Welcome to Cradlerock Elementary School Pre-K 2017-2018

1. WELCOME! Cradlerock Elementary School Pre-K 2017-2018

2. Meet Your Teachers Classroom Teacher Denise Crockett & Debbie Kaminski Paraeducator Martha Ramirez The best way to contact me is via email denise_crockett@hcpss.org School office number 410-313-7610 Please check your child’s folder daily. Please send any notes in this folder. Make sure the folder is returned daily.

3. Meet More of Our Support Staff! Principal: Mrs. Jennifer Zinn Assistant Principal: Mr. Brad Scobie Team Leader: Mrs. Christine Wills Nurse: Mrs. Laura Ruiz Speech Therapist: Mrs. Barbara Stanton Judy Center Staff: Janine Bacquie Amy Kelly Lourdes Salazar Nancy Smith

4. Morning & Afternoon Transportation *Please arrive by 8:15 for drop off and by 2:45 for dismissal. Car rider: Drop off- When you enter the car loop, pull as far forward as you can, and then wait for a staff member to greet you. Please do not leave your car. Car rider: Pick up- Enter the same car loop and wait in line. A staff member will bring your child to your car. Walker: Drop off- Meet staff at the first entrance, near the garden, to the left of the flag pool if facing the front of the building. Please do not drop off in the front office or classroom. Walker: Pick up- Meet your child by the door on the blacktop near the playground behind the school. If your child is late, or needs to leave early, please sign in/out in the front office. If there is a change in transportation on any given day, please send in a note. When the person arrives, he/she will be asked for a picture I.D. before being allowed to take your child from school. All parents must sign in at the front office upon entering the main doors for any reason.

5. Our Daily Routine! • Unpack/sign-in/table toys • Circle Time-A • Eat breakfast • Circle Time-B • Whole group & small group rotations ELA • Community Meetings • Recess & Lunch • Related Arts • Nap Time * • Math/Content • Snack & Centers

6. Let’s Eat! • Breakfast/Lunch/Snack is a time for: • Independent, self-care skills • Encouraging appropriate eating habits and table manners • Communication and social interaction with friends • Math and literacy skills • Opportunities to make choices, request, comment, wait time Schoolwide breakfast will be provided. Please pack a small, healthy snack & drink in a ziplock bag. Please be respectful of nut allergies. Lunch payment and menu choices are available on Cradlerock home page link: http://www.hcpss.org/food-services/

7. Daily Activities Circle/Movement Time: Time for the entire group to share important information, encourage children to make choices and support active learning. Children initiate ideas, offer suggestions, and generate solutions. • Work on name recognition, calendar, alphabet/number recognition, rhyming skills, and counting with Counting Bear. • Movement…We love songs that make us dance and move our bodies! We sing along to poems and move to music to express ourselves and develop gross motor skills. • Story time strengthens oral language, vocabulary, high-order thinking questions and comprehension, and problem solving skills, as well as making connections between written and spoken words in both informational and literary text. Students will use their skills to sequence and retell stories ,describe settings, characters, and theme of stories.

8. Small Group & Center Time • Intentional opportunities that provide occasions to independently learn and explore new concepts on rigor curriculum goals and objectives through hands-on activities in small group settings, consisting of 2-3 table rotations. • Small group activities include letter recognition, writing, literacy & mathematical concepts, science, social studies, and creativity lessons. • Self-selected activities during center time allow children to make their own choices and direct their own play while building social interaction and independence. They learn time management & strategies to self-regulate behavior while learning to share, play, and problem-solve alongside friends in a natural, safe, and uninterrupted setting in housekeeping, computer, math and games, reading corner, writing table, science center, blocks and painting. • Children are responsible for putting away materials used • and work together to clean up their center area.

9. Community Circle • Whole group time to practice role-playing, exercises & activities that promote success in the early learning setting, school readiness, and social and life success by directly teaching children the skills that strengthen their ability to learn, have empathy, make friends, solve problems, and manage emotions.

10. Calendar & Inclement Weather Days • Full-day PreK classrooms follow the HCPS calendar. • Please listen to your local news or radio station when there is bad weather (severe storms, power outages, etc…) to see if the Howard County School System is closed or delayed. • You can sign up and receive email or text messages in the event of any emergency closures, delays, or weather events https://hcpssnews.com/user/userdefault.aspx

11. Health Information It is important that your child be healthy when coming to school. Students with symptoms of acute illness such as vomiting, diarrhea, colds, rash, persistent cough, etc. should be observed at home and be seen by a doctor if necessary.  Students who have a fever should remain at home until their temperature has been normal for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications. If your child is diagnosed with any illness that could be given to others (such as strep throat, pink eye, chicken pox, head lice, etc.) please let the school health room know so that we may observe for additional cases. Please remember to always send in a note upon returning to school for your child’s absence to be recorded as excused.

12. Extra Clothes • Please keep a labeled, zip-lock bag containing an extra set of seasonal clothing in the bottom of your child’s backpack. As they learn to play, they may make a mess, and we would like to change them if they are uncomfortable, as well as if an unexpected accident or illness occurs and your child needs a change of clean clothes. • Please be sure to change the clothes so they are always size and weather appropriate.

13. Class Trips • Curriculum trips are an important extension of our program. They provide concrete experiences that relate to our instructional themes. Information regarding class trips will be sent home. Field trips in the works: (subject to change) • Elliot Oaks Farm • Local Library

14. Field Trip Chaperone Selection Process • If a parent/guardian would like to be considered as a chaperone, they must check the chaperone box on their child’s permission form, provide contact information, and return the form to their child’s teacher. • Permission forms may be turned in before payment. • Chaperones will be selected per homeroom class based on the order in which forms are received.

15. Field Trip Chaperone Selection Process Continued • Parents/guardians who submit a request will be notified via phone or email if they were selected or not selected to chaperone on a field trip. • Parents/guardians that are not selected to chaperone will be placed on a waiting list and used if needed. • After the first field trip, chaperone requests from parents/guardians who have not attended a previous field trip this school year will take first priority.

16. Upcoming Events • Thursday, Sept. 21 & Friday, Sept. 22: Professional Learning Day- No school for students

17. Donations Are Appreciated • glue sticks • tissues • play dough • hand sanitizer • Ziploc bags (any size)

18. Questions? Please feel free to contact your child’s teacher at the school 410-313-7610 or by email. denise_crockett@hcpss.org debbie_kaminski@hcpss.org