Welcome to Kindergarten!Ms. Coleman

B-5

Dear Families,

Thank you very much for coming this evening. I am looking forward to working with you and your child. It is my desire to create an environment for your child that promotes academic success as well as emotional, intellectual and social development. Together we can achieve these goals.

Kindly,Kelly Coleman

Ms. Coleman’s Classroom Management I am so excited to have your child in my class this year! Your child deserves the most positive educational climate possible. Each child is expected to keep the following classroom promises:

1. Make good choices2. Solve problems3. Show respect

In order to help keep our classroom running smoothly and to hold students accountable for their behavior, we have a management system in our class that I would like to explain to you, so you will know what to expect this year, be able to follow up at home with your child each day, and help your child to set goals for positive behavior. In our classroom we have a clip chart that has 7 different colors on it. Each day, your child will start out on the color in the middle of the chart, GREEN, which is “Ready to Learn.” Throughout the day, your child has the opportunity to move his or her clip up the chart for positive behavior choices or down the chart for negative behavior choices. If your child moved his or her clip to YELLOW, “Warning,” this means that your child had to have a verbal warning for something, but he or she stopped the behavior after the warning and had an okay rest of the day. If your child moved his or her clip to ORANGE “Consequence,” or RED “Parent Contact,” this means that your child was warned about his or her behavior yet continued to make poor behavior choices that disrupted learning in the classroom. A phone call, note home or email from me will be given when I feel that the issue was particularly concerning or serious in nature. If inappropriate behavior continues, the student will be sent to the principal and a parent will be called to discuss a student behavior contract. If your child comes home with a behavior calendar colored in GREEN, “Ready to Learn,” that means he or she had a great day and was making good choices! If your child comes home with BLUE, “Good Job!” or PURPLE ,“Great Job!!” that means he or she was trying extra hard to make good choices and really stood out above the other students that particular day. If your child comes home with PINK, “Outstanding Leader,” that means your child went above and beyond to show me what a fabulous leader he or she is and deserves a real pat on the back!! If your child gets the privilege of making it to “Outstanding Leader,” he or she will be able to go to the classroom treasure box. Verbal praise is an excellent motivator for your children and will be used as a way to help students make good choices.

The class as a whole will get a treat when they fill the marble jar. They will earn marbles each time the entire class follows the classroom promises. When the jar is filled up, they will all get a small reward.

Homework Homework Packets

The Fountain Valley School District Board Policy requires one half hour of nightly homework. Homework packets will go home in the Communication Folder on Monday and needs to be turned in by your child on Friday. Please check your child’s Homework Packet for accuracy and neatness.

I will begin sending home Homework Packets during the first week of October.

Nightly ReadingThe most important aspect of your child’s homework will be reading. Your child should read or be read to for a minimum of 20 minutes each day. A reading log will be sent home along with the homework packet for you to record what you are reading. Nightly reading has a huge impact on student success in all subject areas and will establish reading and study habits for the upper grades.

Book-a-NightStudents will bring home a book each evening to be read to them. As they develop reading strategies and recognizing sight words, they can begin reading these books to you! Students will be rewarded monthly for reading book-a-night; please return these books daily.

Sight Words

Please practice your sight word rings often. Retention and fluency of these words will accelerate your child’s reading ability. Many beginner books are written primarily with these high-frequency sight words.

Each student will receive a ring with sight words on it. They will be given 25 words at a time. Have your child practice these words for 5 minutes a day. When your child knows all 25 words, have him or her bring their set of sight words to be tested. Sight

words will be tested on Fridays. They will get a sticker on a chart for each 5 words learned. Once they have passed the first set, they will join the “25 Sight Word Club” and will receive the next set of cards. They will continue to do this until they know 100 words. Students that know 100 words will receive a certificate. Our school benchmark expectation is that our kindergarteners master all 100 words by the end of kindergarten. From there, they will receive a sheet of paper with another 100 words. Our goal is to learn 200 words and to receive a book of their choice when they do!

AbsencesPlease clear the absence on the day your child is absent from school with a phone call to the office. You may request your child’s work for the day by sending an email to the teacher. You may also send a written note when your child returns to school.

Office Phone Number: (714) 378-4260Teacher E-mail: colemank@fvsd.us

TardiesYour child is tardy if he or she is not in the classroom at 8:15am. All students who are late must first check in with the office. Tardies often disrupt the entire class, and may affect your child’s schoolwork. Please help your child arrive on time.

BirthdaysStudents will be recognized on their birthday. If you wish to bring something for your child's birthday, I respectfully ask that non-food items be sent.  Please send a small token (i.e. pencil, bookmark) with your child in the morning and it will be handed out at the end of the day.  Another option is to donate a book for our classroom library! You can even wrap it up and the birthday student will open it at school as a gift to the class.

Share DaysWe will devote time the last Friday of each month to share things from home. Please be advised that the teacher and school are not responsible for items brought in for sharing. It is the student’s responsibility to bring in their share item and to take it home.

Students do not have to bring in a share item. If they do, please prepare them to discuss the following:

What it is? Where it is from? 3 facts about the item.

Student of the WeekEach week a student will be chosen as the Student of the Week. They will take home a poster on Friday to decorate. Please return the poster on the following Monday. When your child is chosen as Student of the Week, they will be able to bring one share per day during their week. Also, your child will be taking home the class pet the week they are chosen. Please take the class pet with you wherever you go and have your child record his or her adventures in the journal.

Field TripsWe will have walking and/or bus field trips this year. Please return the completed permission slips promptly so that your child can participate. Parents will be notified regarding volunteers on the trip.