Mrs. Sheppard’s ABC’s of Kindergarten

A

Absences: If your child is absent from school due to illness, please send a note when your child returns to school explaining his or her absence.  Also, please call the office to let them know your child will be absent.  Please let me know in advance if you know your child will be absent from school due to travel plans or medical appointments.

Arrivals: It is very important that your child arrives at school on time so that he or she will not miss class time.  School starts at 8:15.  Students may be dropped off as early as 7:50.  Students will report to his/her classroom or report to the cafeteria for breakfast.

Allergies:  Please let me know if your child has an allergy I need to be aware of.

B

Behavior:  PBIS. We use ClassDojo

Birthdays: Birthdays are special occasions for young children. Your child will be recognized on his/her birthday.  Summer birthdays will be celebrated at the end of May. Birthday invitations should not be sent to school.

Bullying:  Bullying will not be tolerated at school.

Bathroom:  We visit the bathroom several times throughout the day.  We encourage students to try to use the bathroom each time we go..   Please let me know if your child has any special needs/requests when it comes to going to the bathroom.  If your child has an accident, we will allow students to clean up and change their clothes as long as they have their “uh-oh” clothes in their book bag. If not, we will call you to bring your child a change of clothes.

C

Communication: Communication is essential when working with and teaching young children.  I will be communicating with you through newsletters, notes, phone calls, emails, and conferences.  Any important notes from me will be placed in your child’s take-home folder.  Please make sure that any messages you send for me are put in your child’s folder as well.  You can communicate with me through notes, e-mail, class dojo.  My e-mail address is michele.sheppard@cabarrus.k12.nc.us or using Class Dojo

Conferences:  We will have a required conference at the end of the first nine weeks.  If you would like to meet with me at times other than these, just send me a note or email and we can set up a time to meet.

Character Traits:  Students will learn about different positive character traits.  The traits we will focus on will be respect, responsibility, kindness, honesty and self-control.

Class Baskets:  Each class will have an assigned theme for their class basket.  Parents may send in donated items to go into the basket.  The baskets will be raffled off at Family Fun Night in October.  Mrs. Graham will head up this project.  Our theme is Legos.  Send in any time of legos for our class basket

Class shirts: 

 D

Discipline: PBIS

Dismissal: Dismissal is at 3:00 pm daily.  If you plan to pick up your child at school or if there are any other changes in transportation plans, you must send in a written note or contact the office. Please remember that we strive for perfect attendance daily. Please do not tell your child that they “may” be a car rider.  Students hear that they “will” be a car rider.

Donor's Choose- if you want to give directly to your child's classroom, please visit Donor's Choose.org

 E

Early Dismissal:  If your child leaves school early, this will count as an excused or unexcused tardy.

Emergency Contact:  Please make sure the office and myself have several ways to contact you in case of emergency.

F

Field Trips:  Other field trips will be announced at a later date.

Folders: In an effort to ease the flow of information and paperwork between home and school, your child will bring home e green plastic home/school folder every day.  It will include all his/her homework, notices, flyers, and completed work.  Please be sure to look through the folder EVERY DAY, and return it to school the next day as it may contain timely or important information. Please clean the folder out.  Do not leave papers or the money envelope in the green folder.  Only send money envelope on the days you are sending money to school.

Food Nights:  Odell will offer lots of opportunities to grab a meal at a local restaurant and portions of the money will go to Odell.  Please pick and choose the ones that work for you.  You do not have to participate in all or any of these events.  It is purely optional.  Please check the PTA information for the participating restaurants.

Fundraisers:  PTA will have lots of opportunities throughout the year to help our school with raising funds for educational materials.  Please choose those that appeal to you.  Participation is totally optional.

Gym:  Please make sure your child dresses in appropriate clothing on these days.  He/she also needs to wear tennis shoes on gym days.  Please refer to special class schedule for PE days.

Grades: I do not give grades, students earn grades.  We use a 1,2,3,4 point scale to inform you of your child’s progress.  Please do not compare grades with siblings or friends.  Each child is an individual and will progress at different levels and rates. We keep a portfolio of your child’s work samples, tests, and other assessments.  

H/I

Homework: Read.  Try to read each night.  A practice sheet will come home on Mondays and due back the following Monday.  Also, Dreambox and iReady are also available for students to work on at home.  Spend time together as a family, enjoy reading together or go outside and play.   Go ahead and start a routine of having a set bedtime.

Illness: Children function more effectively in the classroom when they are healthy.  The question of when to keep your child home from school is often a difficult one, especially when decisions must be made first thing in the morning.  It is important, however, to keep your child home if he or she is ill.  This helps to make your child more comfortable and prevents others from becoming ill.

Independent Reading: Because children learn to read by reading, they need plenty of opportunities to read independently.  Sufficient time and appropriate materials are necessary to develop and strengthen reading abilities.  By giving your child materials at his or her level both at school and at home, we can work together to provide a literature-rich environment and lifelong love of reading.

Interruptions:  Please refrain from interruptions during our instructional day.  Ex. Dropping off materials/lunch boxes.  Students should come to school each day with their necessary materials.

J

Jobs: Throughout the school year, students will have important jobs that will contribute to the operation of our classroom. 

K

Kindness: Students in our classroom are encouraged and expected to treat all members of our school community with kindness and respect.  Hitting, fighting, name-calling, and making fun of others will not be permitted.

L

Library:  Your child will be allowed to check out books during their library time

Lunch: Our class eats lunch at .  Children may either have a school lunch or bring it from home.  The monthly lunch menu is available online.  No fast foods should be brought to school unless wrapped in plain wrappers.  Parents eating lunch with their child needs to sit at the designated parent tables.  Students are not allowed to have a friend join them due to limited space and privacy procedures

Love:  I will love your child…I may not always like the choices they make, but I will love them and help them make the right choices and learn from our mistakes

M

Money: When sending money (cash or check) to school, please use the money pencil pouch

Math:  Math in our classroom will be done in workshop fashion.

N

Nurse: Please keep in mind that often times Kindergarteners  just need a little TLC so I take care of minor hurts in the classroom, but I send students to the school nurse for more serious injuries and illnesses.  Please be sure to send any change of contact numbers in case the nurse needs to get in touch with you.

News:  I will be communicating several things through our class websites, email and Class Dojo.  Sometimes I will send home notes in your child’s green home/school folder. Also, check my webpage for information.  

O

Outdoor Recess: The children go outside for 30-minute recess every day.  Please keep this in mind when you help your child select clothing for the day. 

P

Parent Involvement: Your support of school activities makes your child feel important and sends the message that you value school!  There are many ways to volunteer at Odell.  Also, you must sign in when you come to the school.  We also have many special classroom activities and celebrations throughout the school year that require parent volunteers, so I hope you can come and join the fun! 

Parties:  TBA

Progress Reports:  We will send home quarterly progress reports.

PTA:  Our PTA is wonderful and they work very hard for our school.  Please support this awesome group by joining PTA.  If you join, you are not required to do anything.  Sign up forms went home at Open House.  Visit www.odellpta.org for information.

Parent Information:  The parent information packet sent home on Open House has lots of information you need to be familiar with.  This packet contains information about military reporting, family educational rights, code of conduct, bullying policy, absences, tardies, notifications, curriculum, bus information, internet policy, health information, school board members and their numbers.                                               

                                                                                                                                    Q

Quality Work: All children in my classroom are encouraged and expected to do their best to produce high-quality work.  Please do your part by encouraging your children to try their very best every day, use good handwriting, put considerable effort and thought into their work, and to be proud of their accomplishments, both academic and personal.

 R

Room Parents: The room parents’ job responsibilities include helping to coordinate parties and activities.  Being a room parent is a great way to be involved in your child’s school life.  If you’re interested in being a room parent, please let me know.

Reader’s Workshop:  Reading instruction will be done in a workshop fashion-just like Math and Writing. Workshop model includes a teacher directed mini-lesson and then students will work on task to strengthen the skill(s) we are working on for that week.

 Recess Rules:.

Please review these with your child:

1.    Watch out for others as your run

2.    Use kind words-no teasing

3.    No throwing rocks or mulch

4.    No rough play

5.    We go down the slide feet first and make sure the slide is clear

6.    Stay within the playground area and where the teacher can see you, never leave the playground area with out teacher permission

7.    Please report all injuries and problems to the teacher

8.    Stop and look before jumping

9.    Tag is a “two finger touch”

10. Students who choose not to follow the recess rules will be asked to take a short break from playing to regroup

Responsibility:  This will be our main character trait we work on this year.  Students need to learn to be responsible for their belongings, their classwork and responsible for their actions.

                                                               S

Snack:  We will have a working snack each day.  Please provide your child with a snack each day.  Water bottles only.

Spirit Days: Spirit days will be each Friday. Encourage your child to show their school pride by participating on these fun days!  This day we will wear Odell shirts, class shirts or school colors.

Supplies: A list of supplies your child will need is located on the Odell webpage. Your child’s supplies will be your child’s supplies for the year. A form will come home when our classroom supplies need to be replenished.  Also, please be sure to write your child’s name on all jackets, book bags, lunch boxes and supplies.

Shoes:  Students are discouraged in wearing flip-flops, heels, or shoes that are uncomfortable or are not safe.  Students need tto work on tying their shoes..  If children are not able to tie their own shoes, please provide practice time at home.  There are some great YouTube videos on teaching your child to tie shoes.  Students should wear tennis shoes on PE days.

Sign Up Genius:  I use this program to email parents when we need items for special activities and to sign up for conferences.

 T

Transportation: If you plan to pick up your child who normally rides the bus, you must send a written note.  Do not rely on your child to tell me this information, because children can become confused and relay information incorrectly.  If a written note is not received, your child will be sent home by his/her usual method of transportation.  This is for the safety of all the children in our class. 

Toys:  Please be sure your child is not bringing toys to school in his/her backpack.  If the toy is for afterschool program, review with your child beforehand that is not to be taken out at school.  This includes game cards and jewelry/watches that make noise or are distracting, lip gloss, purses, etc.  We will have special “Fun Fridays” where students may bring specific items, but I will let you know.

U

Unique and Special: I feel that each one of my students is very special.  I look forward to hearing about and witnessing each of your child’s successes throughout their entire school year!

Uh-Oh Clothes:  Please make sure your child has a seasonal appropriate change of clothes in a Ziploc bag inside their book bag each day.

V

Visitors: Odell has a policy that all visitors (including familiar faces) are required to check in at the office and wear a name badge.  We welcome and encourage family involvement, and the presence of a name badge will help identify visitors to all faculty and staff.  It is important to remember that while this may seem inconvenient to frequent visitors, it is the goal and responsibility of the school to create a safe learning environment.

VW

Water bottle    Your child may bring a water bottle to school if it fits in the side pocket of their book bag.  Please check it for leaks and make sure it is secure.

Wish List: Throughout the year we sometimes need supplies above and beyond our classroom materials. Extra items that you think we might be able to use are always welcome!

Writing: Our writing program builds on what each child already knows.  Your child will be encouraged and praised for all attempts and accomplishments in writing.  Providing a risk-free environment is paramount to your child’s progress in writing.  If possible, please provide your child with a workspace at home and writing tools, such as pencils, crayons, markers, and paper.

Webpage:  Please visit my class webpage on regular basis for updated information.  You can access my page on the Odell website.  

Weapons:  Please talk to your child about not handling weapons and especially do not bring them to school.  If a student feels or knows a student has a weapon, they should report it immediately to any staff member.

                                                               X

X-Citing times are headed our way!

Y

You: Yes, you! You play the most important role in your child’s success. I look forward to working with you this school year!

Younger Siblings:  It is in your child’s best interest to have our parent volunteers available without younger children, both in the classroom and on field trips.  This not only allows your full attention to be focused on the class, but also allows for some special time between you and your Kindergartener.  However, I realize some parents don't have anyone to watch the little one.  In that case, I would rather you bring the sibling and not miss out.  I'm okay with siblings attending parties and some field trips. 

Z

ZZZ’s: Make sure that your child gets plenty of rest every day.  Setting and keeping an appropriate bedtime is a wonderful gift you can give to your child.  It will help them to be alert and ready to learn each day!

I know this is going to be a fun and successful year for your child!  Thanks for all your help and support!!!  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Mrs. Sheppard