KT September Newsletter

Welcome to Mrs. Tewitz’s Kindergarten Class!

Welcome to Kindergarten at Robina Baker School! I am excited to be your child’s teacher and look forward to getting to know you over the 2011-2012 school year. This letter is to inform you of some very important routines/activities occurring throughout the year. I hope this will help you to know what to expect in kindergarten this year and answer any questions you may have.

School Hours
KT’s full day kindergarten students attend school from 8:35 a.m. to 3:06 p.m. on select Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. A calendar is attached for your convenience.

When your child arrives at school, he/she should remove their outdoor footwear and line up in the main foyer of the school in front of the office. When the bell rings, I will greet the children and walk them up to the classroom. At dismissal, I will bring the children downstairs to meet you in the foyer or walk them to the bus.

Supplies
Your child will need a pair of indoor shoes (runners) to be left at school and a backpack to be used for carrying their lunch and book bag between school and home.
Please do not send in notebooks, pencils, scissors, crayons, etc. We have all the supplies we need in the classroom.

Lunch/Snacks
Your child will be eating their lunch at school. Please send a nutritious lunch and enough for morning/afternoon snacks as well. We will be discussing healthy eating during the month of September and encourage you to work with your child in packing a healthy lunch/snack. Candy is not acceptable. The snacks should be something that can be eaten in about 10 minutes. There is no access to a microwave.

Mailboxes
Each student will have a mailbox assigned to him/her. Home reading book bags will be placed in their mailbox each day as well as any other information that needs your attention. Mail from the school/classroom will be placed in the purple/teal home reading bag that needs to be returned to school everyday. Any notes from home can be placed in that bag and returned to the school as the students will routinely take this from their backpack and place it in a special basket outside the classroom.

Home Reading
We will begin our Home Reading program on your child’s first day of school. Your child will choose a book from the classroom library every day. It will come home in the Home Reading mailbag. Please read the book to your child and sign your name. Return the bag to school the next day so that your child may choose a new book.

Library
KT has a library period on Thursday. Your child can borrow 1 book for the week to share with you at home. Library books must be returned by the following Thursday in order to be able to borrow new books. There will be a bin placed in the class for the library books that are returned.

Parent Volunteers
Throughout the school year there will be a variety of special classroom activities and celebrations. I encourage you to attend these functions when possible.

You are more than welcome to volunteer in our classroom as well. There will be a calendar posted at your child’s boot rack in the school entrance so please sign up for a day if you are willing and available.

Show and Tell
Our Show and Tell program will take different formats throughout the year. We will begin our first program on Tuesday, September 13th. It is called “Special Student of the Day”. Each day I will choose one student to be the “Special Student”. We will ask the student different questions such as: What is your favorite colour, food, game, etc? This will help us get to know each child better. After each child has had an opportunity to be the special student, we will begin a different format for Show and Tell.

‘Kinder’ Coordinator
I need one kind and willing parent to help me out by coordinating some parent help for any special occasion/parties and being the first phone call for KT’s fan-out phone plan. This is not a demanding position but it does help me out immensely. Duties would involve phoning parents to bring snacks for parties and initiating the fan-out phone plan in case of emergency. If you are willing, please let me know. As well as the Kinder-coordinator, I need 2 other parents to be initial contacts of the fan-out phone system.

ABC…I Can Read Collections Box
As we learn a new letter each week students will make a letter mini-book. With its repetitive nature and accompanying pictures students begin the elementary steps to reading. We will be creating a special box to contain these mini-books as well as other booklets we will make over the course of the year. I am asking each student to bring a shoebox to school within the first 2 weeks as we will be decorating these collections boxes at the end of September. The ABC…I Can Read Collections boxes will be sent home in October and will be a perfect place to hold the treasured booklets your child has practiced reading.

Birthdays
Birthdays are special occasions for young children. If your child wishes, he/she may bring treats for the class on his/her birthday or the next closest school day. Please send a note a day or two in advance, so I can give you an exact number of children in the class and set aside some class time for the party. 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.

Money
On occasion it will be necessary for your child to bring money to school. Always send money in a sealed “Robina Baker School Envelope” which will be sent home with any order form.
This will be a wonderful year! Throughout the year I will communicate with you through notes, telephone calls, monthly newsletters, report cards and parent-teacher conferences. If you have any questions/concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at the school at 780 987 3705, send me a note or email me at angela.tewitz@blackgold.ca

Sincerely,

Mrs. Angela Tewitz