Morgan County Primary School Pre-Kindergarten Parent Handbook 2013-14 Welcome to the Pre-K program at Morgan County Primary School! We are very excited to be teaching your child this year, and we hope you find this Pre-K handbook useful during the year. If something is not covered in this handbook, refer to the school calendar/handbook it has additional information. Parent Participation Your participation in your child s school experience is encouraged! Our Pre-K program will provide you with numerous opportunities during the school year to volunteer for activities, field trips, and special occasions. All visitors need to check in at the office first for a visitor s pass. Your child s learning is vital and so is your participation and encouragement. The communication between school and home is very important we will need to keep open lines of communication between home and school through notes in your child s daily folder, emails, phone calls, or parent conferences. Arrivals, dismissals, and tardiness Our 1 st bell rings at 8:10. The late bell is at 8:15, so any child who is not in their classroom by 8:15 is considered tardy. You may walk your child to our room until September 3, and then after that we ask that you let your child walk to the room by him/herself. This encourages independence and reduces clinginess to the parent/guardian in the morning. It keeps our morning on schedule and helps the day start calmly for everyone in the classroom as they enter. There are teachers or staff all along our hallways at different posts to monitor children as they walk to their classrooms. Our school day ends at 2:55. Car rider dismissal begins at 3:05, and bus rider dismissals begin around 3:10. If you need to occasionally check your child out early, this has to be done through the office. Only a person that is on your child s authorized list may check your child out of school. Morgan County Primary School understands there may be instances occasionally when it is not possible to be here on time. However, please try to have your child here by 8:10 so that he/she may be in the classroom by 8:15, and therefore be off to a smooth, relaxed start of the day together with the class. If your child is late, you will need to check in with Mrs. Cindy Stewart at the desk by the lunchroom entrance or in the school office. Attendance: Tardies, absences and early pick-ups will be recorded in the office. The State Pre-K Department is VERY strict about the number of tardies, absences, and early pick-ups in Pre-K! This is monitored closely through the office. See the section on Attendance in the PTO-School Handbook & Calendar, 2011-12. Copies of the sample notes are also available at the school s website: www.morgan.k12.ga.us/mcps.
Daily Folder A folder is sent home EVERYDAY in your child s bookbag. It is very important to check this folder daily as it will hold your child s artwork/schoolwork, handouts/notes from school, reminders, weekly family letters etc. This folder will travel back and forth DAILY in your child s bookbag. Folders are checked each morning as the children are unpacking and hanging up their belongings. If you have money to send please include it in the daily folder. Please place the money in an envelope, separated by the purpose for the money (exact change for each purpose), and labeled with the amount per purpose. (purpose could include lunch, breakfast, t-shirts, field trips, ice cream, school store, etc.) When your child is sick If your child is sick, please keep him/her at home! Small children catch germs very easily, and illness can spread rapidly around a Pre-K classroom since items are touched and handled often. Please do not send your child to school with any of the following symptoms: Fever (fever free for 24 hours before returning to school) Diarrhea Vomiting A constant cough Pink eye/conjunctivitis Rash Chicken pox OR any other symptoms that could affect the health of other children If your child is sent to school sick, or becomes sick at school during the day, the nurse will call and ask you to pick up your child. PLEASE KEEP ALL PHONE NUMBERS CURRENT SO THAT WE MAY REACH YOU IN THE CASE OF AN EMERGENCY. This is very important to have several contact numbers. When your child returns to school from being absent for any reason, please send a note to school in your child s daily folder stating the date(s) and reason for absence(s). This is for office attendance purpose. Bus or car rider changes If your child is to ride a different bus home, there must be a note in the folder from a parent/guardian stating what bus they will ride and the EXACT address where they are to get off at. If they are riding home as a car rider, there also needs to be a note stating the name of the person that will be picking them up. You may also fax or email bus rider/car rider changes to our school office. Fax 706-342-9184 or email cindy.stewart@morgan.k12.ga.us. Please do not email changes to your child s teacher as emails is usually checked after school.) Clothes for school COMFORTABLE PLAY CLOTHES! In Pre-K, the children play hard and work hard, so they will be getting their clothes dirty occasionally. The preferred footwear for school is tennis shoes. Other types of footwear could increase the chance of an accident on the playground or other uneven surfaces. If girls wear a skirt or dress, they will need to wear a pair of shorts under them. We sit on the floor and move around a lot. Work on snaps, buttons, zippers, and belt buckles!
Change of clothes Pre-K students need to be COMPLETELY potty trained and independent in cleaning themselves. However, we know that accidents or spills will happen. Please send in an extra change of clothes in the zip-lock bag provided and labeled with your child s name AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Include the following items: t-shirt, 1 pair of shorts, socks, and TWO pair of underwear. The extra clothes will stay in your child s bookbag. As the weather grows cooler, we will ask you to change out the extra clothes in the bookbag for a winter set of extra clothes. If this set of clothes has to be used, please return a new set the next day. (Limited extra clothes are available at the school.) Work on snaps, buttons, zippers, and belt buckles! Breakfast and Lunch Our school has a wonderful nutrition program. Monthly menus are usually sent on the first or last days of the month. Your child is welcome to have breakfast at the school, each morning. The first few days of school students will be taken to breakfast from the classroom by the assistant teacher. During this time, students will be given the opportunity to practice carrying trays; learn where to sit; and how to get to their classroom. After this training, students will go directly to breakfast (breakfast is from 7:40-8:10 am) from either car riders or school bus (parents will be notified when this starts). Your child may eat a school lunch or they may bring their own from home. You are welcome to visit and eat lunch with your child anytime we would love to have you! If you can, please send a note that morning so that we can put an extra adult on the lunch report. If you are eating lunch with your child, you must first sign in at the office. If your child brings a lunch from home please no gum or candy. If your child needs to buy milk for their packed lunch, he/she may do so. All lunch, breakfast and/or milk money/checks will need to be sent in the school folder. ANY money needs to be kept in an envelope that is labeled with what the money is for, the amount, the child s name, and your child s teacher. You may send a check or cash to pay for a number of breakfast/lunches. Can also pay online at www.myschoolbucks.com. The amount is always added to your account by Donna Cochran in our lunchroom. Ice Cream Each PreK class will have one day per week to buy ice cream. Cost is 50 cents. Only one ice cream can be purchased per week. Money for ice cream must be separated from other money and has to be exact change. Naptime For naptime, please send ONE regular size bath towel or smaller blanket to use as a cover or pillow. This will be sent home every Friday to be washed and sent back to school on Monday. Please DO NOT send larger, thick towels, pillows, blankets or throws there is just not enough cubby room.
Birthdays For your child s birthday we are asking that you send a box of cake mix and a container of icing to school as soon as possible. On your child s birthday they will assist in decorating their birthday cake and sending it to the lunchroom to be baked for the entire class. We will supply the other ingredients to make the cake. If your child s birthday is during a weekend or holiday, we will celebrate his/her birthday on the Friday before. All summer birthdays will be celebrated during the month of May. Holiday Parties There will be class parties for Halloween, Christmas and Valentine s. There will be an Egg Hunt close to Easter. You may sign up to help with a party and the room parent will always contact you to remind you what you have volunteered to provide for the party and in advance thank you!! Library Visits Our class will visit our school library once a week to have a story read to us by our media specialist, Lisa Wilson, and then to check a book out. These books will be sent home in your child s bookbag and are to be sent back to school after a day or so of enjoying it with your child. Field Trips The Pre-K classes go on field trips, so there s always an opportunity (and need!) for parent participation for help as chaperones. Some field trip chaperone sign-ups are on a first signed up, first to go basis. There will be many opportunities for you to go on trips this year and your help will be needed! Siblings of Pre-K students are not allowed to go on our field trips NO EXCEPTIONS! Parents will be required to pay their admission charge. Parent Conferences PreK has a different conference schedule than the other grades. Scheduled conferences are held in the winter and at the end of the school year, with a sign-up sheet sent home for appointment times. However, you are welcome to have a conference at anytime of the year, just send a note, email, or call the school to set it up. Discipline Our rules, or guidelines, will be developed as a class on the first day of school, based on the school wide PAWS program. The main focus is on positive behavior choices and helping to develop these in your child. P prepare to work A always obey adults W walk quietly S show respect
Behavior management in the classroom is based on the principles of 1-2-3 Magic, developed by Dr. Thomas Phelan (more information about the program is available at www.parentmagic.com). In the classroom the teacher gives each child two warnings, 1-, 2-, to redirect their behaviors. If the teacher calls 3-, the child must go to the Thinking area to think and talk about the behavior. Any severe behaviors (i.e., hitting, kicking) will be reported on the daily behavior chart sent home in your child s folder. Newsletters Weekly newsletters will be sent home in the student folders every week, letting you know of upcoming dates, learning themes, various information, and reminders. Please take a moment to read over these newsletters the day you get them and keep it until the next newsletter comes home. Also, there will be a Pre-K news bulletin board outside our classroom door for information and reminders. Some skills to work on at home during the year: Read and talk with your child on a daily basis. Ask them specific questions about their day. Friendly, mannerly, social skills Recognizing letters and numbers Buttons, snaps, belts, and zippers Writing their name independently, holding a pencil correctly Being able to state their full name, birthday, address, and phone number Knowing the names of immediate family members Tying shoes Counting, sorting objects at home Measuring, pouring, stirring, etc. while cooking with an adult Scissor skills ***Please check your child s bookbag/folder DAILY!!!*** If you ever have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send an e-mail or a note in your child s folder. We are so excited to have your child in our classroom! Working together, let s make this a wonderful FIRST year of school for your child!