Beginning of the Year Letter

Dear Parent(s),          

We would like to welcome you and your child to kindergarten!!!   We are so excited to meet and get to know your youngster.   Kindergarten is such a fun and exciting year of school--We look forward to sharing the experience with your family!  We would like to touch base on a few things before the year begins.   Please know that we always welcome your questions and comments.   Feel free to contact Mrs. Jenison at school at 444-4300 ext 350, Mrs. Markwardt at ext. 375, and Miss Maas at ext. 362.   The extensions ring directly into our classrooms, so please limit such calls to before and after school hours (unless it is an emergency) so our instructional time is not interrupted.   Otherwise our secretary would be happy to connect you to our voice mail, and we can then return your call during a break in the day.   If you need to speak directly with one of us after school hours, you are welcome to contact us at home; however, we do ask that phone calls be made before 8:30 pm.  

Parent letters will be sent home on Fridays.   Depending on how busy our weekly schedules are, this may be each week or every other Friday.   Please make sure to look over the letters.   They will keep you posted on what is happening in our classrooms and will include some things you can be working on at home with your child.   For those families with internet access, newsletters and grades can be viewed online.   If you need more information on how to set up an account, feel free to contact the school.   Our secretary at Jacobson would be more than happy to help you. 

Each child will be given a “take home” folder.   This folder will be sent home each night.   Please empty it with your child.   This will provide an excellent opportunity for your child to tell you about his/her day and explain what we learned about in the classroom.   The folder should accompany your child back to school each day.             

Our classes will take a milk/snack break each afternoon.   A snack bin will be sent home on a class rotation.   Please refer to the student handbook if you have any questions regarding snacks.   Unfortunately, we cannot accept anything “homemade” and all snacks must meet certain nutritional guidelines or they will need to be returned home.   Snacks also need to be prepackaged.   A monthly snack bin “schedule” will be sent home, in an effort to give you adequate time to purchase snacks.   Please know that this “schedule” will not be written in stone and may need to be altered because of someone being absent, birthdays, etc.   On the average, each family will be responsible for sending treats once every 4 weeks.   And...we will have extra snacks in our classrooms in case someone forgets the bin at home!!!   Currently, we have 18 or 19 students in each of our classrooms; however, we ask that each family send 22 snacks in the bin in case we have visitors, a new student, etc.   Occasionally we will “clean out the kitchen cupboard” and have a left-over day.   The snack bin is not meant to be a financial burden to any family, so if you are unable to provide treats for our classroom, please contact us, and we will make other arrangements.          

Show-and-tell will be a part of our daily schedule.  Your child will have sharing the day they take the snack bin home.  Please limit the items your child brings in the snack bin to one or two things. Your child will need to be able to tell the class about what he/she brought, so please practice this skill with your child.

Book orders will be sent out once a month.   Please know that you do not have to order from these clubs.   However, they do provide an excellent opportunity to build a library at home relatively cheaply.   If you choose to order and pay by check, please be sure to make checks payable to Scholastic.             

We will attempt to schedule an occasional cooking activity in our classrooms. Each child will be assigned one item to bring for our activity.   The kids are always so eager and excited to participate when we cook--it truly is a special learning experience for us all.   Our creations (if edible) will then take the place of the snack bin for that day.          

Your child will be introduced to visual phonics this year.   Visual phonics is a program that combines hand signs with specific sounds; however, it is NOT sign language!!!   When working with visual phonics, it is important to remember that it is the SOUNDS in words that have a hand sign, not the LETTERS.   The program is of benefit to each child because it helps them to identify the various sounds within a word.   The kids are better able to learn and retain the material because of being able to see, hear, and utilize all components of the program.   We have been utterly amazed at its success!!!   We encourage you to have your youngster teach you the signs as he/she learns them.          

 Once we have become accustomed to our daily routine and have gotten to know each other better, your child will be assessed on such things as letter, sound and basic word recognition, as well as a variety of other reading skills.   The students will also be assessed using the MAP testing on the computer three times a year.  The MAP testing is a test that assesses language and math skills.

We will begin the school year by identifying letters and their sounds, numbers 1-12, and our names.   These are all things that can be reinforced at home as well. We do not teach the concept of how to tie shoes.   Please practice this skill at home with your child, as the teachers no longer help to tie shoes after our winter break.

We have a new math program that we will be using this year.  It is called Engage New York and all students Kindergarten Prep-6^th grade will be using it.  There is a homework element with this program.  Please make sure and check your child’s folder each night to see if there is a math homework sheet in it that needs to be completed and sent back to school.  We ask that you see this as an opportunity to help reinforce what is being taught in the classroom and show your support for your child’s education.   Another way parents can help their child’s progress in school is to read, read, READ with/to your child.   Research shows that children who are read to have a better success rate in the classroom environment.   As the school year progresses and we begin learning to read our kindergarten high-frequency words later in the year, your child will bring home baggie books and will begin reading to you as well.   This will be an exciting process for everyone.          

 We know this is a lot of information to absorb all at once!   The kindergarten staff looks forward to working with you and your child throughout the school year!  

 Mrs. Jenison, Ms. Markwardt, and Miss Maas