Welcome to Kindergarten!

I-4
Classroom Handbook

Hale Kula Elementary Mrs. Schaefer School Year 2013 2014

Dear Parents of I-4, Aloha and Welcome to Kindergarten! My name is Mrs. Jerilynn Schaefer and I will be your childs Kindergarten teacher this school year. I am very excited to work with you and your child. Kindergarten is one of the most crucial years in your childs life. This is where we build a strong foundation for your childs education, which will greatly affect his/her schooling for years to come. Together, if we work as a team, we can provide this foundation for your child. I strongly encourage you to become involved in your childs education at home, as well as at school. I have provided this classroom handbook as a reference. Please read the following information carefully. The information provided should answer common questions and reduce beginning of the year confusion. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send me a note with your child in his/her folder, call the school, or you may come to see me afterschool if I am available. I will keep you posted of classroom events through my class website. I look forward to a wonderful year as we watch your child learn and grow. Together, we can make your childs first year of school a successful one! Mahalo,

Mrs. Jerilynn Schaefer

I-4s Important Information

Morning Procedures for Students 1. Place water bottle on sink counter/Lunch bags in lunch container. 2. Place backpack on hooks outside. 3. Place Homework Folder in the Homework Folder Bin. 4. Check-In at Attendance Chart - Turn birdy card over on the Whose Here Today? Chart. Place clothes pin onto student number for home lunch. 5. Sit at desk. 6. Put nametag on. 7. Start independent work.

Bathroom Etiquette Please remind your child to wash hands after using the restroom and to also flush the toilet. Also, make sure that your child washes his/her hand properly (pump a pea size amount of soap onto hands, wash tops and bottoms, and to rinse off all of the soap). Book Orders I will be sending home book order forms from Scholastic Book each month for you to purchase books for your child at a reduced rate (the deals are hard to beat!). This is a great way for your child to acquire his/her own library of books and be exposed to different types of literature. Please order books online before the given due date. It usually takes two weeks after the due date to receive the ordered books. **You do not have to participate in ordering books.

Bulletin Board/Class Website/E-mail Accounts There is a bulletin board outside our classroom where notices, reminders, and important announcements are posted. Please be sure to refer to it when you get a chance. I have also set up a class website where parents can find information about classroom ongoing and upcoming events. Please check the website regularly for updates. The website address is: mrsschaeferskindergarten.weebly.com I would also appreciate your e-mail address as I do send out reminders periodically through email. Change of Clothes Each student must have an extra set of clothes at school to be placed in their cubbies. Accidents do happen. Clothes that are sent home to be washed must be replaced. Please place clothes in a Ziploc bag labeled with your childs name.

Dismissal At the end of the day when you come to pick up your child, please wait at the side of the building. Do NOT stand in the doorway because it becomes a distraction to the students and they need to listen and participate in the end of the day discussion. When the bell rings, your child will be sitting on the carpet. When I see you or the pick up person in the doorway, I will call your childs name and release them. Students can choose to give me one of the 3 Hs before leaving (High five, Handshake, or Hug). Guided Writing Journal This homework will start quarter two. I will be sending home further instructions on how to help your child with this assignment.

Homework Policy Each student will have a Homework Folder, which includes homework for the day and the GLO Behavior Chart. You will need to check this folder daily. There will be homework on a daily basis. Get your child into the habit of doing homework everyday afterschool. I Can Read The I Can Read envelope will come home weekly. Please let your child read the book to you. Make sure they are pointing at each word as they read. Write the title of the book on the I Can Read log and sign. Please send the books back to school the next school day.

Keyboarding We will be using computers throughout the school year. The children will learn how to log into their accounts. Please have your child practice typing out his/her first and last name. Also, help your child to identify the keys 1, 2, 3, 4. Other important keys you can help them learn are the space bar, enter/return key, and backspace key. Parent Volunteers A notice will go out regarding volunteering for the class. During the first month of school, I rarely have parent volunteers come in so that I can establish the beginning of the year routines with the children. However, I will always need volunteers to help with preparing materials for the class, tutoring, or helping children with special activities and parties. If you have free time to volunteer in the classroom, it would be really helpful to take the copying class provided by our PCNC. I will send out more information about volunteering as the year goes on.

Resource Schedules Library, P.E., Technology Center, & Hawaiiana Our school offers a variety of resource classes. I will send home a schedule for these resource classes as soon as the teachers are assigned a set date and time. P.E.: Physical Education classes are held at the field right next to the Kindergarten classrooms. Please make sure your child brings a water bottle to school and wears comfortable clothes and covered shoes (tennis shoes or sneakers) on our P.E. days. Library: You child will have an opportunity to borrow books from our school library. Books are sent home in a library envelope. Please teach your child proper book care etiquette. Technology Center/Hawaiiana: Details to come! Shoelaces Please help your child learn how to tie shoelaces. A lot of children walk around with untied shoelaces, which is not safe for the child. Snacks In our class, I allow the children to eat a snack from home during 2nd recess. If you choose to send a snack to school, please make sure that it is only one item (i.e., granola bar, string cheese, an apple, applesauce, fruit roll-up, animal crackers, etc.). Super Eagle of the Quarter Each quarter two students will be chosen and will be honored at an assembly. They are chosen based on their performance of the GLOs and class rules.

Water Bottles I encourage you to have your child bring a water bottle labeled with their name daily to drink instead of having them drink from the water fountain at the end of the hall. I have space on the sink counter for water bottles. Please NO juice of sodas! Wednesday Folders Every Wednesday I will send home a blue Wednesday folder. This folder will include all school fliers for the week. Please take the time to fill out forms and return right away. Initial and return the folder the next school day. Zoophonics & Writing Name Practice This is additional homework for quarter one. Please help your child learn the Zoophonics motions and sounds. This program helps children learn the alphabet sounds in a fun and easy way. If you see a worksheet with your childs name on it, sit with them and make sure they follow the correct strokes and form as they trace and write.

Mrs. Schaefers Contact Information: Phone #: (808) 622-6380 E-Mail: mrsschaefer808@yahoo.com

All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

by Robert Fulghum
Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school. These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Dont hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Dont take things that arent yours. Say youre sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup -- they all die. So do we. And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. Ecology and politics and sane living. Think of what a better world it would be if we all -- the whole world -- had cookies and milk about 3 oclock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are: When you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.