Welcome to Curriculum Night!

Welcome to Curriculum Night! Mrs. Rojas’ Kindergarten 2013-2014 School Year

A Little About Myself • I have a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree. from Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University in Elementary Education. • I have been teaching Kindergarten for 28 years. 26 of my years teaching has been in Kyrene and 21 at Esperanza!

Our Daily Schedule Tonight I will take you through our daily schedule as I talk about each curriculum area and other important information you will need to know.

Opening/Calendar • 4 days a week • This everyday routine incorporates many skills of our curriculum. • Opening teaches many different skills, including but not limited to: technology, math, number recognition, calendar knowledge, oral language, chants, poems, • and Spanish.

Reading • 5 days a week • Harcourt Trophey Series is our adopted teaching resource • Includes six essential components

The Six Essential Components of our Reading Program: • Phonemic Awareness- some skills included in this area are: initial/final sounds, blending sounds, rhyme recognition, syllable segmentation • Phonics- Knowledge of letter-sound relationships and decoding • Reading Aloud- reading aloud to students contributes to their motivation, comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, sense of community, enjoyment, and a lifetime of love of literature.

Vocabulary- the more words students acquire, the better chance they will have for success in reading, writing, and spelling. • Text Comprehension- focuses on listening comprehension in learning to read and the transition from listening to reading comprehension. • High Frequency Words- First 25 for kindergarten along with some extra words found in our Harcourt Reading Series

Students come to school with diverse experiences and language backgrounds, therefore the Harcourt Trophies reading series also allows for differentiated instruction in order to reach all learners. • Cooperative learning (guided reading groups, instructional focus groups-IFG and literacy work stations)

Ashlock Daily, explicit, systematic lessons to improve student’s fluency in letter/sound recognition, blending and decoding words, and reading high frequency words. These quick daily lessons also work on phonemic awareness skills.

Language Arts Common Core State Standards • Focus on: Reading Development -Students will be able to provide key ideas and details from text -Understand the structure of various kinds of text -Make comparisons within and between texts -Understand the concepts of print -apply decoding skills -read common sight words -read appropriate texts

Language Arts Common Core State Standards • Focus on: Speaking and Listening Development -Students will be able to demonstrate listening comprehension -present knowledge and ideas orally Writing and Language Development -Students will be able to draw, dictate, and write to create different types of text -engage in the writing process -use appropriate writing conventions and vocabulary -participate in projects to recall or gather information

Writer's Workshop • 4 days a week • Writer’s Workshop (written and developed by Lucy Calkins) • This writing program teaches the complete process of writing from developing writing ideas and topics to making revisions. It includes poetry, non-fiction writing, and personal narratives. • Individual Journals- involves phonetic writing and prompt writing • Writing is integrated into other subject areas

Handwriting • 1-2 days a week • Promotes letter forms that are rhythmical and easy for students to master • Provides a variety of print experience- letters, numbers, sight words, name • Needs practice at home too!!

Lunch/Recess 10:40-11:20 • Please make sure you read the menu to see if your child likes the choices for lunch (menu is on-line also) • Lunch Prices- • $2.50 for students • .50 for milk & juice • .35 for water • You may pay on-line for your child’s lunch at: www.mylunchmoney.com or you can access this directly from the Kyrene School District home page

Recess • Teaches how to play safe • Becomes involved in sports • Interaction with peers • Problem solves

Author Study • 4 days a week • Focus on specific authors throughout the school year • Discuss elements of literature (characters, setting, title, etc.)

Math • 4 days a week • Kyrene has adopted a combined math series: • 1. Scott Foresman/Addison Wesley • Mathematics • 2. Investigations in Number, Data and Space • This is a two-part approach to the learning of mathematical content along with reaching all students needs.

Investigations in Data and Space: • An activity based math resource acting as a replacement approach. It encourages students to think creatively, develop critical thinking skills and get a deeper understanding of the math and how to apply it. Your children will constantly be encouraged to reason mathematically, develop strong problem solving strategies and represent their thinking using models, diagrams and graphs. • -free and guided exploration • -hands-on activities and games • -use of concrete materials and technology

Scott Foresman/Addison Wesley Mathematics • More like a math basal. • It is a traditional textbook approach to the teaching of mathematical content, with an emphasis on problem solving and practice. • This text has been aligned to the Arizona State Standards. It also offers many different types of experiences and practice for your child in a lesson-by-lesson format.

Science • 2 days a week • Mrs. Rignall will be instructing the children in Science. • Hands on activities and experiments • Builds experience base for older grades • Introduction to formulating predictions, questions, and hypothesis based on observations • Builds higher level of thinking skills

Explore these Science Units: 1.) Life Science- living things/non-living things, five senses, and human body 2.) Physical Science- magnets and properties of objects 3.) Earth and Space- weather, earth materials, and conservation 4.) History and Nature of Science- people and jobs in science

Social Studies • 2 days a week • Mrs. Rojas will be instructing the children in Social Studies • Harcourt Social Studies- Our World, Now and Long Ago • Our kindergarten social studies program focuses on these units: Being a good citizen, our country, workers, where we live, time, and stories of the past. The adopted resources focus on using examples of real • citizens of good character and a wide variety of rich literature and informational text. • -

Second Step • Violence prevention program that teaches children social skills in three main areas: 1. Empathy 2. Impulse Control/Problem Solving 3. Anger/Emotion Management See handout for more information

Health • 1 day a week • Harcourt Health and Fitness is a program that helps students develop positive behaviors and attitudes that will lead to a lifetime of good health. In order to achieve that goal, students need knowledge, life skills, good character, and consumer skills. The chapters focus on: growing, staying healthy, caring for you teeth, healthy foods, being active, safety, • feelings, family life, and a healthy community.

Free Choice Time • once a week • Builds decision making skills • Works on independent thinking and problem solving • Promotes interaction with others • Allows time for movement

Computer Lab • 1 day a week • Teach basic parts of the computer • Locate keys on the keyboard • Log on and off computer • Go in and out of programs • Using the Pixie 3 program, students are able to create different projects (slide shows, pictures, etc.).

! Specials • P.E. = Thursday • Music = Friday • Art- Wednesday • Library = Tuesday • Computer Lab = Monday • Reading Buddies with Mrs. Middleton’s Class= Wednesdays(weekly)

Homework • District guidelines state ten minutes a night, three nights a week • Homework will begin coming home this week • Homework focuses on practicing skills that have already been taught in class • Occasional extra home involvement activities

Assessment, Conferences, Report Cards • Will assess frequently or as needed • Conferences will be first and third quarter • (3rd quarter is student-led conferences) • Report cards will go home after second • and fourth quarter

Classroom Management • Character Clips- displays positive behavior choices along with negative behavior choices. • The character clip calendar stays in their binder so that you can see and discuss daily with your child.

Character Clip Colors • Green- “Ready to Learn”- All students begin their day on green • Blue- “Warning/Reminder”- made a choice that was inappropriate for the classroom learning environment. Everyone in life needs reminders from time to time. • Yellow- “Refocus Desk”- continued inappropriate choices and needs to refocus at separate desk for 5 min. • Orange- “Partner Teacher Refocus”- after having refocus time in the classroom, continued to make inappropriate choices. Needs to refocus in another classroom for 10 min. (notification sheet comes home and phone call home)

Character Clip Colors • Red- “Office Referral”- student was consistently making choices that affected our learning environment and could not demonstrate desired behaviors. Student will be sent to the office and parents will be notified. • Purple-“Super Shark”- means your child has consistently demonstrated positive behavior choices for that day. • Remember and reinforce to your child that green is a great day!

S.H.A.R.K. • Esperanza has a school wide positive behavior intervention plan • S.H.A.R.K. stands for Safe, Honest, and Respectful Kids • The S.H.A.R.K. matrix defines the behavior expectations in each common area of the school • Please go over the S.H.A.R.K. matrix found in your packet with your child at home to reinforce what is being expected at school.

Character Counts • Esperanza also uses a school wide philosophy to teach children how to demonstrate “good character”. It is called Character Counts and it focuses on six character traits which are: • Be Trustworthy • Be Respectful • Be Responsible • Be Caring • Be Fair • Be a good Citizen

Throughout the school year, I will be teaching the children what each of these traits mean and how their behavior choices can affect their character. I will emphasize these character traits through role playing and modeling. You can also incorporate these character traits (using the same language) with your child at home.

Birthdays • Special days and we want to celebrate them with your child • State Dept. forbids any unhealthy snacks/treats • You may bring a book to donate to our school library

Student of the Week • You may sign up tonight and I will send notice when the time gets closer • Parents are invited to attend on that Friday morning to celebrate with their child

Communication You can easily reach me at my school email: nrojas@kyrene.org Classroom Phone Number (after/before school hours only)- 480-541-2913 Or you can write on your child’s Communication Log.

Web Page • Go to Kyrene Home Page • Go to Schools • Click on Esperanza • Click on Mrs. Rojas

Miscellaneous • Snack- Please send a snack to school for M, T, Th, F (if sending snack in a lunch box, please be sure that your child is aware of it). • Binders and backpacks • Transportation changes • Class directory - please use for birthday party invitations, set up play dates, etc.

Volunteer in our Classroom! Volunteers • Classroom (we will meet next weekto schedule and discuss volunteering) • Art masterpiece • Yearbook • PTO

Thank You... for taking the time to attend Curriculum Night! I look forward to working with you and your child this year. It is going to be a wonderful year filled with exciting learning activities! To access facts about the Kyrene curriculum go to: www.kyrene.org

Welcome to Curriculum Night!