All About Kindergarten

Here are the goals your student will work toward this year! You will see their progress in these areas reflected on their report card.

Math

• Understands how numbers and quantities are related
• Uses a variety of strategies to solve addition & subtraction problems.
• Uses algebra strategies to solve problems.
• Uses measurement skills and data to solve problems.
• Uses geometry skills to solve problems.

Reading

• Approximate Independent Reading Levels.
• Uses comprehension strategies to understand fiction texts.
• Uses comprehension strategies to understand nonfiction text.
• Uses vocabulary strategies to make sense of text.
• Demonstrates awareness of sounds and spoken words.
• Uses phonics, word recognition, and concepts of print to make sense of printed text.

Communication

• Writes effectively for a variety of purposes.
• Uses punctuation, grammar, and spelling correctly when writing.
• Communicates knowledge & ideas about a range of subject areas to an audience in a variety of ways.

Health: Understands & demonstrates health skills & concepts to make healthy choices.
Science: Understands & demonstrates science skills & concepts.
Social Studies: Understands & demonstrates social studies skills & concepts.
Art: Understands & demonstrates art skills & concepts.

Physical education and music effort will also be reflected.
 

The Elm Creek PTO's goals are to encourage interaction between family and school, serve as a source of support, and work with teachers, staff and the community at large to improve our children's educational experience. Our goal is 100% participation!

Visit our website

Our district's Early Childhood Screening is required by the state and should be completed prior to a child turning five years old. The screening is free and includes a developmental check of vision and hearing, height and weight, immunization status, large and small muscles skills/development, thinking, language and communication skills and social and emotional development. 

If your student has not yet been screened, please be sure to schedule an appointment prior to the beginning of the school year. If your student has been screened in another district, that is sufficient to satisfy this requirement.

Early Childhood Screenings are offered at:

• Arbor View Early Childhood Center: 9401 Fernbrook Ln. N, Maple Grove
• Willow Lane Early Childhood Center: 7020 Perry Ave. N, Brooklyn Center

Learn more and schedule a screening

Here are some ideas to help your child prepare for kindergarten!

Get ready to help myself

• Practice with zippers, snaps, buttons and shoelaces
• Use the toilet, flush, and wash hands
• Use a tissue to blow nose, cover cough and sneeze
• Know address and phone number

Get ready to read

• Talk with adults and other children
• Listen to stories and nursery rhymes
• Look at picture books
• Say first and last name
• Know the first letter of first name
• Recognize first name in print
• Be familiar with some letters of the alphabet
• Follow simple one, two or three-step directions

Get ready for math

• Practice counting
• Be familiar with some numbers
• Be familiar with basic shapes: square, triangle, circle, rectangle

Be ready for school fun

• Practice using crayons, markers, pencils, glue and scissors
• Practice sharing
• Help put things away after play
• Be familiar with names of colors: red, blue, green, yellow, black, brown, orange, white

More ideas to practice at home

Immunizations: Immunizations are an important part of maintaining your child's health. The state requires several immunizations that need to be completed before your child starts kindergarten. If your child has a medical concern (Medical Exemption) or you conscientiously object to obtaining the required immunizations (Conscientious Objection), a physician-signed statement or notarized signature is required to be completed and on file. If you have any questions about your child's immunization status, please speak with their doctor or the building nurse.

Emergency Cards: The information you provide on your child's Emergency/Health form for school is extremely important in case we need to contact you. Please include at least two additional emergency contacts that may be contacted in the event you, the parent, cannot be reached. It is important that the phone numbers you provide are current and that your relatives/friends are aware that you included them on your child's emergency sheet. Please report changes in phone numbers to the office as they occur.

Medication in School: All medications will be safely and securely stored in the Health Office for your child. Per district policy, any medications to be given during the school day (over-the-counter and prescription medications) require:

• Medication order by a licensed provider for any medication administered while at school
• Signed parent consent to administer the prescribed medication
• Medication supplied in the original container with correct label information (a second labelled bottle can be requested at your pharmacy for school use for prescription medication).

Please make sure all medications are current by checking expiration dates on all medications left at school. Medication permission forms are available in the Health Office.

Illness: Please keep your child home if they display the following symptoms. Students must be symptom-free for 24 hours without the assistance of fever-reducing medication before returning to school.

• Fever 100 degrees or higher
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Colds or coughs that prevent your child from fully participating in school
• Any contagious disease (strep, chicken pox, pink eye, influenza, etc.) Please alert the Health Office if your student has one of these diseases.
  • If antibiotics are started as a treatment for strep throat, the student needs to have been on medication for 12 hours before returning to school.

Please bring to our attention any special health needs that your child may have, such as asthma, diabetes, seizure disorders, heart conditions or life-threatening allergies. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's health, medications or other health-related issues, please email Nurse Marta.

For instructions on how to create a ParentVue account if you are not in our system already please visit our step-by-step guide.

*Kindergarten online enrollment is only available to families choosing to enroll into the home boundary school and living within those boundaries. 

• Email: EnrollmentCenter@district279.org
• U.S. mail: Osseo Enrollment Center, 7051 Brooklyn Blvd., Brooklyn Center, MN 55429

• In person: Monday-Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., 7051 Brooklyn Blvd., Brooklyn Center, MN 55429
• Lobby drop box: only available during non-business hours

 

• Schedule your child’s Early Childhood screening (call 763-391-8777 or schedule online).
• Required documents needed when enrolling
  • Proofs of Residency (two forms)
  • Photo ID of Parent/legal guardian
  • Birth Certificate or Passport
  • Updated child’s required immunizations

Class lists are not final until the end of August and are available at Open House. You will receive an email from your child’s teacher notifying you of placement prior to Open House.

Kindergarten teachers request $25.00 in September to cover the cost of community and individual supplies, which they purchase and provide to students. Please see the teacher if you wish to purchase the supplies yourself. In addition, please provide $8.00 for a rest mat and a $5.00 donation to cover party supplies for fall, winter and Valentine’s Day, the ice cream social and kindergarten celebrations. Your child will need to bring a backpack (no wheels please) and tennis shoes (Velcro or laced – no zippers please) for Phy Ed.

Communication between school and home is very important to us. Parent/School information is shared through an online tool called Peachjar, which sends messages directly to your email. Information may also be sent home in “Take Home Folders” and/or published on the school website. We publish a school newsletter each month, and teachers also send home classroom messages through Seesaw. Please don’t hesitate to call the school office at 763-425-0577 if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child or the school.

School personnel are required to use the student’s legal name for record keeping; however, your child can be called a different name at school. Please let the teacher know your preferences. If your child has a legal name change, please provide the office with the legal paperwork.

The State of Minnesota assigns every student an identification number (MARRS) based on the student’s legal name and birth date. This number is used for the student no matter which school they attend in Minnesota.

Elm Creek has a safe entryway. All entrance doors are locked and all visitors must sign in at the office and wear a visitor’s badge. All students and staff at Elm Creek also wear name tags. Only volunteers and staff are allowed to walk through the building during the day. If you wish to visit your child’s classroom other than when volunteering, please call the principal in advance to make arrangements.

Students are closely watched at dismissal time. No adult is allowed to remove a student from a bus line; please report to the office to request a student from the bus line. Students are not allowed to ride home on any other bus than their own or get off at another stop without prior approval from district transportation.

Elm Creek Elementary School and District 279 have safety plans in place, if needed. Fire drills, evacuation drills, lockdown drills, and tornado drills are practiced throughout the school year.

All students must be checked out during the day through the office. The office will call the teacher to release the student. The office and teachers will not allow a student to go home with anyone other than the parent/guardian without a written note or a phone call from the parent/guardian. If someone, such as a grandparent, will be regularly picking up your child, please let us know.

Parents in vehicles form a line in the front of our building. It is important to follow all signs and guidelines. Please be aware of children, the patrols, and busses entering the parking lot, cooperate with supervisory staff, and never allow your child to cross through the parking lot alone.

Walkers: We have school patrols for walkers before and after school. Students must cross with the patrols using designated walkways. If a student rides a bike to school, they must walk it on the school grounds and lock it to the bike rack. No “wheels” are allowed on the playground or inside the school. This does includes shoes with wheels.