Snack Time

Each kindergarten class will have snack time in the afternoon. We eat lunch early in the day, so the children are very hungry by the afternoon! Some of the teachers have community snack time (meaning parents donate the snacks in bulk and the teachers will pass it out among the children) and other teachers ask students to bring their own from home. Your child's teacher will notify you of which she prefers when school begins. Either way, you are welcome to pack and send a singular snack for your child each day.

If your child's teacher has a community-style snack time, your child’s teacher will let you know (via email or newsletter) when the snack supply is low and you can send in your donation with your child in the morning. Please be mindful of the snacks you donate. Cookies, chips and small desserts do not sustain the brain power needed to finish an afternoon at school. Your child’s teacher will elaborate on this when school begins, but in the meantime, think about sending snacks such as healthy crackers, popcorn, cheese sticks (we have a small refrigerator in the classroom), pretzels or cereal. Also, keep in mind that items involving a great deal of prep-work or foods that require cutlery are not conducive to nourishing a large group in a small amount of time.

If you’d like, you are welcome to bring a box of snacks to Meet the Teacher Night or the First Day of School so your child’s class will have something for snack time on the very first day. Please steer clear of foods that contain nuts (or are prepped in kitchens that use nut products) until food allergies among your child’s class are known. Thank you!

Thematic Days and Celebrations

We have a fews days during the school year we reserve for special celebrations; supporting a school program or dressing up as a culminating activity for a unit of study. Each of these are meant to be fun and should not involve purchasing costumes - it’s time to get creative and use what you have around your home!

Here are a few examples:

Nursery Rhyme Day

Scarecrow Day

Red Ribbon Week

Thanksgiving Feast

101 Dalmatians

(Please keep in mind that these are subject to change due to student needs and calendar changes. Your child's teacher will keep you well informed and always read the weekly newsletter for the most up-to-date information).

Tuesday Tip - Yum! Yum! Kindergarten Lunch!

Kindergarten students can choose either to buy a school lunch or bring a lunch from home. We strongly suggest a lunch from home in the first few months because the children have more time to eat if they are not standing in the line buying. However, a hot meal is available each day and the monthly menu can be found on the CISD Portal. A vegetarian option is always available, too!

Your child will be given an account in the cafeteria. On the days he/she buys a lunch, the amount will be subtracted from the account. You may send checks to school in your child's red Lakeside folder, personally take a check to the cafeteria before school or pay on-line. Make checks payable to: Lakeside Nutrition.

Parents, after the first three weeks of school, you are welcome to come eat lunch with your child if you think he/she can handle an extra goodbye in the day. We have a separate family table set up for you and your child to use. We ask that younger siblings be left in the care of a loved one while you eat lunch with your kindergartner.

Go! GO NOW!

If you haven't ordered your child's school supplies yet, GO NOW to the Lakeside PTO site and start shopping! Remember, ordering school supplies on-line helps you (no need to run all over town), your child (everything is packaged and delivered to the classroom) and your teacher! Sale ends on July 31st.

(Here's the link: http://www.lakesidepto.com/shop.aspx?Store=2)

Summer Top 5

As the warm days of summer are upon us, we want to enjoy the season with our children and engage them in activities that bring family members together and stimulate the mind. Check out our Top 5 Pick’s for the summer!

Book: ‘The Read-Aloud Handbook’ by Jim Trelease is a parent and teacher must-read! It offers insight on the process of learning to read, developing language skills, and strategies for helping your child foster a life-long love of reading. The second half of the book contains a priceless collection of book and poetry recommendations. It includes different genres, age suggestions and a synopsis of each book. Buy your own copy or borrow it from your local library!

Game: After an energetic day at the pool, you crave a game that can bring the entire family together; one that stimulates the mind while relaxing your sun-kissed and tired bodies. Try a game of dominoes! (Make sure you purchase double-nine dominoes.) This classic tile game gives children the opportunity to practice cooperation, good sportsmanship and matching quantities. Most important, when children play with these dot formations, number values become engrained in the mind. Children begin to recognize the patterns in our numeric system. (The 5 is simply 4 with 1 in the middle!) Ask family members to verbalize each domino they play and differentiate for the ages of your children. A toddler will say the colors he is matching, while a pre-schooler will say the number quantity of each side of a domino (nine and two). A school-age child can make a domino into an addition sentence (nine and two makes eleven), while an upper-elementary child will create a multiplication sentence (the nine is three rows of three).

Car Game: Mind Reader is a game modeled after ‘20 questions’, but challenges your child’s scientific thinking and language-building skills. A parent will say “I’m thinking of something that starts with mmmmmmm”. (Always say the beginning letter sound, instead of the letter name. This aids in the phonological development needed for learning to read.) Children will ask questions that can only be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Teach your child to begin with bigger questions (“Is the thing you’re thinking of living?” “Is it found in a house?” “Does it breathe underwater?”), then move on to guessing specifics. Most likely you will need to model this line of thinking for the first few games, but this thinking process (big ideas to small, asking questions to illuminate possibilities and matching guesses to the beginning sound) is exactly what your child needs to become successful in the areas of science, reading and creative problem-solving!

Website: StorylineOnline.net has a collection of books read by actors from The Screen Actor’s Guild. Hollywood’s Finest bring the stories to life and viewers can read along or just listen. You’ll see an excitement percolate when your children see the same books in the library and want to read the stories again and again!

Conversation: Your children have great ideas waiting to be unearthed and depend on you to stimulate their thinking and communication skills. During your summertime adventures, ask your children open-ended questions about your surroundings. This gives you insight into their thinking, which can drive further questioning and reasoning. Start with “What do you notice?” Take note of their observations and focus their attention to details that create new learning opportunities. Afterwards, ask “What does it make you think of/remind you of?” This elevates your child’s thinking to a higher-level and allows the brain to make connections with prior knowledge.

Wherever your summer plans take your family, powerful and practical activities are always at your fingertips!

Tuesday Tip - What Your Child Will Need

Here are a few things your child will need on the first day of kindergarten!

· Backpack - Please send a backpack to school everyday to help carry important kindergarten “stuff.” Please make sure these backpacks are not the long, roller type (since they do not fit in our cubbies).

· Red Lakeside Folder – This folder should come to school everyday in your child’s backpack. If you have a note for your child’s teacher, place it in the folder and your child’s teacher will do the same. CHECK IT DAILY!

· Change of Clothes - Please send a change of clothes in a baggie just in case to keep at school. Please make sure it is labeled with your child’s name. Trade these out as seasons and sizes change! Even if your child is not having accidents, there are sometimes spills and messes that deserve a change of clothes.

· Resting Towel - We rest most days. Your child will need a labeled resting towel.

· Supplies - Kindergarten supplies can be purchased on-line from our PTO. These school supplies are shared among the class. Please bring all supplies on Meet the Teacher Night.

· Toys – A stuffed animal friend may come to school with your child the first week of school. After that, no toys are allowed at school.

· Medications – If your child has medications, please take them to our school nurse, Mrs. Black.

· Transportation – Please notify your teacher in writing (or via email before 10:00 a.m.) if there is a change in after school transportation for your child.

Tuesday Tip - Hello and Goodbye

Students will have an opportunity to meet their new teacher a few days before the school year begins (in August - check the school website for date/time). This will allow your child to become accustomed to his/her classroom and teacher. On the first day of school, parents are welcome to bring their child to the classroom. (It is a huge moment!) For the rest of the week, please say your good-byes in the gym before school. Students are to be in the gym by 7:45. The gym is supervised in the morning and your child’s teacher will pick up her class from the gym at 7:45. Please do not send your child directly to class. After the first week, please help us begin to foster your child’s independence by saying goodbye in the parent loop and allowing him/her to walk in independently.

Here are the general things you'll need to know about our arrival and dismissal procedures:

Morning Arrival

- Morning drop-off time: 7:30-7:49

- All parent loops and inside waiting areas are supervised and your kindergartner will not have to walk in or wait alone in the morning.

Afternoon Dismissal

- Afternoon pick-up: 3:05

- All parent loops and inside waiting areas are supervised and your kindergartner will not have to walk out or wait alone in the afternoon.

- Children riding a bus or daycare van will be escorted outside and to their bus in the afternoon.

- Children that have a siblings in K–2nd grade (or no siblings), will be picked up from the front office loop. All students with an older sibling in grades 3rd-5th grade, will wait for his/her sibling in the hall (by the office) and be dismissed to the cafeteria loop.

- If you are driving through the parent loop to pick up your child, please be sure to have the yellow sign in your dashboard and pull all the way up the curb. DO NOT get out of your car. (This yellow sign will be given to you at the beginning of the school year).

- Walkers, please respect our safety system and use the crosswalks (from the parent parking lot). Please wait outside for your child and wait away from the doors so the sidewalks are left un-crowded.

• Both dismissal loops are supervised by adults who are available for help!