Welcome to Kindergarten Maplebrook Elementary

1. Welcome to KindergartenMaplebrook Elementary

2. Front Office Principal: Marcia Reineking Asst. Principal: Annette Nevermann Counselor: Jana McClain Registrar: Deedra Wilcox Nurse: Donna Liptak Kindergarten Team Stacy Berger Kim Berger Peggy Clarey Lisa Cruz Lisa Sonnier

3. Arrival • The school day begins at 7:50. Please try to have your child here on time. The side doors will close at 8:00. After that, students need to be dropped off at the front of the building. The tardy bell rings at 8:05. Your child will be counted tardy if he/she is not in their classroom by 8:05. If your child is tardy he/she must go to the office to get a tardy slip before going to class. • The building will not open until 7:30 in the morning and there will be no supervision before then. Parents may drop off at the early childhood wing or cafeteria side of the building. If your child will be eating breakfast at school, it will start at 7:30 and end at 7:55.

4. Important Attendance and Tardy Policies • When your child is absent, please send an excuse note to your child’s teacher upon returning to school. You may also call the attendance phone line to notify the attendance clerk of your child’s absence. Emailing your child’s teacher is another form of an excuse note. If you know ahead of time that your child is going to be absent, please send in a note as soon as possible. If we do not have an excuse note, the absence/absences will be marked as unexcused. Excessive unexcused absences may be cause for disciplinary actions against the parent. • The office MUST have a note from a parent if your child is tardy. If your child is tardy three or more times within a four week period without an excuse note it will be counted as an unexcused absence. • PLEASE, PLEASE read the parent/student handbook on these important attendance and tardy policies. When you sign the handbook form, you are stating that you have been made aware of these policies and that you agree to follow them.

5. Daily Schedule 7:50-8:10 Arrival, unpack, lunch choices, morning work, pledge and announcements 8:10-8:25 Calendar 8:25-9:10 Math Investigations 9:10-9:40 Math Centers 9:40-9:50 Snack 9:50-10:20 Reading Block Begins: Shared Reading, Guided Reading, Independent Reading, Phonics, Writing, Poetry, and Centers

6. Daily Schedule Cont. 10:20-10:30 Read Aloud 10:30-11:00 Lunch 11:10-11:40 Recess 11:40-12:05 Rest Time 12:05-12:55 Continue Reading Block 12:55-1:35 Science/Social Studies 1:35-1:50 Clean up, stack and pack 1:50 Dismissal

7. Kindergarten Lunch • Lunch will be approximately 30 minutes each day. • All kindergarten classes will go to lunch from 10:30-11:00. • Every student will be issued a lunch account number. The number will be your child’s school id number. Please help your child memorize his/her number.

8. Lunch Cont. • You may deposit money into your child’s account online or send the money to school in an envelope with your child’s name and acct. # on the front. • Breakfast:$1.30 Lunch:$2.00 • Please label lunch boxes with your child’s name.

9. Lunch Cont. • You are welcome to have lunch with your child on Fast Fridays. However, we ask that you refrain from visiting for the first 2 weeks of school. This will make the period of adjustment at school go more smoothly. • You may bring food from home or fast food restaurant for your child only. Bringing food in for another child is not allowed.

10. Birthdays • Parents are not allowed to send in cupcakes or treats for their child’s birthday. If you would like to do something special for your child’s birthday during the school day, you may purchase ice cream from the cafeteria for the entire class. The ice cream will be passed out during lunch by the teacher on duty. You may send money in to the teacher or you may come up to the cafeteria and purchase the ice cream yourself during lunch. Ice cream is .75 each. This is not required but just an option.

11. Visiting MBE Upon visiting MBE, please remember to always check in at the front office and get a visitor’s sticker before going anywhere in the building. You will need your driver’s license. This is for the safety and protection of all MBE students.

12. Dismissal • Kindergarten school day ends at 1:50. Please be on time to pick up your child. All kindergarten car riders are dismissed at the early childhood wing side of the building next to the track and soccer fields. • Please make sure you have a yellow car rider sign with your child’s name written in BOLD, black writing. The sign goes in the front windshield and it really helps expedite the car rider dismissal process.A yellow car rider sign MUST be in the windshield the entire year.

13. Dismissal cont. • At 2:05, all car riders who haven’t been picked up will be taken to the front office. You may pick up your child there. • If your child is going to be a bus rider, please be on time at the bus stop. If no one is there, the bus driver will bring your child back to school. • Absolutely, NO cell phones in a school zone at any time.

14. Change in Transportation If there is ever a change in transportation, please notify your child’s teacher in writing. We cannot change a student’s transportation unless we have a note from a parent. Also, if someone different is picking up your child, their name must be on the release form in the office. Your child will not be released to anyone whose name is not on the information card.

15. Forms of Communication • Daily Folders: Students will bring home a daily folder for you to look through each night. There will be a calendar/conduct sheet, class work, and sometimes important letters to parents. Conduct sheets need to be initialed by parents every night. • Teacher Email: lisa.sonnier@humble.k12.tx.us • Teacher voicemail: 281-641-2966- In the event of an emergency, please call the front office at 281-641-2900. • Teacher web pages:: www.humbleisd.net/mbe/lsonnier • School newsletter: Emailed every week. • Before you leave today, please sign up to get district alerts via email/text messages. You will also need to sign up for the MBE Email group to receive the school newsletter every week. This will allow you to receive important news from our campus. You may sign up in the computer lab or in your child’s classroom.

16. School Supplies • If you did not order your child’s kindergarten school supplies through EPI please pick up a supply list in the front office or ask the teacher for a list. • Please try to get the supplies to school as soon as possible. You do not need to label the supplies.

17. Assessment • Each child will be assessed at the beginning of the year. They will be tested on letter identification, concepts about print, and phonemic awareness. The results from these assessments will be discussed during mandatory parent conferences in October/November. • In December, we will begin testing for sight word recognition, how many words they can write/spell correctly, sentence dictation and reading level. • Lastly, each child will be assessed again on each component to check for progression and if benchmarks have been met at the end of the year.

18. Snacks/Rest Time/Recess • Please send boxed or packaged snacks for our class. Each student will be given the same snack around 9:30. • Snack Ideas: Goldfish, pretzels, graham crackers, bagged popcorn, animal crackers, etc…. • We will have a short rest time for the first few weeks of school after recess. Please send in a labeled towel or small blanket with your child on the first day of school. We will send them home with your child each Friday to be washed over the weekend. Please return them the following Monday. Your child’s teacher will inform you when rest time has ended. • Please send a labeled water bottle with your child each day for recess.

19. Things to Work on at Home • Practice writing his/her name w/only the first letter capitalized • Recognition of upper and lower case letters • Letter sounds • Counting from 0-100 • Number recognition from 0-20 • Sorting objects; basic patterns (AB, ABB) • Experience with using pencils, crayons, scissors, and glue • Tying shoes, zipping coats, and buttoning • Read to your child on a daily basis

20. Before you leave, please fill out red forms and nametags and turn them in to your child’s teacher. Don’t forget to sign up for school, teacher, and district emails in computer lab or in teacher’s classroom. We’ll also be happy to answer any questions you may have. • We look forward to a partnership to ensure a successful, quality educational experience for your child in kindergarten!