Assalamu Alaikum
A warm welcome to all of you! As our new school year gets underway, I hope that this post will help you to know what to expect in Junior Kindergarten this year and answer questions you may have.
I am looking forward to working with your child and helping him/her to achieve his/her full potential.
I believe that a good parent-teacher relationship is necessary for maximum school success. Throughout the year I will communicate with you through email, notes, telephone calls, blog, report cards, and parent-teacher conferences. I encourage you to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions at any time. You can send me a note with your child, or e-mail me. You can also call me at the school office and leave me a message and I will return your call as soon as I can.
We will have a variety of activities in class that cover all domains of development, emotional, social, cognitive, physical and spiritual. We will participate in arts, crafts, nasheeds, songs, games, story time, study exercises, and indoor/outdoor physical activities. I will be posting the weekly schedule on the blog shortly along with the Quran curriculum insha’Allah. All school forms will be sent home in a zip-lock bag. Please return the bag to school as soon a you can.
Label, label, label
Please make sure that all bedding, jackets, hats, and clothing are labeled clearly with your child’s name or initials in an inconspicuous place. Children have many similar items and they can easily get them mixed-up. The only way to tell them apart is if they are labeled.
Please help us help your child be organized by labeling the back of your child's shoes with the word (IN) for indoor shoes and (OUT) for outdoor shoes.
Toilet Training & Accidents Policy
Please note that your child must be completely toilet trained and is able to clean himself/herself to be in JK. In case of a wet accident, we will encourage your child to change into clean clothes, however you will be immediately contacted to come and help your child in case of a bowel movement accident. Our policy states that no teacher will physically clean a child.
Nuts Free Policy
Nuts or related products (including peanut butter or Nutella) are not allowed in the school to protect the children with food related allergies. Please advise the school immediately if your child has any allergies.
Drop off and pick up
Please note that drop off (8:20) and pick up (3:15) will be from the classroom. If you wish to pick up your child anytime earlier than 3:15 you will be required to sign out your child at the office first.
We do require a written permission from you prior to releasing your child to anyone who is not on the pick up list. Please provide us with the name(s) using correct spelling. We may ask to see the person’s ID.
Snacks and Lunch
The children will have two snack times and one lunch time during their day at school. Please send healthy nutritious foods with your child. Please do not send foods with high levels of sugar such as cake, cookies, chocolate, soft drinks, etc.
For the safety of all children glass containers are not permitted. Canned fruits/foods are also not permitted due to sharp edges found on the rim of the can after opening. Please use plastic containers.
We have a microwave oven and a small refrigerator in the classroom. Please click here for their use rules.
Blankets
Blankets are sent home to be washed every 3 weeks. We usually send the blankets home on a Friday so please don’t forget to send the washed blankets back to school the following Monday. If you prefer that your child’s blanket is sent home before 3 weeks please write me a note and I will accommodate.
Show & Tell
Show & Tell has countless benefits for kindergartners. It will help develop the children’s oral and visual communication skills, self-esteem and pride, social skills and more.
Each student will have one day in the week every week for show & Tell. The children can bring any special objects or toys to share with their classmates.
we will start regular show ant in October inshAllah.
Outdoor Play
The children will be going out for recess everyday unless it is raining or extremely cold or hot. Please keep this in mind when helping your child to select clothing for the day.
We will be playing in the school’s fenced yard until the children are familiar with the outdoor rules and are well adjusted to school. Once they are, we may go to the adjacent city park for recesses.
Homework
Your child will start bringing regular (optional) homework sometime in October Insha’Allah. Homework will be sent home (in a red pocket folder) every Friday and is to be returned to school by the following Thursday. I will send a note at that time Insha’Allah.
Star of the Week
Every Friday we choose someone from our classroom to be the star of the week. The star wears a special badge for the whole day, gets a small prize from the prize box and receives a big book of art made by his classmates. In addition a photo of the star of the week is taken and placed on the star of the week board inside the class’s bulletin board. The process of choosing the star of the week is somewhat random; however, considerations are taking for noticeable improvement in behaviour.
I am looking forward to a great year working with your child! I know that working together we can make Junior Kindergarten a wonderful experience for your child Insha’Allah!