Letter from Pastor Sherron

Dear Parents,
As pastor of Greenwood Forest Baptist Church, it is my pleasure to welcome your child into our care. You have trusted Greenwood Forest Children's Center with your most precious possession – your son or daughter. For over 35 years this church and the staff of the Children's Center have been meeting the developmental and emotional needs of preschoolers. They have done so with skill, compassion, and delight.

When our church started the school, our goal was to provide a place for all children of every race and faith to find a safe and inviting place to grow and develop. Although our roots are Christian, our doors are open to every child and every parent. It is the mission of our Children's Center to help families grow closer and stronger. Please let us know how we can help your family succeed.

Sincerely,

Randy Sherron
Senior Pastor
Greenwood Forest Baptist Church

Letter from GFCC Director

Dear Parents,
Welcome to the Greenwood Forest Children's Center (GFCC).

This handbook has been prepared to assist you in helping your child make the best and quickest adjustment to the preschool experience.

We recognize and appreciate you, the parents, as the primary teachers of your child. It is this center's goal to help extend your child's learning and developmental process into the preschool setting as he/she experiences transition in relationships and environment.

We believe that the first experiences a child has in school should be positive, loving and happy. We strive to provide this for your child as he/she learns to share, to assert him/herself in a positive way and to make new friends.

We believe that a child's self-esteem is critical in the development of a mature person who can make appropriate decisions, take responsibility willingly, cope with frustration, and welcome challenges. We make every attempt to create an environment that will make self-esteem blossom and activate the self-motivation for growth that is within each child.

In preparation for elementary school, we seek to help a child gain confidence in their motor skills, visual perception and memory, auditory memory, language and conceptual development, and visual motor performance.

We encourage children to create and investigate in a warm, friendly atmosphere that is rich in experiences and materials, informal but routine, stimulating and secure. We are dedicated to providing a place where your child can comfortably grow socially, physically, emotionally and intellectually.

Most importantly, we want your child to know that "learning is fun" and GFCC is a happy place to be! We ask that you take an active part in your child's "school" through giving of your time, talents and support.

Thank you for letting us share in your child's growth. Please know that your child is loved, and appreciated at his/her present level of development, while being encouraged to grow into new levels of maturity. We will "guide him gently as he learns" for we know that "when he believes he can, he will."

Sandy Duncan,
Director, GFCC

General Information

Attendance
We have found that children are more comfortable if they attend school regularly. Similarly, children adjust better to each day of preschool if they are on time. A child may feel uncomfortable arriving after everyone else is involved in activities.

Calendar
GFCC follows Wake County Traditional Schedule with the exception of beginning and ending days. We begin the day after Labor Day. School ends before Memorial Day - dates vary year to year. The days left are for parents and teachers to enjoy end-of-year activities with their public school children, with no conflicting schedules at GFCC.

Communication
Calendars and a letter about the classroom activities are sent home from the class teachers each month; in addition a general monthly newsletter, for the whole school is sent from the office. Special information notes go home as needed. Questions or concerns? Please call (469-0140), drop in, e-mail at gfcc110@hotmail.com, or write us a note. (469-0140).

On the first 2 days of school you will want to attend "Tissues and Tea" in the fellowship hall of the Children's Center Building. This will give you a chance to meet other parents, form car pools and ask questions.

We will make every attempt to keep the GFCC website updated with current information and the monthly newsletter.

Parent Conferences
Formal parent conferences are scheduled in February. Their purpose is to give parents progress reports and advise about student placement for the following year.

"Tell me about your child" conferences are offered in October. In addition, all teachers will make time avail-able at any point during the year to address a child's needs. However, teachers cannot hold impromptu conferences while loading, unloading at carpools or during classroom hours.

Clothing
GFCC is a school that emphasizes movement. We ask that you dress your child in PLAY clothes. Let your child decide what he/she may wear to school each day, but give choices from clothes that are O.K. to get paint on or dirty. If girls want to dress in feminine clothes, consider inexpensive dresses that will al-low freedom of movement.

"Running, walking shoes, or sneakers" are shoes for safety. Flip-flops and dress shoes are NOT appropriate and can be dangerous if a child runs or climbs in them. Please encourage play shoes!

Painting Smocks
Painting Smocks are furnished by GFCC.

Snacks
Food and beverages are provided by the school. However, we welcome special snacks from you! Birthday and V.I.P. (Very Important Preschooler) celebrations are scheduled and parents usually bring their child's favorite snack on these days. Please check with your child’s teachers about possible allergies and dietary restrictions of classmates. Due to the growing number of students with life threatening nut allergies, we have adopted a “Nut Allergy Policy”. Please refer to the following “Nut Allergy Policy”.

GFCC Shirts
We offer GFCC shirts in adult and children's sizes. You may wish to buy one for yourself and your child. Transition and fours will need T-shirts for field trips. These are available all year. The cost is $6.50. Sweatshirts are $13.00.

Book Bags
GFCC bags are provided by the school for 2, 2½, 3 and 4 year olds. Each class puts their own special artwork on them. These bags are a size that can be stored in each child's cubby. Transition children bring their own backpack or bag.

Parent Participation
GFCC welcomes and encourages parent participation through:

• Art and cooking projects
• Assisting with field trips
• Providing time, talents, treats for parties
• Attending teas, open house, workshops
• Coming for special programs
• Sharing information & talents to enrich our center
• Volunteering to do repairs or projects
• Supervising the computer stations

Distribution of Information
Invitations to private parties are not distributed unless everyone in a class is included. Appropriate advertisements can be posted at school.

VIP Days
This is a special day for your child in his classroom. Parents share information about their child with the class and bring in a favorite snack.

Carpool and Traffic Patterns
We encourage you to use the carpool. We have found that the children enjoy this and it fos-ters independence. If your child is anxious about carpooling, please let us know. You will be given a tag with a number or letter to hang from your rearview mirrors. You will use this tag the entire school year.

If you need to come in to get your child at the end of the school day, we ask that you either come in by 11:50 or after 12:15, so that you are not in the midst of carpool lines. This makes it less confusing for the children. Please come by the office and sign out if you want early dismissal.

• Maynard Rd. Traffic Pattern - (Letter Carpools): All 3s and 2x4 (dismissal).
• Kildaire Farm Rd. Traffic Pattern - (Number Carpools): Transition, 5x4, 3x4, 2x4 (arrival) 2 ½, and 2s and 2 1/2s.

General Policies

Admissions
GFCC admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies or admissions policies.

Registration Requirements
We must have a completed registration form and GFCC Medical Form signed by the physician on file for each student. All children entering preschool must have a physical examination by their family physician. All necessary immunizations should be received prior to September of each year a child enrolls in our program. HEALTH FORMS WITH PROOF OF IMMUNIZATIONS NEED TO BE COMPLETED AND TURNED IN BY THE BEGINNING OF SCHOOL. A yearly registration fee is required.

Registration Forms Medical Forms

NC Schools require that children entering kindergarten be five years of age on Oct. 16th of the year entering.

To help with decisions regarding your child's placement we have regulated our enrollment in these areas:

• 2s must be 2 by October 16 of the Registering year
• 2½s must be 2 by March 1 of the Registering year
• 2-day-3s must be 3 by October 16 of the Registering year
• 3-day-3s must be 3 by May 1 of the Registering year
• 3-day-4s, 2-day-4s and 5x4s must be 4 by October 16 of the Registering year
• Transition children must be 5 by Nov. 30 of the Registering year

Schedules

Arrivals and Departures
Our Center has drop-off and pick-up traffic patterns which help with parking lot safety and is especially helpful to parents with younger siblings.

Our "team teacher" policy allows one teacher to be in the classroom receiving children while others unload them. Students should not be brought earlier than their class is scheduled to start. Teachers are busy preparing for the day's activities and cannot supervise the children.

Exception: In order to prevent long traffic lines, 2x4's may begin arrival at 8:45 and Transition students arrival time begins at 8:50. These students should be in their classrooms by 9:00 a.m. This clears halls and traffic lines for the arrival of 9:00 carpools.) PLEASE BE ON TIME.

Transition and 2x4's have early release on a few days during the year. These days are listed on your GFCC calendar The 2x4's come an extra day (Wed.) for the Science Fair.

Fees

Tuition
For your convenience, tuition is divided in to monthly payments, due the 1st of the month and no later than the 10th. Checks should be made payable to Greenwood Forest Children's Center or (GFCC) and mailed or brought to the Children's Center Office. Please do not depend on your child to deliver your check.

The Children's Center teachers are not authorized to receive these checks and cannot accept them from your child. We really would like to see you at least once a month! Come in, pay your tuition, and visit your child's class for a while if you desire. A $10.00 late fee is charged for tuition not paid by the 10th.

Late Pickup Fee
A late fee of $5.00 will be charged if you come after the designated carpool pickup:

2 and 2½s 11:55 2x3, 3x3, and 3x4 12:10
5x4 12:20 2x4 and Transition 1:05

An additional $5.00 will be charged for every 15 minutes you are late picking up your child.

Registration fees are refundable only when one moves at least 25 miles away from the Cary, Apex, Raleigh area before school begins.

Accident Insurance coverage is included in the registration fee.

Withdrawal
A 15 day written notice is required when a child is withdrawn from the school.

Sick/Emergency Policy
It is important that home, cell, and work numbers for parents be current. If a child be-comes ill or is injured during a school day, his/her parents will be called immediately. If parents cannot be reached one of the two contact persons listed on the registration sheet will be called.

Sometimes it may be difficult to determine if your child has a contagious illness and therefore must stay home. The following guidelines are used by us to determine if a child needs to go home. Please understand that we act on the conservative side to protect the other children in the class.

We appreciate your cooperation with our SICK/EMERGENCY POLICY.

1. FEVER: A fever is a sign that the body is fighting off an infection or a contagious disease. We use a forehead thermometer strip, and if it registers 96 or higher, we will call you to take your child home and check his temperature with a glass thermometer. Your child must be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school.
2. DIARRHEA: More than one instance of loose, watery stools indicates diarrhea. If your child looks pale, acts tired, and has even one instance of very loose, watery stools, we will call you to take him/her home.
3. VOMITING: If a child vomits at school, he will need to go home unless we are CERTAIN that it is a non-contagious digestive condition.
4. INFLUENZA: A child who displays fever, persistent coughing, congestion, chills, or muscle aches in any combination will be sent home.
5. SWOLLEN OR SORE THROAT: Your child will need to go home (and we suggest a throat culture to determine if he/she has strep throat) if he/she complains of his/her throat hurting and also has a fever.
6. CONJUNCTIVITIS: If your child awakens with a profuse amount of matter in one or both eyes and the whites of the eye(s) is pink, please take your child to the doctor. Pink eye is highly contagious, and if we see a child with a very pink eye(s), we will call you immediately.
7. RASHES: A child with an unidentified rash that is spreading and/or getting worse over time will need to go home and be checked by a doctor before returning to school.
8. MEDICATIONS: Personnel at GFCC will not administer medications. (Exception is Emergency Epi-pen).

Potty Policy
Some questions have been voiced about our “potty policy” for 2's, 2 1/2’s and 3’s. This policy is very specific. If you still have questions after reviewing it, please know that we are glad for you to call.

Children in the 2 and 2 1/2 year classes do not need to be potty trained. If your child is, great! Please let the teachers know if he/she needs to be reminded to go to the potty. Children who are not potty trained will be changed as the need arises (heavy diapers or dirty diapers will be taken care of.)

3-year-olds (and older) must be potty trained. If your child needs to be reminded to go to the bathroom at a specific time, please let the teachers know. The teachers do encourage all children in the class to go before specific activities such as playground.

Being Potty-trained means:

1. The student comes to school in regular underwear and goes to the bathroom to urinate or have a bowel movement
2. Students are able to wipe themselves. If they cannot, the teachers will tell them how to roll up the toilet paper and wipe their bottoms and do this with clean roll-ups until the paper is pretty clean! (Moms, of course, are the best teachers of this process.)

We know from experience that even 5 year olds can forget to go to the potty when having fun. While a child may have a “bathroom accident” at school, he/she should not do so consistently. Wet or soiled pants three days in a row is pretty consistent.

If your child has a bowel movement in his underwear, the teacher may call you to help with the wash-up and change. We will not, however, let your child remain in dirty clothes.

Parents sometimes call us at visitation time to let us know that their children are not potty trained and will, for this reason, not be coming to school. Staying with our announced policy that 3’s must be potty trained seems the fair thing to do.

Know that we love all children, potty trained or not! Our policy of “being trained” frees our teachers to spend quality time with each of the children in the classroom.

Nut Allergy Policy
Greenwood Forest Children’s Center is a “nut free school”. This means that no nuts or nut products may be brought into the school for any reason. Peanut butter and items fried in peanut oil come under this prohibition, as do any and all nut butters, candies, sweets, and savories containing nut butters and/or pieces.

Food containing trace elements of nut products are difficult to police and may well be in the classroom. The teachers will endeavor to be aware of trace elements, but cannot be held accountable if trace elements are in the classroom.

It is the responsibility of the parents to educate their own children in what they can and cannot eat. Parents who place dietary restrictions on their food for cultural and/or religious reasons already educate their children in what they can and cannot eat. This policy has been formulated in response to the concerns of parents of children with allergies. The GFCC is not responsible for parents who choose to disregard this policy, but we do strongly advise all parents to be aware of and follow this policy.

Special Notice
Greenwood Forest Children’s Center classrooms are used by church groups and Scouts on evenings during the week and on weekends. These groups may use foods containing nuts and nut products.

Safety Issues

Weather Policy
The possibility of hurricanes, tornadoes, cold, sleet, and snow make an inclement weather policy necessary.

• If Wake County Traditional Schools are closed because of hurricanes, snow, sleet, etc., we will also be closed. Please listen for their announcements.
• If Wake County Schools has a one or two hour delay due to hazardous roads, etc. your child's class will meet at the usual hour. You will need to evaluate driving safety from your home to determine whether to bring your child.

Should Wake County Elementary Schools close at 12:15 we will stay on schedule. You may take your child home early after signing out at the office.

If conditions are so hazardous that we need to close immediately we will get this information out as quickly as possible. Each class will have 2 parents designated emergency contact parents.

Please assess conditions wherever you may be and feel free to pick up your child earlier.

If you come early on a bad-weather day to pick up your child:

• Go to your child's room and KNOCK on the door.
• The teachers will release students to parents or to the regular carpool driver.
• Children will not be released to ride with persons other than parents and regular carpool drivers, unless permission is given by parents. If you ask someone different to pickup your child, please call and tell us about this decision. If you are not able to reach us, the person picking up should come by the office and give us your number so that we may call you to verify the arrangement.
• Your child will be cared for until you arrive or make arrangements for your child to be picked up.

Travel Safety
Please follow the car seat law.

Please do not unbuckle your child before you have come to a complete stop. You may pull to the end of the sidewalk or into the empty parking lots to buckle in your child.

If your child is being picked up by someone other than the designated carpool parent, we must have a note signed by the parent saying: 1) who is picking up your child; and 2) what day or days this person is picking up your child. If the baby-sitter, who picks up your child regularly, sends someone else for pickup, they will need a signed note.

Please do not leave young children unattended in an automobile, or allow them to sit on your lap while you are driving.

On June 17, 1999 Governor Jim Hunt signed Senate Bill 65: Motor Vehicle Occupant Restrains into law. The new law requires the following changes to G.S. 20-137.1:

• All occupants under 16 years of age must be properly secured in a child restraint system (rear facing, forward facing child restraint and/or booster seat) or seat belt at all times, in all seating positions.
• All occupants less than 5 years of age and less than 40 pounds in weight must be properly restrained in a weight appropriate child restraint system at all times. If the child is 5 years old or weighs 40 pounds he/she does not legally require a child restraint system. It becomes a parent choice.
• All child restraint systems must be secured in the back seat of a vehicle, if the vehi-cle has a back seat, when an active front passenger-side airbag is present, unless the child restraint system is designed for use with a vehicle airbag.
• Law became effective October 1, 1999. Law does not apply to occupants who reached age 4 before October 1, 1999.

• Car seat laws will be observed.
• Parents who drive on field trips or accompany a class on field trips are assigned a small group of children for whom they are responsible. These parents stay with their assigned children until the entire class returns to school. The teachers are responsible for watching the entire group and handling details of the field trip itself.
• Since parents will need to be totally focused on the children assigned to them, we ask that you not bring siblings (older or younger) on field trips. This is a fun/learning experience to be enjoyed with peers and adults.
• Parents will refrain from smoking around the children at ALL TIMES.
• Parents who drive on field trips are not to use handheld cell phones while driving.
• There may be some children, for whatever reason, who will need one adult's total attention on certain field trips. Sometimes we will know this in advance, and we will notify you. There are many reasons why we may ask you to be with your child, the most common are a child’s fear of new experiences, or excessive excitability in a child. If called, simply come and enjoy the time with your child! (If you are unable to come when we need you, you may send a responsible sitter or relative in your place.)
• Some field trips require a cost for adults, as well as children. We will let you know.
• Your child's teachers will give you the specific guidelines for chaperoning field trips. Following these will ensure that you and the children have a great trip.

Other safety precautions

• The strings in jacket hoods sometimes get caught when children are climbing and can cause serious accidents. Most safety alert experts suggest that these be removed from children's jackets.
• Shoes with slick bottoms are not safe for climbing, walking balance beams, etc.
• Guns and other weapon-like toys should not be brought to school. In group settings
• Power-Ranger style play tends to foster negative aggressive behavior that is not compatible with the positive interaction skills encouraged in the preschool setting.

• Playground safety rules must be observed by all students.
• The Maynard Road doors are locked before and after carpools. The Kilmayne Road doors are open for parents and are observed by the office staff.
• Fire Drill in October. Tornado Drill in March.

Curriculum

GFCC's curriculum is designed for the development of the whole child. All age-level teachers meet together on a monthly basis to restructure, add new ideas to basic thematic curriculum, and to plan in detail each day's program. All teachers take at least three early childhood education workshops yearly; our curriculum changes as the teachers implement new activities and different approaches.

Typical Day
A typical day includes time for each of the following: free play, circle time, center activities, snack, playground, music/movement and story time.

• Our full-time music teacher affords an opportunity for students to go to music in the music room each day they attend GFCC. The 2's and 2½'s will have their own music and movement teacher. Each class goes separately. Music is fun!
• Resource persons (parents are welcome and encouraged to come and share) enrich our curriculum as they are incorporated into the daily themes.
• Field trips for the older children provide many happy learning experiences that broaden their world.
• Classrooms are arranged much like a kindergarten room with 6 to 8 different centers open each day at "center time". Learning centers create opportunity for experiential learning. Each center involves activities related to the day's unit or theme.
• All of these activities are fun! They also contribute to the developmental process in the following ways:

• Learning to listen to and share information from experts
• Becoming accustomed to safety precautions and following group directions in an out-of-school setting
• Enrichment of classroom themes through hands on learning experiences that cannot be brought to the classroom
• Provides practice in separating from the most important mom in an environment secured by other loving adults
• Child learns "taking turns" from parents modeled behavior of "taking turns" for trips

• Provide another opportunity for interactions and relationships with peers
• Provide opportunity for child to practice independence in a protected environment
• Instill self-confidence in ability to function as an individual

• Listening skills
• Respect of others space
• Staying focused
• Exposure to Literature/Calendar
• Taking turns/sharing
• Group language skills

• Enhancement of daily themes
• Listening Skills
• Hand/eye coordination
• Gross and fine motor skills
• Enjoyment of music through singing, playing instruments, etc.
• Language skills
• Strengthen auditory and visual memory

• Large motory skills
• Organizational skills

• Group dynamics skills
• Eye hand coordination
• Exercise for total body health

Volunteer Guidelines

We want you to feel welcome in the classroom. The following suggestions can help make your stay warm, friendly, and rewarding.

1. The two best times of the day to visit your child are center time and outside play time. Check with your child's teacher to find out when these are scheduled.
2. Come prepared to play and interact with the children. Except under extenuating circumstances, never do for a child what a child can do for him or herself.
3. When describing children's play, do exactly that! "Your picture has a lot of green in the middle of your paper and you enclosed the green space with a red circle."
4. Please remember to treat all children impartially regardless of background, intelligence, physical, or emotional maturity, or "blood" relation. A child who grabs a toy from another child can be given words to use to get the toy. If you see two children arguing over a toy and you do not know who had it first, put your hand on the toy and say, "I see two children who want the same toy. What can we do about this so that both of you are happy?" Fours and fives will be able to come up with solutions; threes may need your suggestions.
5. When in the classroom, please refrain from unnecessary chatting with the teachers. The time the teachers and you are in the classroom should be spent with the children.
6. Please refrain from making quick judgments concerning situations you may see in school. Remember that your perceptions are limited by the short exposure to the overall program. If you have a concern, speak to the teacher privately or see the director.
7. All adults in the classroom need to support each other in front of the children. If you are unsure about how to handle a situation, ask a teacher. It's important that rules, limits, and permissions in the classroom remain consistent.
8. If you make a mistake, a simple "oops!" is enough. Please do not say "that was dumb/stupid of me," etc. These are not GFCC words.

9. Remember to keep comments children make and behaviors children exhibit confidential. What goes on in the classroom is for your eyes and ears only!
10. Because your time in the classroom will be spent with the children in the class, siblings may distract you. Try to make this a special time for you and your preschooler.
11. Enjoy your visit in the classroom! Listen to the stories the children will tell. Run and climb with the children on the playground. You will be working hard. You will also leave with a satisfied feeling that your time spent was greatly appreciated by both the teachers and the children!