Dear Parents,
Welcome to Kindergarten!!! The following information should help answer questions
and explain what goes on in our classroom each day. I want this to be a great year for
your student. With your help, I know we can make this happen! Please contact me with
any of your questions or concerns throughout the year.
My contact information:
Lorrie Unrein
Room 15
488-8825
lunrein@psdschools.org
School Phone Number: 488-8800
*Please use this number to speak to the front office.
Attendance Line: 488-8801
*Please use this number to report your child’s absences.
School Hours:
School begins at 8:30 A.M. and ends at 3:08 P.M. Please be prompt with both
dropping off and picking up. Please make sure your child does not come before 8:15
A.M. because there is no teacher supervision until 8:15. If you have not picked your
child up by 3:15 P.M., he or she will wait outside the office. (Teacher meetings are held
after school on a weekly basis.) In case of inclement weather, children will go to the
cafeteria before school. Look for flags hung outside the building to notify you to go to
the cafeteria.
Attendance:
Regular attendance is important for your child’s academic and social progress. However,
if your child is sick, please keep him/her at home and call the attendance line.
Dismissal:
Please list all people who will be picking your child up from school. Write a note or call
the school to notify of any changes (Examples: Your child is going home with a friend or
a relative from out of town is picking your child up.)
School Work:
Please look in your child’s backpack each day. I send your child’s work home on a
regular basis. Be positive about your child’s work and ask your child to tell you about it.
Friday Folder
Important school information is sent home weekly. I will send home a weekly letter
and a monthly calendar through this folder. The principal’s newsletter and the lunch
calendar will also be sent via the Friday Folder. Please read the information, look at your
child’s work and sign the folder before returning it to the classroom on Monday. You
may send lunch money or any communication from home back to me this way.
Hot Lunch:
Hot lunch costs $2.00 per child, $3.00 per adult and milk is $.45. You may pay daily or
pay for a week or a month at a time. You may also pay for school lunches online at
www.schoolpaymentsolutions.com
Curriculum:
 Reading-Open Court
We work on sounds, letters, rhyming, and phonemic awareness. We use big books
and trade books (stories, songs, and nursery rhymes) to teach reading skills. First,
letters (capital and lowercase) are taught in order. The letter sounds are introduced,
but not formally taught. Starting in December, the letters are reviewed and the
sounds are taught. Workbook pages practice handwriting and the letter/sound
relationship.
Your child will be bringing home 35 books over the course of the year. A
predecodable book (15) or decodable book (20) will be sent home each week. It will
come home with a bright green sheet for you to sign and return to me when your child
reads the book to you. Please find a safe place for these books so your child can read
and reread them. Have your child point to each word, going left to right and up and
down.
 Math-Everyday Math
We use oral activities, hands-on activities, manipulatives and workbook activities to
learn and practice math concepts and skills. I will send home Math Homelink sheets.
When your child completes the task, please sign and return the sheet to me.
 Science-Full Option Science System (FOSS)
We complete three units over the course of the year. They are Trees, Wood/Paper and
Animals 2x2. From time to time we do other science activities during our centers or
whole group time.
 Social Studies
We teach this content area through our thematic units.
 Writer’s Workshop-Lucy Calkins Writing Program
In kindergarten, we work on personal narratives. Children draw pictures to represent
a real story that has happened to them, label the pictures, write letter strings and
finally progress to writing sentences, using invented spelling.
 Handwriting-Zaner-Bloser
Please help your child practice writing his name correctly with one capital letter.
Show and Tell:
On each 1st and 3rd Friday of every month, the boys are invited to bring in an item to
share for Show and Tell. On the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month, the girls will have
their turn. The item could be related to the letters, theme or holiday that we are working
on. Photographs, items found in nature, and crafts are other ideas of what to bring.
Person of the Week:
Each Friday a student’s name will be picked to be the Person of the Week for the
following week. Please help your child fill out the poster and return it the next week. On
Friday, he/she will share the poster and three special things from home.
Snack:
You may pack a snack for your child to eat each afternoon. Please send something that is
not messy.
Birthday Treats:
You may send something to share with the class for your child’s birthday. Because of
school district policy, the snacks have to be store bought. Please let me know at least a
day in advance what you are planning. We will have the birthday treat in lieu of snack
time.
Discipline:
Our classroom rules are to keep your hands and feet to yourself, raise your hand, listen,
cooperate, share and walk. Our school rules are respect, responsibility, honesty and
citizenship. We also have Quiet Zones in the hallway. I try and build on the positive
qualities that each student has to create a warm and caring community within our
classroom.
I remind children of the rules if they are breaking them. If children are still not following
the rules after a warning, then I follow with natural consequences or having them sit
away from the group for a short time. I will contact you if there is a situation that I need
your assistance with at home.
Centers:
From 9:50-10:55 A.M. twice a week, the children will rotate through two centers for 30
minutes. Centers allow for differentiation to occur and cooperation among the students.
These centers deal with math, reading, writing, listening, art or science. I need to have
two volunteers each day in order to support this small group time. Tuesday, Wednesday
or Thursday would be preferable for centers.
Volunteers:
Parent help makes it possible to challenge and remediate students, work in small group
settings where kids get more attention and complete more activities. Children love to
have their own parents come in, but they also enjoy their classmates’ parents too. If your
schedule allows, please volunteer in your child’s classroom. Volunteers make a great
difference in the lives of children.
 Bossy Centers twice a week (Tuesday, Wednesday and or Thursday) starting in
mid-September.
 Clerical at home or at school.
 Old Friends/New Friends sight words once a week starting first semester.
Book Orders:
Please make out checks to the book club, not me or Lopez Elementary.
We are going to have a great year. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any
questions or concerns.
Lorrie Unrein