We would like to welcome you and your child to kindergarten! We have many helpful ideas for you. We suggest that you keep this information in a convenient location to refer to throughout the year.  

Aris Wilson                         

Kindergarten Teacher Room 1

aris.wilson@sanjuan.edu       

Our Class Webpage:

https://www.sanjuan.edu/domain/3565

Communication by email and through Classtag

Please make sure I have your email address to send you an invitation to join.

Link for teaching a correct pencil grip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RclxBdiuvOM

Transitional Kindergarten: Little Critters

 Kindergarten: Bumblebees

ARRIVAL & DISMISSAL

7:45 am to 11:05 am every day for Morning Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes

Children should not arrive earlier than ten minutes before the start of school. There is no supervision prior to this time and it is very important that you remain with your child if you arrive earlier. We will open the gate at 7:35 am

One early morning option is breakfast. Breakfast is served every day, starting at 7:30 a.m.  

• This year, all lunches are available at the end ofthe kindergarten day by request.
• Lunches are available upon request. Each morning, there will be a sign-up at our door for that day.
• Please fill out the school funding form (available online in the parent portal, or from the office, and as part of the welcome to school package). Our school gets funding dependent on how many forms are filled out and returned.
• It is best to give short and sweet good-byes at the gate when you bring your child to school for easy separations!
• Any variations on the times above require a check-in/out in the office.
• If your child arrives after the bell, they must go to the office to check in first.

At the end of day, if someone other than those on the YELLOW contact pick-up card will be picking up your child, please let us know by phone or written note. No child may leave school with another child or adult without your permission. Be sure to fill out the provided card with the names and phone numbers of the people who may pick-up your child before leaving today.

When you pick up your child, please be on time. Children worry when you are late.  Please call/email to let us know if you are running late.

If your child arrives after school has started, or if you need to check your child out early, you must check your child in/out through the office BEFORE coming to the classroom. Please do not come to the classroom first.

TARDIES

It is difficult for children and teachers when children arrive late. We start learning right away! A consistent routine of arriving on time insures that every child has a great start to the day. Please help us by establishing a regular routine to help your child get to school on time, ready to learn.

ATTENDANCE

If your child will not be attending school, you are required to call the attendance line at 916 867-2012 (available 24 hours). If a call is not possible, the law requires that you send a note to the office stating the reason for the absence on the day your child returns to school. All absences need to be cleared within 5 days. Please refer to the district attendance policy in the Parent Handbook.

POSITIVE BEHAVIOR PLAN

At Coyle Avenue School, we emphasize student behavior that provides safe, educationally productive, and happy place for all students.

Coyle Avenue School Rules

Be Safe

Be Responsible

Be Respectful

In our efforts to do this, we utilize a program of school wide positive behavior support.

We have a color chart Behavior Management System that encourages children to be ready to learn and demonstrate great character. It is a dynamic system that allows us to celebrate kind, safe and responsible behavior. It allows students to change behavior that is interrupting their learning or the learning of others.

Each class has special ways to acknowledge individual and team behavior. Some of the rewards may include Cougar “Paws’itive tickets/coupons. Students also earn marbles for the classroom marble jar, individual stickers, and other positive incentives to encourage kind, respectful, ready to learn behavior. If a student chooses to engage in behavior that is not safe, is disrespectful, or interferes with the learning of others, we will utilize natural consequences first to help reinforce positive behavior. It is our goal to guide each child into making choices that help him/her learn to be good citizens as they grow both academically and socially.

HOMEWORK

Research overwhelmingly states that reading to and with your child often is the very best way to help children become a successful readers; which in turn translates to success in school. Each month, I will send home a simple reading log for your child to record how many books you read together each month. This is an easy way to keep track of how many books they read throughout the year. This year, there will be a special sur-prize at the end for the kids who have read the most books!!

In addition to the monthly reading log, homework will include

            Math home connection letters sent home at the beginning of each unit.

            Fun family projects

Essential colorful word strips to use as flash cards for each new word.

Ideas to Build Comprehension:

As you read to your child, make a habit of thinking thoughtfully about the book by asking questions to help build comprehension. Questions that generate more than one right answer are better than “right there in the book” questions.

“Who was Frog’s best friend in Frog and Toad?”    (A “right there” question)

“Why do you think Frog wanted to be his friend?”  (A thinking question)

Have your child retell the story when you finish to check for understanding. On another night, let him/her turn the tables and ask you to retell the story – just to keep it fun!

SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS

You will be receiving Scholastic Book Club order forms throughout the year. Book Clubs are a very inexpensive way to build your family library and encourage your child to be a lifelong lover of reading. On the back of each order form, you will find the order by date. Ordering online is the easiest way!

Our class gets free books and free shipping when a parent orders online. It usually takes about two weeks for the order to arrive. If you would like to order books for a special occasion such as a birthday or holiday, please let me know. I will be sure to put it in a plain brown bag with plenty of staples so your child cannot peek!

Best of all, when you purchase books through Scholastic, the class receives points to exchange for books for our classroom library. Everyone benefits from the wonderful selection of books the club offers!

SNACKS

Children may bring a SMALL snack to eat during their recess. Please do not send a whole “lunch”. One small snack and/or a drink are just enough to give a little energy and still have time to play. Running, climbing, and jumping are important! We appreciate your efforts to not include nut products as part of your child’s snack.

 Ms. Wilson’s class will take their snack out of their backpack right before recess. It helps if the snack is in the small front pocket of the backpack. Please put names on snack containers if you would like them returned.

LABELS

Please remember to label anything that belongs to your child that may come unattached from him/her throughout the day – backpacks, jackets, etc. It is much easier to get it back to the proper owner if there is a first name and last initial already on the item.  Unclaimed items go to the Lost and Found in the cafeteria.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS AND CULTURAL OBSERVATIONS

We love to celebrate birthdays in our classroom, but we also want to be sensitive to personal family beliefs. Please let us know if you have an objection to having your child participate in birthday, holiday activities, or cultural practices (i.e., flag salute).

 If you would like to send a treat for the whole class, please see food guidelines below:

FOOD: See Classroom Guidelines and Alternate Suggestions

NO PEANUT OR PEANUT PRODUCT ITEMS as we have children with nut allergies.

As of July 1, 2007, all schools have adopted health and dietary restrictions for food. We are no longer allowed to accept homemade food items. All items brought to school to be enjoyed by the whole class must be brought in the original packaging from the store or bakery where it was purchased. We encourage you to consider healthy alternatives to high fat and high sugar treats such as fruit snacks low in fat and sugar, fresh PRECUT fruit or veggies, muffins rather than heavily frosted cupcakes, individual bags of crackers, special pencils, or even a class Birthday Book.  A Birthday book is a book that your child donates to our class library. It can be informational (For example, All about Dinosaurs) or fictional (For example, Goldilocks and the Three Bears). It should be appropriate for kindergarten aged children. We would be happy to share suggestions for favorite book titles!  Please do consider a nonfood alternative to birthday celebrations as some children with food allergies would be excluded from food items.

Please contact your child’s teacher in advance if you want to send treats to share for your child’s birthday.

SUPER STAR

Everyone will have a turn being the Star of the Week.

• A poster will be sent home to decorate together
• TK kids: Llama Llama and his special backpack goes home on Monday.

Please return on Thursday, along with his journal.

• Kindergarten: Skippyjon Jones with his special backpack goes home on Monday. Please return on Thursday along with his journal.
• Write a few sentences to tell about his adventures at your house. 

ITEMS FROM HOME

Please do not allow your child to bring toys and other items from home unless requested. They cause disruptions from learning and often get lost.

Communication is important –what works for you is best!  Please make sure that your email address and phone number are correct.

Do not leave a voicemail on the school phone number for my classroom.

The ClassTag App has been set up for easy communication via email and text messages.  Please be patient during school hours – I will not be able to reply right away but I will reply as soon as possible.

Please check your emails often for important messages from me and the office.

Make a habit of checking your child’s backpack each day, but especially on Fridays.

We can do it!

Thank you in advance for all you do to help your child build a solid foundation for a successful school experience!

Together,

Aris Wilson                         

Transitional Kindergarten/Kindergarten Teacher  Room 1

aris.wilson@sanjuan.edu       

EXPECTATIONS FOR THE END OF THE YEAR STANDARDS

Reading:

To be ready for the rigor of 1st grade, your child must be able to recognize and write all 52 letters and know the sound of each.

We teach the short vowel sound of a, e, i, o, and u (/a/ as in apple, /e/ as in elephant, /i/ as in insect, /o/ as in octopus, /u/ as in under.

The long vowel sounds say their name such as  /a/ as in acorn

We will teach more than 75 words by the end of the year.

Your child needs to be able to:

Decode (sound out) two and three letter words

Recognize and reproduce rhyming words.

Recognize and read high frequency words, also called sight words such as the word “the”

Read Level D Books

Be familiar with Concepts of Print. Concepts of Print is the ability to:

Know the parts of a book: title, front page, author, word direction, punctuation

Point to individual letters, individual words and sentences

Reading together is the best way for your child to master these skills!

Writing:

Your child needs to be able to neatly write her/his name using a capital letter at the beginning and the rest of the letters all lowercase.

All letters and numbers should start at the top (not from the bottom up)

Your child needs to be able to use the sound of letters to write words (invented spelling is ok – it indicates a solid letter/sound relationship).

Use a combination of pictures and words to tell about experiences/ideas

Math:

Your child should be able to:

Count orally to 100

Count 30 objects one on one.

Write and recognize the numerals to 30.

Skip countby 5’s and 10’s to 100

Add and subtract numbers below the number 10

Be able to understand and use words like more, less, and equal to compare sets of numbers.

Construct and deconstruct numbers (build numbers and take them apart)

Recognize and be able to name plain and solid shapes. We are piloting an exciting math program, assisted by an awesome math coach, Mr. Mike.

It’s going to be a fantastic year!