A: Attendance – Please be at school by 8:05 and ready to go! We teach until the final bell at 2:50. Send a note in your child’s binder or on SeeSaw when your child has missed school or if he/she will miss school. Please call or email the school secretary, Tanya, when you know your child will not attend school due to illness, doctor appointments, etc. (507-671-1518 or rieketa@hayfield.k12.mn.us) *REMINDER: to schedule doctor, dentist, or any other appointments on the mornings of the late starts if possible.* (The first Monday of each month)
B: Binders – Each child will have a white binder with 1 folder, and information kept in sheet protectors. Children will bring binders home EACH DAY with completed work and parent information. Please check these folders daily and return them in your child’s backpack each night. Read, complete, and return appropriate papers in this folder.
*It is the students’ job to make sure it is cleaned out DAILY and kept looking nice.
*Special notes can go in the front pouch…or you can get in touch with us on SeeSaw.
Book Orders – Book orders will be sent home every other month. The company we use is called Scholastic. Please do not feel obligated to purchase books! Send a check payable to Scholastic if you’d like anything from the order. You can also purchase from the online website at https://orders.scholastic.com/K37QQ – Activation Code:K37QQ
Birthdays – We celebrate birthdays in Kindergarten in style! Your child will wear a crown and get some special treasures that day. If your child would like to bring treats, please purchase them from a store (NO Homemade food). We celebrate summer birthdays too, anytime throughout the year! Just send a note and let us know the date you have in mind.
C: Conferences – We will have conferences three times this year.
Back to School Conferences: Sept. 1 & 6 Fall: Nov. 17 & 21 Winter: January 26
D: Donations/Kindergarten Expenses
Here’s a list of our Kindergarten expenses so you’re prepared financially before the time actually arrivesJ
Healthy Snack Option – $50 – September See the letter “H”.
Witches Brew – Halloween (one candy item on the list we will provide)
Stone Soup – (one item on the list we will provide)
Thanksgiving Feast ($2 towards one item on the list)
Book Exchange – December – ($3 book for another student)
Roller-Skating for P.E. – January – ($7 for renting all the equipment)
Book Fair – December / April (not required)
Muffins with Moms – March (your mom and one candy item to decorate the gingerbread house)
Donuts with Dads – January (just your dad/grandpa/uncle etc.)
Oxbow Park Field Trip – May ($3-5 / depending on bus cost)
E: Excellent Specialist Schedule –
Music- Mrs. Fjerstad (Every single school day for 20 minutes.)
Library-Mrs. Gillette (Wednesdays for 30 minutes.)
Physical Education- Mr. Schroeder (Every single school day for 20 minutes.)
F: Field Trips
We will be going to Farmer John’s Pumpkin Patch in the fall and Oxbow Park in the spring.
More information to come. – All information will be in your child’s binder J
G: GO GREEN! “HAVE A GREEN DAY” = Our discipline plan in the classroom.
Purple= AMAZING – Students who go above and beyond have a chance to earn this color!
Green= SAFE –Everyone starts on Green every day (following rules & expectations)
Yellow= WARNING – SLOW DOWN! You need a second to think about your actions.
Red= STOP – *If your child gets into trouble when he/she is on red…
Note Home/ Call/Parent Conference/Principal’s Office
Depending on the severity of the problem…they will happen in this order.
H: Healthy Snack EACH day: Every day your child will get to eat a snack. You can either send your child with one each day, or you can participate in the $50 for the whole year healthy snack option. This fee will allow your child to choose from the 12 choices of healthy snacks each day. Your child is in school for roughly 175 days a year, so this is equates to about 28 cents a dayJ
Helping from home is a great way to jumpstart your child’s learning and abilities.
– Look through your child’s binder nightly.
– Create a special “homework area” at home.
– Read to your child and encourage him or her to read to you!
– Give your child praise for a job well done! (SO Important!)
– Talk to your child about their day –
I: Interactive SMARTBOARD – YAY – These are AMAZING – They can be used for writing, internet sites, songs, reading & math skills, games, pictures, etc. The possibilities are endless.
J: Jobs in the classroom are very important to the way the room runs. If the jobs get done daily, things go smoothly throughout the year. Your children will all have many classroom jobs through the year (they rotate each week😊)
K: Kindergarten Supply List – click the word supply to get to the page
L: Library – check out day is WEDNESDAY!!! – TRY to remember your books that day! Rule: If they bring back their books, they get to check more out.
M: Morning Meeting – Our large group meeting is our first structured activity of the day. Our opening includes a greeting, an activity, sharing, and a morning message. Our daily news and message offers children the opportunity to share and also work on letter recognition and sight words. Our opening also includes songs, rhymes and phonemic awareness.
Monthly Calendars – Each month we will replace our monthly calendar in your child’s binder that will show you what special events are happening each day. It will also be posted on our SeeSaw app – refer to it oftenJ.
N: Nightly homework– READING READING READING is KEY !!! See letter “Y”.
O: Organization – We will try to keep the classroom as organized as possible. Also, we expect your child to be responsible for keeping their own things organized to reduce the chance of losing, misplacing, or forgetting things. *Stay organized and follow up with SeeSawJ We will post daily!
P: Play – FREE PLAY – CHILDREN NEED PLAY!! One of the most important parts of kindergarten is socialization!! We will have a morning and an afternoon free play experience! We are sure that your children will talk mostly about this time from schoolJ
Q: Questions? Ask! – Message us on SeeSaw or Call 507-671-1514 😊
Quarter Tests – each quarter we will give your child the same test. This test is based on our standards based report card. See R below. Your child will be tested on the same skills throughout the year. He/She will grow tremendously throughout the year. YAY!! If you want to practice those skills after the first quarter test so they are ready for the next one, BE OUR GUESTJ
R: Rest & Relax – Every day we will have a 20 minute rest time where your child will relax on their mat/blanket while listening to peaceful music or stories. After Christmas break, this time turns into “quiet” reading time to get them ready for first gradeJ
Report Card – Do not be alarmed when your child brings home their first quarter test. We are starting a new grading system this year that is standards based. Your child should be at 3’s or 4’s by the END of the school year, if they reach 3’s or 4’s right away, we will have them tested for first gradeJ
S: Show and Tell – A monthly calendar will be sent home informing you of the dates for sharing something from home that begins with the letters that week. Children are encouraged to bring ONE item related to our weekly letters that week. Please keep your calendar inside your binder and refer to it often.
SeeSaw: – We will use this as our MAIN form of communication. Please make sure you sign up for this using this linkJ https://app.seesaw.me/s/848-133-309
Special Me/Star of the Week – Each week a new student will get to be the STAR of the WEEK!! You and your child will find directions in the folder inside the suitcase and can work on it together. It will contain a poster and stars that your child can decorate to share with the class. Also, please place some special items from home in the suitcase to share with your classmates.
T: Testing – FastBridge – This is a program that helps teachers and parents know how each student is doing on kindergarten skills. We have 3 benchmarks (fall, winter, spring) in reading and math. There is more information about it on our class website. We will also have BAS testing this year! It’s a reading assessment to see how well your child can read print.
Take Home Bags – Throughout the year, we will be sending home a bag that contains special activities to do with your child. It will correlate with a particular theme or book we’ve covered in school. Please bring the bag back the following school day so we can send it home with another friend. Our first take home bag will be in September about caterpillars and butterflies!
U: Umbrellas, coats, boots, sweaters…please dress your student for the weather.
V: Volunteers – We love to see parents throughout our school year. There will be many opportunities for helpers in our classroom such as our Halloween/Valentine parties, Field Trips, Thanksgiving Feast & JUST COMING IN TO READ!!!! Let us know when and how you’d like to help!!
W: Writing – will take place every single day in the classroom. Various forms explained belowJ
Modeled Writing-Teacher chooses the text and writes in front of children.
Shared Writing-Children choose the text and the teacher writes their words
Interactive Writing-Teacher and the children share the writing, “sharing the pen.”
Guided Writing-Child does the writing with the teacher as coach.
Independent Writing-Child does writing independently.
X: X-citedJ We cannot WAIT and we know you are excited too!!
Y: YES we LOVE to read – The only true “homework” we will give your child is to read at night. It is the most important thing you can do for your child’s education.
* Reading to your child is JUST as important as having them read to you!! *
Z: Zillions of books will be read in Kindergarten.
Now you’ve read our ABC’s,
Ask any questions if you please!
Mrs. Smith (smithni@hayfield.k12.mn.us)
or Mrs. Fish (fishco@hayfield.k12.mn.us)
or our Room# 507-671-1514