Kindergarten
Children in kindergarten will have a variety of educational experiences throughout the year. We strongly believe that every child is capable of learning and we are determined to find the learning style your child needs to succeed. Kindergarten is a stepping stone to a lifetime of learning!
Reading:
Throughout the year, we focus on reading skills such as letter names, letter sounds, sight words, writing skills, rhyming words, phonics, and phonemic awareness. Kindergarten uses Benchmark Literacy Reading and Heggerty Phonemic Awareness curriculums to teach these concepts. In addition, concepts from the Science of Reading are incorporated into the daily lessons to teach children how to accurately decode the written word and comprehend the language of text.
Sight Words:
Sight words are words that are meant to be recognized “automatically” when reading, so your child does not have to stop and sound them out. This strategy will help with reading fluency and comprehension. In Kindergarten, we will focus on 50 of Dr. Edward Fry’s first 100 Sight Words that were originally developed in the 1950s and updated in 1980. These words account for 50-75% of the words in print!
Handwriting:
The ezWrite Handwriting Program uses consistent language to teach students common letter and number formation using eight beginning strokes. Kindergartners will also learn the mechanics of what makes a quality sentence – starting with a capital letter, including finger spaces, using baseline alignment, having a subject and a verb, and ending with a punctuation mark.
Math:
In math our focus includes sorting, patterning, recognizing numbers, counting, writing numbers 0-100, telling time, 2D and 3D shapes, addition and subtraction equations, making groups of 10, identifying more and less, and calendar concepts. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Math Expressions is the main curriculum that we use for our math instruction.
Science:
Science is very hands on and provides experiences to grasp concepts such as differentiating between living and nonliving things, monitoring weather, sorting manmade and natural objects, and identifying and labeling plants, animals, and human parts. Mystery Science is the main curriculum that we use for our science instruction.
Social Studies:
Social Studies focuses on the world around us through civic skills, identifying examples of rules in the school community, describing symbols, songs, and traditions that identify our nation and state, and identifying goods and services.
In Kindergarten, several of the Science and Social Studies standards are embedded into the reading and math curriculum.
Power of Three:
The Power of Three curriculum was created by Dan Mades, and is taught in grades K-5. The Power of Three is meant to create a common language and processing strategy that can be used with every student. The introductory lessons create a common language and philosophy to help students understand and process their “big feelings” so that they can make positive choices that will enable them to become successful. If students struggle after the introductory lessons and continue to exhibit verbal or physical behaviors, the curriculum offers a plan for a Tier 2 intervention that will work in tandem with our Behavior Intervention Response Team (BIRT).
Click HERE to access Teacher Pages.
Reading Suggestions
Parents often ask, “ How can I teach my child the letters of the alphabet?” Drilling with flash cards is one way, but researchers have found it is not the most effective! Instead, alphabet recognition can begin in simple ways such as saying the letters of your child’s name as you write it, pointing out a word in a book title that begins with the same first letter as their name, using newspaper or magazine ads for “letter hunts” and circling all the A’s… etc. These activities are fun for your child and are the most appropriate method of “instruction” for this age group.
Showing children that letters have a purpose… communicating ideas and feelings, gives them incentive to learn the letters and the associated sounds. Pointing out that the function of print can be accomplished by writing stories or letters that your child dictates to you. You may also want to try letting your child write his/her own words with “kindergarten print”. He/she would write the word as it sounds. This type of letter/sound experimentation is a vital step in the development of future writing. It is as important as crawling is to walking! So… please don’t try to correct their spelling. Allow them to experiment and believe them when they tell you what their “word” says!
When your child draws a picture, write a few sentences that your child dictates to you about his/her drawing. Help your child notice all the words in his/her environment: store signs, cereal boxes, road signs, Burger King, McDonald’s, etc. As you write and read with your child, help him/her notice that writing goes from left to right and from top to bottom.
Take time to read to/with your child EVERY DAY!! This is the single MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do to help your child be successful in school. Please remember to read the pictures as well as the words. Take a few moments to talk about the main characters of the book… describe them and discuss the reasons they acted as they did in the story. Retelling the action that took place and the order of events in the story are other important parts of sharing a book. Books with repetitive phrases such as, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff….” offer a wonderful chance for children to participate in the story.
Offer pencils, crayons, markers, scissors and glue to your child along with old catalogs, magazines and “junk mail”. (coloring books are fine too…) Let them scribble, draw, cut and glue… making sure they are also expected to help with the clean-up!
Most importantly… learn to relax and enjoy each other’s company! If you talk with your child often (complimenting their attempts at writing, reading and creating), read to your child daily, and offer them times to use crayons, markers, glue and scissors … you are doing what is right and best for your child!
Milaca Kindergarten Teachers
Ways You Can Help At Home
* Give your child duties around the house to develop self-confidence and responsibility.
* Be sure your child listens to others and follows simple directions, one at a time.
* Demonstrate and teach your child to help others including brothers, sisters, and pets.
* Supervise viewing of T.V. programs. Thirty minutes per day is a good average for children in Kindergarten.
* Talk positively about school.
* Teach your child to be independent about appropriate toilet habits.
* Teach your child his/her full name, parent’s names, address, and phone number.
* Establish a regular pattern for sleep (10 hours).
* Make sure labels are on all personal belongings, with both first and last names.
* Reserve a little time after school each day to talk about your child’s day. Please offer encouragement and praise.
* Encourage your child to look forward to Kindergarten as a happy, friendly place.
Kindergarten Discipline Procedure
Each Kindergarten classroom will teach the introductory lessons in The Power of Three curriculum created by Dan Mades. The Power of Three creates a common language and processing strategy that can be used with every student. The lessons help the students understand and process their “big feelings” so that they can make positive choices that will enable them to become more successful. If a student struggles after the introductory lessons and continues to exhibit verbal or physical behaviors, the curriculum offers a plan for the next level of interventions for the student(s). The Power of Three will work in tandem with our Behavior Intervention Response Team (BIRT).
At Milaca Elementary School we use Discipline Referrals to document student behaviors that are repetitive and/or severe in nature. If your child receives a Discipline Referral, please sign it and have your child return it to school the following day. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the person who assigned the Discipline Referral. We appreciate all of your support!
When cleaning out closets, cupboards, or bedrooms ~ please keep your child’s Kindergarten teacher in mind! We LOVE donations for our classroom store (McDonald’s toys, cars, and any other small items, etc.).