2010 – 2011
This week your child will complete one of the most important milestones in his/her life – the first day of school! I understand that you and your child may have met this day with excitement or apprehension (or a little of both) and I hope that this letter will help you to know what to expect in kindergarten this year and answer any questions you may have.
First I would like to introduce myself. My name is Mrs. Marea Dyson. I am beginning my 12th year as a kindergarten teacher. I graduated from Towson State University in May of 1983 with a bachelor degree in early childhood education, and from Salisbury University in May of 2007 with a master of education degree in educational technology.
I am looking forward to a working with your child this year and helping him/her to achieve his/her full potential. Through the remainder of this letter, I will share some of my beliefs and classroom policies.
School Attendance
Your child’s regular and prompt attendance at school is crucial to his/her success. I can’t emphasize this point enough!!! Most kindergarten learning activities are group oriented and involve interaction with classmates. Therefore, it is often difficult to make up work at home. Please view school as a priority, and see to it that your child attends every day except in cases of illness or emergency.
School Hours
Kindergarten students attend school from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Please do not bring your child to school any earlier than 8:30 a.m. as they are not permitted in the classroom before this time. If you are picking your child up early at the end of the day, you must first sign him/her out in the office. Someone from the office will then call your child to come to the office. This procedure is established for your child’s safety and is strictly enforced. Bus riders will be dismissed from the classroom as busses are called. Car riders are dismissed at approximately 3:15 and may be picked up at the car rider ramp.
Changes in Transportation
Any changes in dismissal MUST be sent to me or to the office in writing. Do not rely on your child to tell me this information because children often become confused and relay messages incorrectly. If no written note is received, your child will be sent home by his/her usual method of transportation.
Outdoor Recess and P.E.
The children will be going out for recess everyday unless it is raining or extremely cold. Please keep this is in mind when helping your child to select clothing and shoes for the day. We are fortunate to have a variety of playground equipment, including several pieces for climbing. Cowboy boots and little girl’s dress shoes are less than ideal if your child chooses to play on this equipment. Also, these shoes can tend to be slippery. Children will be required to wear sneakers on P.E. (gym) days. This year our P.E. days will be on D and F days. Please help your child to remember his sneakers on these days so they will not have to sit out during their P.E. class.
Monthly Newsletters
Each month I will send a newsletter home with information about upcoming events and activities and a list of skills your child will be learning that month. You can also access my newsletter on my website, www.kindergartenfun.info . Also coming home will be the Beaver Run Broadcaster. This will provide information that includes school-wide news.
Snacks
We will have a daily snack time for the children. It is a long day and they need the extra fuel to keep them going. This year we will receive fresh fruit and vegetables on Tuesdays through Thursday s. We will need snacks provided by parents for Mondays and Fridays. Please send in snacks whenever you are able. Some good snacks to send are cookies, crackers, pretzels, chips, cheese doodles, etc. We will also need napkins and paper plates for snack time throughout the year. Your contributions are greatly appreciated!
Birthdays
Birthdays are special occasions for young children. If your child wishes, he/she may bring treats for the class that we will share during our snack time (we are not permitted to have “birthday parties” in the classroom). Please send a note a day or two in advance, so I can give you an exact number of children in the class. Please do not send birthday party invitations to school unless the entire class has been invited. Although it may seem convenient to distribute invitations this way, it can result in hurt feelings for those not invited.
Discipline
Establishing good classroom discipline is essential to each child’s success, confidence and well-being. Every child should feel that the classroom environment is safe and secure; free from all threats of physical or emotional harm. In addition, it is important that each child learn to develop self-discipline and good work habits, to resolve conflicts peacefully, and to think independently.
The children and I will discuss the classroom rules and the reason for these rules. We will have a card system in place to give children a visual aid when they need to be reminded of their behavior. Each child will have a pocket on a chart with his/her name written on it. In their pocket will be three cards, one green, one yellow, and one red. If a child needs to be reminded to follow classroom rules he will receive two warnings. If the behavior continues, the green card will be removed from his pocket. Another reminder calls for the yellow card to be removed, and a brief time-out will be given along with a discussion of the offense. If poor behavior continues, the red card will be pulled and the student will have an extended time-out. It is understandable that some days we just feel off balance, however, if classroom rules are severely or persistently broken, parents will be contacted by note or by telephone and the behavior may result in the child’s visit to the principal’s office.
Your child will bring home a behavior calendar in his/her folder that indicates his behavior for the day (greenJ, yellow needs improvement, or redL). Please sign or initial the calendar block each day and return to school.
PBIS
Beaver Run Elementary has received Exemplar status as a PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) school from the state of Maryland. This is a school wide process that focuses on improving our school’s ability to teach and support positive behavior for all students. For more information please visit http://pbismaryland.org/ .
Mathematics
The kindergarten math program used in Wicomico County is the MACMILLAN/MCcGRAW-HILL mathematics program. This curriculum provides your child with opportunities to build mathematical concepts by manipulating objects through real life experiences. Mathematics is incorporated into many everyday classroom routines. Concepts that your child will be learning include counting, patterning, organizational skills such as sorting, classifying, and graphing, making comparisons, number concepts and beginning addition and subtraction. Also, your child will learn to write and recognize the numerals 0 to 31 and beyond. Concepts will be introduced in whole group and small group lessons. Students will apply and extend what has been introduced through independent and cooperative work within variety of classroom activities. After students have had ample opportunity to build a concept through manipulating objects, they will be encouraged to record their work by writing and drawing.
Language and Literacy
We will be using Houghton Mifflin Nation’s Choice reading series for kindergarten in Wicomico County. This is a wonderful reading series that focuses on phonics instruction. This program has several components designed to foster reading skills, develop an understanding of concepts of print, enhance the enjoyment of stories and other literature and nurture self-confidence. Additionally our classroom will be implementing components of the Daily Five literacy program, http://www.the2sisters.com/the_daily_5.htm . The Daily Five is a program structured to help students develop the daily habits of reading, writing and working with peers.
Writing is an important component to the language program. The children are provided the opportunity to express original ideas through drawing and writing. The children will be encouraged to do their own writing from the beginning and will progress through various stages of writing throughout the year from scribbles to random letters to eventually writing the letters that stand for the sounds they hear. The more they write, the better their writing and spelling becomes.
“Learning Centers” are another part of language instruction. The children will have the opportunity to choose from several different activities daily that enhance or provide practice in literacy development.
Finally, the children will complete a multitude of other activities that relate to the literature and cross over to other curriculum areas such as math, science, social studies, art, music and more!!! Our literature studies are complimented by a variety of great books, including many multicultural books that enable the children to learn about others all over the world. Many of these materials are a component of Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI), an additional literacy program that the Wicomico County Board of Education purchased for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms.
More Reading Activities
The children and I will be building a word wall this year. We will begin with the students’ names and gradually add the Houghton Mifflin sight words included in the reading themes throughout the year. Several times weekly we will work with our words using game-like activities designed to reinforce letter/sound and word recognition, sorting and classifying, identifying word patterns and more. The word wall will also serve as a resource for student writing as the year progresses. Throughout the year, your child will bring home sight word flashcards so that you can help him/her to reinforce our word wall words at home. Below is a list of the 18 sight words your child will be expected to read by the end of kindergarten:
| I | see | my | like | a | to |
| and | go | is | here | for | have |
| said | the | play | she | are | he |
Students will also be expected to learn to read color and number words zero to ten.
The End
In closing, I would just like to say that I am looking forward to a great year working with your child! I would also like to suggest that you save this letter for future reference.
Please take the time to visit my Kindergarten Website at:
http://www.kindergartenfun.info Here you will find many kindergarten resources for you and your child.