Welcome to Kindergarten
at Powell Elementary
Welcome to Kindergarten at Powell Elementary!
Welcome to kindergarten at Powell Elementary! If this is your first experience with Powell Elementary, we welcome you into a partnership between home and school that facilitates success for children. Our program addresses the intellectual, social, emotional, and physical growth of your child. Kindergarten is the foundation for establishing positive habits that will follow children throughout their school career.
The most important thing you can do to assure your child's success in school is to help them understand that school is a happy place and learning is fun! It is important to establish a daily routine that your child can count on. A predictable bedtime, mealtime, time for homework, and a time to be read to, are all factors that create stability in a child's life. Schedules that are constantly changing and lack routines are difficult for young children. Try to keep transportation methods to and from school the same. Schedule after school sports, lessons, and other activities well after dismissal so that transportation home is not affected.
It is common for young children to have difficulty separating from parents during the first few weeks of school. The best way to separate from your child is to give them a big hug and a smile, say goodbye, then leave as quickly as possible. We find that with the teacher's comfort and assurance, children quickly transition to whatever is happening in the classroom at the time.
Parent Partnership
Kindergarten Daily Schedule
8:00 School Begins
10:45-11:15 Kindergarten Lunch
1:25 Kindergarten Specials- Music, Art, and PE
3:10 Dismissal
Communication
Face to Face Students:
This is a daily folder that will be sent home every school day, and needs to be returned to class every morning. Inside this folder, you will receive very important school information, daily behavior updates, completed work, and homework. Some days your folder may be empty. That’s okay. Please check your child’s folder EVERY day and empty its contents. If anything needs to be signed, please return it by placing it back in the folder. If you need to contact me, please feel free to place a note in this folder. This is a great communication link for the teacher and guardian. Parents will still refer to Seesaw for Weekly Parent Guides.
Remote Students:
All communication will be through Seesaw including Weekly Parent Guides, Parent Information Folders and Recorded Zoom Meetings.
Student ID Number:
Every student is assigned a Student ID number that will never change as long as they are enrolled in Conroe ISD. The ID number will be emailed to you once their registration has been completed in our system.
Parent Access Center (PAC):
Parent Access Center is a free program available to all CISD parent/guardians that allows viewing of helpful information regarding student attendance, report cards, progress reports, daily grades, state test results, Students Achieving Excellence (SAE), discipline and available lunch money. Parents may also sign up to receive an email alert when an assignment score is inputted or updated. (Please note: kindergarten students do not receive grades until first grade.) Parents/Guardians wishing to access this service must have a valid email address. To sign up, go to www.conroeisd.net and look under Students/Parents. You will need student ID, email, and mailing address you provided at registration. If you experience difficulty setting up this account, please contact Michelle Lutes, Registrar for help at 936-709-1711 or mlutes@conroeisd.net. Please wait until the second week of school for this system to be available.
Kindergarten Newsletter: (For Face to Face and Remote Students)
Each week, you will receive a weekly Parent Guide summarizing upcoming curriculum and kindergarten activities. Please make a point to read each week to help keep you informed.
School Website:
To keep in touch, please access our website: Powell.conroeisd.net . The website will keep you updated on upcoming events and Powell news.
Key Contacts:
Erin Mathe- Principal- emathe@conroeisd.net
Erin Anderson- Assistant- eanderson@conroeisd.net
Sarah Radford- Assistant Principal- sradford@conroeisd.net
Shawn Nixon- Counselor- snixon@conroeisd.net
Melissa Wiles- Nurse- mawiles@conroeisd.net
Micaelen Wright- Speech Pathologist- mdwright@conroeisd.net
Michelle Lutes- Registrar- mlutes@conroeisd.net
Absences and Tardies
Please contact us every day that your student is absent at 936-709-1700 or you may email the school at mlutes@conroeisd.net. Please include the reason for the absence. If your child sees a doctor, please also send in the doctor’s note when your child returns to school.
We are busy learning from 8:00 until we line up for dismissal at 3:00! If your child is late to school or picked up early, they may be missing important work. However, we understand that sometimes there are special circumstances that require your child to arrive late or leave early. You must check your child in or out at the front office.
Remember, good school attendance is an important part of assuring that your child has a successful kindergarten year!
District Attendance Information: www.conroeisd.net, under Parent/Student tab, Policies and Procedures, and Forms, Elementary School Handbook, pages 29-34.
Bus Registration:
If you live beyond one mile of Powell and would like bus transportation, you must register for Bus Service online at the ConroeISD.net website under the Transportation link. You will need to know your child’s Student ID number to register.
Once you have registered, the following day you should be able to see all information about the bus including times, bus number, and bus stop locations. To find this, go to “Find Bus Route” and then pick “student eligibility” button. You will need their Student ID and birthdate.
Daycare Providers that Service Powell
Children's Learning Adventure 936-647-3962
ASI Gymnastics 936-271-4274
Kindercare 281-296-2966
Primrose 936-321-5900
Stepping Stones 281-298-5838
The Karate School 281-292-0225
The Woodlands Young Learners 832-257-3563
KidsRKids 281-362-9222
Kuk Sool Won 281-650- 7943
Creme de la Creme 832-299-7950
YMCA Primetime 281-367-9622
*enrollment for YMCA Primetime is handled through the YMCA at their Shadowbend location*
Changes in Transportation
Lunch
Kindergarten lunch is 10:45-11:15, but we usually head down to the cafeteria around 10:40. FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL, PLEASE PACK A LUNCH FOR YOUR CHILD.
Lunch Accounts:
If your child is going to buy a school lunch after the first week, parents are encouraged to prepay for their child's meals. Prepayments can be made on-line using the direct link on the homepage or go to https://www.myschoolbucks.com/. Please allow up to 48 hours for payments to be applied to students' accounts. There is a $1.95 charge per transaction to use the on-line payment system. Parents may restrict their children from purchasing a la carte items or from charging items through this system. Student lunch is $2.85. Checks can also be payable to CISD to fund account. Make sure student ID is on check. A monthly lunch menu is found at http://powell.conroeisd.net/menus/ under PreK-6 menus.
Free/Reduced Lunch:
(based on limited income) www.myschoolapps.com
*If you are applying for the free/reduced lunch program, please make sure that the appropriate forms are turned in to the cafeteria.
Birthday Celebrations
Homework
We DO encourage families to include reading time in your daily evening routine, in which children have the opportunity to have books read aloud to them, as well as, allowing time for students to practice as reading skills are acquired. Students should also spend 5-10 minutes EVERY day reviewing sight words.
In addition, your child may eventually begin bringing home readers to read with you at home to target your child's specific needs.
School Supplies
Supplies do NOT need to be individually labeled with your child's name, since we use community supplies.
For kindergarten supply list, please see Powell website.
Explanation of Daily Activities
Arrival/School Announcements:
Unpacking of M.O.O.S.E. (Management Of Organizational Skills Everyday) folder, and hanging backpacks. Students will complete warm-up work to reinforce prior skills. They may also use this time to complete any unfinished work from the previous day. As the year progresses, we will add a variety of reading and math review activities.
Circle Time
The students participate in a variety of activities such as using reading skills to figure out a class message. Such skills include counting the number of words in the sentence, identifying punctuation marks and their meaning, identifying sight words, using phonics skills to sound out unknown words, and using context clues to figure out which words make sense. We may also use this time to celebrate our STAR OF THE WEEK.
Language Arts
Language and literacy are the cornerstone of our kindergarten curriculum. Phonemic awareness, language experience, written expression, and listening and reading comprehension are an integral part of our approach. Children who have been read to, conversed with, and have some understanding of how our language works, have an advantage at school.
Shared Reading
Books are used to address kindergarten (1) reading skills: concepts of print, phonics, comprehension, and (2) oral language skills: listening and speaking. This is an interactive reading activity where students join in or share the reading of a poem, book, or other text.
Word Study/ Literacy Learning Stations
Students learn handwriting and letter formation, while we reinforce letter sounds. As the year progresses we will focus more on phonics. Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, High Frequency "Sight Words", and word wall activities are taught. Learning Stations are used to reinforce language arts skills in a small group setting. During this time, teachers will work with small groups of students on reading skills.
Sight Words
When learning to read, kindergartners have 35 high frequency words that they need to memorize. The words should be recognized immediately without sounding out. This will help your child to read fluently and be able to comprehend what they have read more easily. If your child is struggling with these words, they will have difficulty reaching the end of the year goal of BAS Reading Level D or above.
Although, we will practice daily, your help at home will be very beneficial to your child! You will be provided with a set of flashcards at Parent Information Night. There is also a list of sight words attached below. When your child has mastered all 35 kindergarten words, other lists will be made available by your child's teacher. The additional lists may also be found on the teacher's website.
Writer's Workshop
After a mini writing lesson, students produce independent writing products while the teacher monitors and conferences individually with the students. Students will then share written work with classmates. Kindergartners will be writing stories every day. Your child will begin with drawing pictures and telling about the illustration. We will then move to using letters to try to label the picture. Finally, students will be able to sound out words to phonetically write sentences. We will concentrate on writing stories about ourselves.
How can you help? Help your child brainstorm activities and experiences that he/she might want to share. Good ideas include big events such as family vacations or small moments such as trips to the pool or the ice cream store! Help your child to remember as many details as possible about the event.
Math
Calendar, Fact Fluency, Mental Math
Counting by 1's, 5's, and 10's, days of the week, months of the year, graphing the daily weather, estimating, problem solving, and patterning. We will begin to study place value and money as another way to count the number of school days. During this time, we will also review prior skills to build fluency and a deeper understanding of the concepts.
Guided Math
Math Mini-lesson, small groups, math journals, as well as, math baskets (games and manipulatives where students work individually or with a partner to complete math tasks. These tasks are generally review tasks. They are highly engaging, so the students LOVE THEM!) The teacher will be providing individual instruction or small group instruction.
The first semester, we will focus on number sense (0-20). In addition, we will begin working to master counting orally to 100. You can help your child by giving them daily opportunities to count and sort. Easy activities at home would include sorting laundry or socks by color, sorting silverware by shape or size, etc... "When I sort, I use my eyes to sort by color, shape, and size!"
The second semester, we will use our number sense to solve addition and subtraction stories. We will begin with manipulatives and then move to symbols. In April, your
child with be taking a district-wide "fast facts" test.
Science/Social Studies:
Books, discussions, songs, and student products. Subject matter is often integrated into language arts activities.
Snack
Students bring a healthy snack from home. Due to potential peanut allergies, we request that you refrain from sending peanut products. Since students will not have a water fountain, all students should bring a refillable water bottle from home every day. The water bottle needs to have a spill-proof top and be labeled with your child's name! Please do NOT send juice, lemonade, soda, etc...
Lunch
See information regarding lunches.
Recess
Students will go outside to playground daily unless it is raining. We will go outside in cold weather so please make sure that your child has appropriate clothing. Due to Safety concerns, only Powell Staff members are allowed on the playground with the students.
Specials
Your child will attend 45 minutes of either Art, Music, Computer Lab, or P.E. each day. This is also the teacher's conference time. You may schedule an appointment to meet at this time.