1. Welcome to Kindergarten Miss Cortez Room 55

2. Transportation Kindergarten Class Times: PM: 12:45 -3:15 – doors open at 12:30 Transportation Lanyards: – a number system is used to identify bus routes – bus drivers will display a number on the side of the bus to represent his/her route – please make sure your child can identify his/her bus number – lanyard will identify what form of transportation your child will be taking home – if taking the bus, a number will be on the tag that identifies the bus – those children who are car riders or walkers will have this information on their lanyard as well

3. Changes in Transportation NOTIFY ME IN WRITING if there are changes in the way your child will be going home from school without written instruction from you, I will send your child home in the usual manner I cannot accept verbal changes from your child or a sibling if you forgot to send a note, please call me 630- 257-2286 ext. 1335 or the office regarding the changes A.S.A.P.

4. Daily Folder and Parent Communication Your child will take home a daily folder every day there are two sides; a "left at home" and a "bring right back" – "left at home" side you will find important notices as well as finished work, please review these items and keep them at home – "bring right back" side will contain items that need to be reviewed and returned to school in a timely manner this folder must be returned each and every day in order to maintain consistent communication.

5. Classroom Discipline Plan simple class rules have been established to ensure that your child experiences a positive and safe learning environment I track student behavior with a traffic light. At the beginning of each day, every child starts on green. Our goal is to keep all sticks on green. if a child is having difficulty following a rule or direction, he/she will first be given a verbal warning. If the same child continues to have difficulty, he/she will be asked to move their stick to yellow. if the problem continues to persist, the child must move his/her stick to red. – This will result in the child sitting out of the activity for a short time to think about his/her actions. – A note will be sent home to notify parents why the child was moved to red. This note will need to be siqned and returned to school the next day, if the child continues to have difficulty following the rules, the parents/guardians will be called to schedule a conference.

6. Behavior Report At the end of each day, the students will color in a section on a behavior report to indicate which light their stick was on at the end of the day. This behavior report will be sent home in each student’s folder every day. I ask that you make sure it is returned each day so we can continue to track the week’s behavior.

7. Reporting Academic Progress ongoing assessment is an important component of the kindergarten curriculum report cards for Kindergarteners will be given in the second and third trimester parent teacher conferences are in November, in place of the first trimester report card. parents are welcome to contact me at any time to discuss any concerns

8. Specials Physical Education class will be held each day for 20 minutes – Please be sure to send your child in gym shoes or have them in the backpack so they can change before gym class. – Make sure that the shoes are ones they can put on themselves! Library will be held on Thursday – the students will be allowed to bring home one book as long as they return the book from the previous week. Computer class will be held on Tuesday in the computer lab

9. Homework small homework assignments will be sent home as the year progresses reading to your child at home for at least 15 minutes per day is highly encouraged cooperation between home and school will be highly beneficial more information about homework will also be coming home soon

10. Money periodically, your child will bring money to school for book orders, field trips, etc. be sure to put it into an envelope or ziplock bag CLEARLY MARKED WITH YOUR CHILD'S NAME, WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR, AND THE AMOUNT ENCLOSED please send exact change when sending cash all checks should be made out to School District 113a (unless otherwise noted)

11. Snacks daily snack break everyday child will be responsible for his/her own snack students will not be allowed to share snacks send a nutritious "working snack“ follow the district approved snack list when selecting your child’s snack avoid sending snacks containing nuts do to the high number of peanut allergies I do not have any way of keeping your child's snack cold so please do not send anything that requires refrigeration

12. Birthdays I am unable to help with the distribution of party invitations per district policy. the birthday child will be recognized at school with a prize and the class will sing to him/her it is up to you whether or not to send in a treat that day – if you do decide to send in something, please keep it SIMPLE!! please let me know ahead of time if you wish to send in a special snack for the class on your child's birthday the treat must be from the district approved list if your child has a summer birthday, you can choose an "unbirthday" to celebrate at school, maybe a half birthday

13. Curriculum

14. Reading the children will learn to master all of the 26 letters of the alphabet (not in ABC order) they will learn to recognize each letter – know its phonetic sound – print it correctly Your child will also learn how to identify and produce: – Rhymes – decode words – identify sight words

15. Writing we will introduce both expository and narrative writing most of the modeling will be done whole group – students will have several opportunities to use their beginning writing skills in their journals the children will go through many writing transformations – begin by scribbling or using pictures – then transition into writing letters or words they know – eventually they may even progress into phonetically sounding out words, "brave spelling“ – even trying to put words into a sentence

16. Math shape identification sorting and patterning (AB,AAB,ABC) graphing problem solving ordering events spatial relationships comparing numbers and counting to 100 (by l's and 10's) number recognition and formation basic addition and how to tell time by the hour will come at the end of the year concepts will be reinforced throughout the year with constant repetition use hands on materials called "manipulatives" to learn the concepts

17. Social Studies the seasons holidays family community importance of establishing and following rules

18. Science Three units of study – trees – the moon – water

19. Handwriting most children have had some handwriting experience by the time they come to Kindergarten continue to stress the importance of proper formation of letters and numbers

20. Star Student Each student will have the opportunity to be a “Star of the Week” sometime during the school year. This is a special time to honor each child in the class and get to know him/her better. It start September and continues until everyone has had a turn. – Poster - The Star (with the help of his/her family) decorates a poster to bring to school that tells about his/her life and interests. – Treasure - The Star may bring a “treasure” to show the class. A treasure is a show-and-tell item that is special to the student. (No pets or food please!) You will be notified a week or two before it is your child’s turn to be the star student.