Welcome to School Fact Sheet

Starting a new school is an important time for your child and your whole family. You will be receiving a lot of information about your school. Please try to have it translated for you by a family member, a friend or a community agency.

Get familiar with school routines

Your child will attend school Monday to Friday. Kindergarten is either a half-day or full-day program. In the half-day kindergarten program, your child will attend school Monday to Friday for 2½ hours—either in the morning or afternoon. If your local school hosts a full-day early learning program, your child will attend school Monday to Friday for a full school day—morning and afternoon. Call your local school to find out what kindergarten program they offer. 

All other elementary students attend school for 6½ hours. The school will tell you the exact times that your child's class starts and finishes. The school playground is supervised for 15 minutes before class starts and 15 minutes after class ends. Please do not send your child to school earlier.

Bus transportation is provided for students based on how far away they live from the school. Your school can tell you if your child is eligible for bussing. The school can also give you all the information about where the bus stop is and when the bus w      ill pick up and drop off your child. Someone must be waiting at the bus stop for your child. If someone is not there to meet your child, the bus driver will take your child back to the school. You will be called and will have to go to the school to pick up your child.

What your child needs for school

Your child needs a backpack for school. It should be large enough to hold regular sheets of paper without having to fold them.

Your child also needs a pair of running shoes to wear for indoor physical education. These shoes need to stay at school all year.

Children do many activities at school. They do not stay seated all of the time dress your child in comfortable clothes for school. They also need to come to school with proper clothes to play outside:

early fall and late spring, when the weather is hot and sunny: sun hat

late fall and early spring, when the weather is cool: hat and jacket

when it's raining: rubber boots, jacket and hat, umbrella if possible

winter, when it's cold: warm hat that covers the ears, scarf, jacket, snow pants, winter boots, water-proof gloves or mittens

Many students stay at school for lunch if they do not live in walking distance of the school. If your child stays at school for lunch, you will be required to send a lunch to school with your child each day.

Your child should not bring any toys or valuable items to school. Do not send money to school, unless asked by the teacher. If you cannot afford the fee for a school activity or field trip, please contact the principal directly. The principal will make sure that your child can participate in the activities.

It's important to be involved in the school

The best way to help your child is to be actively involved. Don't be afraid to ask questions. The secretary at the school can give you a lot of information. You can also speak with the teacher if you have questions about what is happening in your child's class or about how your child is doing.

We encourage parents to spend time in schools as volunteers. Even if you are not fluent in English, there are many things you can do to help. If you can't be at the school on a regular basis, you may still find it helpful to come to the school occasionally to see what your child is doing. You can arrange a visit with your child's teacher ahead of time.

It's important to attend meetings at the school that are arranged for parents. Please let the school know if you need an interpreter for meetings at the school, such as meetings with the teacher about your child's progress in school. If the school knows in advance, they can arrange to have an interpreter at your meeting.

Keeping the school informed

If your child is going to be away from school, please let the school office know ahead of time. Most schools have answering machines, so you can leave a message if you can't call during regular office hours. It's important to keep your child at home if he or she is too sick to participate in all activities.

It's important for the school to know where to reach you during the day if there's an emergency. The school also needs the name and phone number of another person to contact, in case they can't reach you. This person should be able to understand English and should know how to contact you.

You can help your child at home

Even though English is not your first language, there are many things that you can do at home to help your child learn.

Read to your child in your language. It's important to read to your child every day.

Get a library card for your child and take your child to your local library to borrow books. Even if you can't read the English words, you can look at the pictures with your child and make up your own stories together from the pictures. The public libraries also have books in many different languages.

Talk with your child every day about what he or she is learning in school. Let your child know how important school is.

Put your child's work up on your fridge.

Encourage creativity by giving your child crayons, paper, scissors and glue. Your child can re-use paper from advertisements that come in the mail to make pictures by cutting out pictures or using the back of the paper.

For more ideas on helping your child be successful in school, talk to your child's teacher or principal.