HartfordSylvia Encinas Elementary

ABC's of Mrs. V's Class

ABSENCES
Please call the attendance office at 480-812-6703 to report absences. All homework will be sent home when your child returns.  I will send home any class work that was done during the day, but it is not required to be completed.

ALLERGIES
Please notify me immediately if your child is allergic or sensitive to any foods. We ask that ALL families refrain from sending peanut products for snack, for snacks are stored in a communal bucket during the school day and cross-contamination can occur accidentally.

B

BACKPACKS
Please send your child with a backpack to school daily.  Please no roller backpacks.  It is important that you check and empty the backpack of notes and completed work each day.

BELLS

School begins promptly at 8:25 am. The dismissal bell rings at 2:50.

BIRTHDAYS
We love celebrating birthdays in Kindergarten, but have limited time to do so due to our academic priorities. Should you wish to send in something, it must be a small item that can be passed out like a pencil or goodie bag, no food. If your child has a summer birthday, please let me know when you would like us to celebrate!

BOOK ORDERS
Periodically throughout the school year a Scholastic Book Order will come home. The books are extremely inexpensive and for every dollar you spend, I get points to use towards books for our classroom.

C

CLASS DOJO
A sign-up will be sent to you via email at the beginning of the year.  Please consider joining this!  I post pictures of the children throughout the year and it has a message component that allows us to text back and forth.

CONFERENCES
A Fall and Spring Parent/Teacher conference will be set up where I will be able to formally meet with you regarding your child's progress.  While these two times in the school year are District wide mandatory conferences, I am willing and able to meet with you anytime during the school year. Whether in person, phone or email, communication between you and I are vital to your child's success.

CONTACT INFO
The BEST way to get a hold of me during the school day is my email. Should you call my phone, it will go straight to voice-mail so as not to disturb the class during the school day. I will check voice-mail at the end of the day. Should you need immediate assistance, call the front office.

email:  vierthaler.kym@cusd80.com

classroom phone: 480-812-6726
front office: 480-812-6700

D

DISCIPLINE

Establishing good classroom discipline is essential to each child’s success, confidence, and well-being. Every child should feel that the classroom environment is safe and secure; free from all threats of physical or emotional harm. In addition, it is important that each child learn to develop self-discipline and good work habits, to resolve conflicts peacefully, and to think independently.

There are three basic parts to the discipline plan: Kindergarten Agreements, Classroom Community, and Logical Consequences.

1. Kindergarten Agreements

There are three basic agreements that we have in Kindergarten:

        Take care of yourself

        Take care of others

        Take care of materials

As a class we spend time discussing what these agreements mean and how they affect us in our classroom.

2. Classroom Community

The children will learn the purpose of classroom rules and develop ideas that our classroom is a community. Community meetings and discussions are ways to establish that our classroom is a community with the common purpose of learning, growing and becoming friends. There is a time set aside for daily community meetings.

3. Logical Consequences

The idea is for the consequence to be related to the misbehavior and act as a solution or restitution for the problem. For example, if a child spills something, he or she must clean it up. By having the consequence directly related to the act, the child will begin to understand cause and effect relationships.   If classroom rules are severely or persistently broken, parents will be contacted by note (to be signed and returned) or by telephone.  I may also set your child up on an individual behavior plan. A visit to the principal’s office is used as a last resort.

DROP OFF/PICK UP
The school day at HSE begins at 8:25.  If your child is at school before 8:10, they must go to the courtyard by the cafeteria.  When the bell rings at 8:10, all of the Kindergarten students must leave their backpacks by their classroom door and then they MUST go to the west playground.  When the bell rings at 8:25, they will line up at their classroom.  Parents will not be allowed on campus at drop-off.

The school day at HSE ends at 3:00.  All Kindergarten students must be picked up on time. Please do not be late!  This creates anxiety for the children.  Additionally, the staff may have a meeting scheduled immediately after dismissal, so please be on time. If they are not picked up by 3:10 they will be walked to the office.

E

E-MAIL

vierthaler.kym@cusd80.com

EMERGENCY CARD

Please complete and return the emergency card promptly.  If your home, cell, or work number changes, inform the office and myself so you can be located quickly if an emergency occurs.

F

FIELD TRIPS

Field Trips are a great way to extend learning. Our class will go on several field trips throughout the year. Your child will not be able to go with us unless permission forms are signed prior to each trip.  Students that cannot act appropriately on field trips will remain at school in a first grade classroom.

Occasionally, I will ask for family volunteers for our field trip. If you volunteer, you will be supervising a small group of students. We encourage a parent, grandparent, or other adult family member to volunteer. For safety reasons, siblings cannot attend field trips with us.

FOLDERS
Your child will be given a Folder on the first day of school. This folder is a tool for communication between you, me and your child. It is important that it is cleaned out and checked DAILY!

G

GUM

Gum is not allowed in the classroom or on campus.

H

HOMEWORK
Homework consists of a weekly reading log and weekly task calendar.  An adult needs to complete the reading log and return it to school every Friday. Students are encouraged to read, or listen to reading, for 15-20 minutes each night to promote and foster their reading skills.  Students can develop their skills by: reading the pictures, reading the text, and retelling stories.  You can also work with students at home by practicing letter names and sounds as well as  the review of

I

ILLNESS

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 you child home if he/she feels ill.  This helps to make them more comfortable and prevents others from becoming ill.  Children function more effectively in the classroom when they are healthy.  A child must be fever free for 24 hours before returning to the classroom.

J

JOURNAL WRITING

One strategy that will be used to help convey the vital concept that print conveys meaning is the frequent use of journal writing.  In these journals the Kindergartners combine their emerging writing skills with their drawing skills.  As the children are exposed to a variety of phonics and reading experiences, journal entries will move from drawings and inventive spelling towards more conventional writing.

K

KINDNESS

Students in our classroom are encouraged and expected to treat all members of our class, as well as others, with kindness and respect.  Bothering others, bullying and interrupting learning will not be permitted.

L

LUNCH
Students will have recess/lunch from 10:40-11:20 each day.

M

MATH

Math in Kindergarten focuses on number sense.  The students will practice counting in order and writing their numbers.  We will spend a great deal of time making certain the students know that each numeral has a quantity value.

When students understand numerals have value, then we will begin to do simple operations with numbers, i.e. adding and subtracting.  We will also learn patterning, sorting, simple graphing, and more/less than.

N

NEWSLETTERS
The Kindergarten newsletter will come home once a month in your child's folder. It will give you info about upcoming school and classroom events as well as summaries on what we have been working on academically.

O

OPEN LINES OF COMMUNICATION

I have an open door policy!  If you have any concerns, please feel free to call, email, or stop in to see me before or after school when I do not have students in the classroom.

P

PLAYGROUND

Students are expected to follow playground rules.  These will be introduced to students the first week of school.  Students that do not follow playground rules will be asked to sit out during recess as a logical consequence.

PROGRESS REPORTS

Progress reports will be sent home four times a year.  Please review material with your child and work on standards not mastered.

Q

QUESTIONS

Since many of you are new to HSE this year, I am sure you may still have some unanswered questions.  Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

R

READING

Reading in Kindergarten focuses on phonemic awareness where we learn the letter sounds, and how to blend the sounds together to form words.  We will also work on beginning and ending sounds, rhyming, word families, and counting syllables. 

Students will learn book awareness, which is how to hold a book and which direction to go while reading.  We will learn sight words and many vocabulary words.  The students will be reading and writing all year long.

As the year progresses we will learn story elements; which include characters, setting, and identifying the beginning, middle, and end of a story.  The students will often bring home paper puppets to retell a story to you.  So please encourage your child to tell you the story when you see puppets in their backpacks!

RECESS

In addition to lunch recess, students will be taken out for 15 minutes each afternoon, weather permitting.

REPORT CARDS

Report cards reflect the progress your child has made towards various Kindergarten objectives and standards.  They will be sent home three times throughout the year.

RESTROOMS

Have your child use the restroom shortly before coming to school.  The class will have the opportunity to use the restroom once in the morning, before lunch, once in the afternoon, and during recess.  Please make me aware of any medical problem that might require more frequent restroom trips.

S

SNACKS
A healthy snack for your child to share with the class is always appreciated!  Some popular choices are crackers, cheez-its, goldfish, cereal and pretzels.  NO candy or sugary snacks please.

SPECIALS
Each week, students will be participating in P.E., Music, Computers and Library classes using a 6 Day Rotation schedule.  Students will go to P.E on Day 1 and Day 4 of the rotation schedule.  For their own safety, students must have on sneakers to participate in PE.  Students will visit the Library on Day 3.  Books students check out will remain in the classroom.

T

TARDIES
If your child is tardy, they MUST stop by the front office before reporting to our room.  Your child will be given a tardy pass to bring to me so that I know they have checked in for the day.  School starts at 8:25, and attendance is taken immediately as part of our morning routine.  Instruction begins IMMEDIATELY in the morning so for every minute they are late, that is important instruction time they are missing. Thank you for getting your child to school on time each day!

TOYS

Bringing toys to school is discouraged because they distract the children from learning.  In the past, there have been problems with children bringing toys to school. Students tend to bring out toys at inappropriate times and the will even give toys to friends.  For these reasons, there is a "no toys from home" policy in our class.

U

UNIFORMS

HSE dress code is strictly enforced every day of the week. Please refer to HSE Uniform Requirement on the main webpage for uniform rules. Should your child be in violation of dress code they will be asked to change clothes in the nurse's office. 

V

VOLUNTEERS
Once school start and the class and I get into a familiar routine, I will be asking for parent volunteers. In today's busy world, I realize volunteering in the classroom is not ideal for every parent.  If you would like to volunteer at home (cutting, stapling) please let me know! All parents entering campus during the school day need to sign in at the front office.

W

WATER BOTTLES

Please have your child bring a water bottle to drink to school each day. Your child's name MUST be printed on the water bottle. The poptop/squirt type is best to avoid spills. Please no juice, gatorade, kool aid, etc. for in the classroom.

X

eXtra special

Kindergartners learn that they are eXtra special and unique.  I am eXtra lucky to get to be their kindergarten teacher this year!

Y

YOUNGER SIBLINGS

It is in your child's best interest to have our parent volunteers available WITHOUT younger children.  This not only allows for your full attention to be focused on the class, but also allows for some special time between you and your Kinder.  Thank you for making childcare arrangements for younger siblings.

Z

ZZZZZZZs

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