Abernethy's Kinder Ramp Up!

We are very excited to welcome all our incoming Kindergarten students to Abernethy! I can't believe it is just a couple of weeks away!

You might want to pull out the tissues now, because In just a couple of weeks, your student will walk into Abernethy as one of our Kindergarten students! Some students may be very familiar with Abernethy, as they may have an older sibling, but this will still be the first time that they join us as one of our students, and we can not wait!

I can remember the first day of Kindergarten for both my children. With my son, who is now 23, I remember walking out of his classroom after getting him settled and a parent handed me a tissue. My first immediate thought was “I got this! I don’t need a tissue! I’m not like all the other parents who had tears just walking their students into the classroom”. However, as I started walking down the hallway, it hit me just how much of a big step this was for my son. I started to turn around and go back to his classroom, for I was sure he was standing at the door missing me, but when I got to the door and looked inside the classroom, he was already making friends and jumping right into everything kindergarten.

Kindergarten is a big step for your students. They are going to learn, engage, make friends and grow in their personalities. It is such a fun time and we are greatful to be able to be a part of it all. It is important to us that during this time period, your students are in a classroom learning environment that is best for them. During the first day of Ramp Up, we keep that is our focus. We build the class lists first, then assign the teacher. It is how we build all our class lists at every grade level. Some families may have teacher preferences, however, we have amazing teachers at every grade level. We want our focus to remain on building the best classroom environment, and we hold ourselves to ensuring that is what guides all our decision making.

During our day of Ramp Up, your student will spend time with both of our kindergarten teachers as well as students who could be in their classroom and some that might not. Our teachers, Ms. Logan and Teacher Debi, really focus on building a kindergarten community, which is why we build class lists before assigning a teacher. We want to make sure that your student has a balance of friends as well as new friends that are a positive fit for them. Below you will see our schedule for the week and a sign up for the AM and PM sessions that follow on Thursday and Friday.

At the end of last school year, PPS announced that they were shifting all elementary school start and end times to starting at 8:00am and ending at 2:30pm. You will see that as a change in our schedule if you were at Kinder Connect last year.

I am hoping that all information will be covered in this newsletter, however, if you have any questions at all, please feel free to reach out to us.

AM Session - 8:00am - 10:30am

PM Session - 12:00pm - 2:30pm

Both our 8:00am Session and 12:00pm Session will follow the same schedule.

Students and families who signed up for each session will meet the teachers outside of room 1A. (Room 1A andfd 2A are the two outside classrooms right next to the garden). The two sessions are broken down so that only half of all enrolled kinder students make up each session.

Teacher Debi and Ms. Logan will meet all students and families in the outside hallway. They both will then take the students into room 1A for story time and a STEM activity. Teacher Debi will lead these first activities and Ms. Logan will be there to help and support students.

Students will have a recess and then transition into a storytime and Art activity in Ms. Logan's classroom for the secons session. This time period will be led by Ms. Logan while Teacher Debi will be there to help and support students.

Pick Up - 10:30am or 2:30pm

You will pick up your student outside of room 2A at 10:30am if you signed up for the AM session. You will pick your student up outside of room 2A at 2:30 if you signed up for the PM session.

By 4:00pm on Tuesday, August 27th, You will receive an email from your students teacher with links to sign up for their 1:1 parent/teacher/student conference.

8:00am - 11:00am and 12:00 - 3:00pm

1:1 parent/teacher/student conferences

8:00am - 10:30am

Half of your student's class will come and spend the morning with their classroom teacher. During this time your teacher will walk the students through the morning and end of the day routine, what their day will look like, take a tour of the school, get their desks set up and much more!

12:00pm - 3:00pm

This time is available for your 1:1 parent/teacher/student conferences.

8:00am - 11:00am

This time is available for your 1:1 parent/teacher/student conferences.

12:00pm - 2:30pm

Half of your student's class will come and spend the afternoon with their classroom teacher. During this time your teacher will walk the students through the morning and end of the day routine, what their day will look like, take a tour of the school, get their desks set up and much more!

To help us better prepare for your student, please fill out this brief survey.

Here is the sign up for Tuesday, August 27th. The sign up for the 1:1 conference with your teacher will come out in the email with your teacher assignment. In order to help you plan around a work schedule or other conflicts that you may have, please note that in the survey. We do not want to have any barriers to your 1:1 conference or the half day that your student spends in their class on Thursday or Friday.