Kindergarten Newsletter August 29th-September 2nd

DONATIONS!!!! Thank you to all who have donated to our school supplies!  Kindergarteners need lots of supplies and with your help, we are hoping to have plenty to last for a long time!    

Here’s what’s coming up for this week… 

·        Upcoming Important Dates~~ Tuesday August 30th is Back to School Night.  TK-2^nd grade 5:00-6:00.  3^rd – 5^th grade 6:00-7:00.  Please start in the MPR at 5:00.  We will then meet in our library for a brief overview of Kindergarten.  Finally we will go to the classrooms.  There will be paperwork for you to take home on your child’s desk.  Please have your child show you their Pete the Cat and their rainbow book.  The rainbow book and the Pete the Cat art work are good assessments on both your child’s ability to listen to and follow directions, as well as being an assessment of their fine motor skills (ability to cut, color and write).  As you will see, several of our students are in need of daily practice with both cutting and writing their names.  If you only have children in grades TK-2, please leave immediately after our Kinder session to help make parking available for upper grade families.  Thank you!

·        Parent Volunteers~ We can’t wait to have your help in the classroom!  A sign up sheet for Parent Volunteers will be out in your child’s classroom at Back to School Night.  If you are interested in volunteering in our classroom this year or chaperoning a field trip, you will need to be fingerprinted with the school district.  You can get this process started early by being fingerprinted at Back to School Night in the front office, or calling the District Office and scheduling an appointment to be fingerprinted.  

·        FINGERPRINTING will be available in the front office on Back To School Night.   Fingerprinting is $44 and cash, check or credit card will be accepted. You must bring your drivers license.  If you are unable to be fingerprinted that night, you can make an appointment with the District Office to have it done there.  You must have an appointment to have fingerprints done at the D.O. 

The first Scholastic Book Fair will begin next Monday, Aug 29 till Thurs Sept 1. The hours are 11:30 till 3:00 in the Music Room and Tuesday during Back to School Night from 4:30 to 7:30.

Please be waiting outside our door by 11:35 for AM K pick up and by 2:45 for PM K pick up.  To ensure the safety of your child, please be waiting outside at the end of your child’s school day.  We always instruct your children to always stay with us until they are picked up.  Please talk with your child to help us reinforce that rule.  Being SAFE is always our number one rule.  Thank you for your support!

STARFALL is an amazing, free web site.  Please log on to www.starfall.com and have your child practice their letter names, letter sounds and early reading skills.  

Thank you for NOT sending juice to school.  For sanitary reasons, water is the only beverage allowed at school.  Thank you for your cooperation.

End Of Summer Beach Party!!! Nelda Mundy will be having an event you will not want to miss Friday September 23rd from 2:30-5:30 pm.  Mark your calendars.  You won’t want to miss it!  There will be food, music and carnival games which will be presented by classrooms.  Expect to be asked for help to support your child’s classroom soon.  

·        PLEASE make sure that we have your email address.  If we don’t, you will not know what’s going on!!! 

·        Homework will come home every Monday and be due back to school every Friday.  Your child should always complete their homework in pencil unless specifically asked to color something in crayon.  Please do not return it to school earlier in the week.  It will not be collected until Friday.

·        Homework this week~ So far, we are only requiring handwriting practice.  We cannot stress enough the importance of proper formation for handwriting.  Please be sure to sit with your child to ensure proper formation of letters, spaces between each letter, and writing ON the lines.   

·        This week we are working on the letters Dd, Ee, & Ff.  Please help us reinforce proper letter formation by using the same phrases we use at school:

o      When you make the lowercase letter d, start with a “magic c”, don’t pick up your pencil, and go up, then back down on the same line.

o      When you make a lowercase e, start on the middle line, make a straight line out, then up and around.

o      When you make a lowercase f, always start from the TOP, make a candy cane down, pick up your pencil and cross it.

·        Folders~~ folders go back and forth to school EVERY DAY.  Please encourage your child to put their folder in the bucket every day.  Thank you for not doing it for them, so that they will learn the routine.  We are trying to encourage independence! 

·        Please be sure that EVERYTHING you bring to school is    LABELED with your name!!!!

·        Please have your child use the BATHROOM BEFORE school every day.

·        SNACK~~ please send your child to school every day with a snack. We do not provide snack for your child.

·        We have severe peanut allergies in Kindergarten every year.  Please NO PEANUTS at snack time.

·        Paperwork~~ If you have not returned the paperwork from the first week of school, please do so NOW. 

Thank you again for all that you do at home to support your child’s learning.  We appreciate all that you do!  Please feel free to email with any concerns or questions!  Thank you!! 

The Kindergarten Team

Sarah Barnes sarahba@fsusd.org,  Erin Barron erinba@fsusd.org

Theresa Davila theresad@fsusd.org  and Kim Ron kimr@fsusd.org