Handbook

Welcome to Kindergarten!

The Goals of Kindergarten Kindergarten is a time to develop… Age-appropriate academic skills Independence Skills for interacting with peers Cooperative learning skills And a love for learning

An overview of a day in the life of Kindergarten

Writing
We will begin our day by writing in journals.  I am very excited to be doing Kid Writing again this year. The students will kid write in their journals on a daily basis. They will use phonics-based spelling to sound out the words they would like to write. My goal is for each child to enjoy writing and to begin little by little to understand how to become a better writer. I will share these journals with you during our conference time.

Reading Readiness
The reading readiness program developed for the Kindergarten children focuses on the many aspects of reading development: phonics (letters and their sounds) language development (communication through listening, speaking and writing) and literature experiences.
Phonics is a success-oriented program that presents new learning in small increments and then reviews daily to allow students the practice and exposure they need to achieve success. The goal of the phonics program is to teach letter recognition, sound recognition, and blending of sounds. The program also gives the children practice with phonemic awareness, rhyming words, syllabication, and alphabetical order. These are important foundation skills that must be developed in order for children to apply phonics skills in their reading, writing and spelling.
Lessons involve alphabet activities, phonemic awareness, an introduction of new learning, a review of past learning, and a worksheet for transfer of the learning to the printed form. As the year progresses, children will also receive word lists and mini readers, so they can practice their blending skills at home. The goal is to have the students reading on a level three before they enter first grade.

Language development is integrated throughout the day with stories, songs, poems and finger plays. When speaking in a group, children are encouraged, through modeling, to speak in complete sentences.

Children are exposed to many Literature Experiences throughout the day. The goal of this exposure is to model for children reading and comprehension. When a story is presented, we discuss the author and illustrator. Children make predictions about the story. Vocabulary and comprehension are developed through questioning and extension activities, which may follow a story. Sight words are also introduced and practiced through stories. Stories are presented in a variety of formats: books, audiotape stories, computer-based stories, videos and story telling.
One final area related to reading development is the fine motor skill of printing. Children will be introduced to Handwriting Without Tears. This is a formal handwriting instruction included in the Kindergarten curriculum where correct letter formation is introduced and practiced. Please keep in mind the following:

• The main focus is on letter form, size and writing within the lines
• Please refer to letter formation sample packets that are sent home so you can reinforce the correct form when writing at home
• When your child practices name writing, only the first letter is capitalized
• It is developmentally appropriate and very common for students to print letters/numbers backward in kindergarten.

Daily Five
It won’t be long until you hear about “The Daily 5”, so I wanted to give you a quick overview of this new literacy framework, developed by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, so that you’ll know what your child is talking about. The Daily Five is a way of structuring the reading block so that every student is independently engaged in meaningful literacy tasks. These research-based tasks are fun, engaging, and have big impacts on student reading and writing achievement. Each day, the students will receive 2-3 whole group reading strategy lessons. In between these group lessons, the students will work independently on one of the “Daily 5” tasks for 15-20 minutes. During this time, I will provide focused, intense instruction to individuals and small groups of students. Here are the Daily 5 components:

• Read to Self: The research continually shows that the very best way to become a better reader is to practice, practice, practice! Your child will read books at his/her “just right” level each day, practicing reading strategies they have learned. Reading is FUN!

• Read to Someone: Reading to someone helps develop reading fluency and comprehension, and it’s FUN!

• Listen to Reading: Listening to reading helps children develop reading fluency. It also allows them to access texts that they can’t read independently yet. And of course, it’s FUN!

• Word Work: Working with words helps children become better spellers and writers. Your child will learn about word families, practice high frequency ‘sight’ words using play dough, stamps, tiles, and whiteboards, magnetic letters and much more. Working on words is FUN!

• Work on Writing: Just like it takes practice, practice, practice to become a better reader, it takes practice, practice, practice to become a better writer! During Work on Writing your child will work on writing of their own choice. Working on writing is FUN! We will also have a separate Writer’s Workshop at the beginning of the day to work on specific forms of writing.

Calendar Time
Right before lunch the class gathers together for review and practice of math skills, through calendar board activities. These activities include: calendar, counting, patterning, graphing, letter and sound review, reading a story, reading poems and rhymes, and singing and moving to music. The activities change to reflect new learning in math and reading.

Math Work Stations
Math in my classroom is a hands-on approach. The children will learn about the concepts listed below by exploring and using manipulatives.  Math concepts covered include:

Exploration, patterning, graphing, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, classifications, matching and making sets, number sense, ordering, counting, time and money, measurement, simple addition and subtraction.

Just like with the Daily 5, students will be given a whole group lesson on the math concept we are learning. They will then get to choose a math game/work station to practice the skills taught while I am able to pull individuals and small groups for guided math practice.

Snack:  We will be having snack on a regular basis.  Due to food allergies, I ask that each child bring his or her own individual snack daily. I cannot keep extra snack in the classroom, as they attract unwanted pests so it will be important that your child remembers to bring snack daily.

Birthdays:  Birthdays are not to be celebrated at school, so please do not send food, balloons or flowers. We will celebrate your child’s birthday in class through song and a special classroom book. Invitations may be distributed at school ONLY if all of the class is being invited. The PTA sells birthday banners to display your child’s birthday.

Recess: Children have 1 scheduled recesses every day. The children go out unless it is raining or very cold, so PLEASE dress your child for the weather.

Lunch: Lunch is from 10:47-11:17. Please send your child’s lunch money in their Take Home Folders in the provided pouch. You may pre-pay lunches (using cash only), if this is easier.  Children may also bring their lunches.

Units: The focus of kindergarten is to build foundation skills for future learning. Our social studies and science units enable the children to apply these foundation skills in an exciting learning adventure. Units last approximately one week. Each unit involves goal setting, the learning of basic information about the topic and a culminating activity.

Specials: The children will rotate between art and music and P.E.  Children should wear gym shoes and girls should wear pants/shorts or shorts under their dresses for P.E.  We will also go to the library and the computer lab.

Transportation: If there is a change in your child’s transportation (different bus or child is being picked up) we must have it in writing. We cannot take the word of your child. In an emergency, you may call the office.

Folders and Supplies: Please check your child’s Take Home Folder each night for important information from school. Children should have their Take Home Folder in their backpack each day. This is my way of communicating with you on a regular basis. Feel free to send notes and place them in your child’s Take Home Folder in the provided pouch. I also let you know how your child behaved at school by coding the behavior chart daily.  Please sign them weekly.  Thanks to all who have sent school supplies already. Headphones can be purchased for $3 from the PTA.

Distractions: The attention of children is a precious resource!! Please keep your children from bringing toys or wearing distracting clothes, jewelry or shoes to school.

Conferences: AISD schedules a fall and a spring parent/teacher conference day.  Our first conference will be Monday, October 14^th. 

Report Cards: Kindergarten students are assessed each nine weeks in the areas of math, language arts (reading, writing, speaking and listening), social studies, science, PE, art, music, and personal development. The following sources are used to assess:  teacher observation, completed work, teacher made checklists, performance based assessments, TPRI and DRA standard reading assessments.
Your child will receive an academic number grade as follows:
4 means ADVANCED- the student is working a year above grade level on a consistent basis.
3 means SKILLED- the student is working at grade level and has a deep and thorough understanding of the concept/skill.
2 means BASIC UNDERSTANDING- the student is working at grade level and has a basic, beginning understanding of the concept/skill.
1 means NEED IMPROVEMENT- the student is working below grade level.

Help From Home: Read to your child on a regular basis so that they will develop a love for reading. Review letters and sounds, counting (to 100) and other skills covered in class.  The children need to be familiar with these letters and practicing them at home will be very helpful. 
I very much appreciate the trust you have placed in me as your child’s teacher. I look forward to working with you this school year. If you ever have any questions, please let me know.  My conference time is from 8:45-9:30.  I can also be reached by e-mail at: Shauna.Langham@austinisd.org