Good Morning,
I hope everyone is enjoying their last days of summer! Here is some information for the first days.
Drop off and Pick Up
The
first day of school is this coming Thursday September 4th, drop off for the
morning class is at 9:00 am and 12:30 for the afternoon class. We have Staff
children that come in before class begins but our doors will open to everyone
else shortly after that. At pickup time the doors will open at 12:00 and 3:30,
the children will be released one at a time so I can assure that they each get
to the right adult.
Bikes
On
days that it's not raining we will have the bikes out (I’m not sure about the
first week of school though). If your child wants to ride the bikes or scooters
they need to bring a helmet from home to wear. You can only ride a bike if you
have a helmet.
Backpacks
What child doesn’t love to carry a backpack
to school with them? Please have your child bring in a backpack each day with
extra underwear (for children who use the toilet) or diapers (for those who may
need them). An extra set of clothes should also be sent in the backpack,
because accidents do happen. As you well know, at this age, there are many
times when the kids get too busy playing and forget to use the restroom. There
may also be situations when the kids will get wet from playing in the sensory
table or from juice spills at snack time.
Please make sure that you write your child’s name on everything that you send to
school with them (i.e. backpacks, coats, and other clothing).
Coats and backpacks may be hung just outside our classroom’s door. At the end
of each day, your child may take his or her backpack home- as well as the
contents of their cubbies! This will give you the opportunity to refill
diapers, and to choose “extra” clothes suitable for the weather! Just make sure
that the bag is sent back to school with your child each day.
Birthdays/Holidays
Children love to have a party! We would like to encourage
parents to bring in Food Free Treats such as pencils, stickers or something else small to give to the
children or even better bring in a game to play with the children. You
may bring a healthy treat to celebrate your child’s birthday (or un-birthday
for children with summer birthdays). Just let us know in advance. If you are
throwing your child a party outside of school we ask that you not put
invitations in the cubby cans. Please contact them outside of school for party
invitations. We do put together a class directory for those who want one with
addresses and phone numbers of classmates. We understand that different
families celebrate different holidays in different ways. If you have special
holidays you celebrate in your family, please let us know! We’re open to your
ideas and family traditions as we plan on celebrating various holidays!
Food in the Classroom
Because
of the numerous benefits to eating healthy and the growing concerns of junk
food, we as a class are going to eat as healthy as possible. We are starting a
new cooking program through the Washington Dairy Council that encourages
healthy eating and exercise. So as a general rule we ask that if you bring in
treats for any reason birthday or other (like the Word Wall or Party) that you
make it a food free treat or a healthy treat. We appreciate your understanding
and help with our efforts to build healthy habits! J
Word Wall
We have a word wall that will feature a new
letter every other week. We will begin the word wall the second week (Sept 15th)
of school. I encourage you to help your children find words that begin with the
letter of the week and they can bring them into share with our class. This
helps the children to start thinking about beginning sounds and they can have a
lot of fun with it. It also gives them an opportunity to share with their
friends, which can help with their confidence in speaking in front of others.
Sharing
We will not have a scheduled “sharing” day or
time in class. I suggest leaving toys at home. At school they could easily be
lost or broken. Children are encouraged to bring items that relate to our theme
anytime during the year. We do a Word Wall
that highlights a letter for each week that I ask the children bring in items
that start with the letter of the week. We usually do the word wall the last
circle of the day and the items are put away in our pelican until the children
share their items.
Dress
Please dress your child in “play clothes,”
clothes that are okay to play in the dirt and paint in. We will be doing
various activities where something may stain our clothes. We think they’re cute
no matter what they are wearing! The only day that we encourage them to dress
up is on picture day. (As soon as we get the dates for that, we will let you
know.) Other than that day, play clothes are the best. Children who are worried
about getting their clothes messy aren’t going to open to exploring their
possibilities. Also, keep in mind when you are picking out their clothes that
they should wear clothes that have buttons or snaps that are easy to undo so
that when they have to go to the bathroom, they can be quickly undone.
So
now that I have bombarded you with all this I hope you enjoy the last days of
summer and we can’t wait to get our year started!!!
Thank
you for sharing your lives with us
~Denise
"Tell me and I forget.
Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."
-Adapted Chinese
Proverb
