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Preparing Your Child

     You can help us to help your children by sending them to school in shoes that they can put on by themselves. At cleanup time, it gets rather hectic if the teacher has to tie 18 pairs of shoes.   This, also, does nothing to foster their independence. If your child is very young, you could start with rubber boots that slip on. As your child matures, you could graduate to Velcro shoes. We will help teach your children to tie when they are ready, but for now, successful responsibility is what we are after.

     While our schools have some extra clothes on hand, you can leave an extra set of clothes for your child at the school for those occasional spills and accidents. We do a lot of water activities and children often get their shirts, socks, etc. wet. It is helpful to send an extra set of clothes with your child in a large zip-loc bag with his/her name printed on it in large letters. We also accept donations of used unisex clothes (sweatshirts, jeans, etc.).

     If your child is allergic to pretzels, goldfish crackers, or any type of juice you may bring in a alternative snack for him/her to have.  Please put your child's name on it and inform his/her teachers.

Sick Policy

     Here are a few guidelines to help you decide if your child should stay home or not. If your child has a fever, he should stay home until he/she has been fever free for 24 hours. If your child has a cold and his runny nose is clear, it is OK to bring him. (We will help teach him how to blow his nose!) If the runny nose is not clear (opaque), he should stay home. A mild cough is OK but consider that sometimes a cough can cause a child not to sleep well and he may be too tired to function well. Contagious diseases such as chicken pox, pink eye and 5ths disease should be kept home for obvious reasons. If your child has vomited two or more times in the last 24 hours he/she should stay home.  A child with diarrhea should be kept at home as well.  A child with a rash that cannot be readily explained should stay at home until his/her physician has been consulted.  Preschoolers pass on all kinds of germs even though we do our best to keep the environment clean and germ free. These are the years that children learn to share and unfortunately, this includes germs!

Tuition

     Tuition is due on the first school day of the each new month. It may be mailed to:   PO Box 3510, Silverdale WA 98383 OR it may be given to teachers at drop off/pick up time. There is a $15.00 late fee for all checks that come in after the 15th of the month.  See General Information page for tuition amounts.

Drop off/Pick up

     Barker Creek has two driveways - an "in" and an "out" - always stay to your right. When coming into the school, yield to cars coming out at the bridge. Then follow the driveway around the rock island and come to a stop at the steps.

     Steele Creek uses the bottom two parking spots of the Meadowdale Building parking lot. Line up your car behind the cones. The teachers will move the cones at the appropriate time.

     Both Schools: The teachers will be at the drop off/pick up area to welcome your child at the car. The teachers will also bring the children out to the cars at the end of the day. You will not need to exit your car. If possible, please have your child's car seat on the right side of the car as we help to buckle them in.

Weekly Schedule

     Beginning in October, the first day of your child's week, is show and tell day. On this day, children may bring something to show or tell about during circle time. Please try not to send "toys" such as Pokemon, Barbies, etc. It is more valuable educationally to send an artifact of nature or something that your child has made or found. Also, violence is simply not allowed at our schools. Toys with a violent nature such as Power Rangers, guns, swords are not allowed at school. Please consider this at Halloween time, as well. We usually dress up on Halloween day and would rather avoid costumes that denote a violent character.

     The last day of your child's week, is take-home day. All the work that has been collected in your child's drawer will go home in a take-home bag. We recycle these bags and use them over and over again, so PLEASE bring them back the following week.

     Beginning in October, the last day of each week is also group snack day. You can sign up for a day for your child to bring a snack to share. On this day we eat at the same time and practice manners, such as waiting until all have been served, passing food correctly, etc. Good snack examples are crackers and cheese, muffins, etc. The sign up sheet is kept in the school and you can sign up by coming in or by telephoning.

     Sign Language day is Tuesday for Barker Creek and Friday for Steele Creek.

     Birthdays are usually celebrated by the "group-snack" method. Often parents sign-up for group snack on or near their child's birthday. However, if this doesn't work out, we can do it on their birthday even if it is not the last day of the week. Regardless of whether or not you bring a snack, we do a "birthday circle" for your child. This is always a very special time and you are more than welcome to join us and participate in the birthday circle! If possible, bring in pictures of your child at age: newborn, 1, 2, 3, etc.

Conferences

     We offer conferences to everyone in the fall, but additional conferences can be held anytime that you desire one. Telephone conferences are available as needed. Mrs. Zegers' phone # is: 692-3755, Ms. Zweber's is 698-4888 and Mrs. Marsh's is 830-4925.

Visiting/Volunteering

     Parents are always welcome to visit the classroom. Once the children are settled (3 - 4 weeks), they are very proud to have guests.

     If you would like to volunteer, there is always material to be prepared, 'reading children' to listen to, etc. Let your teacher know if you would like to help in one of these ways.

Donations

Here are a few things that we can use at school if you have extras at home:

     *  Plain white socks and underwear

     *  Brown paper bags with handles (roughly the same size as our take-home bags, 10" x 8" x 4.5")

     *  Toilet paper rolls

     *  Straws

     *  Fat crayons (blue, green, white, or brown)

     *  Small empty containers with lids (perfume, lotion, or spice containers are especially great for the scents they have!)

     *  Warm blankets for emergencies

     *  Check with your teacher about any other items that you wish to donate.