From the Desk of

From the Desk of:

Mrs. Hustad

Dear Parents/Guardians:

I am looking forward to working with your child this year in Kindergarten. I have many fun and exciting learning activities planned. Please take some time to review the following procedures and discuss them with your child.

Discipline Procedures:

During the first few days of school, we will establish some rules for our classroom to follow this year. I am held accountable for the education of each child in my class, therefore your child will be expected to behave and comply with the rules. I will be using a behavior management chart to monitor your child's behavior daily. The chart has four colors-blue, green, yellow and red. Each child begins the day on blue. If the child must be warned about the rules during the day, his/her color is changed to green. If your child continues to disobey the rules, the color is changed to yellow, and the child will have time-out for five to seven minutes, depending upon his/her age. If the child continues to disobey after time-out, the color is changed to red and a behavior note will be sent home for you to read, sign, and return the following day. Your child will also miss his/her outside playtime, or he/she will have quiet lunch, which means no talking during lunch. Please check Behavior Management to see the class rules.

Money Matters:

To help with the "Monday Morning Money Matters" please send the correct amount of money for the week in an envelop labeled with the following information:

1. Teacher's name

2. Child's name

3. Lunch number

4. Amount enclosed

5. Purpose of the money (lunch, book order, field trip)

6. ALL CHECKS MUST BE MADE PAYABLE TO: STONEWALL JACKSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Lunch prices will be in your child's folder the first day of school. Please stress to your child the importance of keeping the envelope sealed until it is given to the teacher. Please do not let your child bring money to school that is not needed. Small children tend to loose or give their money to their friends. We strongly discourage the purchase of extra drink or extra food at lunch. Kindergarten children have such small appetites, that if they buy extra food, most of their regular lunch is wasted. This is also a waste of your money, because the food usually ends up in the trash can. Another reason this practice is discouraged is that little children do not understand why they can not have extra food when they see their friends buying extra food. Buying ice cream on Fridays creates these problems, but we do not discourage Friday ice cream.

Book Orders:

Each month your child will bring home an order form for books published by Scholastic. If you are interested in buying books, please send the order form and the money to school in an envelope within one week of receiving the order form. Purchasing books through the book club is an excellent way to provide quality literature for your child at an inexpensive price. Please follow the money procedure remembering to include the order form in the envelop. Remember checks must be made payable to: Stonewall Jackson Elementary School

Morning and Afternoon Procedures:

There are times during the year when I will not be in the classroom between 8:00-8:20 A.M. because of early morning bus duty or other meetings. If your child needs to come to school before 8:20 A. M., please take your child to the gymnasium or to the cafeteria for breakfast. Children are not to be in the classrooms unsupervised. All children will enter the school through the central door at the back of the building. Upon entering, children will either go to breakfast or they will go to the gymnasium for study hall until 8:20 a.m.

As Dr. Brittle has explained in the letter sent home on the first day of school, dismissal will be from the same central door children use to enter the building in the mornings. More information will be in this letter by Friday, August 18, 2006.

Mid-Morning Snack:

Mid-morning snack will be healthy snacks of vegetables, already prepared fruit, or crackers. Drinks will be juice boxes or bottled water only. No snacks will be kept in the classroom over night. Thank you for your cooperation in preparing snacks for your child this year.

Class Folders:

Your child will bring a class folder home each night. Please notice on the left side of the folder your child's class schedule. It is very important that your child wear the appropriate shoes on the days he/she has physical education. You will receive an notice from the physical education teacher as to the proper shoes to be worn. The left side of the folder will contain work completed at school during the day. Please take time in the evening to review this work with your child. When you take the time to go over your child's work, you are sending a positive message to your child that school is important. You will also have an opportunity to talk to your child about his/her school day. The right side of the folder will contain your child's homework for the evening. There will never be more than two pages of homework a night. As you help your child complete the handwriting homework, please take the time to read to your child how each letter is to be formed, and see that your child tries to form the letters correctly. Writing the letters within the predefined lines is important, but not so much at the beginning of the year. The correct formation of the letters is more important than staying within the lines. Math homework reviews the concept introduced at school. Please be sure your child completes the front and back of this page, and brings it back to school the following day.

Parent Volunteers:

Parents are always welcome in my classroom. Because my classroom is combined with two other classrooms, we are always in need of parent volunteers. Parents are needed to help during Center Time. Parents are used to help children complete activities which revolve around the "letter of the week". Other parents are used to help children in the Listening Center as they listen to books and tapes. Still other parents are needed to listen to children read word list or decodable readers. I urge you to become a part of your child's Kindergarten experience by volunteering at least one day a week. A sign up sheet will come home in your child's folder during the first or second week of school.

I look forward to a good year helping your child get ready for the first grade. I hope this will be a fun and enjoyable experience for your child. Please feel free to come by or call if you have any questions or concerns during the year.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hustad