Welcome to dual immersion kindergarten We are very

Welcome to dual immersion kindergarten, We are very excited to have your child in our classes. This year will be full of opportunities to learn, grow and have fun! We are both excited to get to know all of you and your amazing children. Kindergarten is such an important part of a child’s school experience. This is where your children will develop a love of learning. We understand that your child and you might be a little nervous the first few days of school. We would like you to know that your child is in good hands. We need your help so your child’s transition from home to school is a positive experience. We are asking you to be patient as we teach your child the different procedures here at school. It will take a few weeks to get everyone into our routines. Please drop off your child at the front of the school on the first day. We will have teachers and administrators there to help your child find the way to their classroom. It is very important that you remember the color of the class your child will be in this year. One group is blue and the other is green. Every day your child will be in English and Spanish class. Signs will be posted on the door every day showing what color class starts in which class (blue or green).

Our classroom, will be an environment which all students feel comfortable and safe. We are very positive individuals and we hope to instill this same positive attitude with your child as well as other important traits such as: responsibility, respect, and positive decision making. All students will be expected to work hard and make good choices towards their behavior. We can learn a whole lot if all students maintain positive attitudes and respect for one another. Please feel free to contact us at anytime with questions and or concerns you have. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to teach your child! Sincerely, Mrs. Harwin and Maestra Susana Meet Mrs. Harwin My name is Ellen Harwin. I am originally from northwestern Pennsylvania. I graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania with degrees in Elementary and Special Education. I also have a Master of Education degree in Special Education from the University of Utah. I moved to Heber City, Utah in 2005, and this is my 16 th year teaching in Wasatch County School District. My husband I have two daughters who attend Daniels Canyon Elementary.

Meet Maestra Susana My name is Susana Pérez. I am from a town called Puzol, on the east coast of Spain. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Teaching. For the past 11 years I have been working as a tutor in a multilingual school in Benidorm with children from 3 to 6 years old. I have moved to Heber Valley with my boyfriend, who is also a teacher and goes to teach in Midway. This is my second year at Daniels Canyon Elementary. I am looking forward to starting this experience and this course with your sons and daughters! Newsletter Each month you will receive an electronic newsletter from our classes. This will help you understand our academic goals and activities planned for each month. Backpacks We will not be checking backpacks daily, so if you need to communicate any changes in your transportation procedure or have important information for us please call the office 435 -654 -6900 or send your child with a note pinned his or her clothes. Class Rules Our schoolwide rules are be safe, be kind, be responsible, be here, and be ready!

Classroom Supplies Please make sure your child wears a mask and brings a water bottle to school each day. Masks, water bottles and lunch boxes should be labeled with your child’s name. It would also be a good idea to make sure your child can open his or her lunch items independently. Classroom management Our goal is to recognize and reward positive behavior with verbal praise, paw prints, stickers and other incentives. If classroom or school rules are broken the following steps will be taken: 1. Verbal warning with a discussion about why the behavior is unacceptable. 2. Head down on table/think time 3. Parent phone call, note or email. 4. Office referral 5. Student, parent, teacher conference to address behavioral issues. Toys Please leave all toys at home. Reading Calendar Every month we will send home a track reading minutes. At the end you turn in your reading minutes, reward for the minutes they have monthly calendar to of each month when students will earn a read.

Birthdays If you would like to send a treat for your child’s birthday, please email us the week of your child’s birthday. If your child’s birthday falls during summer and you would like to celebrate a special Unbirthday at school, please let us know. Students often like to celebrate their half birthday on another day. We will celebrate their birthday during morning recess around 10 AM. At this time, birthday treats need to be store bought, and prepackaged in individual bags. **We are a NUT FREE classroom. ** Homework Please read with your child 15 minutes each day. We feel strongly that one of the most important things you can do for your child is to read with them. Studies continue to show the benefits of this, not to mention the memories you’ll be making with your child. Canvas We will be using Canvas as our Learning Management System. If your child is absent from school, your student will be able to log in to Canvas to access our daily lessons that meet our essential academic skills. Snack Kindergartners enjoy eating a snack at recess. At this time the school will provide all snacks. We may ask for donations of healthy snacks later in the year.

Attendance: Attendance is essential for the academic success of your students we also understand that there are times that your student will not be able to come to school because of an illness. Parents are responsible for monitoring their child’s symptoms and screening prior to their arrival at school each day. Send a note to the office or call the office 435 -654 -6900 when your child is absent. For more information on the school district’s COVID Reopening Plan: Click here. Symptoms include: Fever or chills Cough Shortness of breath Fatigue Muscle or body aches Headache New loss of taste or smell Sore throat Congestion or runny nose Nausea or diarrhea Tardy Students arriving late for school must first check in at the office and get an admittance slip into the classroom. Our back doors are locked all day. If you are late please bring your child to the front office. Do not drop your child off at the playground if you’re late. Check Out If you need to check your child out of school early, you must call the front office. They will call your student down to the front office and walk your child out to your car.

Drop Off/Pick Up Please follow the drop off and pick up map on our school website. Walkers will meet outside the west entrance by the kindergarten doors. Bike riders must remember to bring a helmet to school. Please arrange for your child to meet their siblings outside by the playground or bike rack at the end of the day. Car riders will meet their siblings outside and stand together to wait for their ride. Single riders will wait until the buses pull out and load in the bus loading zone on the east side of the building. Times: Morning Arrival Breakfast begins (Enter East Door) at 8: 20 AM School building opens for ALL students at 8: 30 AM First Bell: 8: 38 AM Tardy Bell: 8: 45 AM Monday Afternoon Dismissal (Early Out Schedule) Bus & Bikers 2: 20 PM Walkers 2: 25 PM Car Riders 2: 28 PM Tuesday – Friday Afternoon Dismissal Bus & Bikers 3: 20 PM Walkers 3: 25 PM Car Riders 3: 28 PM

Teacher Communication You are welcome to call us (435 -654 -6900) or email us (ellen. harwin@wasatch. edu or susana. perezestevez@wasatch. edu). Please email both of us so we are aware of all situations. On a typical day we don’t sit down at our desk until after 3: 30 PM so we will respond as soon as we can. In case of an emergency, please call the office. Reminders and Updates This year we will be using Class Dojo to communicate weekly news, opportunities to volunteer, and classroom updates. You can update your preferred language to English or Spanish to receive announcements in either language. William the Wolf To encourage reading, writing, listening and speaking, we like to send our class mascot home with a student each weekend. Their weekend activities will be shared with the class in the form of a book or i. Pad application. With special circumstances this year, the wolf will go home with a selected student Friday and be returned to school Monday. The wolf will be quarantined and thoroughly washed before sending it home with our next student. If you do not want your child to participate in the William the Wolf activity, please let us know and we can find an alternative solution.

In Our Kindergarten We share everything. We play fair and take turns. We are kind to each other. Friends are important and worth keeping. We listen to each other. When we are working on a problem, two heads are better than one. We put things back where they go. We tell people how we feel about the things they do. We exercise our bodies every day. It helps us feel better and makes us ready to learn. We have people read to us every day. It opens the world to us. We experiment with writing. It will help us to remember things. We sing and dance and draw pictures. It makes learning fun. We look everywhere. We talk to each other. We noticed things. This is our classroom. We take care of it.