What's the plan for the staggered start for kindergarteners?

Starting Kindergarten can be an overwhelming experience for both the child and the parent.  In order to make for a smooth transition, we will follow this schedule for Kindergarten:

-          Wednesday, August 31:  NO SCHOOL for incoming kindergarten students.

-          Thursday, September 1:  Kindergarten students attend school for 1/2 day in the morning. Students arrive 8:00-8:30 am.  School starts at 8:30 am. One parent (or other adult) is invited to take the student into the classroom and stay for a fun activity from 8:30 – 9:15 am, at which time the adult will be dismissed.  The Kindergarten student should be picked up at 11:30 am, which is just before lunch.

-          Friday, September 2:  Kindergarten students attend school for the morning (arrival 8:00-8:30 am) AND stay for lunch/recess. Adults should pick the students up at 1:00 pm.

-          Monday, September 5:  Holiday:  NO SCHOOL.

-          Tuesday, September 6:  Typical FULL day for kindergarten students (arrival from 8:00-8:30 am, dismissal at 3:15 pm).

So, kindergarten parents, what are you going to do on the day your child is in school for only three hours?  Several parents of past kindergarteners have volunteered to lead a coffee hour September 1^st at the local Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts (16204 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland - (216) 812-3865).  If you have questions about what to expect as the parent of an MPA student, want to make suggestions about how to make the process easier on future students, or just need a shoulder to cry on while your baby has his or her first day of school, this is the place to be.  Drop by the store between 9:30 am and 11 am – we hope to see you there!

Kindergarten Update

We are currently hard at work as young authors working on our non-fiction book project.  We have learned how to select a topic of interest and then research important information about the chosen topic and then learned how to document that information through note-taking and drafting.  We have become experts on many conventions of non-fiction print and are readily applying these conventions to our individual book writing.  We are so excited to engage in this process and we can't wait to see the final results!

Both Kindergarten classes enjoyed a terrific field trip to the Botanical Gardens this past Friday.  We spent all day at the Gardens exploring plants (the parts that make up a plant, their various uses, etc.) in various surroundings (such as a Madagascan Spiny Desert and a Costa Rican Cloud Forest).  The children were given the opportunity to record their findings in the various environments-they drew the different leaves, stems, roots, and flowers that they saw in each location.  

The students were also given the chance to make their very own terrariums using plastic bottles!  These terrariums are completely self-contained and do not need any additional water in order to help the plant grow-the different elements create enough evaporation and condensation to allow for optimal growth to take place.  

We ate lunch at the Botanical Gardens and finished our day there with some time in the children's garden!  

A great time was had by all who attended...thank you to our chaperons who took the time out of their busy day to attend our field trip with us! 

As we look ahead to the coming weeks, here is what we have to look forward to:

•  Friday, April 15th:  LEGO Olympiad at LCCC for those students who previously registered
•  Wednesday, April 27th:  Field Trip to the Cleveland Museum of Art!

Mrs. Courtney Timko

 (with photos by G. Woods)