• Homework
           Homework is a very important part of your child's day.  The work being sent home is a review of a concept(s) that has been taught that day or previously.  Directions and examples are given numerous times.  Therefore, your child should understand what is being asked of him or her.
           There will be various types of homework sent home throughout the year. It is generally given Monday through Thursday evenings. I will try to put a HW on all worksheets. If an empty worksheet comes home, please complete that page.
           Help your child build great work habits by providing a quiet place to work, establishing a time to do homework, and a routine that works for you.  Have your child pack his or her own backpack before bed.
           Allow your child to complete what he or she can and then give help if needed.  Make sure it is done neatly and completely.  Lastly, sign or initial ALL homework in the upper right hand corner of the paper.
           Another great thing to do on a regular basis is to read aloud to your child. This will help him or her become a better reader, writer, and speaker!
     
    Reading/Language Arts
           Research shows that a parent reading to his/her child is the most effective way to help children become better readers.  Reading helps build self-esteem and success in all subject areas.  Read to your child daily for at least 15 minutes in a quiet place, away from distractions.  Any reading material is fine.  Some nights you can read aloud and point to the words with your fingers as you go.  Ask your child two or three questions about the pages you just read to encourage them to recall information from the passage.  Your child can make predictions as to what he/she thinks will happen next.  Have your child "read" the story to you by making up sentences that go with the pictures.  Encourage him/her to read with you if phrases are repeated throughout the story.  Reading develops language and proper grammar usage, increases vocabulary, promotes listening skills and has many other intellectual and emotional benefits.  Also, please limit television, computers, and hand held games.  No matter how educational they may be, nothing can or will ever replace human interaction!
           Our Language Arts program has several components designed to foster reading skills, develop an understanding of printed material, enhance the enjoyment of stories and other literature and nurture self-confidence.  Using books which contain text that rhymes, is repetitive or predictable; the children read and reread familiar stories.  Because of the rhyming, repetitive, or predictable text, the student quickly remembers the stories and is easily able to join in reading with the group.  This is a great confidence builder for the class.  You will be amazed at the words, sentences and books your child will be reading!
           The children and I will be building a word wall this year.  We will begin with the class names and progress to words that are related to our literature and themes.  We will work with our words using game-like activities designed to reinforce letter/sound recognition, word recognition, sorting and classifying, identifying word patterns and more.  The word wall will also serve as a resource for student writing as the year progresses.
     
    Mathematics
           This year your child will have the opportunity to build mathematical concepts by manipulating objects and through real life experiences.  Mathematics concepts are incorporated into many everyday classroom routines.  Concepts that your child will be learning include counting, patterning, organizational skills such as sorting, classifying, and graphing, making comparisons, number concepts and beginning addition and subtraction.  Also, your child will learn to write and recognize the numbers 1 to 20 and beyond.  Concepts will be introduced in whole group and small group lessons.  Students will apply and extend what has been introduced through independent and cooperative work at a variety of math stations.  After students have had ample opportunity to build a concept through manipulating objects, they will be encouraged to record their work by writing and drawing.  When we begin a chapter, I will be sending home a parent letter that tells you about the concepts being learned and helpful hints.  Once you see a Chapter Review page being sent home, you will know a "test" is coming shortly.
     
    Collecting Money
           On occasion, it will be necessary for your child to bring money to school.  (Special envelopes are available for lunch money.  When you need more of these, let me know.)  Always send money in a sealed envelope with your child's first and last name, the amount of money, the purpose for the money (scholastic book order, school store) and KA (this stands for Kindergarten Altomare).
     
    Attendance
           Your child's regular and prompt attendance at school is crucial to his/her success.  I cannot emphasize this point enough!  Most kindergarten learning activities are group oriented and involve interaction with classmates.  Therefore, it is difficult to make up work at home.  Please view school as a priority, and see to it that your child attends everyday except in cases of illness or emergency.
     
    Book Orders
           Your child will be bringing home a form to order books about once a month.  If you wish to order, simply fill out the form and send the correct amount of money or check made out to the book company in an envelope.  These orders are provided as a convenient way for parents to buy quality books for their child at a low price.  As an added bonus, for every dollar that is spent on books, I earn bonus points which are used to purchase books for classroom use.  This is a win-win situation because you get quality literature at a low price and you are helping to provide quality literature for the classroom.  Of course, you are never under any obligation to order.
     
    Birthday Celebrations
           Birthdays are special occasions for young children.  You may celebrate your child's birthday in class with STORE BOUGHT cupcakes, donuts or cookies.  The ingredients needs to be listed for allergy purposes.  Please supply napkins and other necessary items.  No cakes or goodie bags please.  You can drop off all items at the main office in the morning.  Please do not send birthday party invitations to school unless the entire class has been invited.  Although it may seem convenient to distribute invitations this way, it can result in hurt feelings for those not invited.
     
    Discipline Procedure
           Establishing good classroom discipline is essential to each child's success, confidence and well-being.  Every child should feel that the classroom environment is safe and secure; free from all threats of physical or emotional harm.  In addition, it is important that each child learn to develop self-discipline and good work habits, to resolve conflicts peacefully, and to think independently.  Your child learned the purpose of classroom rules and the idea that our classroom is a community with the common purpose of learning, growing and becoming friends.  I read a story about a monster that came to school and through class discussion, the class made a list of rules that protect each student's right to safety and respect.  We discussed the responsibilities that each child has in maintaining class order.
           The second facet of the discipline plan included the logical consequences that will occur when class rules are broken.  Some examples of logical consequences include time-out away from class activities for class disruptions or aggressive behavior and verbal apologies for name-calling or ridicule towards other children.  I have also set up a behavior plan which involves the parents as well.  These consequences are not inclusive since it is impossible to predict all incidents of misbehavior that will occur during the year.  The idea is for the consequence to be related to the misbehavior and act as a solution or restitution for the problem.  If classroom rules are persistently broken, you will be contacted.
     
Last Modified on August 29, 2017