Here We Go!
A few reminders as we get started........
1. Please deliver your child to the side door of the church at 9:00 am for morning sessions and 12:30 pm for the afternoon sessions. Please wait until the teachers have opened the door before entering the building.
2. Please pick you child up at 11:30 am for the morning sessions or 3:00 pm for the afternoon sessions. For your child's safety, the teacher will open the door and you will go downstairs to get your child.
3. If there will be another person picking up your child, please inform the teachers by a written note placed in your child's tote bag. Please inform the person picking up your child that they will need to show a teacher their driver's license upon entering the building.
4. Please mark your child's name on all clothing and possessions that they bring to school (especially coats, hats, and mittens!)
5. On the first day of school, please send a recent photo of your child and his/her tote bag. Please, no backpacks. Make sure that the name is visible to both the student and the teachers.
6. If you need to reach us at the school, the number is 724-935-6199. Please let it ring several times. If we do not answer, we are with the children and cannot leave the area. Please leave a message and we will check thos messages as soon as possible.
7. Please park in the parking lot according to the diagram that is available at the school. We encourage you to park in a parking spot closest to the playground if you plan on talking to a teacher or another parent.
8. All monthly newsletters/information will be posted on our website: www.fdcpreschool.com. Please check our site on a regular basis to make sure that you are up-to-date on everything involving your child's class. This is new to us this year (yes, we can say that we are "going green"), so please be patient. The site will include sign-up sheets and permission slips that you will be able to download, print, fill out, and return to the school. We will have a daily letter going home in the tote bags informing you of the activities happening on that particular school day, along with other reminders, so there will always be some form of daily communication between the school and the families.
9. A snack schedule will be included with the monthly newsletter. Each child will bring in the snack, approximately 3 or more times, during the school year on his/her assigned date. A snack list is always available on the website for both morning and afternoon session under the individual class links. We are a nut/peanut-free school! Please view the list that follows these reminders for ideas on appropriate foods.
If your child has an allergy, we are asking that you send in a snack for your child each day. This can be a simple snack in a baggie, with a drink. We will provide the cup, napkin, and wipe. This is the safest way that we have found to make sure that your child is not exposed to a food that is contaminated.
On your scheduled snack day, you will also be required to send in napkins, 5 oz. cups, hand wipes, and a gallon of drink.
10. Three school parties will be held during the school year: Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's Day. We will have an Easter Egg Hunt, but not a party. Sign-up sheets will be available for help/donations for each of these parties. No siblings will be permitted to attend. Thank you for understanding!
Many people say that they don't try to bring snacks or treats for the parties that are peanut/tree nut contaminated, but that they just don't know which snacks are safe and which are not. To help everyone, we decided to compile a safe/unsafe list. It is not exhaustive, so please check the labels on the foods that you bring and please make sure to avoid contamination in your home. Products that say "Manufactured on shared equipment" or "Manufactured in a factory that processes peanuts/tree nuts" are contaminated 90% of the time. Please remember, it only takes a MILLIONTH of a peanut or tree nut to cause a potentially fatal reaction.
(Hopefully!) SAFE UNSAFE
Herr's pretzels M&M's
Fruit Snyder's products
Vegetables Nestle products
Most Teddy Grahams Reeses products
Nabisco graham crackers Austin's filled crackers
Kraft cheese and crackers Pizza Hut sauces
Cheez-Its ALL BAKERY PRODUCTS
Kissables (Giant Eagle, Costco, Sam's)
Original/full-size Hershey Bars Soft/filled Oreos and Nilla
Original Hershey Kisses Wafers
Rice Krispy Treats Planter products
Most Gummy treats McDonald's cookies
Honey Maid Graham Crackers French Vanilla varieties of
Smarties Duncan Hines & Betty Crocker cake mix
Dum-Dum lollipops
Whoppers
Twizzlers
Mozzarella cheese sticks
Dunkin Donuts in Wexford
Krispy Kream Cranberry
Hershey Chocolate Chips
Original Club Crackers
Townhouse original crackers
Most varieties of cheese
Pittsburgh Pretzels
York Peppermint Patties
I am sure that some of you are reading the "unsafe" portion of the list feeling slightly insulted, but the Reeses and Planter items were included because we received them last year for the party treat bags. Please remember that toys, jewelry, stickers, pencils, and other treats are always great things to donate for the treat bags! Please read labels carefully for the weekly and birthday snacks. Please also make sure that the cutting surface and knife are peanut/tree nut free when you are preparing fruits and vegetables in your home. Everyone who has an allergic child truly appreciates your attention to this matter.