A KINDERGARTEN WELCOME

Dear Parents:

Welcome to St. Valentine School! Here are some helpful things for your child to know before school begins next Fall:

• Tying, zipping, buttoning and snapping the clothing he/she wears each day
• Counting from 1 to 20
• Recognizing and naming the following colors - red, blue, yellow, green, orange, black, purple, brown and white
• Recognizing his/her name in print

Here are some helpful things for you as parents to know:

• It is necessary to have your child's public health forms completed and returned to our school office on or before the first day of school
• If your are in the Redford Union School District and would like more information about bus service to and from school, please call the Redford Union Bus garage at 592-3354
• Please emphasize to you child that toys must stay at home
• Most children have handwriting experiences by the time they come to school. While this is a positive experience for the child, it may create a challenge as we will be teaching your child to print his/her name using the DeNelian Manuscript Method. *See sample writing guide.
• Please clearly mark all materials and/or any items that come to school with your child's initials
• Most of all, please know - your child's safety and well-being are of the utmost importance to everyone here at St. Valentine School.

Your Child's Kindergarten Teacher

A few notes of importance:

Each day your child will need to bring a healthy snack for each of the snack times. These can be fruit, vegetables, cheese and crackers, yogurt or popcorn. NO munchies, candy, or cookies! If your child would like a beverage with his/her snack, milk can be pre-ordered or a juice box or thermos can be brought. Please clearly mark your child's name on his/her lunch box.

Every day your child will bring home his/her pocket folder, which will contain notes from the office or from myself, and your child's completed work. Please empty your child's folder and return it the next day either empty or with any contents. All money which is sent to school should be sealed in an envelope or ziplock baggie which is clearly marked with your child's name and the purpose of the money.

There is a full uniform for Kindergarten students. Students are to follow the uniform guidelines as indicated on page 13 of the student handbook. On gym day they are permitted to wear their gym uniform.

Only one set of post earrings is allowed in the ear lobe. They may not hang from the ear lobe. It is recommended that students not wear jewelry to school. The school is not responsible for lost jewelry. Please see the student handbook for a more complete definition of expectations under the Dress and Appearance Code.

TARDINESS POLICY

The Kindergarten follows the same arrival policy as the rest of the school. The students must be in the room within 10 minutes after the 7:50 bell. Any child arriving after that time must report to the office for a tardy slip. We strongly urge you to encourage promptness in your Kindergarten child, as good habits such as these will follow him/her all through their school experience.

"A Day in Kindergarten"

Morning Schedule

• 7:50 children enter the school
• Immediately following announcements, students recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and share in morning blessing. After morning blessing, the students participate in
  • bell-work, weather board, calendar, etc.
  • a "whole group" activity including reading or math
  • snack break/free play
  • specials class including gym or library
  • more "whole group" activities, including religion, science or social studies
• 11:30 lunch/recess for all Kindergartners

Afternoon Schedule

• 12:25 rest time
• Enrichment Centers: hands-on activities involving all curriculum areas intended to enrich lessons taught earlier in the day, as well as providing reinforcement of social skills that can be practiced at home and in the community
• Specials class including music, art, computers
• Story
• 3:30 dismissal

Attendance and Health

Your child should attend school each day he/she is well. Every absence, even part of a school day, interferes with your child's progress at school. Each subject is taught in sequence which builds understanding and correct habits of study. In order to be ready for new steps in learning, your child must have mastered the previous steps and be sufficiently ready to profit from mew materials.

For the protection of your child and others, please do not send your child to school with symptoms of any of the following

• an upset stomach
• runny nose with a cold
• sore throat
• fever
• rash
• swollen glands
• diarrhea
• earache
• persistent cough
• other communicable illnesses

Please notify the school as soon as possible as to the reason for any absence.

If a child is injured or becomes ill at school, the parents will be notified. If the parents are not available, then the person designated to be called in an emergency will be contacted. Be sure to keep the school notified of any changes in telephone numbers, addresses, places of work, and emergency contacts.

Each child has a permanent Health Record on which pertinent health information is recorded. Please keep the school notified of any health problems. All information is held confidential.

Please contact the school to discuss any health problems or attendance concerns.

If your child does not ride to school on a bus, arrival should not be more than 15 minutes before the class starts. Supervision will be available15 minutes before the start of class.

How Parents Can Help

1. Let your child share in home responsibilities, conversations, and activities.
2. Give your child duties around the house: to develop self-confidence and responsibility. (Putting away toys, taking out the trash, setting the table, etc.)
3. Establish a regular pattern for sleep (10 hours), meals (keep snacks to a minimum), and play.
4. Teach your child to get dressed independently (how to put on, take off, and hang up outer clothing).
5. Be sure your child listens to others and follows directions (one at a time) and check to see that the directions are carried out.
6. Teach your child to help others (brothers, sisters, pets, etc.)
7. Have your child go some places alone. All kindergarten children should know how to cross the street without assistance.
8. Supervise viewing of T.V. programs.

Before School Begins

• Read and discuss nursery rhymes, poems, and stories to your child to stimulate a love of good books.
• Talk to your child as a friend, as well as a parent.
• Discourage "baby talk"
• Discuss experiences your child has had and places he/she has been (zoo, fire station, farm, etc).
• Provide opportunities to play and share with other children and to make friends.
• Teach your child his/her full name, parents' names, address, and phone number. When learning to print his/her name, he/she should use both capital and lower case letters (John, Mary).
• Teach your child to be independent about appropriate toilet habits.
• Encourage your child to look forward to Kindergarten as a happy, friendly place.

Once School Begins

1. Make sure labels are on all outer personal belongings, with both initials on jackets, sweaters, boots, mittens, books, Show and Tell objects, etc.
2. Encourage regular attendance and punctuality.
3. When you bring your child to school the first day, your child's fears and tears will best be overcome if you do not linger. (Sometimes the first day of school is more difficult for the parents.)
4. Show interest in the work your child brings home to help develop a good self-concept. Admire those "immature" pictures. Encourage him/her to explain them and talk about them.
5. When asking your child what happened during his/her day in kindergarten, ask what happened first, second, and after that. If you ask to have things listed in order, it will eliminate answers of "nothing" or "we just played."
6. Recognize that each child is different and that some develop faster than others.
7. All children become discouraged. Help your child to be happy in the activities he/she can do well, but not to shed tears or give up when difficulties occur. Each child needs to feel he/she is loved, that he/she belongs, and that his/her successes outweighs his/her failures.
8. If you help your child with lessons, kindness will win out. Shouting at a child only locks all doors to learning.
9. Remember a parent is the child's first and most important teacher.

HEALTHY PARENTING INCLUDES...

1. Providing consistent love, security, nurture, and care for children.
2. Providing an environment of physical and emotional safety.
3. Treating children with dignity and respect.
4. Helping children to accept all their feelings.
5. Teaching children to behave appropriately no matter how they feel.
6. Setting reasonable, age-appropriate limits for children.
7. Establishing reasonable, related, age-appropriate consequences for misbehavior.
8. Teaching children healthy communication by empathizing with them or mirroring their thoughts and feelings.
9. Listening to, and taking children seriously.
10. Giving children appropriate opportunities to succeed.
11. Teaching children to be responsible.
12. Appropriately allowing children to experience the consequences of their actions.
13. Appropriately including children in the family decision-making process.
14. Establishing, maintaining and nurturing family traditions and a healthy family identity.
15. Being a good role model.