. Please read through this blog and email me with any questions or concerns!


First Day of School:
This is one of the big changes for some of you! Due to our security measures parents will NOT be able to walk kindergartners down to the class on the first day of school. I know this can be difficult and I am sorry. Student safety is our number 1 priority! Between the front doors (where you will drop your student off at) and my classroom door there are 5-6 adults stationed looking for the little ones and ready to help them to class. Older siblings may also walk them to class. Hopefully because they have been here for pre-screeners, Meet the Teacher Night, and our beginning of the year meetings, your kiddo will feel confident and ready to come to school!!

Me Bag:
I gave your student their "Me Bag" when I met with you this week. I explained everything to them, but I figured I would let you know a few pointers as well :). Everything they bring (a max. of 5 items) should fit in the bag. These bags may stay at school a week or two so don't send anything that is super important to them! They can draw a picture or take a picture of an item that needs to stay home or won't fit. They will be sharing these with the class so having them practice at home first might be a good idea :).

Take Home Folders:
One of the things we emphasize with the kids is that their take home folder is THEIR responsibility, not the parent's. Please encourage them to take charge of their folder. This is one small step of teaching them responsibility. Part of that is taking care of the folder so that it lasts all year. If it is treated well, this folder should work well the whole school year! If it is lost or broken, we don't have any replacements because they are pretty expensive.

Snacks:
Thank you to everyone who signed up for a day to bring in snacks! Keep an eye on the calendar on the back of your student's folder, I will put your student's name on the date you are signed up to bring snacks in. We currently have 23 students.

Please send in healthier snacks. Our goal is to feed our brains, not just our bellies. No fruit snacks or sugary options please.

Water Bottles:
We encourage kids to bring water bottles to school! If you send them on Monday, we will send them back home on Friday to be washed. We don't like to send kiddos into the hall to get drinks if we don't have to and cups get spilled on our work :). If you don't have a water bottle with a lid that doesn't leak, and you don't have a way to get one, please let me know and I will help you out!

Transportation Changes:
If your student will be going home a different way than usual, please call the school office at 208-455-9220 or email Mrs. Brown at crystalbrown@visioncsd.org . It is best if all route changes come through the office.

Lunch:
Your student will be eating lunch in the classroom at 10:45. Please make sure that if they bring a lunch from home it is something they can just take out and eat. We don't have the ability to reheat anything for them.

Volunteering:
We will start coordinating our weekly volunteers for centers in a couple of weeks. We work hard to establish our classroom routine before we have parents in our classroom.  I have already found a Room Mom who will work to plan our class parties, but she will need helpers! If you would like to help with class parties please email me and let me know. I will put together a list of your names and contact info to share with our Room Mom.

Daily Schedule:
Bell Rings: 8:07
Tardy: 8:10
Lunch: 10:45-11:15
Specials: 11:15-11:45
Dismiss: 3:05

Remember, Mrs. Rice will be with my class until 11:30 when I get here and then she goes next door with Mrs. Harmon's class. Because of this, email is the best way to get in touch with me. I will email you back within 48 hours. This is going to be a great year!