WELCOME Kindergarten Families,

It is my pleasure to welcome your child and family to our classroom at Duvall! My name is Margaret Ross and I would love to share with you a little bit about my educational background and welcome your child and family to my Kindergarten classroom. I graduated from Eastern Michigan University and Oakland University earning my Education Degree and Early Childhood Masters Degree. I have lived in Dearborn my whole life and attended both Divine Child Elementary and High School. I currently live in Dearborn with my husband Jeffrey and our two children. Benjamin is 9 years old and attends Lindbergh Elementary. Antonia is 4 years old and will be attending the DuVall developmental preschool again this year! 

My classroom here at DuVall Elementary will be a safe and exciting environment for all children to learn. I will promote the social and emotional growth of your child while nurturing his/her positive self-concept. Your child will be taught, guided, and loved every day. Every staff member at DuVall Elementary is also dedicated and committed to your child’s successes. Kindergarten is a very important year for your child and the most important component in your child’s successful school year is you, the parent(s).  When you encourage your child to learn and work hard while taking a consistent hands on interest in his/her education success and progress will result. I believe it is necessary for both the parents and teacher to work together for students to be successful in school. We are going to be an awesome team! The following newsletter will inform your family about important details of our classroom. 

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Specials: Here is our specials schedule, if there are any changes made to the list I will update it on the iblog *(please sign up at http://iblog.dearbornschools.org/ross/) and send it out to you immediately! Our specials schedule will always be posted on the iblog all year under the “specials” tab. Please make sure your child dresses in the proper attire and footwear on gym days! Library check out is still TBD! 

Mondays: Music 12:18PM-1:03PM

Tuesdays: Enrichment 12:18PM-1:03PM

Wednesdays: Music 12:18PM-1:03PM and Art 1:56PM-2:41PM

Thursdays Gym:9:39AM-10:24AM

Fridays Gym: 1:56PM-2:41PM

Our lunchtime is from 11:00AM-11:38AM.  Upon arrival, students buying lunch will make a choice every morning by placing their card in the basket below the picture of food they would like to eat. If your child simply needs milk, they will still need to put their card in the small milk basket. Please help your child look over the lunch menu at home every night to help them plan ahead and decide their lunch choices for the next day. This year will be tricky because students will be offered three choices! To help them gain independence we want them to come to school each morning able to decide and choose 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice or packed lunch. Planning ahead will help your little one avoid any tears and heartache! Thank you in advance for your help!

Volunteers: In order to volunteer for field trips, lunch with your child, or in the classroom Dearborn Public Schools requires all adults (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles) to complete an ichat form from the office. They are valid for a few years! Please see Ms Cathy or an office staff member to get your ichat completed as 

soon as possible or check if you still have one on file that has not expired. 

Snack/Birthday Treats: Please feel free to send in a healthy snack for your child each day for them to enjoy in the morning during recess or in the afternoon during recess. For birthdays, please let me know at least a day in advance so that we can confirm we will be there! Cupcakes, donuts, cookies and juice are fine with us! Please just do NOT bring in a cake or balloons!  You may deliver them to the office at the 8:35AM bell, hand them to me in lineup or to the office at 3:00PM. 3:00PM is when we celebrate birthdays. Thank you 🙂

Homework:

I will begin sending home homework in your child’s blue communication folder after the first two/three weeks of school.  This will give your child time to adjust to being in a new room with a new teacher. Please allow your child the “down time” he or she is going to need while getting used to being at school the first month. Our Math curriculum includes a homework element that will be sent home in addition to the game we discussed during kindergarten roundup. When homework begins coming home, it will be five/6 stapled pages and one game each week placed in the “return to school” blue communications folder. Your child will have seven days to complete the packet at your convenience and is expected to return the completed work the following Monday. Spelling does not officially begin until January in kindergarten, however we will begin a sight word program in the near future to help your child acquire as many sight words they can this year! Spelling assessments will usually take place on Fridays (unless a short week, snow day or another notification sent on my blog). 

Supplies: Please label child’s name with black permanent marker on all that you can to help us remain organized! If you didn’t bring supplies today no worries we’ll be organizing supplies all week 🙂 I have included the Kindergarten supply list just in case anyone forgot theirs! Dry erase markers are always needed and one supply item that I will put into buckets for all to share as needed. I THANK YOU 

in advance for your support and generosity.

Homework Folders: The PTA has purchased all students new plastic homework folders this year-yay! THANK YOU to the PTA! I am hoping the plastic will be durable and last the whole year! If your child happens to lose or damage them beyond repair I do have a few extra blue and green plastic folders available for purchase, or your child could replace it with one from home.

 At home, your child will also need supplies to complete assignments.  Please be sure your child has somewhere quiet (or semi quiet if it’s anything like my house) to do their homework and someone to read with each night. Please make sure their blue homework folder and reading book bag (which I will provide in the near future as we begin Daily 5) come back to school every day.

*Additional supplies you may provide/donate to the class are SO greatly appreciated: highlighters, black expo dry erase markers, crayons, Kleenex, baby wipes (for sticky fingers, table writing and wiping tables), play-Doh, additional glue, hand sanitizer. I thank you in advance for your generosity and support!

Drop off and Pick Up:

Students in our class are dropped off at 8:35AM on our yellow classroom line on the playground blacktop and picked up on the same line at 3:35PM. If there are any changes in your child’s normal dismissal from school please notify me in person or email or contact the office. Any student remaining with the teacher, ten minutes after dismissal, at 3:45pm will be walked by myself or another teacher to the office. If you need to talk to me outside of this time period, please make an appointment because your child is very important to me. In addition, if your child needs to leave school early for any reason, please go to the office to sign them out and wait there while the receptionist contacts me. I will send your child down as quickly as I can pack them up.  Please do not come to the classroom to get them as this disrupts the learning taking place.

Classroom Expectations and Consequences: PBIS

DuVall Elementary takes part in the “Positive Behavior Interventions System”. PBIS is schoolwide and expectations/consequences are taught and monitored in every room at DuVall Elementary to ensure the safety and education of all students. Your child will be taught my PBIS expectations the first weeks of school and taught/reminded of them throughout the year. This year we will also be exploring and adapting the wonderful concepts from the “Leader in Me” and the seven habits. Please expect and be ready for me to call, write and/or discuss/celebrate the wellbeing of your child and their successes as well as challenges in school. We LOVE to celebrate our accomplishments! “Penguin Points” as well as other rewards are given out for positive behaviors, completed homework and following directions. In the coming weeks, when the students have adjusted and PBIS officially starts, I will be sending home a monthly behavior sheet. The first one will be for September 🙂 Please initial the smiley face behavior sheet every night and keep it slipped in the back the homework folder! Please see my iblog to read more about behavior management under the “PBIS/Leader in Me” page.

This is a new beginning for your child and there will be a period of adjustment. We must be patient, supportive and work as a team while your child adjusts to new learning, routines and challenges each day. Thank you for the honor and privilege of educating your child. I am excited about working with you this year and loving and teaching your amazing child!

If you ever have any questions or concerns, please email me at rossm1@dearbornschools.org  and I will get back to you as soon as possible. In addition, I have a iblog (sign up at http://iblog.dearbornschools.org/ross/)that will become the center for all information pertaining to our classroom. I am  looking forward to a wonderful year!

(sign up at http://iblog.dearbornschools.org/ross/)that will become the center for all information pertaining to our classroom. I am looking forward to a wonderful year!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Margaret Ross 🙂