Ms. Gibson’s

Parent Handbook

Junction CityElementary School

August 15, 2013

Dear family,

Welcome to my Kindergarten class! My name is Megan Gibson and I am so excited to have your child in my class! This is my first year teaching Kindergarten at Junction City Elementary.

I was raised in Richmond and graduated from Madison Central High School in 2007. I graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. I am currently getting my Master’s in Reading/Writing at Eastern Kentucky University.

I have many great lessons and activities planned for this year! I cannot wait to get started. This year your child will be learning their alphabet, numbers, colors, basic addition and subtraction, handwriting, and he or she will begin to read! We also have special activity classes which include PE, Music, Library, Art, and Spanish.

To help keep you informed about what we are doing in the classroom, I will be sending you a weekly newsletter. It will include information about what we are doing in class and any special dates you need to know about.

In order to make this year successful, I have developed a discipline plan for our classroom. I will expect every child to show respect. This will help us keep a positive learning environment. I will be sending home a copy of the classroom rules for you to review with your child.

I look forward to working with you this year and getting your child’s school career off to a great start. If there is anything I can do to help please do not hesitate to let me know! I am here because I want to help every child in my class succeed. With your help, we will make this a great year for your child!

Thank you,

Megan Gibson

Contact information:

School Phone Number – 859-936-7524

E-mail –

Our Classroom Website -

Morning Procedures

Upon arrival, all students will enter through the front doors of the school. All students will go to the cafeteria. Parents who wish to eat with their child will need to sign in and receive a visitor’s tag. Parents will be asked to say goodbye in the lobby. After reviewing policies of morning procedures of schools in our district and surrounding counties, we feel that this policy needed to be put in place to ensure the safety of all of our students. At 7:40am all students will walk to their classrooms. Staff members will be in the hallway to monitor students. Instruction will begin at 7:50am.

Attendance

Good attendance is very important in Kindergarten. New skills are learned daily and students can get behind very quickly if they have poor attendance. Students who are continually tardy miss the same subject each day. Please make sure you child is at school on time so that they do not miss out on important learning. Students who do not miss a day of school all year will be recognized at the end of the year assembly.

Snack Policy

We will have a snack every morning. Please send in a snack item once every two months. I will send home a snack schedule to let you know when to send in a snack. Snack items may include fruit loops, fruit snacks, teddy grahams, gold fish, etc.

Birthday Parties

In Kindergarten we feel that birthdays are very special. If you would like to bring cupcakes or a special snack for the class to celebrate you child’s birthday please notify me a week in advance by sending a note to school. If your child is having a birthday party outside of school and you want to send invitations home for the entire class I will put them in their mailboxes. Our school specifies that each child must have an invitation if they are sent home through school.

Recess

We will have a 20 minute recess everyday. We will go outside if the weather permits. It is best for students to wear tennis shoes to prevent injuries. We expect all students to follow the playground rules so all children are safe.

Newsletters

A newsletter will be sent home every Monday in students’ home/school folder. The newsletter will include important information about upcoming events, what is going on in the classroom, what we are studying, and important dates to remember. Please read the newsletter each week. The principal will also send home a school newsletter every Friday.

Parent Conferences

We will have two scheduled parent conferencesduring the school year. One will take place in the fall and one in the spring. We will discuss test results, your child’s schoolwork, behavior, and praises or concerns. If you would like to meet at any other time please let me know and we will arrange a day and time.

Home/School Folders

Home/School folders will be sent home daily. Papers will be sorted into two pockets which include stay at home and return to school. All papers on the return side need to be returned by Friday unless it is noted differently. Please check and clean out your child’s folder every day.Your child will be required to bring their folder to school with them every day.

Grading Scale/Report Cards

The following grading scale will be used:

EExcellent

SSatisfactory

NProgress Needs Improvement

UUnsatisfactory Progress

Report cards are sent home 4 times a year. Please see the Boyle County Schools calendar for the dates that report cards will be sent home.These dates may change due to school closing dates.

Book Orders

I will send home Scholastic book orders each month. These will come home in the Home/School folder. They have excellent books for Kindergarten children at very reasonable prices. If you would like to order books please send in cash or checks made to Scholastic or order online using our classroom code. Every time you order books for home we get free books for our classroom!

Homework Policy

Your child will bring a monthly homework packet home with them at the beginning of each month. I recommend that you do not try to complete the entire homework packet immediately. This will more than likely make your child dislike homework because it will be long and frustrating. Please complete the assigned activities on the correct days. Homework completion is a grade on the students’ report cards. Students will receive a sticker on their homework folder each time they return it on time and will receive a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut certificate!

Pick-up/Drop-off Information

The school doors are opened at 7:20am. Breakfast will be served from 7:20-7:40am. Students will be released from the cafeteria at 7:40am to go to their classrooms. Instruction begins at 7:50am. Car riders can be picked up at 2:50pm everyday. You MUST have a car rider tag to pick up your child in the car rider line. If you do not have a car rider tag you must park and come into the school to sign out your child.

If you need to pick up your child early please come into the school and sign them out. You will be required to show a picture ID. The secretary will call down to the classroom to let us know to send them to the office.

Kindergarten Behavior Management

Our Classroom rules:

1. Listen when your teacher is talking.

2. Follow directions quickly.

3. Keep your hands and feet to yourself.

4. Raise your hand to speak or stand.

5. Be safe, be kind, be honest.

Every class has a behavior management system in place. Our classroom uses the Super Sticks system. Each child will have a green stick in their locker pocket every morning (which means ‘Great day’). There are four colors of sticks in the room: green, yellow, red, and blue. If a child fails to follow a school rule then they will receive a strike on my daily strike chart. Behaviors that might result in getting a strike include:

  • Talking while the teacher is talking
  • Saying something that is not nice to a friend
  • Minor unsafe behavior
  • Minor inappropriate bathroom behavior (yelling, screaming, playing in water)
  • Minor inappropriate cafeteria behavior
  • Minor inappropriate hallway behavior (running, skipping, etc.)
  • Minor inappropriate behavior in a special area class (talking, misbehaving, etc.)
  • Minor inappropriate behavior on the playground (throwing mulch, pushing, etc.)
  • Not keeping hands and feet to themselves

Once a child gets three strikes on the same day they will go change their stick from green to yellow. If they continue to not follow the rules, they will be given three more strikes before they turn their stick to red. Essentially, your child will receive 3 strikes (or chances) before they would ever have to turn their stick to a new color.

Behaviors that may result in child changing their stick automatically to red and possibly blue:

  • Violent action on another child
  • Bad language
  • Severe inappropriate bathroom behavior
  • Repeated disrespectful behavior
  • Bullying and/or teasing other students (physical or verbal)

Stick Color / Consequence / Parent Contact
Yellow /
  • Verbal discussion
  • Five minute immediate time out in the room
/
  • No parent contact

Red /
  • Verbal discussion
  • Five minute time out at recess
/
  • Parent notified through note or e-mail

Blue /
  • Principal’s Office or another teacher’s room for time out
/
  • Behavioral Referral Form sent home (and a copy kept in their folder at school)

However, if your child turns their stick to yellow they still can turn their day around by making good choices. If I notice they are working hard to make good choices and do the right thing then I will have them change their stick back to green! I want to make sure every child knows they can always change their behavior and turn their day around.

But wait!  There are also great rewards for GOOD behavior! If your child demonstrates one of the following his/her stick will be moved to PURPLE:
 Being kind to a friend

 Using polite words

 Helping another student or the teacher

 Being a good listener/Raising their hand all day

In my classroom we rarely have a child get a red or blue stick. We try to focus on positive behavior and reward the positive instead of focusing on the negative.

*On Friday all students that have had 4 out of 5 green days will get to choose something from the Treasure Box. 