GUIDE TO BEING A ROCK STAR

(A.K.A. Ms. Aarons Preschool Handbook)

Welcome to Preschool! YAY! We will have an
absolute blast of a year learning letters and
numbers, beginning reading and writing, singing,
exploring, and developing both as individuals and
as a learning community. I am so excited to get
to know your child and your family! Its
important to remember, we are a team and I look
forward to working with all of you in the growth
and development of your little one!
William G. Mathers Preschool Program
Our morning program provides an environment, which allows the learner to
Engage in meaningful tasks
Take ownership and responsibility for his/her learning
Be a problem solver and a decision maker
Learn at ones own pace in a developmentally appropriate environment
Communication
Please feel free to call or email me at any time with questions, concerns,
celebrations, etc. I will get back with you as soon as time permits! (Our
days will be busy, so you can usually expect a response within 24 hours unless
I am away from school.) Its typically easier to get ahold of me through
email! If you have a more urgent need you can call the office.
Email: Ashley.Aaron@mps-up.com
School Phone: 906-387-2102 Ext. 115
Office: 906-387-2102
To set up a conference or chat time (outside of our regularly scheduled
conference times in the fall and spring), please call or email so we can set up
a time for after school. Before school is a very busy time for me, as I am
prepping for our day.

Nuts and Bolts

The classroom will open at 8:00am and students will have until 8:20am to
arrive. The school day ends at 11:30am. (Please note that if you need to pick
up your child early, you must sign them out in the office and in our
classroom.) When you drop off your child or pick him or her up we ask that
you sign them in and out in the classroom. (This goes along with state
licensing so each child is accounted for.)
At the end of the day, grown ups will meet outside of the classroom to pick
up the students. If your child rides the bus, he or she will be walked outside
with an adult. If you do choose to put your student on the bus, you must
arrange the ride with Altran and buy a bus pass or send money with your
student. Also, youll notice near the sign in sign out sheet there is a list for
students who ride the Altran. If you child is riding Altran we ask you write
down his or her name under the day and where he or she is going. If a
different person will be picking up your child, I ask you send a note, just to
let me know. For safety reasons, I cannot let your child leave with anyone
else unless you notify me. If there is ever a change in your childs departure
from school, PLEASE send a note or call the office. This is a very hectic
time, getting children to the correct place, and changes can be tough, so we
absolutely need a note or a phone call.
Notes Folder
Your child will be bringing home a folder filled with important papers. It is a
powerful communication tool between home and school. Please check for this
folder each night in your childs backpack and send anything for me back to
school in it. I will check the folders for messages from home. You can
expect to find your childs work, notes from me, notes from the office, book
orders, or anything else that needs to be sent home. In addition to notes,
youll find a monthly calendar and weekly newsletters inside the folder. The
calendar and newsletters will let you know the different things were working
on and exciting upcoming classroom and school events!

Preschool Daily Schedule

8:008:20StudentsArrive/QuietActivities
8:208:30BathroomBreak
8:309:00LargeGroup
Calendar
Counting

Pledge
Singing

FingerPlays
Sharing

ConceptDevelopment(LetterPeople,MathConceptsEtc.Materialswillbe
availableduringworktime.)
9:009:30SmallGroup(23groupstorotate)

LetterPeopleActivities
WritingPractice
ScissorPractice

HandsOnMath
ExplorationofMaterials

9:3010:00Recess
10:0010:10BathroomBreak/HandWashing/Snack
10:1010:20Toothbrushing
10:2010:25MusicSingingandDancing
10:2511:10FreeChoiceWorkTimeCenters
11:1011:20EveryoneCleanUp
11:2011:22DailyRecall
11:2211:30Story
11:30ReadyforHome

Absences
If your child will be absent or late, please call the office (387-2102) and
follow the prompts to report the absence.

Visitors
We love visitors and volunteers; research shows a childs success is directly
related to adult involvement! If you are coming in to visit or volunteer, you
must go in through the main doors of the school (Elm Street entrance) and
sign in, in the office. Its also important you fill out the soft background
check form and send it back into the office prior to your visit. This just
helps insure the students are kept safe!
Health Concerns
Please keep your emergency information up to date in case we need to
contact you to take an ill or hurt child home. Additionally, district policy
regarding an ill child is that they MUST be free from fever, vomiting, and
diarrhea for 24 hours before they may return to school.
Snack
Snack time is among the students favorite part of the day! Each family will
be assigned a couple different snack weeks, weve found its easier to
remember and keep track of snack weeks rather than snack days. When it is
your childs snack week we ask you send in healthy snacks for the whole
class. You can choose to send snacks in a day at a time, or the whole weeks
supply at once. These snacks can be, but are not limited to, fruit, veggies,
dried cereal, crackers, granola bars, pretzels, jello, pudding, yogurt,
homemade treats, popcorn etc. Our school is peanut aware so we ask these
snacks do NOT have any peanut butter or peanut products. The school
provides juice and water every day to go along with snack.
Twice a month we will have diverse snacks, typically provided by Mather
Connection! These snacks will be foods from all over the world and we will
use these snacks as a gateway to learn about new, exotic areas. If your
family has a special recipe from your heritage youd like to prepare and

share with our class, we would love to learn all about it. Contact me and we
can set up a special time for you to teach us!
After snack, we will be brushing our teeth. We will discuss why its important
to brush our teeth and how we do it. As crazy as it sounds, students LOVE
doing this.

Appropriate Clothing
Preschool is your childs job albeit, a really cool, fun, and rockin job.
Please make sure they are dressed appropriately for that job. We will do a
lot of exploring and creating and sometimes it is really messy. Please dress
your child in clothing that is OK to possibly get dirty or even stained. (It
does happen sometimes sorry! ) In addition, we will be very active, lots of
physical activity both indoors and outdoors. Please dress your child for this.
I discourage any type of flip-flops, sandals, heeled, or open-toed shoes.
Four five year olds are working at coordination and agility in their gross
motor endeavors, and we have seen many chipped teeth, scraped
knees/elbows/toes and even some broken bones simply because of
inappropriate footwear. I strongly encourage tennis shoes or other closed
toe, soft soul shoes that are appropriate for all school activities both inside
and out.
Your child will go to recess every day In accordance with licensing we will
go outside ever day the weather permits. On rainy or cold days we will use
the gym to run around and play.
Label, Label, Label
Please plan to label ALL belongings- coats, caps, sweaters, sweatshirts,
scarves, BOTH boots, and BOTH mittens with 1st and last name. So many
odd items are never found again by owners and are given to charity. Please
help us keep track by labeling everything. When in doubt, label!
Toys
Unless we are having a special day that I will tell you about in the newsletter
or a special SHARING time, toys should stay at home, please.

Parent Involvement
Please check your childs folder each day and take the time to go over your
childs work and/or homework with them. Taking time daily, however brief,
to work on school projects/homework or simply read will show your child
that you care and value what they are doing in school, and that you are
involved and interested in their education. Oh, how it pays dividends!
Great Start Parent Coalition Meetings
Rae Bowerman is Alger Counties Great Start Parent Liasion. She holds Great
Start Parent Coalition Meetings, which are usually held the second
Wednesday of the month in the community center, if there is a change Ill
notify you in our weekly newsletter. The meetings begin with a family dinner
at 5:30 and then the actual meeting begins at 6:00. Kids are welcome to
come! Im a member of this group and will attend all meetings Im able to.
Its a great organization and I hope to see everyone there!
Volunteers
If you have time, we LOVE parent volunteers! We always have classroom
jobs, errands, and projects that require extra hands. Whatever your
availability, we are most appreciative of your time and efforts.
I usually start parent volunteers at the beginning of October to allow
children time to adjust and establish their place in our learning community.
Homework
Homework will be sent home on Tuesday nights and isnt expected back until
Friday morning. The homework is typically practicing our letter of the week;
find items in your home that start with the sound of the letter of the week,
or something similar. When a student brings his or her homework back to
school he or she will receive a gold ticket. When a student receives four gold
tickets, they can pick a prize from the prize box! Tickets can also be
earned for being kind, safe, or respectful. (I know Preschool seems so young
to have homework but it teaches the students to be accountable.)
Birthdays
Birthdays are a VERY special time for our Preschoolers, what could be cooler
than turning four or five?! We love to celebrate birthdays. We will
celebrate in class with special recognition and a song on the day of your
childs birthday celebration, if your child has a birthday in the summer we

will celebrate their half birthday, I will contact you to set up the
celebration. If youd like to send in a special snack that day, craft, or
SMALL trinket, youre more than welcome I just ask you send in enough for
everyone.

Sharing
Sharing is a SUPER important skill for our Preschoolers to learn. Its
important for them to feel comfortable and safe around their peers/friends
and learn to enjoy speaking in front of each other. We will begin our sharing
with family pictures. Please send in two or three pictures of your family.
These pictures can include any person/pet your child deems important to the
family. These pictures will be laminated and put on the door after the
children share the picture with the class. Its a good way to begin sharing
and get to know each other. These pictures will remain on our classroom
doors through the WHOLE year. The pictures will come home when our
school year is over, but again, they will be laminated.
Please Bring to School:
A full size backpack. Your child will need to bring their backpack each day to
transport things to and from home/school.
A change of clothes in a bag with your childs name on it. During our day we
do a lot of fun activates and sometimes we forget we have to go to the
bathroom, accidents happen.
A toothbrush. As I said earlier were going to be brushing our teeth after
snack. We wont start right away, but eventually we will be doing it.
**Optional, much-needed and greatly appreciated donations include Clorox
wipes, hand sanitizer, tissues, paper towel, napkins, small Dixie cups, plastic
bags freezer and sandwich size, tooth paste, and extra snacks, just in case.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!

Contact Parent
William G. Mather Elementary School has a parent/teacher government
called the Mather Connection. (Basically the Mather Connection is our
schools version on a PTO. It's a group of parents and teachers who talk

about and decide on issues involving our school and the students education.
You're always welcome to attend these meetings. They're typically 3rd
Monday of the mouth with some exceptions. The dates are listed in the
monthly Pony Express News Letter, handed out from the office. From this
group, our room has a contact parent! This person is a contact for you if you
ever have any questions you rather talk to someone other than Mrs. Johnson
or myself about. These questions could be about what your child is learning,
different things you'd like to see happening in the program, field trip ideas,
kindergarten preparation, or anything else that might come up. I would love
to hear your input! If needed, our preschool classroom would be available
to hold meetings, but again, that will be as needed. Mrs. Jodie Jackson, 3875768, a member of the Mather Connection, kindly volunteered to be our
classrooms contact parent.
Cultural Competence Plan Everyone is valued!
In our classroom, everyone is welcome no matter the ethnic background! In
preschool we will celebrate differences between us, our schoolmates, and
people all over the world! This may include celebrating different cultural
holidays and traditions all over the world. We will use our diverse snack as a
gateway to our learning! We also read from books that will help to teach us
about people and different areas all over the world! From this we learn about
different climate, languages, and other special traits that make people
different. In our classroom we have toys with mixed genders and races, like
baby dolls, puzzles, puppets, and our monthly Scholastic Reader! You are
always welcome to come into the classroom to teach the students about your
childs heritage, were always eager to learn something new!
Classroom Expectations
Our Preschool classroom will have three special words to explain how we act
in our school community. As a class, we will be discussing the meaning and
value of these expectations. We will then create a list of behaviors that
match each expectation for the classroom, helping to give the students
ownership and responsibility for their behavior. Please take a few minutes
and discuss these with your child to help reinforce his/her learning. These
special words are:
KIND

SAFE

RESPECTFUL

These are the basics to our Preschool. A school handbook will be sent home
too! Always remember, I will strive to be the biggest advocate for your
child, but you know your child better than I ever will and you know what is
best for him or her. Together, as a team, we can work to ensure you student
learns, not just academically and socially, but learns to love school! Again, if
you ever have questions or comments feel free to contact me, your input is
vital to the success of our classroom! Im so excited to work youre your
little Rock Star, Preschool Student!

Ashley