1. Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year! I know that this year will be a great learning experience for you and your child. Kindergarten has changed so much since the social kindergarten that most of us attended. We will have daily lessons in phonics, reading, writing, and math. We will play and have fun, but we will be learning through play. Please take the time to read this letter thoroughly and keep it to refer to throughout the year. Thank you for your time and support. You are a major part of our kindergarten team! Mrs. Devenport

2. Contact Information Please contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns that may arise. To contact me, you can write a note in the communication log, call the school (910-353-4443), or send me an email (katie.devenport@onslow.k12.nc.us). If you call during the school day, you will have to leave a message and I will call back as soon as possible. Hunters Creek Elementary School, Room 303 School Office Phone: 910-353-4443 Email: Katie.devenport@onslow.k12.nc.us (I try to check 2x a day if technology cooperates! )Katie.devenport@onslow.k12.nc.us School Website: hunterscreek.nc.oce.schoolinsites.com (Click on School Staff and click on my name to find my page!)

3. Attendance & Illness Attendance is very important due to the fact that kindergarten is not just playtime. Each day your child is absent, he/she will miss hands-on academic work that is very hard to make up. Please try to have your child in school everyday and on time. At the same time, we realize that some absences are inevitable. If your child is absent, please send a note the day he/she returns explaining the absence. This is a requirement. All absences are considered unexcused until a note is received. Illness is impossible to avoid in schools. One thing we do to help prevent the spread of illness in our room is lots of hand washing. Students will wash their hands upon entering the classroom, and many other times during the day. Parents can help by keeping feverish children at home. Students are supposed to be fever free for 24 hours without medication before returning to school. If your child becomes sick at school, we will call you and keep your child as comfortable as possible until you can pick him/her up.

4. Behavior Management A letter will be coming in the next few weeks explaining the classroom behavior expectations. We have a color system. The first two weeks will be a learning experience for your children. Your child will be “moving their color” if they misbehave. I will not send you notes during the first couple of weeks because all of the children have had different behavior expectations the last few years. If your child tells you that he/she moved their color during the first couple weeks, please try not to make a big deal about it. You can respond my saying, “Well, now you know not to do that anymore,” or something similar. After two weeks, they will have had time to learn our rules and adjust to them accordingly and after that, a note will be sent if your child moves their color throughout the day. I will explain the behavior system in more detail in a letter that will go home in a few weeks.

5. Homework & Reading Logs Our kindergartners will receive weekly homework sheets starting next week. Our homework activities reinforce concepts that the students have learned in class. The homework is not hard, but gets your child in a good habit of coming home from school and doing some school work. It also helps your child learn that school and home are not separate, but connected. Please get into the habit of helping your child with his/her homework each night. Homework sheets are due on Fridays (or the last day of the school week). A reading log is at the back of the daily folder. Please read with your child at least 4 times a week. Reading logs will be checked on Fridays. Failure to complete the reading log requirements will affect your child’s homework grade. Reading to your child is important for your child’s reading development and is a great way to spend quality time with your kindergartner. **I will try to put each week’s homework on my webpage. This way, you can print out a copy if something happens to the first one or if your child is absent when the homework is sent home.

6. Breakfast, Lunch, & Snacks Breakfast & Lunch If you would like your child to eat breakfast, please have him/her at school by 8:15 at the latest. For the first few days, the whole class will go together to learn the breakfast routine in the cafeteria. Students who have already eaten will just come along to see how things run in case they ever need to eat breakfast at school. After those first few days, the students will go in small groups. There are many staff members who will assist students in, and on their way to and from the cafeteria. We eat lunch at 10:35am and we always go and eat together as a class. The cost of breakfast is $1.25 and lunch costs $2.00. You can pay the cafeteria directly, or place money in the money envelope of your child’s folder and we will get it to the cafeteria. You can send in a lump sum to cover the cost of many lunches, or pay one day at a time. Snacks We will have a snack time each afternoon. Please send in a healthy snack for your child. No juice please! The students have access to a drinking fountain. Birthdays Birthdays are a special time for students. If you’d like to send in a birthday treat, please contact me so we can set up a date and time. We can also help you to discreetly get party invitations out to classmates if you wish

7. Daily Folder Please check your child’s folder daily. In the folder you will find work that your child has done during the day, important notes from the classroom or the school, and a calendar that will inform you of your child’s behavior for the day. Please initial the calendar square for the day so that I know that you have seen it. Sometimes your child may bring home work that is not complete and that is okay! If there is something that is very important that your child does not finish, we will keep that at school to finish at another time. Any work that is sent home is yours to keep! Please use the communication log in the folder to write any notes you have for us. Absences notes, transportation changes, etc. can be written on the log as well. Loose papers often fall out of the folder and then are not seen. We will check your child’s folder each morning and respond to any notes that you send us. There is also an envelope for money. Please write on the money envelope what the money is for. Please don’t send money in your child’s pocket. He/She may forget it is there, or forget what the money is for. We will initial your note when we receive the money. Again, please take time each evening to check and empty your child’s folder. This is our main way to communicate with you and we don’t want you or your child to miss out on something important because the folder was not checked. Thank you!

8. Arrival ***We are trying new arrival and dismissal procedures this year. Please be patient with us as we try to make arrival and dismissal safe and efficient for students and parents. For parents who drop off their student(s): You may start dropping off your child at 8:00am. The late bell rings, and class will promptly start at 8:30am. Parents, you will not be allowed to park by the flagpole and get out of your car to drop off your child. There will be one lane of traffic. Please drive up and allow a staff person to help your child out of the car and direct them to the building. If you need to come inside, please use the visitors’ parking lot. We encourage you to allow your child to walk down to the room independently. You can stand by the office and watch him/her walk in, but please try to have your child walk in without your help. If you wish to accompany your child to the classroom, you will have to stop in the office and receive a visitor’s pass. Bus riders will be guided to the classroom by staff members stationed throughout the building.

9. Dismissal Again for afternoon pick-up, there will be no parking by the flagpole and one lane of traffic for pick up. Any parents who need to enter the building after school for a meeting, etc. will have to park in the visitors’ parking lot. Afternoon announcements start at 3:20. Immediately following the announcements, kindergarten students will be dismissed. I will walk all the students to their dismissal places. First, the car riders will be dropped off with an instructional assistant in a K-1 line. The instructional assistant will help your child into the car. I will take each child who rides the bus (or a daycare bus) to the door of their bus and watch each child board. Bus riders will have tags attached to their book bag which states their name, address, and bus number. Please keep the tag on your child’s book bag. You need to write a note or call the office by 2:00 if there are any changes to the way your child is getting home. ***Please make sure that you have identification every time you pick up your child, especially during the first weeks of school. If the person dismissing your child doesn’t recognize you, he/she will be asking to see your ID. We just want to make sure that the right child goes home with the right adult. If you will be having someone else pick up your child, please remind that person to have their identification as well.