Everything You Always Wanted to Know about
American Renaissance Elementary
(but were afraid to ask!)
Welcome to all our new and returning families at the start of our tenth year as a charter school! We are delighted that you will be a part of our school community for the 2008-09 school year. We hope that your experiences reflect the best of who we are – a school that holds the core values of respect, academic excellence, safety, service, integrity and support in the highest regard. Our staff, students, parents and local community members work together to ensure that these values are demonstrated consistently and effectively. Thank you for helping us maintain this culture of passion and concern for our children’s educational experience.
The enclosed outline serves to assist you in understanding some key policies and routines at American Renaissance Elementary. Please review this summary carefully and do not hesitate to contact Dr. Frey or Mrs. Gay should questions arise.
7:50-8:10 AM – Car Line: Car drivers may begin lining up at our Cooper Street entrance at 7:45 AM. PLEASE DO NOT COME EARLIER AS OUR “RENAISSANCE ADVENTURE BEFORE SCHOOL CARE” IS STILL IN OPERATION. THE ENTRANCE MUST NOT BE BLOCKED SO THAT THESE FAMILIES CAN DROP OFF THEIR STUDENTS. Our administrative team will open car doors for your students so please be sure that your child/ren are seated on the passenger side of the vehicle – both front and back. Also, have your children ready with book bags, lunches, etc. so that they can quickly exit the vehicle – this will help our car line to move along quickly and avoid traffic problems. Please do not drive through the ally way between our building and our neighbors. This right-of-way should only be used for foot traffic. If you need to park and walk in with your child, please park in the city lot across Cooper Street, in the lot behind American Child Day Care, or on Broad Street. Neither the gravel lot nor the Kimbrell’s lot is owned by our school and unauthorized vehicles may be towed if parked in either lot. Also, please supervise your children closely when parking and walking in – help us keep SAFETY FIRST ALL DAY at ARS!
7:50-8:30 AM – AR Class: Your child/ren (2nd-5th grades) will walk to their AR homeroom to start their school day. During this time they will choose Accelerated Reading books to read silently or with a parent/friend, turn in any notes for the office, pay for snack, lunch, or ice cream cards, etc. Any notes or payments MUST be placed in a sealed envelope and be marked with your child’s AR teacher’s name, your child’s name and core identity, as well as where it should be routed (Renaissance Adventure, RAP, Field Trip name, etc.) Please keep in mind that your child’s AR teacher is busy facilitating the AR testing process and supervising a classroom of students. This is a calm and peaceful time at our school. As such, slide rides are not allowed and we ask that you please not interrupt the AR teacher with specific questions - kindly contact the school office later in the day with questions/concerns/ messages for teachers, etc. You are welcome to read with your child in the second grade classes but testing must be supervised by the AR teacher. Beginning at the third grade level, independence and responsibility for the AR reading and testing practices are critical educational milestones for your child/ren. Parents may not participate in the AR reading classes after second grade.
8:30-2:45 Instructional Hours: K-1 looping classes are all self-contained meaning that they remain in the same classroom throughout all instructional time. P.E., music, Spanish, science, literature exploration, and art teachers all teach loopers in their classroom or community dialogue area. Your looping teacher conducts language arts, math, social studies and other subject areas within the classroom setting. During your 2nd-5th grade child’s school day at ARS he/she will participate in six academic classes. The core classes of Art, Language Arts, Math, and Social Studies are taught each day, while Music, P.E., Spanish, and Science are taught 2-3 times per week. All core classes reside in the main building and the “specials” take place at our satellite location on Davie Avenue. Specialist teachers and their students walk to the house for an approximately 2 hour block and then come back to the main building for further core class instruction and lunch. Our day is extremely busy as you can see. Since our teachers and students are constantly on the go, there is little time for phone calls or email responses until the end of the day. We invite all our parents to contact teachers via email or phone messages throughout the day. They will return your calls and emails before the start of the next school day. We appreciate your cooperation in this effort to ensure that our teachers are focusing on instruction and your child/ren’s educational needs throughout the day.
2:45-3:10 – Dismissal: Carline begins promptly at 2:45 PM. Please DO NOT enter our arrival/dismissal driveway before this time. We will be obliged to request that you move your vehicle in this event. Each student will be assigned a number for our E-pager dismissal system. You will receive a car tag with your child/ren’s numbers and must place this tag on your front dash or rear-view mirror so that our dismissal coordinators have full view when you arrive. Please have this tag in place every day – otherwise we must search for the number, thereby delaying the dismissal process. If you are running late due to an emergency situation, please contact the school and we will make sure that your child is informed. Should your delay extend beyond 3:20 PM, your child will be placed in Renaissance Adventures Aftercare and you will be charged $5.00 for each minute prior to your arrival.
Absences from Instruction
- Excused absences require a note or phone call from parents explaining the reason for the absence. Otherwise, the absence is counted as unexcused. Students may make up work missed as appropriate. Please contact our administrative assistant, Sandy Durham to request assignments missed. She will email all teachers regarding the need for student work and have these materials ready for pick up at dismissal time.
- Please try to schedule dentist and doctor appointments after school hours. Instructional time is very important for your child and should not be interrupted. However, should emergency situations occur, please know that students may not be signed out between the hours of 2:00-2:45 PM due to our complex dismissal system. All available staff members must be on duty so cannot assist in signing out students. Please make afternoon appointments before 2:00 PM or after 3:15 PM. Mrs. Cook or Mrs. Durham will assist in the sign out process any time before 2:00 PM.
Uniforms
- Students attending ARS are required to wear uniforms each day unless special “free dress” days have been designated. Uniform attire consists of ARS approved T-shirts, shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, and Khaki bottoms (skirts, skorts, fingertip length shorts, slacks) or any approved ARCS attire from previous years. Shirts must be tucked in and bottoms with belt loops must also have belts. In cold weather, students may wear non-uniform jackets only outside the building. Every child in grades 2-5 MUST also wear TENNIS SHOES DAILY due to their walks to the Davie Avenue facility. Library days and field trip attire includes special shirts such as Downtown Statesville or red polo. Please consult our webpage (www.arsnc.org) or newsletter announcements for details as field trips are announced. Students will not be allowed to participate in library days or field trips without required uniform attire. Instead, they will attend regular classes at school. Our purpose in this policy is to maintain the highest regard for your child/ren’s safety. Teachers and their chaperones must be able to identify all ARS children easily as they move about our downtown area or elsewhere. Thank you for your cooperation in upholding this policy.
Field Trips – General
- Our students enjoy field study as an important part of their educational experience. Teachers plan and coordinate these trips to enhance classroom instruction. Field trips are extended classrooms and, as such, the same guidelines and policies apply to your student with regard to expectations and behavior. NO electronic devices including cell phones and games, NO soft drinks and NO unapproved snacks are allowed on field trips. The consequences of disregarding these policies are confiscation of the named items and possible suspension from the field trip. Uniforms ARE REQUIRED for safety reasons. If the required uniform is not worn to school on the day of the trip, the student will stay at school.
- Most of our field trips will require a nominal fee to be paid by parents. Occasionally, a trip that requires chartered bus transportation is planned and we make every effort to keep these fees at a minimum. To ensure that all our students can participate in field studies, scholarship funding is available as needed.
Food Services
- Hot lunches are available each day at ARS. A monthly menu is distributed for your review and must be returned with your child/ren’s dates for buying marked as well as payment.
- Packed lunches are kept in designated areas throughout the school according to your child/ren’s AR class assignment. Please do not send items that must be heated for consumption. Teachers are not permitted to heat lunches for students. Also, please send along utensils needed for your child’s packed lunch. We do not provide forks, spoons or knives for packed lunches.
- Healthy snacks are provided for a nominal fee and distributed at around 10:30 to all classes. Students may bring healthy snacks and lunches from home if you prefer. Please – NO snacks with high sugar or salt content and NO soft drinks. Please keep HEALTHY food in mind at all times as this will help you child/ren keep alert and focused on learning.
- Ice Cream is available only on Friday afternoons for a nominal fee.
- Snack, and ice cream punch cards may be purchased for your convenience. The cost of these cards are:
o 20 snack punch card: $10
o 10 ice cream punch card: $7.50
- Panic lunches are available on a limited basis in case of emergencies. All panic lunches are $5.00 each.
- We welcome parents/adult family members to join their students for lunch on normal school days. However, in grades 3-5, lunches may not be personally delivered unless the parent or family member plans to stay for lunch. Please help us reduce the amount of school day visitor traffic by adhering to this new policy. Once again – SAFETY FIRST for our students and families! The more visitor traffic, the higher the possibility in a breach of our school security.
Homework
- Teachers may assign homework as is developmentally appropriate. According to research, children at each grade level should complete homework to practice the concepts already covered in school. At ARS our expectations for nightly homework time includes:
o K-1: No more than 10 minutes
o 2nd: No more than 20 minutes
o 3rd: No more than 30 minutes
o 4th: No more than 40 minutes
o 5th: No more than 50 minutes
If your child is spending more time that this schedule designates, please contact his/her subject area teacher. Keep in mind that, in general, our teachers make weekly assignments at the beginning of the week and expect them all to be returned at week’s end. Please allow time for homework nightly to avoid last minute completion at the end of the week.
- Special project work may be assigned periodically and partial or the entire project is completed at home. Our teachers communicate regularly to ensure that special projects do not interfere with normal homework time.
- StudyIsland is a web-based program that is completed at home. Teachers assign objectives on a regular basis and expect all students to complete them. This program provides important practice and review for math facts and concepts, various language arts skills, and science concept review. Please make sure your child completes these assignments! If you do not have a computer at home, please inform your child’s AR teacher and we will assist him/her in completing them at school. Computers are also available at the public library.
- Connect Ed Homework messages: Students who do not turn in homework as assigned are sent a phone message that details what assignments are missing. We appreciate your attention to these messages and cooperation in assisting your child/ren complete missing school work. This is an important part of maintaining the home-school partnership for the sake of your child/ren’s success.
- Student planners are used in grades 3-5 for home-school communication. Homework and project assignments, special recognition and messages to parents, special events, etc. are written in the planners each day. PLEASE make a point to check your child’s planner daily. Parents may also use planners to inform teachers of homework questions, to request conferences, and to share important information.
Home-School Communication
- At ARS we make every attempt to communicate with our families and the local community. If you have questions, please consult or utilize one of these forms of communication first. More than likely you will find the answers you need:
o Bi-monthly newsletter
o Connect-Ed telecommunication system
o Student Planners
o Classroom E-News letters
o Email
Safety and Discipline
- Our discipline policy at ARS includes ZERO tolerance for behavior that jeopardizes the safety and well being of students and/or staff members. Please consult our Student Handbook for an outline of this policy. In general, students who are intentionally violent are sent to the administration for disciplinary action. Depending on the severity of the act, this action can include a phone call home, a letter home that must be signed and returned by the parent/guardian, in-school suspension or out of school suspension from school.
- Walking to the house is a special challenge for our students and staff. This .5 mile walk is well supervised by 2-3 staff members and certain procedures are strictly enforced. Pushing, running, skipping, etc. are not tolerated. Students MUST walk in pairs and hold hands to ensure a controlled walk. Should any student behave in any manner that jeopardizes the safety of this walk, disciplinary action will be taken. PLEASE help us ensure a safe walk to and from the Davie Avenue house by stressing strict adherence to our guidelines. They include:
o Grades 2-5 students MUST wear tennis shoes, no exceptions! Students not wearing tennis shoes will remain in the main school building during specials classes.
o Students who choose to behave inappropriately will not participate in free play during recess. The will be required to walk laps instead.
o Supervising staff members will determine if inappropriate behavior warrants returning to the main school site. In this case, the students identified as being unsafe risk in-school or out-of-school suspension depending upon the severity of the infraction.
- Sub freezing temperatures and rain will necessitate bus travel to and from the Davie Avenue house from time to time. The same guidelines for safe behavior apply on these occasions.
School Supply Lists
- Each grade level teacher formulates a list of student supplies needed to make your child/ren’s school day more successful. These supply lists will be posted at various retail businesses, on our website, and on the school entrances for your convenience.
- New book bag policy: Due to concerns regarding the short lifespan of the binders required in grades 3-5 (some parents reported purchasing 4 binders last year!) we will require book satchels in K-5 for the coming school year. You may purchase messenger bags or laptop computer designed bags at the local Walmart or business supply stores such as Staples. You may also purchase these bags on line at the following site: www.schoolpak.com - on the main site page table of contents click Backpacks and Bags, then click Olympic Backpacks to find the examples we have provided.
Please keep in mind that the only items in these book satchels should be school related. Absolutely NO toys, cards, etc. should be brought to school unless they are directly related to instruction. Thank you for helping us in this effort to save you $$ in the long run!