IMPORTANT CALENDAR DATES
Apr 21 - Parent Survey's Due
Apr 25 - No School - Teacher Professional Development Day
May 5 -8 - Teacher Appreciation Week
May 7 & 8 - Parent Teacher Conference
May 9 - No School - Teacher Comp Day
May 13 - Castle Pines Campus KP to Kindie Mtg
May 14 - Motsenbocker and Lincoln Meadow Campus KP to Kindie Mtg
May 20 - KindiePrep Field Day
May 21 - Move-Up day
May 22 - Last Day of School
MARK YOUR CALENDARS - NO SCHOOL APRIL 25TH & MAY 9TH
TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK
You should be receiving information about this from your Room Parents.
JOIN PTO OR SAC COMMITTEES AND ONE DAY THE BOD
KindiePrep has the most amazing families, and I get to see how dedicated you are to your kids and their education. I want to encourage you to join the SAC committee or the PTO, so you can have a larger impact on your child's educational future. I know you all have busy lives, but parent involvement is so important to this school and your child(ren). The SAC (School Accountability Committee) only meets once a month to help plan and evaluate American Academy Programming. You get to see first hand all the wonderful things that the PTO does for the students, families, and staff. They are amazing! They have different roles, that require different amounts of time and expertise. Hopefully, serving on one or both of these committees will encourage you to strive to run for our AA Board of Education. As a leader I get to work with the Board fairly frequently and it is wonderful. To get to work side by side with family and community members to make this school the amazing place it is, and it's so rewarding. If you have any questions about these roles please don't hesitate to ask.
PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE
Your child's teacher will have a sign up for the last parent teacher conference for the school year. This is a great time to see all the growth your students has made over year. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you haven't seen a sign up by May 1st.
KINDIEPREP TO KINDERGARTEN MEETING
Everyone should have received an email about the upcoming KP to Kindie Transition meetings in May. We request they you attend the meeting at the campus your child will be attending. That way you not only get meet the admin that you will be working with at that school you will also learn the idiosyncrasies of that campus i.e. carpool.
PTO STOCK THE FRIDGE
First off, a HUGE thank you for all the snacks and drinks you all have brought for the teachers and staff! We can't express enough how much those quick snacks and caffeinated beverages are appreciated!
The PTO does a wonderful job of spoiling the teachers and staff. One of the things they do is accept donations for snacks for the teachers so they can keep us with the children throughout the day. They have asked me to share the sign-up; therefore, if you would like to donate here is the link to sign up to bring certain items for STOCK THE FRIDGE SIGN-UP MAY. There will be a new sign-up for each month. If you choose to donate, please bring the items to the KindiePrep Front Office to drop off. Finally, please know how greatly appreciated these donations are to the teachers and staff. A kick of caffeine or a bag of Doritos can go a long way in keeping the energy level up.
FIELD DAY AND MOVE-UP DAY
More to come on these items in a couple weeks.
SUMMER CAMPS
A few families have asked about the summer camps here at American Academy. To the best of my knowledge, KindiePrep students are eligible to attend if they turn 5 before June 1st. Find out more on the Summer Camp Registration Page.
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NO PARKING IN VIP SPOTS AFTER 3:15pm
PLEASE REMEMBER - if you park in the VIP spots on the curve you have to move your ca by 3:15pm. Those families have paid to park there and they arrive at 3:15pm. Therefore, I know the weather is nice and the kids want to play on the playground after school, which is fine, just park in the parking lot or in front of the school. Then you will not have to move your vehicle until 3:25pm. Thank you!
SIGNING YOUR CHILD IN-AND-OUT DAILY
You must sign your student in at drop-off and out at pick-up! This is super important for many reasons. This is how we find out if your child does or does not need hot lunch each day. The state also requires that we maintain attendance records. Most importantly, it's for safety! We need to know who is in attendance so if something happens we know exactly who is here, where to find them, and who to contact. Also, all the QR codes are the same, so you can utilize any of them, or you can use the kiosk/iPad with your PIN number at the front desk.
KP BAGS AND THE THINGS THAT GO IN THEM – NO BACKPACKS PLEASE
All the students will receive their KindiePrep bag at Open House. The children will need a snack, a water bottle, a change of clothes, crib sheet, and a small blanket. Your child will also need to bring lunch unless you plan on ordering a hot lunch for them. The children will also need 1 to 3 snacks depending on their classroom, and if they will be in aftercare. The 3-year-old classes have 2 snacks a day, the 4-year-old classes have 1 snack a day, and the aftercare program has a snack, so please plan appropriately. Every child needs a water bottle every day! The children will also be resting daily. They will need a crib sheet for their mat at rest time and a small blanket. Please label all your child’s items. Please make sure to have a labeled change of clothes for your child because accidents do happen; however, please remember – All KindiePrep students must be potty trained! Everything should fit in the blue bag the children will be receiving from their teacher at Open House.
SUNSCREEN
If you signed the sunscreen document saying you wanted the teachers to reapply sunscreen please make sure you bring in the sunscreen labeled with your students first and last name. If possible, the stick sunscreens work really well, and are way easier for your child and the teacher. Getting sunscreen on 12 students is time consuming. If you opted to not have us reapply you have no further duties pertaining to sunscreen.
KINDIEPREP HOURS
The KindiePrep school day hours are from 8:30am to 3:00pm. It is important for your child to be at school on time. Students arriving at school on time have the advantage of settling in, preparing their class materials, and focusing their minds on the day to come. Being late can also cause children to miss important information for the day. The doors to KindiePrep open at 8:15am giving families 15 minutes to get their student signed and settled in for the day.
In the afternoon families have from 3:00pm to 3:15pm to pick up their children, unless they are signed up for extra-care. If children are not picked up by 3:15pm they will be put in extra-care and you will be charged $18.00 for their care. We will also call to inquire about your pick-up plan.
SMARTCARE SYSTEM & APP
SmartCare is how families not only pay their tuition; but also, how families sign their children in/out of the school every day. Therefore, we need every family to download the SmartCare App and log in using the previously established information from when you enrolled your student. Some of you may already have the SmartCare app on your phone, if that is the case just make sure everything is up to date. You will need your phone to scan the QR code to sign them in at drop-off, let us know if they need a hot lunch, and to sign them out at pick-up. There is also an option to sign in using a 4-digit personalized PIN number. It should be located in the app, under your profile information.
SCHOOL LUNCH
We do offer a hot lunch option here in KindiePrep and this year it is free for all students. The school district provides the meals, and they are prepared in the school cafeteria. We let the cafeteria staff know how many hot lunches we need in the morning, and then we go pick them up around 11:30am. Lunch is at 11:45am in KindiePrep. The lunch menu is out each month, and can be found outside each classroom or on our KindiePrep webpage. If your child is going to be having hot lunch you will need mark it in the SmartCare system. You also have the option to send your child a healthy sack lunch. Suggestion: If you know you have a picky eater please think about that when making lunch decisions. Hungry children are unhappy children! If you would like to purchase milk only for your child to go with their home lunch that is also an option; however, it is not free. You will need to set up an account in the My School Bucks System.
HEALTH APPRAISALS AND SHOT RECORDS
We need your child’s most up to date physical and shot record. Thank you if you have already turned yours into Laura. If you haven’t please email them to Laura Starrett as soon as possible. We need copies of those or your child will not be able to start school on time.
EXTRACARE
We offer a before and after school program for those families that need more care than 8:30am to 3:00pm each day. Our morning program runs from 7:00am – 8:15am, and our aftercare program runs from 3:15pm – 5:30pm. If you would like to utilize this program you will need to fill out a calendar each month and turn it in to Assistant Director Laura Starrett. Calendars can be found in the KP front office. We do have limited space so it will be filled on a first come first serve basis. (5 full day families that purchased the package deal do not need to fill out a calendar, and those students are first on the list.)
PLAYGROUND SANDBOX
Many of our families utilize the playground before and after school, and that is wonderful. We just ask that if the sandbox is closed/covered up it stays that way. Thank you!
KINDIEPREP DRESS CODE
If you have questions about the dress code please review the KindiePrep Dress Code Policy. We will be checking for dress code compliance, and you will be notified if your child is out of compliance. The last Friday of every month is a Dress of Choice day which means the children have the option to wear any school appropriate outfit. (See Dress Code Policy) All other Friday’s are Spirit days. This means the children need to wear their navy-blue bottoms, but they can wear an American Academy spirit shirt. These shirts can be found in the Spirit Gear Store or they can be t-shirts the children receive from the school for special events like Fun Run or Field Day!
FOOD AT SCHOOL
I always like to remind families about our Food at School policy at the beginning of the school year. We have these rules in place for the health and safety of our students.
SCHOOL DISMISSAL MANAGER PROGRAM
KindiePrep DOES NOT utilize the SDM app. That is for the K-8 part of the school only.