Each day your child will bring home a “Daily Folder”. In the left inside pocket you will find a weekly “What’s Up” schedule -- please leave this in the folder. This will give you a few highlights of what we are learning each day. It needs to be initialed after you have gone over that day’s work with your child and checked his/her day‘s “Behavior Bee” color, and then the folder should be returned to school the next day. This is simply a means of communication between teacher and parents, and also helps you to set aside a few minutes each day to sit with your child and talk about his/her very important school day. Please praise and encourage your child as you go over their “accomplishments” -- a little praise goes a long way with these little ones in building a positive attitude about school that they will carry with them in the years ahead.

Any work that needs to be completed and returned to school will come home in the left side pocket on top of the “What’s Up” schedule. Any communication from school will also come home in this pocket. Finished work or any other paper that needs to be returned to school should come back inside this folder on the right side. The right side of the folder will also hold our monthly calendar/snack list. If your child is absent, all missed work will come home in a “We Missed You” folder to be completed and returned to school.

In addition to the daily “What’s Up” schedule in your child’s Daily Folder, each Monday a weekly newsletter from the teacher will be sent home. This newsletter will be filled with important information about the upcoming week, past/future events and anything else that needs to be shared. I cannot stress to you enough the importance of taking time to read through the Monday letter -- this is one of our major ways of communicating what is happening to our parents!!!

Beginning the third full week of school, your child will have a small amount of “homework” each week. One or two "homework" pages and a Bible Memory Verse will go home stapled to each Monday newsletter and will be due the last school day of each week, usually on Friday. The homework page(s) will usually be an additional practice page for the letter or number skill that we are learning/reinforcing at the time. We will be learning and working on the Bible memory verse in class, but your child should practice it at home each and every day to further “hide it” in his/her heart. In addition to this, please, please, please make an effort to read to your child daily. Encourage them to point out letters/words that they recognize. You will be blessed as you watch them discover the wonder of the written word! In January, we will begin an at home reading incentive called “Nose in Book at Home.”

There are 3 main classroom expectations:

1) Honor Jesus with our words, attitudes, and actions

2) Respect and Obey all teachers, KW staff and adult helpers by listening, raising hand and following directions

3) Be Kind and Encouraging -- follow The Golden Rule…”Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

In order for me to be an effective teacher and for each student to be able to learn to their potential, it is essential that classroom behavior be acceptable and appropriate. As Kindergarteners, children are now beginning their school careers and they need to learn to become contributing members of their classroom and to work with others. In order to do this, they must learn to recognize and follow the rules, or accept the consequences of their actions.  Even at the young age of 5, children need to learn the importance of accepting responsibility for their actions. In our classroom we keep track of our behavior choices with a three colored bee hive.  Every child has a "bee" with his/her name on it.  At the beginning of each day, every child's bee will start out on the green section of the bee hive.

If a child makes an unacceptable behavior choice, he/she will be asked to move his/her bee ot the yellow section of the hive. In addition, he/she will be asked to go sit in the "Thinking Chair" for a short time out to think about his/her actions and decide what a better choice would be.

If the behavior improves, the "bee" can be moved back to the green section of the hive at the end of the day upon receiving the teacher's permission. If the child continues to make unacceptable behavior choices, then the child will be asked to move his/her bee to the red section of the hive and will go to the "Thinking Chair" again. A note will be sent home that night for the parent(s) to review, discuss with the child, and sign/return it to school the next day.

If the child continues to have difficulty with the same behavior choices, he/she will be sent ot visit with the principal.

Daily Behavior Report

Parents will have the opportunity to review their child's behavior on a daily basis by looking at the "Behavior Bee" on the What's Up page inside their child's Daily Folder. If the child's bee remained on green, he/she will color the "Behavior Bee" green at the end of the day. If the child's bee was moved to yellow, the bee will be colored yellow. IF the child's bee was moved to red, the bee will be colored red, and a behavior report form will be included for a parent to sign and return the next day. Parents are asked to initial and return the "What's Up" page every day in the Daily Folder.

In addition, as a positive reward for ending the day with a green bee, the child will earn a bee stamp/sticker form the teacher on a personal incentive chart taped to his/her desk. When the child earns 10 bee stamps/stickers, he/she will be able to choose a prize from the "Good Bee-Havior Basket!"

Each day is a "new beginning!"  Positive praise and encouragement will be given out liberally to reward good behavior choices throughout the day.

Kindergarten bodies are growing bodies and need lots of “fuel!” Each day we will have a mid-morning snack. We do ask that each family provide a snack for the entire class on a rotating basis. We will use a classroom “SNACK BUCKET”… on the day before your child’s scheduled day to bring snack, he/she will bring home the Snack Bucket. Your child will bring back the bucket the next morning with the snack that you are providing. Please send a healthy snack…pretzels, cheese, crackers, grapes, etc. We do ask that if any preparation is needed that it be done before sending it (i.e., cheese cut into chunks or grapes cut into clusters and placed in baggies). Also, please do NOT send drinks. The children can get drinks from their water bottles* as needed. (*Each child should bring a water bottle that will be kept in his/her cubbie -- please have name clearly marked on it.)

If your child has any special dietary needs or food allergies, please let me know immediately.

Children should not arrive before 8:00 a.m. (class begins at 8:15 a.m.), and they should be picked up at 2:50 p.m. Any student not picked up by 3:00 will be taken to the office where he/she will remain until being picked up. If you are not able to manage these times, you will need to arrange for before and/or after school care.

LUNCH PROCEDURE 

All children will go out for recess unless they have a written note from home. Please make sure your child is prepared for outside play each day. Recess is always outside except if it is raining hard or too wet -- then we will be in the gym or classroom.

Please keep your child home if he/she has a fever and/or has an illness that might be contagious. These are things that we don’t want to “share” in Kindergarten!

The extra set of clothes requested on your supply list is an important item. We do not have a bathroom in our classroom, and sometimes Kindergarteners get so wrapped up in what they are doing that they forget to allow time for important bodily functions. Thus the need for an extra set of clothes…just in case! Any soiled clothing will come home that day. Please send another “extra set” back with your child the very next school day.

Please have children leave their toys at home. As they can become a distraction and have the potential to become lost/broken, school is not the place for them. If they forget, the teacher will keep the toy for the day and give it to the parent at pick-up time. Thank you for your understanding.

Birthdays are a celebration of God’s gift of life, and are very important to celebrate with each other! In Kindergarten, we will celebrate birthdays by each child having the opportunity to be celebrated as the “Blessing of the Week” during the week their birthday falls in. For those who have birthdays that occur during holidays, we will celebrate the week after the holiday. If your child has a summer birthday, a week will be identified as their celebration week towards the end of school. I will send home a blank poster board and weekly event reminder the week before it is you child's "Blessing Week." 

Christian character is an important part of training at King’s West, and will be celebrated in an Awards Chapel each quarter. Each student will receive an award within the school year. You will be notified in advance when your child will be receiving an award in hopes that you will be able to attend and “celebrate” your child with us.

The Giving Tree is essentially a classroom “Wish List.” Throughout the year we have special projects or activities that require a variety of small items. If you would like to donate an item on the tree, please remove the tag (take it home as a reminder!), purchase the item and return it to the classroom.