The Class is Set...

We had a fantastic Kindergarten "Match Night!" We had a wonderful turnout of our families to find out their Kindergarten teacher and I must say I am quite EXCITED to get the year started tomorrow with my 25 and 24 kids in the morning and afternoon! We should have a fantastic year and I look forward to sharing our learning with you. I know Miss Todd is just as excited to get the year started with her wonderful children too.

A few pieces of information...if you have not turned in your first day packets please do so. This has important information regarding your child and health information. In addition, in the parent packet there is some more information to fill out about your child. We are also asking for your email address so we can send out our newsletter and other information. Many parents in the past have really enjoyed this. In the next week or so we will be sending out information regarding room parents and volunteers.

Once again...I am looking forward to this great year!

Open House...

We had an amazing school-wide open house on September 2nd. The turn-out was great. We had a lot of kindergarten parents come through the building. As you know we checked addresses on our list, but please still send in your bus card with your child to make sure yoru child gets home okay on the first few days of school.

In addition, we will have one more open house just for kindergarten on September 9. This is when you will find out your child's teacher and visit the classroom. We will also have the children's name on their cubby. You will also get to take home their first day project they make on their staggered day!

Miss Todd and I are looking forward to working with all of you and are looking forward to a fantastic year!

Almost Time...

Well I must say I am getting eager for the start of school! It should be an exciting year with all the changes. We have TONS of technology, which should only enhance your child's learning. In addition, our space is perfect for learning. In addition, we have a new teacher joining us at WT (Miss Todd)! She will be teaching an AM class and then unfortunately she will have to travel to Merwin to teach a PM class. I have met with her throughout the summer and I am thrilled to have her as a co-worker. We have a fantastic gym for physical education, an art room that is unbelievable, the music room (I wish I could have her room) is awesome with a huge bay window, and a media center perfect for library.

We will have an open house on September 2. I will be there from 6-7:30. You are more than welcome to stop by to see the kindergarten classrooms. We will have a more "formal" open house on September 9 beginning at 6. As a reminder we have made some changes to how we are doing the kindergarten class lists this year. Here is a reminder of how we will be working this new system: Some of you may have realized when you went to school to find out your child's teacher the kindergarten list was not posted. Assigning children to classrooms is a difficult task and when we design the class lists we try to get an even mix of gender, ability, behaviors, etc. in each of the classrooms; however, with kindergarten it is a toss up because your child has not been to our school. Therefore, we have decided to try something new this year! We are going to wait three days into school before we make classroom assignments. You may be thinking this is odd, but we feel this is going to help better serve your child. The first three days of school are staggered for kindergarten children; therefore, your child will only come on Sept. 7, 8, or 9. This one day allows your child time to see the school with just a few other children, it allows us to assess your child's needs, find out a little bit about your child, etc. Once we have met all the children we will then assign your child to a classroom. All kindergartners will start on September 10th in their assigned classroom. This process will allow us to have an evenly mix of children in each classroom. Please do not worry or stress about this process. We will be communicating with you throughout the whole duration of this process. On September 9 the classroom assignments will be posted at 5 and then a parent meeting will occur at 6. After the parent meeting you will be able to visit your child's classroom and meet their teacher. We are very excited about this new process and truly feel like this will best meet the needs of your child! If you have any questions or concerns about this process please feel free to email me or call the school at 943-6900.

I look forward to meeting everyone and beginning our journey of learning with the children!

Working Hard...

I have been up at school a couple of days this week trying to get the classroom all together. It is crazy thinking last year we were in an old building and looking at the new building being built. After spending some time in the building it is absolutely beautiful and I know you are going to love it. The technology, lighting, openess, colors, furniture, and I can go on forever are perfect! I have been spending a lot of time trying to get the room unpacked and finding a home for everything we will use. I am coming along and here are a few pictures of our learning space in progress.

I will be continuing to work in the classroom trying to get everything accomplished before the children arrive. The building is almost ready; however, if you drive by you are probably noticing one of the most important pieces is still being worked on...the parking lot! This should be complete before school begins! Have a great couple of weeks and see everyone soon!

Changes...

Some of you may have realized when you went to school to find out your child's teacher the kindergarten list was not posted. Assigning children to classrooms is a difficult task and when we design the class lists we try to get an even mix of gender, ability, behaviors, etc. in each of the classrooms; however, with kindergarten it is a toss up because your child has not been to our school. Therefore, we have decided to try something new this year! We are going to wait three days into school before we make classroom assignments. You may be thinking this is odd, but we feel this is going to help better serve your child. The first three days of school are staggered for kindergarten children; therefore, your child will only come on Sept. 7, 8, or 9. This one day allows your child time to see the school with just a few other children, it allows us to assess your child's needs, find out a little bit about your child, etc. Once we have met all the children we will then assign your child to a classroom. All kindergartners will start on September 10th in their assigned classroom. This process will allow us to have an evenly mix of children in each classroom. Please do not worry or stress about this process. We will be communicating with you throughout the whole duration of this process. On September 9 the classroom assignments will be posted at 5 and then a parent meeting will occur at 6. After the parent meeting you will be able to visit your child's classroom and meet their teacher. We are very excited about this new process and truly feel like this will best meet the needs of your child! If you have any questions or concerns about this process please feel free to email me or call the school at 943-6900.

Unpacking Learning...

I was able to go into school on Monday to begin unpacking all of our items we will be using this year. It is amazing all the various items we use in kindergarten to help children learn; however, our space is just perfect! The room is still a work in progress! I am thrilled we still have a few weeks left to get our room ready. I know you will be just as happy as I am with our beautiful room and building. I am looking forward to having children fill the room in about 4 weeks. As I unpack our items for our classroom, you may be thinking about supplies to buy for your child. This year West Clermont has decided to go to a universal supply list for all 8 elementary schools. Kindergartners only need to bring a pair of Fiskar scissors and a large eraser. We can always use donations of various items, but that will be coming out later on once I figure out what we may still need. I look forward to seeing all of you soon!

August is Here...

The summer is winding down faster than I can believe. Next thing I know I will be starting to set up the classroom and getting ready for the kids to arrive! I am quite excited to get the children in the classroom and begin teaching in our wonderful learning space. I know everyone will love it. I had a meeting this morning at the building and had the opportunity to walk down and see our space and I placed a few pictures of the room (check out the link to the left). I'm excited about getting in there and adding my touches to the room to make it fantastic!

As we continue towards the beginning of school take some time to make sure your child can recognize his/her's first name, recognize a few letters, write/attempt first name, button/zip pants, and just enjoy reading to them! If your child can do more, that is great!

I cannot wait to meet all their smiling faces on the first day and I am sure your smiling faces will have tears of joy as they head off to school!