Gearing up for a FABULOUS 2016-17 School Year

The sunflowers are blooming. The days are growing shorter. And the biggest tell-tale sign that summer is drawing to a close, the New York State Fair has begun! All these point to the fact that next week, your children will come bursting through our Stonehedge doors eager for a new year to begin.

Our dedicated staff and teachers are busily working to prepare the school to greet new students and welcome back returning ones.

As thoughts turn to the school year, now is a great opportunity to mention a few policies in our building.

Our District's Wellness Policy

The West Genesee Central School District recognizes children need access to nutritional foods and opportunities to be physically active in order to learn, grow, and thrive. Good health fosters school attendance and educational achievement. School district personnel, in partnership with parents, significantly influence the lifelong nutrition and physical activity habits of children. To learn more about the District's policy, please click here.

Making Snack Time a Safe and Healthy Time for Everyone
In order to promote healthy eating and taking into consideration students with food allergies, we are asking that you only send in a snack for your child from the list of foods provided below. We have found in the past that this policy has worked well to keep our students healthy and safe. Since our students may rotate classrooms throughout the day for different learning opportunities, it is essential that all rooms remain free of peanuts and nut allergens.

Families of students in grades 1 and 2 are already aware of our healthy, kid-friendly snack options. Extending this to our kindergarten children seems natural and the right thing to do.

PLEASE NOTE: This list only refers to foods eaten during snack time in the classroom. Your child may bring whatever foods he or she wishes for lunch that is eaten in the cafeteria. 

Snacks that are not on the list will NOT be allowed in the classroom due to severe allergies. Your cooperation and commitment in respecting this policy will ensure the safety of our students.

Healthy Kid-Friendly Snack Options
All fruits
All vegetables
Cheese sticks
Raisins
Applesauce
Goldfish brand goldfish crackers 

The following individually packaged options are acceptable as well. Items must be individually wrapped with label on and are brand specific.

Yogurt
Yoplait Go-Gurts, Go-Gurt Fizzix, Smoothies,
Trix yogurt cups
Dannon Danimals Drinkable yogurts
Dannon Danimals vanilla/strawberry surprised sprinklings
Dannon Frusion Drinks
Price Chopper squeezable yogurt tubes

Graham snacks/Animal Crackers
Nabisco Teddy Graham Snacks (Chocolatey chip, chocolate, honey cinnamon, minis)
Keebler Graham Crackers (Bug Bites, Scooby Doo bones)

Salty Snacks
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers - cheddar, rainbow, pretzel, baby, pizza, Parmesan varieties
Nabisco Cheese Nips Crackers-Cheddar, four cheese, and bold flavors
Sunshine Cheeze-its crackers

Though we can never fully prevent an allergic reaction, we are taking as many precautions as possible to lessen the likelihood of cross-contamination. We strive to create the safest environment possible for these young students who may not be able to advocate for themselves.

The Stonehedge Blue team (K-2), along with the District, are working to promote healthy minds and healthy bodies.  This is why we are proud to celebrate birthdays WITHOUT food! 

But please understand:

• Every Child’s Birthday will be Special
• Instructional Time will be Preserved 
• All Students will be Safe 

At Open House (September 15, 6:30 – 8 p.m) you'll receive information about how birthdays will be celebrated in your child's classroom.

At Stonehedge learning is the goal. We strive to keep every child happy, healthy, and safe to help achieve that goal.


Kindergarten Orientation is Tuesday, August 30

We are looking forward to seeing our incoming kindergartners and their parents at Kindergarten Orientation on Tuesday, August 30 from 9 - 11 a.m.

Reminders for Drop off and Early Pick Up
Our school day begins at 9 a.m. and ends promptly at 3:17 p.m. If your child is not taking the bus in the morning, please understand that he or she must be dropped off as close to the start of school as possible. Our staff and teachers are busy preparing for the day ahead so there is no supervision available prior to the first bell ringing.

If your child is not taking their usual bus home, you must fill out a change of transportation form that day. This form was sent home in the packet earlier this summer. In addition, if you are picking up your child early, your child must have a written note. For safety reasons, we can not accept change of transportation requests over the phone.

If your child is being picked up at dismissal, you must send a note in. Our students are signed out in the Blue Cafeteria. Due to chorus rehearsals, the cafeteria cleaning, and staff commitments, we are unable to open the cafeteria doors until 3:05 p.m. When picking up your child at dismissal, please head directly into the Blue Cafeteria and sign your child out.

Thank you! We are looking forward to an incredible year!

Dates to Remember:

August 30, 9 – 11 a.m. Kindergarten Orientation

August 31, 4-6 p.m. Find Your Locker Night

September 6, FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL (Full Day)

September 15, 6:30 – 8 p.m., Fall Open House

September 19, 6:30 p.m., Welcome Back PTA Meeting

September 20 and 21, Class Pictures

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
~Lori