Beginning of Year information
While mini backpack are cute and adorable, they are actually too small for what we use and send home during the year. We have a standard sized folder that we use for Home/School communication and some art projects are on pretty big paper. If you will, please help your child to pick out a standard size backpack. Though, it only really needs 1 zipper for our needs.
Backup clothes:
Your child will need a backup set of clothes to keep at the school. This is very important to have because accidents happen. Accidents can be anything from a potty accident to a spill at snack or choice time. If your child has a need to change at school we will bag up the clothing needing washed and send it home in their backpack. Please send back in whatever items were sent home so that we can continue to have a complete back up set of clothes.
Please place in a zip lock bag: 1 shirt, 1 bottom (long pants work well for the whole year), 1 pair of underpants and 1 pair of socks. Shoes are not necessary. Write your child's name, class (3's & AM or PM) on the bag. These items should be sent in their backpacks within the first to second week.
Share Bag
Share Bag is at the end of the day. Each day, one student has the share bag and is able to bring in 1 toy and 1 favorite book to share with the class. They get to sit in the share chair, talk about their toy, walk it around the circle to let everyone see and the class can ask questions. The teacher will then read their book to the class. There is only 15 minutes for share bag and many times the class wants to ask a multitude of questions, so a book that is shorter can be better for this time. We usually have to start taking classmates out for pick up before the story is over.
On the rare occasion the share bag does not come home in your child's backpack:
I will try to let you know if I notice that the share bag didn't get into your child's backpack before they left for the day. I will text/email you to let you know. If you notice before I do, you can do the same. This is not a problem. Just put the toy and book in your child's backpack and we will slip it into the share bag when they get to school. Also, there have been times when the toy was too large for the share bag. You can either send it in a different bag or you can bring it for the last 15 minutes of class.
Toys at any other time than Share Bag day:
Please keep all toys from home at home unless it is your child's share bag day. Toys get lost or broken when children bring them in "just for fun". We have plenty of fun activities in the classroom and we don't want them to miss out by playing with items from home.
That being said, if you have been on vacation, they have something unique they just found and would like to share or they have pictures of a new brother or sister, that is fine!! Just shoot me a quick email or text to give me a heads up. Thanks!!
Pick up time:
Pick up is at 11:00 am for the Morning class and 2:30 pm for the Afternoon class. As mentioned for drop off, these times are important as we need time to clean up and reset after the morning class and after the afternoon class, we clean and have our own children to pick up from school.
Please write your child's name on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper and place in the driver's side window. In the beginning of the year, it is very difficult to know which car the children ride in. Their name in the window is very helpful to speed pick up along. This is also helpful when there are substitutes in the classroom who do not know the parents/vehicles.
If you know you are going to be late, please call the school number or send me a text so we are aware that you are going to be late. It can be very upsetting to your child if they think, "I've been forgotten!". It is always easier to explain to your child why you are running late than having to track down who is picking up that day.
If someone other than the usual person is picking your child up after school, we need a written note from you. Please include the name of the person and what color and make their vehicle is. It makes pick up easier for us and there is less confusion as to who is going where. You might be surprised how many time we've been told by children that they are going home with another student that day and it is a shock to both parents that the plans had been made. On the flip side, there have been plans that are concrete and we were not informed so the one child was not ready to go and the parent had to wait. Communication is key to keeping a calm flow.