1. Kindergarten Information “Our Recipe for a Good Year” Arrival at School The doors to the school open at 7:15 am. Breakfast is served until 7:45 am. Please be sure your child is at school by 7:50 am to ensure maximum learning time in the mornings! Your child will go to the cafeteria if they arrive at school before 7:30 am. They can eat breakfast or they will wait until it is time to go to the gym. Teachers will pick up their students in the gym at 7:45 am and escort them to the classroom. Attendance is recorded at 8:00 am. Kiss them at the Door We love parents coming into our classrooms the first day of school. Please feel free to take lots of pictures of your Kindergarten student and make sure they feel comfortable in their new class. We do ask that after the first day of school you kiss your child at the main entrance doors and allow them to start walking to the cafeteria or the gym independently. This helps instill independence in students, as well as helping the children transition into our classrooms so our teaching and learning is able to start as soon as they walk in the door. School Supplies It is very important that your child brings a backpack (please no wheelie backpacks) to school every day. A backpack will help you get all of the important papers that are sent home with your child, and will help transport all of their materials. Please label your child’s name clearly on the backpack. Communication Folder/Reading Folder Your child will be bringing home a communication folder daily. It will include a communication chart (calendar), so the teacher can comment on how your child did in school that day. If there is a happy face, he/she had a great day! We will put a note on the chart if your child was making inappropriate or sad choices. The teachers will send notes and forms from the office in this communication folder too. Our communication folders are our main source of communication, so please check your child’s folder DAILY, sign it, and send it back to school with your child every day. If there are any forms that need to be completed by the parents, please fill them out and send them back to school in the folder. If you need to send money to school please put it in a sealed envelope that is labeled with what the money is for. After the first few weeks of school, the teachers will be adding in a Velcro pouch that will have leveled books for your child to read to you every evening. The teachers will put in a reading log for the parents to fill-out every evening so you can record the time you spend reading at home.

2. Lunch & Cafeteria The first two weeks of school there will be NO parents allowed to eat lunch with their children. We use these first few days of school to teach the students our rules and expectations for the cafeteria. This will ensure that the children learn the cafeteria procedures and routines. After the first two weeks of school, you are welcome to come join your child for lunch. Due to school policies, when you come to eat lunch with your child, only your child will be able to sit with you and eat lunch. No other students will be permitted to eat with you and your child. If your child decides to eat the school lunch please send in a labeled envelope in your child’s folder with the lunch money. It is easiest if you send enough money to pay for a week or more at a time. You can add money to their account online as well at www.myschoolbucks.comwww.myschoolbucks.com Classroom Snack and Water Bottles Students will be required to bring in a healthy snack daily. We have an early lunch so we have a snack time in the afternoon for your child. Please send snack to school in a Ziploc bag that is separate from your child’s lunch box. We also strongly encourage parents to send a water bottle with your child’s name on it to school every day. We find that a full day of learning and the Texas heat makes everyone thirsty. Dismissal There are several ways that students go home at the end of the day. Your child can be a Bus Rider, Car Rider, Walk-Up (parents pick up their children at the back door), Walk-Away (child will walk home with an older sibling), Club 360 (after school program offered at Slaughter), or Daycare. You will be given a purple dismissal card with your child’s name, teacher, and grade level. You will have to present this card to staff when you pick up your child daily. If you don’t have the dismissal card, you will be asked to present your I.D. to the office staff and get a new card. It is very important to bring your dismissal card because it helps us keep your child safe. If your child is a bus rider or daycare, please provide us with the bus number or daycare your child will be going to prior to the first day of school. If you need to change the way your child gets home, we require a written note or phone call (469-302-6100). We will not allow students to change the way they go home just by what they tell us. We have to have documentation to allow them to go home a different way. Dress Code & Extra Clothes Please make sure that your child’s shorts are fingertip length. We do not allow spaghetti strap tops and tank tops must be three adult fingers wide. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately and comfortably. We ask that you place a Ziploc-bag labeled with your child’s name and a spare change of clothes in their backpack. Please also include socks and underwear. We do request a change of clothes even if your child does not have bathroom accidents. Sometimes children get dirty or messy and it disturbs their learning. Having this change of clothes saves a phone call home to parents, and helps us to remedy the problem should it arise.

3. Weekly Newsletter A weekly Kindergarten newsletter will be sent home with your child that includes special events, important dates and information, and things your child will be learning in class that week. This is a great way to keep up with everything going on in your child’s classroom and things to be working on with your child at home. Volunteers We love to have volunteers in our school and classroom. Please visit the McKinney ISD website and complete the volunteer application form. You will not be permitted to help in the class without filling out this form. If you plan on participating in class activities, we recommend filling this out at your earliest convenience so you do not have to wait on the application to process. It takes approximately 2 weeks before you are granted permission to volunteer. If you have already filled one out during the previous school year, you will have to update your application online. Your help in the class is greatly appreciated! Good Morning Slaughter/Classroom Mascot Every Friday (except for weeks where we have a four day week) our class will choose an “Alpha Wolf.” This is the child that has set a great example all week long for the class. On Friday we will have an assembly called Good Morning Slaughter (GMS) in the gym starting at 7:50 am. Your child will be awarded with a certificate and will have their name called out in front of the whole school. This is a great time for you to come see your child shine! Parents are welcome to attend this celebration, but please stand on the outsides of the gym by the walls. Please do not sit with your children in our class line or in the bleachers. If your child gets the privilege of being Alpha Wolf they will get to bring home a class mascot. The stuffed animal and his journal will be sent home with your child on Friday. Our Alpha Wolf earns the privilege to be our classroom helper and the line leader for the following week. On Sunday evening, please write a message in the journal about all the fun that the mascot and your family had together. You may want to include pictures of the stuffed animal and your child as well. Please return the animal and the journal to class on Monday so your child can share what they did from the weekend. Birthdays Due to new regulations from McKinney ISD, we are no longer able to have cupcakes or ANY food items to celebrate birthdays at school. If you would like to send in a special pencil or something small to give to the class to celebrate your child’s birthday, we will pass these out to the kids during the day. We will not be permitted to pass out any form of food to celebrate birthdays. If you are planning a party, please know we are not allowed to disperse invitations to only a few classmates. All classmates would need to receive an invitation in order for us to pass them out. You will have to contact the child’s parents independently otherwise. This will prevent hurt feelings. It is truly an honor to be welcoming you to our campus and to be working with your family for the success of your child this year! Sincerely, The Kindergarten Team