Welcome to the Greenbriar West Elementary! Kindergarten program! We are excited for you and your family to become part of our GBW family. View some helpful tips about transportation, daily routines, quiet time, lunchtime, snack time, bathrooms, and labeling to prepare your child for the exciting year ahead.

Transportation

• It is FCPS policy that all kindergarteners riding a bus must be accompanied to and from the bus stops. Kindergarteners may not exit the bus in the afternoons without an adult present at the bus stop to pick them up. If no adult is present, the student will be returned to school.
• Teachers will label backpacks with bright yellow tape on the first day of school so that all bus riders will have clearly marked backpacks that identify them as a bus rider. Bus drivers will be able to identify students at a glance.
• All kindergarteners are escorted from the bus to the classroom in the morning and from the classroom to the bus in the afternoon by school safety patrols.
• All students who walk home from school or use Kiss n’ Ride will be escorted from the classroom to the Kiss n’ Ride area by safety patrols.

Daily Routines

• Kindergarten is a busy place with so much to do and learn! We are always working on skills using reading, writing, and math, but we are also working on many skills having to do with daily routines. A great way to get started over the summer is practicing these three skills:
  • Tying and untying shoes
  • Getting coats/sweaters on and off, also zipped and/or buttoned
  • Putting on and taking off hats and mittens

Lunch Time

• Every classroom has a scheduled thirty minutes for lunch each day. The cafeteria is a busy and exciting place, so please keep these tips and questions in mind as you prepare your child for the start of school.
• The lunch period is thirty minutes long. That includes arrival, buying food if your child needs to, unpacking the food, eating, cleaning up, and dismissal from the cafeteria.
  • Can your child eat his/her lunch in a twenty-five minute period?
  • Can your child independently open all of the food containers in his/her lunch bag?
  • Does your child have everything he/she needs already packed in the lunch box (including a napkin and utensils) or will they need to buy something extra like milk?

Snack Time

• Every day kindergarteners have a fifteen-minute snack time. The students often get confused between what is lunch food and what is snack food. Please make sure your child’s snack is packed separately from his/her lunch every day and that both snack and lunch are clearly labeled with your child’s first and last name.

Bathrooms

• Each kindergarten classroom has a single bathroom. Students have access to a bathroom whenever it is needed. In an effort to keep both the classroom and bathroom clean, please work on the following procedures:
  • Buttoning/unbuttoning pants
  • Using the toilet in a sanitary way
  • Leaving the bathroom clean and ready for the next person
  • Washing his/her hands before they come out of the bathroom
• Keep in mind we only have one bathroom. There are times the children need to wait a minute or two for the bathroom to be available. Please work on your child’s wait time so that he/she does not have an accident while waiting for the bathroom.
• All students must have a Ziploc bag with a clean set of clothes in case of an emergency.  This includes underwear, pants, socks, and a shirt.  The bag needs to stay in your child’s backpack all year long with seasonally appropriate clothing.

Labeling 

• Please label all personal items! Label lunch boxes, snack containers, baggies, coats, hats, mittens, and anything that comes to school that personally belongs to your child and should be returned home at the end of the school day.