Thank you for joining me for a fourth week of Parent orientation. I hope that this blog will help to answer some specific questions for each family. Before I start on the handbook, I would like to remind everyone that:
Cookie Dough Orders Are Due!!
Regarding the release of students: Please call the office or send a note to school if someone different than their normal ride will picking up your child. This person will need to bring their picture ID into the school with them. The classroom teacher or the office staff will check the ID to verify the identity of the person. Please keep in mind that even if a parent or grandparent is on the regular pick-up list, the staff may still want to check their ID.
Procedure for Illness at School:
The most common reasons that we would call you to pick up your sick child from school include, but are not limited to: fever of 99.4 under the armpit (or the equivalent), vomiting, diarrhea, rash, or the need for a level of care that we cannot provide.
We do not have a nurses office here at the school. Please make sure that you have someone that you can call in an emergency if you cannot leave work to pick up your child. Some communicable diseases are reportable to the health department, so please let us know what the doctor diagnoses. During times of specific concern, your child's teacher may send a note home that needs to be signed by a doctor before your child can return to school.
Please remember that we do not ask you to take your child to the doctor every time they are sick. We do ask that children be fever, vomit and diarrhea free for twenty-four hours before they return to school. Please bring a doctor's note if it has been requested by the teacher or the office. If everyone will be considerate of the health of the other families and the staff who have contact with their child, we will all have a healthier year!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Parent Orientation: Third Session
Blog Page! Just in case this is your first time to visit our Blog page, please click anywhere on the text in the piece of notebook paper to be taken to the blog site. When you get to the blog page, please look to your right for the Parent Handbook Website. The complete parent handbook is published on this site.
A quirky law in the state of Texas requires the schools, not the Pediatricians, to keep records of the children's immunizations. Your child may have been immunized at the hospital at birth, at the pediatrician's office or at a clinic. Our school, and the elementary school that your child will attend, must have all of your child's records (from birth to now) on file. Thank you for taking the time to track down these records and get them to our office.
We also need a physicians permission for your child to participate in school activities. We don't need a copy of your child's medical record or most recent exam, just a note from the doctor that states that your child is physically able to attend school.
Our school will conduct vision and hearing screening for your child. Sometimes these services are donated, and sometimes we have to charge a small fee. If your child is old enough to be screened, the state requires that we keep the record in our files. If your child has been screened by a professional away from the school, please bring us a copy of the results for our files.
Now that we have been in school for three weeks, I would like to address traffic safety in our parking lot. If you drop your child off at school before 8:15, please park in a parking space or on the street and walk your child to class. From 8:15 to 8:30 you can drive up in front of our doors and drop your child off if they can walk themselves to class. If your child needs help getting to class, please park in a parking space or on the street to walk your child in.
At 11:30 dismissal, please park in a space or on the street and come in, or wait in your car for your child to be dismissed. At 3:00, please park in a space or on the street to come in, or wait in your car for your child to be dismissed. After 3:30, please feel free to park at the sidewalk in front of the school to go inside to get your children.
When cars are left unattended at the sidewalk in front of the school it is dangerous, especially at our busy arrival and dismissal times. Other parents are tempted to drop off their children from the middle lane and the children have to cross in front of the cars parked along the sidewalk. Some parents also get blocked into parking spaces or on the curb because other parents are forced to wait in the middle lane for their child to get out of or into the car.
Please, please, just be especially watchful for very short people in front of and behind your car in our parking lot and please moderate your speed!
If our staff can do anything to help with your arrival and dismissal time, please let us know.
A quirky law in the state of Texas requires the schools, not the Pediatricians, to keep records of the children's immunizations. Your child may have been immunized at the hospital at birth, at the pediatrician's office or at a clinic. Our school, and the elementary school that your child will attend, must have all of your child's records (from birth to now) on file. Thank you for taking the time to track down these records and get them to our office.
We also need a physicians permission for your child to participate in school activities. We don't need a copy of your child's medical record or most recent exam, just a note from the doctor that states that your child is physically able to attend school.
Our school will conduct vision and hearing screening for your child. Sometimes these services are donated, and sometimes we have to charge a small fee. If your child is old enough to be screened, the state requires that we keep the record in our files. If your child has been screened by a professional away from the school, please bring us a copy of the results for our files.
Now that we have been in school for three weeks, I would like to address traffic safety in our parking lot. If you drop your child off at school before 8:15, please park in a parking space or on the street and walk your child to class. From 8:15 to 8:30 you can drive up in front of our doors and drop your child off if they can walk themselves to class. If your child needs help getting to class, please park in a parking space or on the street to walk your child in.
At 11:30 dismissal, please park in a space or on the street and come in, or wait in your car for your child to be dismissed. At 3:00, please park in a space or on the street to come in, or wait in your car for your child to be dismissed. After 3:30, please feel free to park at the sidewalk in front of the school to go inside to get your children.
When cars are left unattended at the sidewalk in front of the school it is dangerous, especially at our busy arrival and dismissal times. Other parents are tempted to drop off their children from the middle lane and the children have to cross in front of the cars parked along the sidewalk. Some parents also get blocked into parking spaces or on the curb because other parents are forced to wait in the middle lane for their child to get out of or into the car.
Please, please, just be especially watchful for very short people in front of and behind your car in our parking lot and please moderate your speed!
If our staff can do anything to help with your arrival and dismissal time, please let us know.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Parent Orientation: Second Session
Please look to the right under the heading "Our Favorite Sites" to the title "Parent Handbook." If you click on that title, it will link you to the site containing our Parent Handbook. You can bookmark that site or reach it through this blog. Any changes to the Parent Handbook will be updated to that site.
Please take time to read the history of our school. We are so proud to be celebrating our 40th year of providing Montessori education to the families of the Panhandle. Thank you for choosing AMA as your partner in the education of your child.
Please also note our hours of operation. We open at 7:30 AM, Monday through Friday. Please do not get upset with our staff if they do not unlock the doors until that time. Several of our teachers arrive at school before 7:30 in order to prepare their classrooms and materials for their students. Our license from the State of Texas does not allow us to open our doors for students until 7:30 AM.
By the same token, please be respectful of our closing time. We are licensed to stay open until 6:00 PM. Our students need to be picked up no later than 6:00 PM in order to prevent violations to our license. If an emergency should cause you to be late, please phone the office immediately since our staff is supposed to report late children to child protective services.
Thank you to parents who have turned in all of their child's completed enrollment forms. Your child's file is also regulated by the state and must be complete for us to remain licensed. Please understand that we are not picking on you, but your child should not be allowed to attend our school without a complete file.
Please take time to read the history of our school. We are so proud to be celebrating our 40th year of providing Montessori education to the families of the Panhandle. Thank you for choosing AMA as your partner in the education of your child.
Please also note our hours of operation. We open at 7:30 AM, Monday through Friday. Please do not get upset with our staff if they do not unlock the doors until that time. Several of our teachers arrive at school before 7:30 in order to prepare their classrooms and materials for their students. Our license from the State of Texas does not allow us to open our doors for students until 7:30 AM.
By the same token, please be respectful of our closing time. We are licensed to stay open until 6:00 PM. Our students need to be picked up no later than 6:00 PM in order to prevent violations to our license. If an emergency should cause you to be late, please phone the office immediately since our staff is supposed to report late children to child protective services.
Thank you to parents who have turned in all of their child's completed enrollment forms. Your child's file is also regulated by the state and must be complete for us to remain licensed. Please understand that we are not picking on you, but your child should not be allowed to attend our school without a complete file.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Parent Handbook Online!
Please look to the right under the heading "Our Favorite Sites" to the title "Parent Handbook." If you click on that title, it will link you to the site containing our Parent Handbook. You can bookmark that site or reach it through this blog. Any changes to the Parent Handbook will be updated to that site.
For our first Parent Orientation "Session," I would like to highlight the mission statement for the Amarillo Montessori Academy. In an effort to reach our goal of providing "quality education" we know that we must love the children and help them get comfortable in their environment. If a child is worried or insecure, his brain cannot process all of the learning opportunities he is offered.
In order to provide a "Montessori setting" we try to have one Montessori Certified teacher in each classroom. Because the Infant/Toddler certification is still fairly new, we have Montessori Certified teachers consult with teachers who are not certified. Some of our pre-school classes have two Montessori Certified teachers!
I always like to tell parents that Montessori education is different from traditional education because we are trying to encourage the children to become "self-directed learners." That means that instead of teachers saying "here is what I know and I am going to teach it to you" Montessori teachers say "here is a world full of knowledge and I am going to show you how to find it."
Finally, we at AMA believe that every child has a gift and that it is our responsibility as teachers to help them find that gift and make the most of it. Some children have intellectual gifts, some have artistic gifts and some have spiritual/emotional gifts. As parents and teachers, we also need to remember that children don't always have the same gifts that their parents and siblings have! Try to take time this week to celebrate your family's gifts.
For our first Parent Orientation "Session," I would like to highlight the mission statement for the Amarillo Montessori Academy. In an effort to reach our goal of providing "quality education" we know that we must love the children and help them get comfortable in their environment. If a child is worried or insecure, his brain cannot process all of the learning opportunities he is offered.
In order to provide a "Montessori setting" we try to have one Montessori Certified teacher in each classroom. Because the Infant/Toddler certification is still fairly new, we have Montessori Certified teachers consult with teachers who are not certified. Some of our pre-school classes have two Montessori Certified teachers!
I always like to tell parents that Montessori education is different from traditional education because we are trying to encourage the children to become "self-directed learners." That means that instead of teachers saying "here is what I know and I am going to teach it to you" Montessori teachers say "here is a world full of knowledge and I am going to show you how to find it."
Finally, we at AMA believe that every child has a gift and that it is our responsibility as teachers to help them find that gift and make the most of it. Some children have intellectual gifts, some have artistic gifts and some have spiritual/emotional gifts. As parents and teachers, we also need to remember that children don't always have the same gifts that their parents and siblings have! Try to take time this week to celebrate your family's gifts.
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