Dear Parents,
Welcome to kindergarten! I am very excited to begin a new year filled with teamwork, learning, friendship, growth, and creativity. I hope that this year will be very memorable for both you and your child. My goal for your child throughout the school year is to learn the basic skills needed to move onto higher level learning, as well as to have fun, create relationships, and build confidence. I look forward to working with you to help your child grow as a person and learner!
Enclosed you will find helpful information about your child’s kindergarten year. The Boxford School Handbook, which is available online contains lots of vital information. This will include the policies that convey more specifics regarding school rules and regulations. Additional information regarding curriculum will be explained at Back to School Night on September 15th. The Cole School Website is also a great place to find helpful information.
In order to help the environment, this is the only newsletter you will receive as a paper copy. The following newsletters will be posted on the classroom blog listed at the bottom of this letter. Please let me know if you do not have Internet access and I will be happy to send one home for you via your child’s backpack.
School Day
School begins each day promptly at 8:40 a.m. Children arriving after 8:40 a.m. are marked tardy. If your child arrives late please check into the office, as well as the kitchen if they are buying lunch at school. The kindergarten school day ends at 2:50 p.m. Children will be sent to their appropriate bus lines, or to the kindergarten pick-up line for parent pick-up.
If your child will be absent for any reason, please call the office (978) 887-2856 prior to the start of the school day and leave a message explaining why your child will be absent. Upon your child’s return to school, please send a note stating the reason for your child’s absence.
Transportation
Each student has been assigned a bus route. If you would like to pick-up your child or send them home on a different bus, please send a note in your child’s backpack. If you want to make your child a pick-up on a daily basis, you may send in one note stating this rather than a note each time. If you do not notify us of any changes, your child must take their assigned bus home.
If you are dropping your child off in the morning, please enter the driveway closest to the Superintendent’s office. Once you have entered the drop-off line please keep moving, as there are more parents waiting to drop-off after you.
When picking up by car in the afternoon, follow the same procedure above. Children will be walked out to meet you by a staff member.
If it is necessary to pick-up your child from school earlier than the end of the school day, please make sure to write a note and put it in your child’s orange home-school folder. Please discuss this change with your child so that he/she will not become anxious or worried throughout the day. When it is time for your child’s early dismissal please come into the office. Your child will be dismissed to the office where you will be waiting.
Make sure to remind your child to give me any notes first thing in the morning. Please make sure that your child knows of any changes that will be occurring in their daily schedule. This will alleviate any stress or anxiety that your child may feel during dismissal time.
Lunch
Your child may choose to bring a lunch from home or select a free lunch at school. It is helpful if you talk with your child each day about what they want to order for lunch so that they can sign up for lunch in the morning with me. Each morning, I will make sure that all of the students are signed up for a free lunch or they brought a lunch from home. The price of lunch this year will be FREE, which includes milk. Please visit the website at Boxford Lunch Menu.
Snack
Please send in a healthy snack or two to school with your child each day. The children will have the opportunity to eat a snack in the morning. I will be looking for donations of individual snack bags of goldfish or pretzels for those children who forget their snack. Please do not send any snacks in glass containers.
Birthday Celebrations
As a school, we do not allow food to be shared on birthdays. Instead, a student’s birthday is shared over the school loudspeaker and he/she receives a little gift from the school. We also sing “Happy Birthday” as a class and give students a birthday book.
Backpacks
Please make sure that your child carries a backpack to school each day. This allows for personal belongings to be kept together and for your child’s work to get home safely. The backpack should be big enough to hold a 9”x12” folder and a lunch box. Please keep a spare set of clothes (shirt, pants/shorts, socks, and underwear) in your child’s backpack at all times in case of an emergency. A bus tag will be attached to each child’s backpack. Please make sure that this tag remains on your child’s backpack throughout the year. This will help dismissal run more smoothly.
Orange-Home School Folders
These plastic orange folders should travel back and forth from school to home each day. They will hold completed work and important information. Please check the contents each night and empty the folder for the next day. If you are sending your child in with a note, please let them know and put it in his/her orange folder.
Labels
Please make sure that all of your child’s belongings are labeled with their name. This will help prevent items from being lost. If your child does lose something at school, it may have been placed in the lost and found which is located in the cafeteria.
Specialist Schedules
Each week your child will participate in art, music, physical education, library and STEM. Our class schedule is as follows:
Monday – Physical Education with Mr. Petelle
Tuesday – Library with Mrs. Moore
Wednesday – Music with Mr. Turner
Thursday – Art with Mrs. Dalton and Physical Education with Mr. Petelle
Friday – STEM with Mrs. Frost
Please make sure that your child wears appropriate clothing on gym day. Sneakers must be worn, and girls may not wear skirts or dresses.
Please make sure to return borrowed library books by the next library session. Each week your child will be allowed to borrow a book from the library. They will not be allowed to get another book until the previous book has been returned. If your child does forget their library book, they may bring it back the next school day. If time allows, they will be able to return their book and borrow a new one.
Forms
Throughout the first weeks of school, you will be receiving many forms that need to be read, signed, and returned to school. Please make sure that these forms are taken care of as quickly as possible, particularly the Emergency Card. We truly appreciate your help with this matter.
Volunteer Opportunities in the Classroom
I will be looking for volunteers to work in the classroom, as well as other opportunities outside of the classroom. Please make sure that you fill out a CORI form in the office if you would like to come into the classroom at any point during the school year. CORI forms need to be filled out and approved in order to chaperone a field trip.
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Parent/Teacher conferences will be held in December and April. I will contact you in the fall to set up the December conferences.
In closing, I look forward to a fun, adventure filled year with your children. Feel free to email me at (kdupuis@boxfordschools.org) with any questions or concerns you may have. I will get back to you as soon as possible. You can also find information and classroom newsletters on my classroom blog at https://thekteammrsdupuis.blogspot.com/ In the best interest of our environment, this will be the only newsletter you will receive as a paper copy. The following newsletters will be posted on the classroom blog. I look forward to working with you and your child this year. I hope to see you all at the Back to School Night on Thursday, September 15th!
All my best,
Kelli Dupuis
