school note

[JenDaveBrendan]

Not looking for debate, DS's teacher and office know about our trip coming up to Disney and it has been okay'd. However, the office said I still need to write a note to the principal and teacher.
I know this has been asked a million times, and I have looked through the past posts on the subject, but they seem to be more geared towards older grades. My son is in kindergarden. I was looking for note ideas more kindergarden appropriate. I also would like to work with DS on curriculum he is missing, but I don't want to put the teacher out in preparing work. How should I word this? DS will also be doing a journal everyday of our trip.
Also, when should I send in the note? We are leaving on Jan. 8 for 2 weeks.
Thanks!!

 

[Marimar]

We leave on the 3rd and we will be taking our KGer out as well. Well in reality she will not be going back until after our trip since school restarts on the 4th for her school.

I am going to write my letter tomorrow. I hope it is not too late. The teacher said we could pick up the work on the 3rd, but that was when we were leaving on the 4th. We have since moved our trip to the 3rd. She already knows we will be taking dd's work w/us.

I don't know...maybe I would start it w/some such comments as "As we have already advised you, our trip wil be from XX to XX. We would like to have any work that DD/DS will be missing to work on during our trip. Any help w/having that before our trip would be great.

I would end it w/your contact information so that the teacher can reach you (if s/he needs to) w/o having to go digging for your info.

I will definitely keep an eye on this thread

 

[crisi]

Dear Principal Duck,

Mickey Mouse will be out on vacation October 17 – 19th. Their education is important to us and we will be in contact with Mr. Goofy to make sure any curriculum needs are addressed.

Let us know if there is any additional information you need.

Sincerely,




October 1, 2005

Dear Mr. Goofy,

Mickey will be on vacation in DisneyWorld the week of October 17-21st. His education is important to us, so please let us know if there is anything in the curriculum that we should make sure gets attention while we are gone. We will be asking him to keep a journal of their vacation.

Sincerely

 

[trene]

This is something that I sent to my kids teachers:

Teachers,
We will be leaving on ---- to ---- for a family sanity search. Our search will begin in WDW as we have heard that is the best place to find it. ETC.....

There was more to it but you get the picture. My kids teachers loved the note and actually sent one home wishing us happy hunting!!

 

[In a hurry]

Just a basic info note is best. Asking what work you should cover while away should get you the basic information without causing more work for the teacher. You can do "long vowel sounds" without special school worksheets, etc. (This being K and all!)

 

[tlbwriter]

Here's what my note said:

"DD will be on a family vacation and will miss Dec XX through XX. If there is any work she needs to make up for this time, please let me know." Then I gave my contact information. That's for a kindergartener, and I didn't feel any rationalization of the trip as an educational experience was either necessary or appropriate. It would be different for an older child.

 

[JenDaveBrendan]

thank you everyone for the replies! they really helped. I will write the note this weekend.

 

[Maryr1]

Last year I had my daughter out for 3 days for a disney trip-it was her bday present. She is a special ed student mainstreamed at a private school. We were honest about where we were going. During the summer she again missed 3 days for a family holiday-planned before we were told she would be going to summer school. Again, we were honest. We brought support with us-and she completed all the assignments given to us. The teachers were very supportive, BUT the administration took a very dim view of our "lack of committment" to our daughters education. My daughter had NO sick days, we have her tutored 3 hours/week(at our own expense, with the districts knowledge-the tutor attends her IEP meetings) We are taking DD out of school 1 day in Feb. and I intend to write a note telling them she is sick.If you tell them the reason for her absence it may come back to hurt you. I would keep it simple-away on family business.Less info is better.Have a great trip and remember that you are making memories that your children will always have!

 

[tjmw2727]

I have taken my dd's out of school almost every year from K until this year. Now that my oldest is in 5th in IMHO she will miss to much to make up without stress.

My notes were addressed to the teacher, short and sweet with the dates we will be missing and not much detail about the trip.

I offer that if work can be prepared ahead of time I would be more than willing to help in preparing that work. Sometimes they take me up on it an other times they just let me know they appreciate the offer. I also make sure to promise that if the teacher goes to the trouble to prepare work that it will be done. Many teachers have told me they often don't prepare work in advance because it often dosen't get done and they have to put the package together again for completion after the vacation.

I have spent time copying and downloading info from the web pror to vacations and I have also offered to helped with activities in the classroom after a trip as a "thank you". This may not work with and kindergartener but you never know!

We also hit the staples with her books to photocopy some of the pages my dd's would need rather than carrying alot of books with us.

TJ