Jen's Notebook

Please make sure your child gets plenty of rest. I know that in our crazy, hectic world it is often hard to make sure everyone in the family goes to bed on time each evening. And children are often tired at school due to work and daycare schedules or special events the night before. Occasionally a little less sleep is not going to hurt their education, but not getting enough rest night after night makes for tired kindergarteners. And tired kindergarteners have no interest in learning or socializing with their peers.  Remember setting that all important bedtime and sticking to it as often as possible will be a wonderful gift to your child and their education.

A school year! It is really hard sometimes to imagine how much a 5 year old grows in just 9 months of kindergarten but they do. I find myself telling parents not to worry or let’s see how it goes for a couple of months and then look at things again. This is especially true when it come to the CCSS standards. Often parents look at those standards and their immediate reaction is, “Oh No!! My child can’t do that!!!!” So this is my please don’t panic entry!!!

• Your child’s teacher is going to assess your child and then add to the knowledge they are coming in with.
• The CCSS or standards are what we want a child to accomplish by the end of their kindergarten year, not come to the first day of school with.
• If your child is behind and continues to stay behind, we will be discussing it with you and coming up with alternative teaching styles, ideas, curriculums, etc… Schools have a wide variety of resources we can pull from to help.
• Remember some children are slow starters! It often seems that in January a little lightbulb goes off and they know, “That’s what you are talking about! Or that’s why I come to school!!”
• Kindergarten is a huge growth year for children both educationally and socially! It is a hard transition from pre-school to kinder! Give them a little bit of time to adapt!
• Remember that kindergarten today is not what kindergarten was 10 years or longer ago. We now expect kindergarteners to leave us reading, adding, subtracting and doing all kinds of other skills that were not expected in the past.
• We need your help! Please help by making sure homework is completed and turned in, that your child comes to school regularly and on time, and that you emphasize to your child how important their education and working hard is to their future.
• Lastly, remember these 9 months are a huge learning time for your child! But we are going to take it one step at a time!

The most important thing I would like you to know is please be an advocate for your child throughout the school year! We both want the same thing! Success for your child in their first school setting. We need to all be involved in order for that to happen.

Wet and/or dirty clothes can be extremely uncomfortable. If your child has an accident at school, these extra clothes will allow your child to clean up and change without having to wait for someone to come to school and get them. With busy schedules of work and errands we often have a hard time getting in touch with someone who can come to school in a moment’s notice. For those reasons we ask parents to please consider putting an extra set of clothes into their child’s backpack. A couple of pointers on extra clothes:

• Put the clothes into a grocery bag, push it into the bottom of the backpack, and leave it there until needed.
• Remind your child that these are for emergencies and not to be taken in and out of the backpack. We don’t want your extra clothes lost.
• Check the clothes sizes at winter and spring break. Kindergarteners grow really fast and the clothes may need to be changed out for bigger sizes.
• If your child does have an accident at school, please don’t worry. Accidents happen, especially when kids are at recess and don’t want to miss out on the fun. It’s no big deal; we will simply talk about a different choice next time they need to use the restroom. Kids are learning!!!
• Some schools (like mine) will call you to let you know your child had an accident, but all schools may not. Check with your school office to find out their policies on phone calls home for wet and/or dirty clothes.
• Finally, please remind your child to let you know if they used their extra clothes so you can replace the dirty ones.

Have a wonderful Friday!!!

Weather and recess are not always a great mix. When school starts in the early fall or ends in the late spring the weather is usually unpredictable. It is hot, than cold, than hot again the next day. When you add air-conditioning and heating systems and the placement of vents over certain tables or areas of the classroom to the outside weather, you’ll find kids changing between being hot or cold several times during the school day. Here are some quick suggestions to help your child out while they are at school during the day:

• Always keep an extra sweater or sweatshirt in their backpack. These are often used by my kids in the fall and spring when we have rain showers or storms that cool the air down. Or because the air-conditioner is making the room to chilly in the afternoon.
• Make sure their shoes are appropriate for the precipitation (tennis shoes and snow are usually not a good mix).
• Hats are great in the winter but they are often discarded by the kids once they get outside and start running around. These discarded items usually end up I the lost and found. Hoods on their coat or sweatshirt work almost as well and they get to come home every night.
• If you can’t afford snow boots, or you live in an area where it isn’t worth the money because your child will only use them a couple of times a year, consider having your child wear two pairs of socks.
• Many of my students chose to wear pajama bottoms under their pants to school each day instead of purchasing long underwear. They seem to work great at helping the kids stay a little bit warmer.
• Remember layers are the key to being comfortable at school. They can remove or put back on sweaters and sweatshirts throughout the day depending on how they feel.
• Lastly, if you can’t afford gloves, hats and boots, please check with your school office. Many communities and schools have programs to help you find these items for your child with little to no expense.

If you have concerns about the temperature in the classroom, playground or on the bus it is always to better to be prepared then uncomfortable.