Directories for sale!

Happy almost-first-day-of-school, everyone!!  It was great to see so many of you this morning!!  I hope all of your Kindergartners are excited about their teachers and classrooms.  Tomorrow will be such a great day.  It was so much fun for me to see so many of our newest Cougars on campus. 

I wanted to pass along a note from Collegiate parent Claudia Rein, who is in charge of directory sales this year.  You will be able to pre-order directories at Kindergarten Parent's Night tomorrow night!  Read on....


Welcome kindergarten parents!  Be sure to stop by and pre-order your new Collegiate School directories at tomorrow night's Parent's Night!  We will be selling directories in the Watt Library (LS library).  We accept cash, check or student charge.  Be sure to stock up for the kitchen, office and car! 

If you are unable to stop by that evening, directories will also be available for sale at the LS, MS and US Parent's Nights (if you happen to have children in those grades and will be attending those events).

After those events, the directory will be available for purchase in the Cougar Shop. 

Thank you!

Claudia Rein

Important Health Form Information From Nurse Hall!

Nurse Hall has asked me to pass along a message to you all regarding health forms.  

All parents of kindergartners need to have completed two forms --

• The online "student health update" that is completed by parents annually
• The four-page state health form that includes immunizations and a pediatrician's signature. *This one is required by the first day of kindergarten by state law.

Please email Laura Hall at lmhall@collegiate-va.org or call her office at 741-9787 if you have any questions!!  It is imperative that she have these forms before school begins on Tuesday.

Thanks!

Hello from Anne Gray Siebert, Learning Specialist

Welcome to Kindergarten!  My name is Anne Gray Siebert. It is my pleasure to be the Lower School Learning Specialist working with kindergarten students in language arts and math throughout the school year. My main goal is to help all students reach their full learning potential through engaging, hands-on, multi-sensory learning activities.

In collaboration with the classroom teachers, I plan weekly lessons to support the language arts development of kindergarten students. We explore literacy in ways that will make reading come alive for your child. Just as children learn to walk at all different times, their path to reading will also vary. By physically being in your child’s room for an hour once a week, I am able to work side-by-side with classroom teachers to support the students on their individual journeys—stretching, challenging and guiding to ensure that they grow throughout the year. As the year progresses, support for those who need it becomes available outside the classroom in a small group setting.

In addition to daily time dedicated to classroom math instruction, your mathematician will spend 45 minutes a week in our fabulous Math Lab.  Your little one will work to build number sense, problem solve and increase spatial awareness through fun, hands-on games and higher level thinking activities. 

Come and visit when you come in August to Reynolds Hall, Room 102.  I would love to meet you and your kindergartner.  2013-2014 is going to be a wonderful year!

Sincerely,

Anne Gray Siebert

Learning Specialist

Hello from your Kindergarten teachers!

Hello to the Class of 2026!

I welcome this first opportunity to say “hello” from all of the Kindergarten teachers and assistants!  The Lower School campus is already buzzing with energy and excitement in the anticipation of beginning a new school year.  One of our favorite books is Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten and, just like Miss Bindergarten, we will soon be making our classrooms come alive getting ready for our new boys and girls. 

As August flies by and the start of school quickly approaches, we look forward to meeting all of you and putting names with faces.  Very soon, our classrooms will become more than just spaces filled with new crayons, paints and paper – it will become our own community of learners in which a thirst for learning and a sense of respect will emerge with the magic and wonder that Kindergartners bring to school each day!
               
We can't wait to meet you all!

Sincerely,

Eileen Beane and Your Kindergarten Team

Hello from our new K teacher, Mrs. Andrews!

Hello and happy last days of summer! My name is Elizabeth Andrews, and I will be teaching Kindergarten this year. I have been teaching 2nd grade for nine years at Collegiate. I am very excited and energized about this new path I am taking. I have two boys, ages four and six. My oldest son, William, just finished Kindergarten at Collegiate last year.  He became an avid reader, writer, mathematician, scientist, artist and of course, a Collegiate Cougar. Watching his growth throughout the past year was such a treat for me each day.

   Your child has so much to look forward to, as well. Meeting new friends, running and climbing on Fort Cougar, reading and listening to books, eating lunch in the cafeteria, participating in Collegiate traditions, such as Convocation and Pep Rally, writing stories, selling goods at the World Trade Fair--the list is endless. I am looking forward to seeing many familiar faces and meeting lots of new children in a couple of weeks. Until then, I hope you and your children enjoy these remaining long, hot, lazy days of summer.

Hello from the Lower School Nurse

Hello to all our newest Cougars!  My name is Laura Hall, and for those of you who don't know me, I am the Lower School nurse.  I am here everyday during the school year from 7:45 - 3:30....my office is just down the hall from the Lower School front desk.  Please feel free to stop by and say hello!

Just a couple of reminders as we approach the beginning of the school year:

There is a great deal of information about the necessary health forms required before the start of school and our sick policy in the Lower School Handbook, which you received in the mail recently.  There is also good information on our Back to School website (click here) about forms due, etc.  Also please refer to our website under LS Health and Counseling (click here) for suggestions about when to keep a child home.  Collegiate does enforce a 24-hour fever free policy.  

Any medication, prescription or OTC, must be given to me in the original container...no "loose" pills can be administered.  Action plan forms are required of students with diabetes, seizure disorders or asthma, and are available on our website. These will be kept in my office each year.  Students who have life-threatening allergies must have epi pens, and these must be kept current.  Children with epi pens must also have a food action allergy plan on file each year.  Please be sure you've touched base with me if your child has any of these health concerns, or if you have any questions at all.

I welcome your calls (741-9787) and visits....or you can email me at lmhall@collegiate-va.org.  I look forward to meeting you and all of your children.

Laura