WINDSOR EARLY CHILDHOOD
FAMILY HANDBOOK
2015-2016
Windsor Early Childhood Program
c/o Freer Elementary
1800 Hanover Lane
Barnhart, MO 63012
Phone: (636)464-2951
Fax: (636)464-4471
EARLY CHILDHOOD PERSONNEL
Staff members can all be reached by email using their first initial, last name @windsor.k12.mo.us. For example: .
ECSE TEACHERS AND PARAPROFESSIONALS
Freer Elementary
Sarah Darnton, Teacher
Janice Stoll, Paraprofessional
Kristen Barnowski, Teacher
Brittany Rosener, Paraprofessional
Danielle (Rodriguez) Flamm, Teacher
Marsha Carranza, Paraprofessional
Jenny Belmar, Teacher
Sandy Stites, Paraprofessional
Wendy Rosvall, Teacher
Michelle Kmetz, Paraprofessional
Dottie Smith, Floating Paraprofessional, AM/PM
TITLE ONE PRESCHOOL PROGRAM
Rachel Davis, Teacher
Terri Nunn, Paraprofessional
Brittni Boyette, Teacher
Cindy Kamp, Paraprofessional
THERAPISTS/DIAGNOSTIC STAFF
Debbie Lever, Speech Therapist
Jaqui Kremer, Occupational Therapist
Tracie Smith, Physical Therapist (no Windsor email)
Sally Merchant, Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Dottie Smith, Discrete Trial Implementer
Janelle Dinwiddie, Diagnostician
Karen Barbarash, Psych Examiner
Windsor School District Website: the ECSE web pages, click on the Freer Elementary tab, then click on teachers, then click on your child's teacher's name. Some teachers also use blogs or class Facebook pages.
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Freer Elementary Principal: Charles Bouzek (636)464-2951
Windsor Elementary Principal: Denise Funston (636)464-4408
Special Education Director: Christin Holmes (Elementary) (636)464-4467
Title One Coordinator: Christin Holmes (636)464-4467
ECSE Process Coordinator/PAT Coordinator: Janelle Dinwiddie (636)464-2951 ex. 4500
Director of Transportation: Gary Drury (636)464-5572
Freer Elementary School Nurse: Angie Bulmahn (636)464-2951
PAT Parent Educators: Mindy Ford and Cathy Theiss (636)464-4499
WELCOME TO WINDSOR EARLY CHILDHOOD!!!
Windsor Early Childhood includes 7 preschool classrooms for children ages 3-5 all housed at the Freer Elementary building. Five classrooms are Early Childhood Special Education classrooms. Children qualify for this program if they have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for an educational disability identified through formal evaluation. In each of the ECSE classrooms, we place several typically developing peers. Our ECSE program is a half day model, Monday – Thursday. Morning session is 8:30-11:30 and the Afternoon session is 12:30 – 3:30.NO CLASS ON FRIDAY.
Freer Elementary also houses two Title One Preschool Classrooms. Children qualify for this program if they score below average in at least one area of the DIAL-4 administered by PAT or meet other criteria such as Headstart eligibility, homelessness or English as a Second Language.One of the classrooms is also a half day model, Monday – Thursday. The other Title One Preschool Classroom is an extended day model, running 8:30 – 2:30, Monday – Thursday. Children are put on a spread sheet after qualifying for Title One. Those with the greatest need are placed in the extended day program.NO CLASS ON FRIDAY.
MISSION STATEMENT
To support our students in reaching their highest developmental, social, and academic potential.
PARENTS AS TEACHERS
Beginning at the Beginning: As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher. Your child will learn more during the early years than any other time in life. How your child grows and learns during these years – beginning at birth – will affect his or her later development and success in school.
Free Services and Materials: Parents as Teachers is a volunteer and free program that provides practical, effective help for all Missouri families with children birth to age five. It offers:
1. Personal Visits – Mindy Ford and Cathy Theiss,Certified Parent Educators trained in child development, provide home visits to families who qualify. They can help you understand each stage of your child’s development and offer practical tips on ways to encourage learning.
2. Screenings – PAT offers periodic screening of overall development, language, hearing and vision. The goal is to provide a clear understanding of your child’s growth and development. Call us for a screening if you:
Have a developmental concern for your child.
Would like a screening to place your child on the waiting list for a typical peer spot in one of the ECSE classes.
Would like to see if your child qualifies for Title One Preschool.
Would like confirmation that your child is developing appropriately.
3. Referral Network – PAT helps families link with special services, if needed, which are beyond the scope of this program.
4. Group Activities – PAT partners with ECSE, Title One to provide fun activities your family can attend. We also have Story Time with the parent educators several times during the year. Please see our calendar page for details.
The Home-School Partnership that Works
Research has shown that children whose parents were involved in PAT
were significantly advanced over their peers in language, social development, problem solving and intellectual abilities.
Children whose parents were involved in PAT also scored significantly higher on standardized measures of reading and math achievement than did comparison children.
Give your child the best possible start in life! Join the more than 100,000 Missouri families who are benefiting from Parents As Teachers. To be part of Windsor PAT, contact Mindy Fordand/or Cathy Theissat Windsor Elementary at (636) 464-4499.
RESOURCES FOR PARENTS
Windsor Parents as Teachers (636)464-4499
(Mindy Ford and Cathy Theiss) or (636)464-2951 ext 4500 (Janelle Dinwiddie)*** Call for FREE developmental screenings for children birth – age five.***Call to see if you qualify for a home visit. Anyone can participate in screenings and group events. See calendar page.
St. Louis Regional Center of Jefferson County-Intake
1-800-358-7665 Jeffco Office: (636)931-0013
Providing service coordination to families with children who have disabilities.
Missouri First Steps Intake/Assessment: 1-866-583-2392
Serving children from birth to age 3 with disabilities.
Head Start – (636)797-4743 or (636)789-3563 Hillsboro main office
Windsor Head Start - (636)467-5495
Comtrea – Dental and medical care free to families without insurance. Counseling and psychiatric services are also available. Dental and medical care available at Hillsboro Hickory Plaza: (636)481-6040. Medical care only at Byrnes Mill: (636)677-9977.
Jefferson County Library Windsor Branch – (636)461-1914
Story time every Tuesday and Wednesday at 10:00 A.M.
Jefferson County Rescue Mission: (636)475-3030
Food pantry, gently used clothing, furniture, other services available.
Hand In Hand Pregnancy Help Center: (636)464-8400
Has gently used baby equipment, clothing, and sometimes diapers for families in need.
Crisis Hot Line& Referral Services
636-933-1211
Helping Hands and Horses: (314)409-9961. email: or email to be placed on waiting list.
Providing therapeutic horseback riding to children with special needs.
Jefferson/Franklin Community Action Corporation: WIC, Energy Assistance, Housing.
(636)789-2686
Arnold Health Dept: (636)282-1010 Arnold Food Pantry: (636)287-6565
HOOT CARES? WE CARE MART!!We are pleased to announce The HOOT Cares? We Care! Mart. This is a resource for families in our district in need of clothing. Some items we have include gently used children’s clothing, coats, shoes and accessories (hats, scarves, gloves, belts).
If this is a program that would be helpful for your family please contact the Windsor District Social Worker, Chrissy Immken at 636-464-4428 or . She will ask for sizes and check availability, and then set up a meeting time for pick up.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
Your child will need a backpack (big enough for a folder, papers, and art projects) with a change of clothes in it. Your child will be served a snack at school (not breakfast or lunch), in both the ECSE and Title One programs. We ask that you help us out by sending a package of store bought snack and drink for the class each month. If your child is not yet toilet trained, we ask that you send plenty of diapers each day (3-4), along with a container of wipes. If you prefer to send a package of diapers to keep at school, the teacher will let you know when they are running low, and you can send more. Your child's teacher will provide a more specific list of school supplies if more are needed. Please leave personal belongings such as toys at home, unless requested for a “Toy Party” or Show and Tell.
Illness Policy
If your child becomes sick at school, the nurse will contact you and someone will be expected to come pick him/her up. It is necessary for you to have a plan in place in the event that you are called, as we cannot keep sick children at school. Your child will need to be free of fever, vomiting and diarrhea for a full 24 hours before they can return to school. Children who have had lice must be nit free before they return to school. If your child needs to receive medication at school, please contact the school nurse at Freer Elementary (636)464-2951 to discuss it. Please inform the school nurse and your child's teacher about any allergies your child may have.
Clothing
There is no formal dress code for early childhood, but we encourage you to dress your child appropriately for daily indoor and outdoor activities. Remember that children are encouraged to participate in all activities (including art and sensory activities), so please do not dress them in anything that you do not want to get dirty. Please remember to dress your child appropriately for the weather. We will go outside if the temperature is between 32 and 90 degrees. In an effort to eliminate some preventable injuries, it is requested that children wear closed toe shoes (not sandals or flip flops.).
Outdoor Recess Guidelines 2014-2015
(As based on Children’s Hospital Guidelines)
Temperature of 32 and above/Wind-chill above 25- Students may remain outdoors for the scheduled recess time
Temperature of 20-32/Wind-chill not less than 15- Students may be outdoors 10 min.
Temperature of 10-20/Wind-chill less than 15- Students may be outdoors 5 min.
Temperature of 95 or above/Heat Index is above 100- Students remain indoors
Red Air Quality Day- Students remain indoors
Orange Air Quality Day- Asthmatics must remain indoors
Inclement Weather/Emergency Closing
-School cancellations due to inclement weather will be announced on the radio (KMOX – 1120 AM or KJFF – 1400 AM) or on local television news channels (KSDK-TV Channel 5, KMOV-Ch 4, etc). Look for Windsor C1 School District. Windsor also has a snow chain in which parents receive a recorded message on their cell phone regarding cancellations or special events.
PICK UP AND DROP OFF INFORMATION
Early childhood special education students may have bus transportation provided by Windsor (both special education students and typical peer role models) as long as their residence, daycare or babysitter is located within the boundaries of the Windsor School District. Title One students must have transportation provided by their parents.
Title One: Please pull behind the building and a teacher will direct you when to stop your car. Please put your car in park and walk your child to the teacher or paraprofessional who will be waiting for you.For the half day program, drop off is at 8:30 and pick up will be at the same location at 11:30. Drop off is also in this same location for the afternoon program at 12:30, and for pick up at 3:30. The extended day Title One class has drop off in this same location behind the school at 8:30 and pick up at 2:30.
ECSE Class: If you will be bringing your child to school and picking them up, please pull into the drive in the front of the building and park, if possible. ECSE staff will come out at 8:30 for the A.M students and 12:30 for the P.M students. The ECSE classroom staff will bring the children outside at 11:30 for the morning class, and 3:30 for the afternoon class. Teachers are supervising students during pick-up and drop-off, so please try keep conversation with them to a minimum during this time for the safety of the students. Please feel free to email or call teachers with a question or concern.
All doors at Freer Elementary are locked at all times, and are only accessible by staff. If you need to come to the classroom for any reason during the day, please either park and proceed to the office. (The front door has a “door bell” on a metal plate located to the right of the door on the farthest right.) You will receive a visitor pass and can then go to the classroom. If you are picking up your child early, the office can call our room and a staff member will bring your child to the office.
If transportation plans will change for any reason, please make sure you contact the bus garage (if your child receives bus transportation) at (636)464-5572 and your child’s teacher to inform them of the change.
POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL SUPPORT FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD
Windsor School District has adopted the Positive Behavioral Support system (PBS) for managing behavior. We have found that it works very well, even at the preschool level. One of the benefits of using PBS with our Early Childhood students is that they will be familiar with it when they go to kindergarten.
We have 3 expectations (rules) for everyone in our school:
-Be Respectful
-Be Responsible
-Be Safe
At the beginning of the school year, we spend quite a bit of time talking about what each of these words mean. During the school year as issues arise, we use puppets or role playing to remind students of the expectations. Children who are displaying the expectations receive “Feathers” (a paper cut out of an owl). These can either be large classroom feathers or smaller individual feathers. Classroom feathers are earned for appropriate group behavior in the hallway, playground, gym, etc. Individual feathers can be earned any time the teacher sees the child displaying one of the expectations. Feathers are posted on a tree inside the classroom. Classroom feathers are used to earn rewards such as pajama day, bring your favorite toy to school day, picnic outside, movie and popcorn, etc.
We would like parents to reinforce our PBS efforts as much as possible. Please feel free to ask teachers questions regarding PBS as they arise.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
Please call to inform your child's teacher and the bus garage (636-464-5572)as soon as you know your child will not be coming to school. We understand that children miss school due to illness and unforeseen events such as car trouble, over-sleeping, out of town guests visiting, doctor appointments, etc. However, if absences become excessive, (more than 8 days per quarter) a meeting with the parents will be held to discuss attendance concerns and to develop a plan to improve the child's attendance. Remember, developing good attendance habits now will lay the foundation for good attendance once your child begins school.
COURT ORDERS/DIVORCE DECREES
It is necessary to have custody papers on file if your child is not to be released to a non-custodial parent. Without custody papers, the school cannot prevent a non-custodial parent from taking a child.
BIRTHDAYS
Please check with your child's teacher if you would like to celebrate your child's birthday during snack time at school. Snacks/treats need to be store bought and nut free. Snacks are also available from the school cafeteria for a fee.
CURRICULUM
Our teachers have been through training in the Project Construct curriculum. This is the foundation for our program. We also reference the Missouri Early Childhood Standards and incorporate those into every aspect of our day. Please ask your child’s teacher if you would like to understand more about the Project Construct philosophy or if you would like a copy of the Missouri Pre-K Standards.
ACTIVITY CALENDAR
Grandparent Gathering: Barnowski, Belmar, Rosvall, and Darnton will be
Friday, 9/11/15 from 9:00 – 10:00 A.M.in the Freer Cafeteria.
Boyette, Davis and Flamm will be Friday, 9/18/15 from 9:00 – 10:00 in the Freer Cafeteria.
Story Time With Mindy or Cathy (PAT) will be held several times per year for the children in the ECSE and Title One classes. Your child’s teacher will send home information regarding the dateS and times.PAT families are also welcome to attend story times.
Stuckmeyer's Pumpkin Patch: $7for wagon ride and small pumpkin. Friday, 10/9/15, at 9:30 AM. PAT families, ECSE and Title One families are all welcome.
Windsor Early Childhood Night at the Magic House , 11/3/15, 6:00 – 8:00 P.M. – Free to all PAT, ECSE and Title One children and their families!
Spending Time With Your Little Turkey – November, 2015 – DATE AND TIME TO BE ANNOUNCED.
Winter Wonderland - December 2015– DATE AND TIME TO BE ANNOUNCED. A night of fun holiday activities for families of PAT, Title One and ECSE Classes. The event will be held at Freer Elementary in the evening.
Powder Valley - Insect Inspectors: Friday, April 8, 2016 from 9:30 – 12. FREE program for children and their families (PAT, ECSE, Title One) at Powder Valley Nature Center.