Please be on time
It is important to make sure your child arrives at school on time daily, as well as that they are picked up from school on time daily. The GSRP program offers a time “window” to make it easier for families who have to get children to and from multiple school buildings – as well as to make it easier to drop off and pick up children attending school at Whitmore-Bolles at their correct arrival and dismissal times.
GSRP preschool students can be brought to school as early as 8:45 AM and as late as 9:00 AM. After 9:00 AM, any student being brought into the classroom will be marked ‘tardy’ for attendance. Children arriving after 9:00 AM are missing some vital academic and social experiences that will help them to be successful next year in kindergarten.
Arrival Time
- Alphabetic Knowledge: During the 8:45-9:00 time frame, the children are working on identifying letters and letter sounds associated with their name. During this time we also work on a skill called ‘tracking’. Tracking is a skill everyone uses when they read. This is when we train our eyes to follow a line of text from left to right (as you are doing right now reading this). We also have been practicing writing our names as we sign in to work on fine motor skills and developing those muscles in the children’s hands to make sure their hands are ready for next year when they are expected to write multiple sentences at one time.
- Building Relationships: Also during this 8:45-9:00 time frame the children are building social development skills. They are eating breakfast and having give & take conversations with friends and teachers at the table. They are working on projects together on the carpet and sharing information with one another. They are becoming problem-solvers and learning how to take turns.
- The concept of time: The children know and understand routine. Routine is a critical concept for children to understand before they can learn to tell time on a clock. They know to turn in their folder first, work on their name second, eat breakfast third and an activity on the carpet last. When children arrive at school late and this part of the day is over, it leads them to be confused and irritated. It takes longer for them to settle in and longer to adjust to being at school.
- Disruptions: When children arrive to school late, it is setting a precedence that it is ok to interrupt the learning process. All of the children in this class are very excited to see one another. When a child comes into school after 9:00 AM and we are in the middle of Greeting Time and discussing our day and learning new whole-group concepts, it disrupts the learning process of the other students in the classroom.
Dismissal Time
Dismissal Time has a window just like arrival time does. Dismissal time for the GSRP classrooms begins at 3:20 PM and ends at 3:30 PM. If you have children to pick up, you should be picking up your preschool child first, and then going to pick up other Whitmore students or heading to the next elementary building for their dismissal time. We understand the parking lot at Whitmore is small and gets very congested during dismissal time. This is why GSRP parents are able to pick up at 3:20 PM. By picking up your preschooler at 3:20, it gets you into the parking lot first and back out again before the other families arrive to pick up K-5 students.
When children are picked up later than 3:30 PM from the classroom, children become upset about being the “last one” at school. Often times teachers have meetings to attend after school hours as well. Parents picking up children late means teachers are getting to their meetings late as well.