APS - Rising Kinder

[Anonymous]

Does anyone else have a rising kindergartener in APS and feel like they have no idea what is going on? Are schools having summer events for kids and families to have an opportunity to meet before the school year starts? Have back to school lists been sent out already? Is there anything we should be doing? As it stands, we have received little to no communication. I'm sure I'm overthinking it all, but it's our first go at this so we just would love some clarity. At least we will know what to do for our younger child but feeling a little stressed about this first one right now. *Side note - already reached out to the school, the PTA and other families all to no avail.

[Anonymous]

Which school? Our school has supply lists out and play dates planned. We can probably help you find it if we know which one you're looking for.

[Anonymous]

Mine was in K last year and I don't think we heard much from the schools until early/mid August. There were some parent or PTA-organized rising K playdates over the summer, which I heard about through neighborhood listservs/FB groups. But I recall not hearing much from APS until later.

[Anonymous]

I say this kindly, there’s nothing you need to know right now. The information will come to you when it’s ready. Join your school‘s PTA (and Facebook page) and you’ll start receiving emails over the summer about any potential events. Typically schools have open house the week before school starts. Many do it on a Wednesday or Thursday. You’ll get a letter with your teachers info a week before school starts as well. The school supply list is on your schools website.

[Anonymous]

Our school has set up a Kindergarten WhatsApp Group and is scheduling playdates over the summer. They also have shared school supply purchase information. This is all facilitated through the PTA, not official school events/communication. I'd recommend reaching out to your school's PTA to see if they have anything set up yet.

The school itself set us a welcome note but we don't expect to hear from them until late August -- they'll do open houses starting in Aug and a teacher meet and greet right before school starts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school has set up a Kindergarten WhatsApp Group and is scheduling playdates over the summer. They also have shared school supply purchase information. This is all facilitated through the PTA, not official school events/communication. I'd recommend reaching out to your school's PTA to see if they have anything set up yet.

The school itself set us a welcome note but we don't expect to hear from them until late August -- they'll do open houses starting in Aug and a teacher meet and greet right before school starts.

Out of pure curiosity, how many messages do you get from this WhatsApp group? That’s like 120 families right?

[Anonymous]

If you tell us the school then people may be able to give you more specific information, such as whether there is a school supple list posted. Have you already joined the school’s PTA? That will be key for getting information about summer play dates for rising K students (and to find out about school supply packages if the deadline for ordering hasn’t passed yet). But more generally, there will be a meet the teacher day right before school starts, but you probably won’t hear about it until mid-august. As for anything the PTA will plan, keep in mind that current PTA volunteers just finished up their older kids’ school year a couple of weeks ago, and may be taking a bit of a breather before jumping into planning rising K play dates and stuff.

[Anonymous]

Some schools have summer library events. Call your school and ask. Or you can see if you can order a supply kit. Otherwise nothing to do until mid-August when they will publicize meet the teacher days and times.

[Anonymous]

And some schools do kinder playground meetups too- contact PTA.

[Anonymous]

Didn't you already post about your rising K anxiety?

You will get stuff in the mail this summer. Have you registered your kid? Get them a backpack, don't worry about anything else. If they need supplies, you'll get a list, but it's also ok if they don't have stuff the first day. Most stuff is shared.

[Anonymous]

OP is this you:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1061627.page

What did your PTA say? What did the front office say?

[Anonymous]

The public library is hosting some events in August for incoming kindergarteners and their families. Check Columbia Pike & Central Library calendars.

[Anonymous]

OP - we are going to ATS. If anyone has information or links, I'm happy to hear more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school has set up a Kindergarten WhatsApp Group and is scheduling playdates over the summer. They also have shared school supply purchase information. This is all facilitated through the PTA, not official school events/communication. I'd recommend reaching out to your school's PTA to see if they have anything set up yet.

The school itself set us a welcome note but we don't expect to hear from them until late August -- they'll do open houses starting in Aug and a teacher meet and greet right before school starts.

Out of pure curiosity, how many messages do you get from this WhatsApp group? That’s like 120 families right?

Most the ones I'm in at our school are about 70 people. So maybe 40-50 families since some have both parents in the chat. I mute the chat so it doesn't ding, because I find it's not usually urgent. Then when I notice I'm at 10+ notifications I go in and read what's being discussed. Learning to use settings to manage your notifications is really the main battle. Not a huge deal after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is this you:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1061627.page

What did your PTA say? What did the front office say?

OP here - no that post was not me even though in my head that is exactly how I'm sounding and what I'm thinking. Hahahaha!