Mrs' Potters Kindergarten Classroom Informational Handbook School Year 20082009

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Mrs. PottersKindergarten ClassroomInformationa
l HandbookSchool Year 2008-2009
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I hear and I forget I see and I remember I do
and I understand
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Dear Parents, Kindergarten is a special year in
your childs life. You have been your childs
first teacher. We are ready to share that
responsibility. You know your child better than
we ever will. So, please feel free to talk with
us at anytime.
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Children learn through play. We will provide a
variety of learning experiences based on research
and accepted practices, along with the North
Carolina Standard Course of Study for
Kindergarten. Your child will learn concepts
through integrated activities in large groups,
small groups, one on one, and independent
practice.
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Kindergarten children enter school at very
different stages of growth. Each child will learn
different things from the same activity,
depending on their stage of development. We are
not challenged to make each child the same, but
to help each child reach their own potential. To
help in this task, avoid comparing your child to
classmates and be patient and encouraging..
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• Helpful Hints
• Establish a pleasant morning routine.
• Send all messages to school by note.
• Keep us informed to changes in address or
  telephone numbers.

• Check book bags and folders each evening.
• Get involved in your childs classroom
• and school.
• READ! READ! READ!

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The First Day of School Be sure that your
child Gets plenty of sleep Gets up early and
does not have to rush Wears comfortable clothes
and shoes Has all personal items labeled with
first and last name
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Parent Teacher Conferences and Report Cards We
will have conferences the 1st 9 weeks and the
last 9 weeks. More if needed. You will receive a
progress report for the first 4 weeks, first 9
weeks and first 13 weeks. We do not send report
cards for Kindergarten until week 18. I will be
contacting you in September to set up a
conference. If you have concerns before then,
please let me know.
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Money! Money! Money!
Please send money in a sealed envelope.
Lunch money needs to be labeled with your childs
first and last name, lunch number and my name.
I will provide pre-labeled envelopes for field
trips or any money requested by us.
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Medication If your child takes a prescription
medication or uses an inhaler, it can only be
administered through the office. There are forms
for you and your doctor to fill out if your child
needs medicine during the school day. Please let
me know if you need this form and I will send you
one.
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Change of Clothes
Please be sure that your child brings to school a
change of clothes their first day, that we can
keep here for emergencies. We will place these in
their cubbies box. When an accident occurs, we
will send the dirty ones home in a bag, and need
for you to send new spares the next day.
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Snack Time
Snack is now provided FREE to all Kindergarten
Children.
Using the Federally funded breakfast program, we
will be serving the same food offered at
breakfast, but will eat it for snack.
Our class will go to SNACK at 910am each morning.
Therefore, do not take your child through the
breakfast line. They will have to eat breakfast
at home if they wish.
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Birthdays!!! Birthdays are exciting and fun! We
will celebrate each childs birthday in a special
way. I have a special hat for them to wear, we
will sing to them and they will get a prize from
the prize box. We cannot have birthday parties
at school, but if you wish, you can purchase
cupcakes or cookies through the cafeteria as a
treat to have at lunch. Please contact the
cafeteria at least 3 weeks in advance
to order.
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Volunteers in my Classroom
We are always happy to have parents become
actively involved in our school activities. We
welcome help in our classroom at anytime. In
addition to volunteering in the room, I will at
times have games and things that need to be
colored, cut out, glued, etc. that I could send
home to be done. Another way to volunteer will
be to send specific things that we need in class
for projects. I will be handing out a Volunteer
sheet for you to fill out and return to
school. Our PTO and school will also be asking
for volunteers to help with projects and special
events throughout the year.
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Field Trips
We have scheduled 4 trips for this year.

• Baa Moo Farms to visit farm animals, get
  pumpkins and see how a real commercial farm
  operates
• Charlottes Web a great play at LR in the
  Spring
• Lazy 5 Ranch to see exotic and safari animals
• Catawba Science Center feature attraction is
  Swamp Things creatures that live in Swamps,
  along with the Aquarium, and other great activity
  rooms in the center.

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Parents may accompany us on field trips, but have
to drive their own cars. Parents can no longer go
on the bus with us. You can meet here at the
school and carpool together with others if you
wish. Field trip dates and cost for children and
adults will be in your folder today. You may pay
for all the trips at one time, or
individually. We will send a reminder of the trip
with an envelope several weeks before the trip is
to occur, if you wish to pay for them
individually. Lunches can also be ordered from
the cafeteria for both children and adults. We
will send menu and price list out several weeks
ahead as well.
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T-Shirts
You may purchase a Maiden Elementary Kindergarten
T-shirt for your child to wear on field trips,
the Walk and for Field Day. Order forms
will be in your folder to take home. Adult shirts
are also offered if you wish to purchase one for
yourself. Our field trip shirts will be dark
blue. I will keep these at school and the
children will change into them before we leave
for the trips. I will then take them off before
they go home, wash them and store them for the
next one. This way we are sure that they will
have their shirts on the day of the trip. These
will be given to you after the last trip for the
year.
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Daily Agendas
PTO has provided each child with an Agenda. Our
Agendas have a week on 1 spread. Happenings for
the week will be noted in the Agenda, along with
the Block Rotation for each day. Notes will also
be there letting you know about due dates for
forms, money, or materials. Please feel free to
use this to write notes to me concerning absences
or general information. If there is any behavior
to be noted it will be on the day as
well. Please check the Agenda each evening and
initial to let me know that you have seen the
messages.
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Homework
Yes, there is homework in Kindergarten.
For the most part, having a book read to them or
reading a book to you (later on) each night will
be homework for your kindergarten child.
Each child is different and learns with different
styles and at different rates. I try to tailor
learning to fit the child.
Your child may also bring home gumball letters,
words or numbers to use in playing learning games
and practice at night.
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Behavior Plan
My philosophy is simple. Kids will be kids.
However, kids still need to be kind to each
other, listen when others are speaking, learn to
take turns in everything we do, follow classroom
and school rules. We are all entitled to
melt-downs at certain times. For these
occasions, we change colors on a wheel.
Everyone starts in green and can redeem
themselves if they move to yellow or to red
during the day.
We like to reward the good behavior instead of
dwelling on odd behavior that needs work. For
this the children get coins all during the day
for different things Good manners, being a good
friend, helping someone, taking turns, raising
hands, being focused, etc. These collect and the
child get to turn them in on Fridays for things
in our Treasure Box.
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Cowgirl and Cowboy of the Week
Each child will have the opportunity to be the
Cowgirl or Cowboy of the Week. These will be
selected at random and no child will do it twice.
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When it is your childs time, they will bring
home Pal the Pony in a red bandana bag on
Friday afternoon to spend the weekend at your
house.
Inside the bag will be the book Pal the Pony,
along with another book Horses, that you will
read to your child over the weekend. There is
also a Journal in the bag. At sometime during the
weekend, work with your child to write a journal
entry about their weekend with Pal. Instructions
will be on the journal. Each week as Pal visits
all our homes, we read his adventures to the
class on Monday morning.
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Along with all these things, there is a poster.
Help your child to color and create the poster
that tells all of us about them. I will take a
picture of your child and place in the poster and
it will be on display in the hallway for the
entire week. On Friday afternoon we will send it
home.
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Reading Calendars
Each child is given a calendar for the upcoming
month at the end of the prior month. Please keep
up with these calendars. You simply write the
time that the child has spent being read to or
reading to someone else. Kindergarten goal is for
300 minutes each month. Months with holidays will
be adjusted.
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Scrapbooks
Throughout the year I take pictures of the
children during class, recess and on field trips.
These pictures are gathered together into a
scrapbook and given to each child on the last day
of school.
To help with the expenses I ask that each child
donate 5.00 toward picture development,
scrapbook paper, stickers, and the books.
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Our Daily Schedule
From the time your child enters the classroom at
745 we begin learning.
A complete schedule is available on my website
and outside our door.
If you would like a printed copy, just let me
know.
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Classroom Happenings!
Special events or projects that we do in class
will be noted on monthly newsletters and with
handouts before the events.
These include A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,
Gingerbread Village, Christmas Performance,
Sledding, etc.
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Welcome to class!
Please feel free to come to class with your child
however, your child will have to do the
unpacking. Over time, your child will need to
gain the independence to come on their own.
However, this does not mean that if you need to
see me, or bring something to school that you
cant come. Please do.
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Please call or send a note if you ever have any
questions for myself or anyone at the school.
Mrs. Potter