August 20, 2009

Ray’s Ramblings
August 20, 2009

Dear Parents,

Many important things are included in your child’s Take Home Folder Today. Please read carefully!

FOLDERS: I am very pleased that you are being so diligent in sending the Take Home Folders to school daily. Please check the folder each night and return it to school either EMPTY or put lunch money, book orders or notes to me in the folder. Please take out all work that is sent home.

ABSENCES: Remember, if your child is absent, you must send in a doctor note if they have been seen by a doctor OR you may write a Parent Note explaining the absence within three days! I am sending in a sheet with 4 sample parent notes for you to use. Please keep these handy. If your child is absent, please cut one of these off and send it in. Of course, you may write your own note. This is just an attempt to help you out! Remember you may only have 8 (eight) parent notes for the entire year! (Read the Parent Handbook).

BEHAVIOR: We have started our Apple Chart for good behavior. When your childcomes to school, they will have a green apple. As long as they are following the Five Steps without reminders, their apple will remain green. If they have a problem, they will be given a warning. At warning #2, they should STOP AND THINK about what is going on and stop the behavior. This usually works for most children. However, if the behavior continues and they get a third warning, their apple will be changed to YELLOW. They will spend 5 minutes at recess walking laps and discussing the behavior with me. Hopefully it will not happen again. If a child has another episode of behavior problems in the same day, their apple could move to RED. At this point, you will get a note home (or a phone call). If the behavior warrants, we will go to the office and you will be receiving a phone call from Mrs. Sampson or Mrs. Schlafer. At the end of the day, all children who still have GREEN apples, will receive a sticker to show you that they had a good day. I realize these stickers may not make it home. I keep a record of behavior. If behavior becomes a problem, I WILL LET YOU KNOW! No news is good news!

TREASURE BOX: I would like to be able to reward the students who stay on GREEN ALL WEEK with Treasure Box. I currently have nothing for treasure box. If you have extra McDonalds or Happy Meal toys, these make excellent items for treasure box. Last year, many parents had their children clean out toy chests for small items that may be a treasure to another child. On the supply list, you were supposed to send in a $10 class fee. I have only received two fees!!! If you send the class fee in, I can use the money to purchase some party toys OR you may purchase party items and send them in! ( I also need Play-Doh!!)

CAR LINE: The carline for parents picking up and dropping off their children will begin on August 24. If you are ONLY planning to drop your child off, you do not need to do anything. If you plan to pick up your child in the carline, you must let me know. I will send home a form for you to fill out and you will receive a special tag to put on your child’s backpack and a matching tag to place in your window.
SHOES: Please read through your Parent Handbook carefully. Particularly the part about shoes. It is highly recommended for every child to wear tennis shoes to school. We have lots of trouble on the playground with children tripping on flip flops and stepping on wood chips. We have even had children step on them and get splinters. Be sure to remember that WEDNESDAY is our GYM day and tennis shoes are required on that day.

JEWELRY: We are having a problem with girls wearing jewelry. I know this is a neat thing to do. If the child can wear the jewelry and leave it alone, that is fine. If they continue to take it off and play with it, it becomes a toy. Toys are not allowed at school and will be taken away and put in backpacks.

HOME VISITS: It is the Jessamine Early Learning Village policy for kindergarten teachers to make 1 home visit with each child at some point throughout the year. Home visits are very important to your child. It allows me to see “their world”. I do realize that sometimes home visits are not possible and I am willing to make different arrangements if needed (meet at school, McDonald’s, etc.). Please fill out the enclosed Home Visit form and return it to school as soon as possible. I currently have 48 children on my class list. Please be patient as I work through scheduling these home visits in my ‘outside’ time. We will have one day in first semester designed for home visits for PM students (October 28) and one day second semester for AM (March 16) students. Keep these days in mind.

SALLY FOSTER FUNDRAISER: It’s time for JELV’s annual Sally Foster Fundraiser for technology! Last year we raised approximately $9000.00 and we look forward to another successful year. This fundraiser features quality gift-wrap, unique gift items, gourmet chocolates, edibles, and much more. And, everything is value-priced at $20 or less! The fundraiser will begin on Tuesday September 1 and end on Tuesday September 15. Order packets will be placed in your students backpack. Please return them in your child¹s backpack by Tuesday September 15. Orders will be received the week following fall break. As always, we keep the children¹s safety in mind, and encourage the students to only sell to familiar adults and with the assistance of an adult. We appreciate your help in helping your child¹s school raise money for technology.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS: The Welcome Back to School book orders are going home today. I will send book orders home once each month. There are two ways to order. You may check on the book order the items you wish to purchase and send a check made out to SCHOLASTIC BOOKCLUBS. Put the order form and the check in an envelope marked book orders with your child’s name and put it in your child’s take home folder. You may also order online using a credit card. I am sending these instructions on a separate paper for you to keep for future reference. You can also find the directions on my website: www.carlaray.net. I am sending the orders home today. Please return orders to me by next Thursday. I will place the orders online over the weekend next week. If you are making online orders, please have these placed by Friday. The online orders will come to school with the rest of the orders about 7 days after placing the orders. If you choose to order from both book orders, you may still make ONE check out to Scholastic. I recommend item #37 in the Scholastic order for everyone. This is a set of High Frequency Readers that we will be using in ELF groups.

PARENT ORIENTATION NIGHT: Please remember to put September 10 on your calendar. This night is for PARENTS. Try to make arrangements to leave your children with a sitter. There are four sessions for parents in my room. Be prepared to stay at school for 1 hour. Thirty minutes will be in my room. The second 30 minutes will be in the cafeteria. If you have a 4:30 time slot, you will go to the cafeteria at 5:00. If you have the last time slot, please go to the cafeteria BEFORE coming to my room. If you have one of the two middle sessions, you may choose to go to the cafeteria either before OR after the session in my room!