August 18, 2013
Dear Parents, Welcome to transitional kindergarten and kindergarten! Transitional kindergarten may be new to your vocabulary. Transitional kindergarten is the same class known as young fives. The Diocese of Kalamazoo has decided to have a common name for this grade and decided on transitional kindergarten! I hope you all had a restful and fun filled summer! I had a wonderful time with my family on a couple of vacations and have also been busy here at school. I had to move classrooms this year as we now have an all day every, day kindergarten option. The new classroom is at the end of the hall in the old art/music room. Moving was a lot of time consuming work, and I am still working on it! It will get done this week hopefully! A fun and exciting year is being planned! I do realize that all day, every day kindergarten is a big change for some families. I am aware of the rewards and challenges that this schedule may present. It is my goal to continue to work together as partners to fulfill the needs of each child in my classroom and provide a quality education. I am looking forward to this year. It will be nice knowing all the children and the families of the children in the classroom. Following you will find some basic information about our classroom. Clothing ID: Please label all clothing (jackets, mittens, hats, snow pants, shoes, etc.) with your childs name. There are a lot of blue pants and white shirts! Be sure to label school bags and lunch boxes also.
Shoes: The children will need to have a pair of outdoor recess shoes and gym shoes in addition to their uniform school shoes. This means the children will need three pair of shoes! The students are provided with a shoe locker where they keep their recess shoes. The gym shoes are kept in a basket in the classroom. The shoe locker is nice because in the winter this is where the wet boots are kept. Please let your child know what shoes they are to wear home. Many children are confused at the end of the school day as to what shoes their parents want them to wear home, school shoes or outdoor recess shoes. Snack Time: The students will have the opportunity to have a snack each day right before recess (about 9:30). They are responsible for bringing in their own snack! I encourage you to send in a snack with them each day. I usually have some back up snacks for children who forget their own, but when two or three children forget, I run out quickly. Drinks are not necessary as we have a drinking fountain in our hallway. Also, please let your children know where in their backpacks the snacks are kept so they know right where to find them. In the past I have had many children say they have no snack only to find it in their backpacks later. On birthdays, your child may bring in a special treat to share with the class. Lunch: The children will be eating lunch here at school. They may either bring a lunch from home or purchase hot lunch here at school. I will take them into the lunchroom each day and help them get set at lunch time. There is also a lunchroom aide in there to help assist the children also. Money: When sending in money, please put it in a sealed envelope with your childs name and the purpose for the money (hot lunch,
book money, field trip, etc.). This helps me out and reduces the likelihood of errors. School Bags: Please send in a bag that zips or snaps with your child each school day. Please stay away from rolling backpacks as these do not fit in the lockers. I will be providing a two-pocket folder that we will use exclusively for communication between home and school. When you have any notes or lunch money, please send it in the folder. Likewise, any notes or papers from school will come home in the folder. This system helps to ensure that any papers get to and from school without getting ruined. Rest/Quiet time: New this year will be a rest/quiet time after lunch. Having the children here all day, every day will be a big change for most children. We start early and have a long school day. They will be tired!! Our class will have a rest/quiet time after lunch each day for about 20 minutes. The children may bring in a small blanket to lay with after lunch. We have mats here at school for the children to lay on. I will sanitize the mats daily. I also have a special bag for each child to keep his or her blanket in and we will keep it in the classroom. I will send the blankets home every couple of weeks to be washed. School Newsletter: Every week the school sends home a newsletter and other important information with the oldest child in the family. This will be sent home via email. Please read through the information as it contains important information regarding school wide activities. Homework: The children will be receiving homework about once or twice a week. Homework helps the children practice and show off what they are learning at school. It also builds responsibility. The homework the children receive in TK and kindergarten should
only take about 5-10 minutes to complete, and will usually require your help. They will bring home a book to read to you each week. These are books we have read in our guided reading groups during the week and will be practicing rereading them with you. This reading homework will most likely be sent home on Thursdays and due on Monday. Please make sure you check your childs folder nightly for any assigned homework. Bus/Pick-up routines: At the end of the day all the children will be in the cafeteria sitting at tables. There will be a teacher in there every day and will dismiss them as the busses arrive. If you are picking up your child, you must come in and have your child with you so the person doing bus duty can see you sign them out. This is for the safety of the children. If for some reason your childs end of the day routine will be different, please call or send a note to school. If your child is in after school care, the after school care leader will pick up your child from the gym and escort them to the after school care room. Church Schedule: We will be going to mass once each week and also on holy days. The TK and kindergarten children will have a seventh or eighth grade big buddy that walks and sits with them at church. Teacher/Parent Communication: I will be sending home newsletters each week and will communicate with you either over the phone or with a personal note with any concerns or comments (positive too!). Newsletters will be sent home electronically. If this does not work out for you, please let me know. I have also a classroom blog that will highlight what is going on in our classroom. This is another tool to help keep you updated as to what is going on in our classroom! The web address is www.mrsmuldersclass.blogspot.com . I hope you find this helpful
this year! I have not had the chance to update this site since the last school year, but plan on doing so this week. I will send out an email when I update it so you can take a look. I will also attach all newsletters to the blog on the page labeled TK/K news. Please feel free to send me a note, email, or phone call. I can be reached by phone at school 269-793-7204, and my email is [email protected]. If I cannot answer your call, please leave a message and I will get back with you as soon as possible. We are going to have a wonderful year! Sincerely,
Angie Mulder
Special Notes: I will be in my classroom on Monday, August 26 from 9-12. You may stop by and drop off any school supplies that day and take a look at our classroom. I hope to see you then!
