Classroom Information | kindergartenkorner

Reading

As you can imagine, learning to read is a HUGE part of the kindergarten classroom. As a team, you and I will work together to make this experience exciting and rewarding for them. Some language skills I will begin teaching are: letter ID (upper case and lower case), letter sound ID, identifying and providing rhymes, and left to right progression.

Guided reading is when I work with a small group of students on their reading skills, comprehension, and writing. This is a chance for me to individualize the needs of each student. I will run guided reading groups during literacy stations. Students are placed in groups of 3-5 according to their abilities and test scores.

Rigby assessments will be administered to your child throughout the year to determine their reading level. The test provides me with essential information so that the reading instruction they receive during guided reading time is “at” their level. The target Rigby reading level for the end of the year for a Kindergarten child is a Level 4. Many times the children will exceed this level and will receive instruction accordingly.

Writing

As your child is developing his/her writing, there are many things that you can do at home to help support them. Please encourage them to sign their name anytime they create a picture and encourage them to label their pictures. Typically their writing will begin with initial consonant sounds, then adding final sounds, and eventually vowel sounds. Help your child by telling them to “stretch their words” (sound them out slowly) and not to spell things for them. Sight words are a wonderful aide to keep them writing and will greatly impact their reading and writing development.

D'Nealian Manuscript

The Utica Community Schools uses the D’Nealian letters for teaching letter formation. It is believed that this makes for a much smoother transition into cursive writing. I will be sending home practice sheets with their names in D’Nealian for them to work on at home and we will be using the same at school. Knowing how to write and identify their full names (first and last) is an important skill.

Sight Word Folders

Beginning in October, students will be given a folder containing our sight words. They will be tested once a week on their list of sight words. The goal will be to master all 20 lists. More information will be coming home about this program when it gets closer.

Birthday Treats

If you would like to celebrate your child’s birthday in the classroom, please make sure the treats are not edible, due to many food allergies in the building. Some examples are, pencils, erasers, and small toys, stickers indoor or outdoor games for recess.
If your child has a summer birthday, we will arrange a time that works best to celebrate. One option is to celebrate it on their half-birthday. Please just let me know.

Classroom Behavior

I believe in having high expectations of the students to follow classroom rules and to help them understand the reasons behind them. All students should have the opportunity to learn in a safe and comfortable environment. If we all work together as a team, we can accomplish just that!
Our class has 5 expectations:

1. Listen when the speaker is talking
2. Follow directions quickly
3. Respect others, respect ourself, respect our school

4. Make smart choices

5. Be safe, be kind, be honest

In addition, a weekly behavior log will be sent home on Fridays updating you on your child's behavior for the week. These will need to be signed and return on Mondays.

Friday Email Updates

Each Friday I will be sending a weekly email. This will explain our classroom weekly curriculum, special announcements, and reminders. Please be sure to read it! =)

Book Orders

Book orders will come home once a month. Many parents enjoy purchasing books this way. There will be a date on the order that indicates when it is due. Books usually arrive one to two weeks after the order is placed.

Learning Stations

Students will be working in learning stations daily. In the morning they will be working in literacy learning stations and in the afternoon they will be working in math learning stations. Here they will practice the concepts we are learning in class. The stations will provide choices for them and will involve hands-on manipulatives, such as magnetic letters, stamps, big books, and more. There will also be some paper and pencil work. The students should be able to work in these stations independently or with a partner. During this time, I will be conducting guided reading and math groups.

Math

Some of the math skills that will be taught this year are: identify and sequence the numbers 0-20, count by rote to 100, identify and draw a triangle, square, rectangle, and circle, understand classifying, sorting, patterning, graphing, create number sets, and measurement.

Snack Time

We have a quick 10-minute snack every day. Please be sure to pack your child a quick and healthy snack daily. I also have a drinking fountain in the classroom, or your child may bring a small water bottle with a flip or pull top. Please no large drinks or Gatorade, as they tend to spill easily. Also, please make sure they are able to open their snack independently.

Clothing Management

I would recommend sending your child to school in “play-like” attire. There will be days where we will be painting, stamping with ink, or using markers. Sometimes they say washable, but they don’t wash out as well as we would like them to. Now is the time for shoe tying! Please work on helping your child master this skill. Cooler weather is approaching and winter jackets will be needed. Please try to make sure your child can handle opening and closing their jacket independently.

Please send in 1 set of extra clothes (pants/shirt/underwear/socks) to be left at school for accidents- labeled in a bag)

Rewards

In our classroom this year we will be learning to work together to help each other have a fun and safe learning environment. The children will be working as table teams to earn rewards. The table team at the end of the week with the highest hot air balloon on our classroom chart will get to pick prizes from the treasure box.

We also have a class “Warm and Fuzzy Jar” in which the students work together as a team to earn fuzzies for good behavior during specials. Once the class has filled their jar, we will have a class reward.

Star of the Week

Each week a different student will get a chance to be the star of the week. They will be able to help me with many things throughout the week. Each star will be able to complete an “All About Me” poster and bring in a favorite short picture book for me to read to the class. You will find out when you are star of the week the Monday before your week.

Daily Folders

Communication between home and school is an important aspect of your child’s education. Everyday your child will bring their “Ebeling Folder” to school and home. Included in this folder will be daily work, important messages, and notes. Please look over your child’s papers and return the empty folder to school the following day. Any notes for me must go in this folder as well. I do not look through student backpacks.

Volunteers

Parent volunteers are welcome and greatly appreciated!! I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I do not allow any younger siblings while you are volunteering. It can become very distracting to our class and other classrooms around. Thank you in advance for your help! Please be sure you sign and return the background check form to the office. This needs to be filled out and returned before you are able to volunteer.

Transportation

Kindergarteners will be dismissed through our classroom doors. Please be sure to meet your kindergartener at this location. I will dismiss the kindergarteners only to the adult designated to pick them up each day. If another person is scheduled to pick up your child on any given day, please notify me in writing ahead of time and be certain that the person’s name is listed on your child’s emergency card. If no note is received, your child will be sent home by their usual method of transportation. If you forget to send a note, please contact the office directly, and they will notify me of the change.