What? No Snack Time?

So now that my little girl has completed her first few weeks of Kindergarten I thought I would reflect on the things I wish someone had told me BEFORE she started Kindergarten.

1. At my daughter's school they do not have a formal snack time for the kids. It seems that every other parent in the class knew this but me and yet it wasn't on any of the info we were given prior to the start of school. No snack time? Are you serious? What can I say, I was shocked.  So, not knowing this, I packed the usual lunch bag full of snacks and sent it along with her. When recess started the teacher explained that the kids take A snack items with them to the playground and they eat at the picnic benches before they hit the playground. This meant a shift in the types of snacks I usually send her because Lord knows those Tupperware containers would never make it back from the playground each day.

2. Only 1 kid in the whole class (besides my daughter) had a backpack with a character on it. What??? They're already too old for backpacks with Disney characters on it. That's so sad :(  I lovingly remember my Smurfs, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, etc, lunchboxes and this it's so sad DD's generation is already phasing these things out at too early of an age.  It turned out her Disney backpack was too small to hold her 'homework/paperwork' folder so we had to go buy a new backpack anyway so she got one with hearts on it. *sniff, sniff*

3. They do not give you a class list with the parent's names (which we got in preschool) so we've started the slow process of exchanging vital information in case one parent is late and needs another to watch their child. It was so much easier when you were just given the list of info!

4. You need to send your kids in coats/shoes they can completely do up on their own. DD had been able to do up her last jacket on her own but as with a new school year and growing up I had purchased her a lovey new coat and forgot to have her practice doing it up on her own. The bloody buttons are so small she can't do it so thankfully we had another coat she could wear. We've been practicing at home to manage the buttons and zippers on all outerwear as the teacher doesn't have time to do up 22 sets of shoes and coats. Recess would be over before she got it all done! Now we need to start focusing on getting her to get her snowsuit on and off by herself as we all know that season will be upon us faster than we expect.

There's also a few things I haven't figured out yet that I hopefully will over the next few weeks: Can we just walk to her classroom or library or do we need to check in at the office first? How do you hand out birthday invites to the kids without all the other kids seeing and having their feeling hurt? (in preschool they had mailboxes you could slip it into)

It's a whole new world for me as a first time parent in the school system. I'm sure that by the time DS enters school I'll have this all down pat but until then I feel like the blind leading the blind. I'll take any advice people have!