Kindergarten

1. Kindergarten • Kindergarten is a time when children discover a love of learning! • My job is to support the learning environment and provide opportunities for growth in knowledge • I promise to … • do my very best to make their first year in school a memorable one • be a teacher who makes a difference • try and find the best way your child learns • create a safe, respectful and positive learning environment based on trust • celebrate and value your child’s uniqueness and help them grow with it “While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about!”

2. In Kindergarten we invite children to : • Discover and value their inherent gifts • Gain confidence through a sense of belonging • Understand they they can make a valued contribution • Be creative, competent communicators • Be curious lifelong learners • Be active learners • Build good relationships where they feel valued, are willing to engage, act responsibly and care about others • Share their ideas and insights • Play, explore and discover

3. School Calendar • This year the second day of Kindergarten will be a time of initial assessment. • Each child will have a scheduled time to attend within this day and I will be completing some assessment to help determine my programming direction. Each student can be dropped off for about an hour and then picked up again. • The Speech & Language Patholigist, Linda Poletz, will also be here to do her initial screening. • Danielle Jamieson will also be helping with the assessment • The first full day of Kindergarten for everyone will be September 7. • The schedule is on the following page • The final day will be Thursday,June 21st • Please check the Blog, daybooks and notes regularly as sometimes we need to change what day kindergarten is because of special school events

4. Sept. 6th Schedule 9:00 – Cole Brown 9:20 – Zack Kirk 9:40 – Ben MacDonald 10:00 – Ella Rublee 10:20 – Zayda Summach 10:40 – Callie Swan 11:00 – Sawyer Gilroy 11:20- Karlee Schwengler 11:40 - Penner 12:45 – Dante Hudson 1:05 – Ty Campbell 1:25 – Kayla Sach 1:45 – Kayden Mears 2:05– Hailey Olson

6. School Supplies I will purchase and collect from everyone in the fall. They will need to send and/or purchase a: • backpack • lunch kit • inside shoes (Velcro unless they are very good at tying) • box of Kleenex • change of clothes • head phones (over the ear type)

7. Kindergarten Daily Routine Each day we work on readiness skills like: • Letters and sounds • Sequencing • Relationships to expand vocabulary i.e. opposites • Rhyming & sight words • Colors – identifying, matching, and then color to its word • Patterning

8. Routine Continued • Matching – ie. Object to shadows, concrete to abstract • Classification – size, objects, large to small, concrete to abstract • Numerals – Exploring what is “5” etc., rote counting, matching sets to sets, and then sets to numerals left to right progression • Regular “Body Breaks” that enhance our ability to learn and perform at our best • Gross motor skills • Fine motor skills – coloring and cutting • Inquiry Learning - exploration of “Big Idea Questions”

9. Homework Packages • Monthly homework packages are sent home in a binder • Students may complete Homework packages. A variety of concepts will be reviewed; Colors, letters, numbers, patterning, etc. • At the end of the month they are asked to return them school (even if they are not all completed) • They receive rewards and are entered into draws if their packages are returned • There are sheets with games and ideas for things you can try at home besides the hands on work

10. Stages of Reading • Emergent • Reads using pictures and memory • Is aware of the conventions of print • Knows some letter sounds • 2.Beginning • Demonstrates one-to-one correspondence; • Is starting to use phonics for decoding • Is developing a sight vocabulary • Independent • Uses a variety of word identification strategies • Read fluently with expression; • Has a large sight-word vocabulary.

11. Sight Words- These are sent out with the homework packages & are on flashcards- High frequency words- Words pictures can’t explain- Number words- Colour words

12. Stages of Writing • Scribbling • Directional Scribbling • Strings of Letters • Letter Groups and Copying • Letter/Word Representation • “I went to town .” as • “I w t tn” • Medial Letter Sounds and Sentence Writing • “This kande is min” • 7. Conventional Spelling

13. Printing-grip-posture-spacing-start letters at the top-prints left to right-These things are very important and I ask that you work hard to reinforce this at home

14. Evaluation • We assess what the child is learning by observing behavior, participation, how a job is tackled, and how they interact or respond to the teacher and other students • Assessment is ongoing with checklists, conferences, photos, workjobs and activity sheets. Final assessment will be completed before report cards. • We do a few screenings; Speech, Motor, and Phonological Awareness Linda Poletz, our Speech Pathologist, will do an informal screening in the fall.

15. Report Cards and Interviews • Report Cards go out two times; March and June • Parent-Teacher-Student interviews are in November and March • There will be a portfolio to show your child’s learning throughout the year as well • If you have any questions please call me at home (932-2236) or on my cell(932-7770) or school (932-2222)

16. Recess • Everyone goes out for recess. Please bring appropriate dress that students are able to do themselves. In rainy weather wear splash pants and it is a good idea to send an extra pair of pants – in case.

17. Classroom Behavior Management System: How it works: • Each day all of the children start on green. If a child is misbehaving, I move his card to yellow or red. I save red for major offenses or repeated offenses. If a child is behaving very well, I change his card to purple. Often if I see a child misbehaving, I look for a child who IS behaving and change that child to purple rather than changing the misbehaving child to yellow. Most children "straighten up" when you change a classmate to purple in hopes that they too can have purple. I change many more children to purple than yellow or red. This makes the system more of a positive reinforcement system than a negative or punitive system. Consequences: • I try to make the consequences directly relate to the misbehavior and I make sure that children understand this relationship. For that reason, I don't have specific consequences that match misbehaviors or that corresponds to the colors on my chart. I often offer choices regarding consequences to give the child some control (rather than engaging in a power struggle). For example: if a child does not complete his work during a lesson--due to "fooling around" or refusing to do it--I may offer him the choice of completing it at recess or activity time. I am not punishing him; sitting out to complete the work is a natural consequence of not doing it in class. Another example: if a child is disrupting the class, I may offer her the choice of putting her head down at her table or sitting in our quiet chair (time out chair). • At the end of the day, children who are on purple get a sticker for their chart and a sticker in their daybook, children on green get a sticker in their daybook, yellow gets nothing, and red gets a note or phone call home.

18. Other Information You Need To Know • Students are supervised from 8:40 am until 3:10 p.m. • They will be eating lunch in our classroom. • Students may purchase milk every month from our milk program. • There is a Thursday Note that goes home every Thursday. Jodi has an emailed version for all those who have email. • Please watch for it as it is an important tool for communication between the school and home. • We have a schedule for “Show & Share” every morning. I will send a note out to let you know which day your child will have show and share.

19. How Can I Help My Child? • Read regularly • Regular bedtime routine • Note monthly calendar • Return library books • Prepare for sharing • Encourage participation in school spirit days • Support Expected & Unexpected Behaviours • Attend school functions • Volunteer (Please fill in correct forms to do so) • Day Books – read Blog, sign & return each Kindergarten day

20. Just Playing Author UnknownWhen I'm building in the block area, Please don't say I'm "Just Playing." For, you see, I'm learning as I play: about balance and shapes. Who knows, I may be an architect someday. When I'm getting all dressed up, setting the table, caring for the babies, Don't get the idea I'm, "Just Playing." For, you see, I'm learning as I play: I may be a mother or a father someday.

21. When you see me up to my elbows in paint, or standing at an easel, or molding and shaping the clay, Please don't let me hear you say, "He's Just Playing." For, you see, I'm learning as I play. I'm expressing myself and being creative. I may be an artist or an inventor someday. When you see me sitting in a chair "reading" to an imaginary audience, Please don't laugh and think I'm "Just Playing." For you see, I'm learning as I play. I may be a teacher someday. When you see me combing the bushes for bugs, or packing my pockets with choice things I find, Don't pass it off as "Just Playing." For, you see, I 'm learning as I play. I may be a scientist someday.

22. When you see me engrossed in a puzzle or some plaything at my school, Please don't feel the time is wasted in "Play." For, you see, I'm learning as I play. I'm learning to solve problems and concentrate. I may be in business someday. When you see me cooking and tasting foods, Please don't think that because I enjoy it, it is"Just Playing.“ For, you see, I'm learning as I play. I'm learning to follow directions and see differences. I may be a cook someday.When you see me learning to skip, hop, run, and move my body, Please don't say I'm "Just Playing.“ For, you see, I'm learning as I play. I'm learning how my body works. I may be a doctor, nurse, or an athlete someday.

23. Students’ Work is Play When you ask me what I've done at school today, and I say, "I Just Played," Please don't misunderstand me. For, you see, I'm learning as I play. I'm learning to enjoy and be successful in my work, I'm preparing for tomorrow.Today, I am a child and my work IS play

24. Things I Need to Start School • An extra set of clothes that I can leave at school • A box of Kleenex • Inside shoes (Velcro Please!!) • A lunch kit • A back pack • Headphones (Over the ear type) • Water bottle (one that doesn’t tip or leak easily) • I will buy the rest of the school supplies and collect from you at the beginning of the year

25. We are tuned into Kindergarten! • Here’s to a great year!

26. A Successful Year With everyone working together, students, teachers, and parents, we can provide the best education for the students. All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergartenby Robert Fulghum Most of what I really need to know about how to liveand what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain,but there in the sand pile at school. These are the things I learned:

27. Share everything.Play fair.Don't hit people.Put things back where you found them.Clean up your own mess.Don't take things that aren't yours.Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.Wash your hands before you eat.Flush.Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.Live a balanced life—learn some and think some anddraw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.Take a nap every afternoon.When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.Be aware of wonder.