Jen's Notebook

Students get home from school in a variety of ways everyday and everyone involved in your childs education is working hard to make sure all 500 of the kids in the school get where they need to be each day when that final bell rings. There are ways you can help us out to ensure your child is going to the right place with the right person.

• Make sure you know the bus route and times of the bus your child will be riding on.
• If your child walks home, please make sure the office and their teacher know who they are to walk home with each day and where they are going.
• If you are planning to pick your child up each day make sure the office and teacher knows who will be picking them up.

That said, let’s talk about changes! And changes happen! Sometimes they are because of emergencies, other times because of a change in work or babysitter and more often than you think they are because someone is running late or there is some type of situation keeping you from getting to the school on time. Here are a few pointers to hopefully help everyone out in these situations.

• Make sure you have filled out all the emergency forms with the school and have at least 3 people on the list that can pick your child up if you can’t make it.
• If you have a change in bus drop off spots or the person who will be picking up your child please call the office or send a note with your child. I am not going to let your child leave with anyone who is not on that emergency list unless you have let me know beforehand.
• If you have someone that is not allowed to pick up your child from school because of a legal issue, please know that you are going to have to give the school legal documentation to keep that person away.
• Please try to make sure that anyone coming to pick your child up last minute is someone they know. There is nothing scarier to a kinder than to have a friend of a friend have to pick them up (although we do understand emergencies do happen and this is going to come up once in a while).

Finally, when if you are going to pick your child up each day please remember:

• There are about 500 students and adults outside an elementary school walking around when school is dismissed. Please be careful backing up or moving around in your vehicle. Little children do not always pay attention to what you are doing; they are solely focused on their friends.
• If you are going to wait in the car for your child, please make sure you get out of the car as they approach and supervise them getting into the vehicle.
• Never allow your child to walk in the parking lot alone. It is worth the few minutes to get out of the car and walk them to and from the school.

Safety is always our goal when getting kids to and from school and the more you and your child can help us the better! Have a great day!!!

I  love open house. I loved it when my kids were little and I got to go to school and look around their new classrooms together, met their new teacher and saw the excitement in their eyes as they readied themselves for a new adventure. Now, as a teacher, I still love open house. I love getting to meet my students and their parents for the first time, and watching them look around in wonder at all the new things in the classroom. But I think my favorite thing as a teacher when it comes to open house, is knowing that I am able to help squash a few of those first day jitters down before school even starts. Here are a few things that might help you with open house.

• If it is at all possible please try to go to your child’s open house or send them with a family member such as a grandparent, if you cannot make it.
• Make sure you check for the date of open house early in August. Every school does open house different. I have worked at schools that had open house three weeks after school started and schools who had open house the week before school began.
• Remember, open house is a meet and greet activity. Please don’t ask your teacher how your child is doing in class or about their behavior. If you have questions concerning your child’s learning or behavior please call the school and make an appointment for a meeting with your teacher.
• Make sure you check out the library, gym, music room, office and playground while you are at open house as well.
• If your child has a good friend that is also coming to the same school in the fall, come to open house together. It really breaks the ice when the kids can go around the school together and look around.

Most importantly, enjoy your evening at school. Look for fun things and make good memories about coming to meet your teacher for the first time.

Both school offices and student classroom teachers tend to send home newsletters during the school year. These are great ways to stay updated. Make sure you know what day of the week these come home on and how often to expect them, so you can check your child’s backpack . Also, always feel free to call the office or teacher if you have questions about the newsletter or upcoming events at school. We love helping our parents out and it’s a great way to maintain that important teacher/parent connection.

Gone are the days of coming to kindergarten knowing how to count to 10 and leaving knowing your numbers to 20 and how to make a pattern. CCSS now requires kindergarten students to learn a multitude of different math concepts including but not limited to adding, subtracting, knowing the difference between 2D and 3D shapes and how to skip count by 10’s. That being said please don’t panic. These are all things your child will need to know by the end of kindergarten. So what can you do to help?

• Check your child’s backpack daily for worksheets and math ideas they are working on in class. Make sure you discuss the concept with your child. Have them show you what they did in math that day in school.
• Get a copy of the CCSS standards for parents from your teacher or on-line. That way you will not be surprised by how much is expected of your child throughout the school year.
• Count, count, count and then count some more. The more experiences your child has with counting items the better they are going to understand the concept and then be able to build on what they know during the school year.
• Practice skip counting by 10’s at home. Skip counting orally takes lots of practice. If you practice at home also, it will help.
• Have your child help you when you are using measuring cups, measuring spoons, tape measurers, counting out money, telling time, etc. Anytime you are doing something with math, mention it to them. A lot of the skills take time and a lot of exposure to finally understand. The more your child sees the concepts the better.
• Most importantly be excited about math. A lot of us are afraid of math and think we don’t understand it. That attitude rubs off on our kids. If you seem excited about math your child will think it is an easy thing to learn, and be excited too!

Library is a fun experience for kids. For most students it is the very first time they get to check out a book and take it home to read. But with that checkout comes lots of first time responsibility. They have to get it home, keep it away from littler siblings, and get it back. As a teacher, I love that they are learning this responsibility but I also fret a lot about library time because it often becomes a very stressful class for some students. Here are a couple of ways you can help your child lessen their worries when it comes to library.

• Make sure you know which day during the week your child has library checkout.
• Keep the library book in their backpack unless they are reading it. That will insure they have it on library day for checkout time.
• Ask the teacher if they have place to store the book in the classroom if your child returns it a few days earlier than the next library day. I have a basket in my room they can keep their library books in or I let them keep them in their cubbies.
• If your child accidentally loses the book. Let us know. We can look for it in school, check buses, etc. If it can’t be found, you can pay for the book so your child can check out again.
• If the book is damaged, please return it and let us know. Our Librarians are wonderful at fixing books. Accidents happen, and I want the students to know we will work it out.
• Some schools only allow children to check out books within their reading levels while others allow students to check out a topic or book that interest them. Find out how your school library decides what can be checkout so you can talk to your child about their choices of books.

Lastly, enjoy these borrowed books with your child. Building a love of life long reading is very important to all child’s future and it can be a really fun activity to do together each week.

Life today is so very, very busy. And I know parents have so much on their minds. But if any of your information changes such as phone numbers, address, emergency contacts, please don’t forget to let us know. There is nothing worse for a small child than to be sick and our office isn’t able to get ahold of anyone to come and pick them up. You can always call the office, e-mail or call me or just send a note with your child in the morning to school and I will make sure the office gets the information. We really appreciate you keeping us updated. Have a wonderful Tuesday evening.

Classrooms usually have two temperatures, really hot or really cold! Either the air-conditioner is running or it is winter outside and the heat is cranked up . Add to that the fact that we are not in control of the thermostat in the room and you end up with temps that are all over the map. I actually have to laugh because there is never an in-between temperature in the room for some unknown reason. If you can make sure that your child keeps a light jacket, sweater or sweatshirt with them everyday throughout the school year In their backpack, they will be able to ward off a chill in the winter or when the air conditioner is blowing full blast down on them from the ceiling vents. Remember it is never fun to be cold while at school and it makes it really hard to learn when all you can think about is the cold.

When a kindergarten teacher told me years ago that my child needed to learn to be more independent, I just couldn’t believe it! I mean, what was she thinking. He was only 5! I tried my best to keep smiling and go along, helping him to learn the skills she said he was lacking in and got through the year. Five years later I became a kindergarten teacher and a realization of what she was saying hit me full force. They do need to have a level of independence before they come to school to make life at school a go a little bit smoother.

So, let me start this by saying the best independence you can teach your child before school starts is to be able to take care of their own clothing and hygiene issues.

With clothing being able to zip their coats and pants, tie their shoes and put their sweater or sweatshirt on correctly will be a wonderful gift for your child and their classroom teacher. It’s not that your child’s teacher doesn’t want to help your child, it’s that they usually have 25 to 30 five year olds in the room at one time and we can’t possibly get to all of their coats and shoes before every recess or end of the day. This will get them out the door quicker and cut down on stress if you have a teacher that is running short on time.

The second thing you can help your child to learn is how and when to wash their hands. We use only soap and water in my school (no sanitizers are allowed). Knowing that they need to wash their hands before lunch and after they are in the bathroom at any time will help you to cut down on germs.

Other quick tips include teaching them to: Cough into their elbow instead of their hands; don’t touch tissues or old paper towels. And definitely if it is wet and not yours, don’t touch it at all.

It is kindergarten, children will sometimes get sick, or have accidents in the classroom. We always move quickly to keep all kids away from anything like that, but a sneeze towards a book or table can mean germs as well. I tell my students it is better to let me wash the book or table than to have to have a cold and miss school!

With all that said, my thinking has changed and I too now ask parents to help their children have a little bit of independence before they start school each year.

Kids coming into kindergarten love the idea of homework. They have seen their older siblings, friends, daycare kids, etc. doing their homework and can’t wait to have homework also. Our parents are often shocked that we have homework in kindergarten. Every teacher will have a different homework plan and reasons why they send homework. There are three things I like for parents to know about my homework system before their child begins the school year.

What type of homework is sent home- Every teacher, school and district is going to have their own ideas on what and why your child has homework. Most schools will expect your child to also be reading at least 15 to 20 minutes every evening. An example from my classroom would be: Reading every night for 20 minutes, a monthly homework packet that includes a 10 minute activity to do 4 nights a week and a story retell every weekend. Make sure you understand what your child needs to accomplish at home.

When is homework due- Know when things are due back. Most teachers in kindergarten assign homework for extra practice and responsibility. I try very hard to make sure my students know, returning homework is their responsibility. I want them to take ownership in their work and be proud of themselves when they turn it in. But bottom line is I rely on my students wonderful parents to make sure that homework is in the backpack each week.

Does the homework count towards a grade- In my room homework is meant strictly as extra practice but that is not always the case. Make sure you check to see if your child’s homework counts towards their grade in class so you can be sure it is turned in on time.

I know we are all busy and have lots to do, but spending that 15 minutes a day, helping your child do homework can be a fun experience. Enjoy your time together!

Kids love P.E. and their P.E. teacher. My students can’t wait until P.E. day each week. Make sure you check with your child’s kindergarten teacher to find out what days your child will be going to P.E. Please make sure your child wears tennis or running shoes on those days as well as clothes that are appropriate to run and play in. It is almost impossible for a student to enjoy P.E. when they are wearing flip-flops or sandals. And you definitely don’t want your child to get accidently hurt because their shoes were not appropriate for the activity their P.E. teacher had planned for the day.

P.E. is an important part of your child’s learning at school both physically and socially. Enjoy!!!