Welcome to Kindergarten!

Each new age brings marked changes in behavior as well as many new
accomplishments. Five and six year-olds are givers, passing peanuts to company
and making presents as if every day were a holiday. Like many of us, they are at
their best in the morning. Five and six year-olds need plenty of sleep, (at least ten
hours a night) an afternoon quiet time and nutritious food. They love to be read to
and are very curious, always asking questions and trying to make sense of concrete and even
abstract phenomena. At this stage of development, the childs self-concept and eagerness to
learn are most important.
Kindergarten requires many things of a child. He/she must be able to concentrate and pay
attention. A Kindergartner should have the capacity to understand, remember and follow two
and three-part directions, do assigned tasks and manage personal possessions. Hopefully, he/
she will learn to participate as part of a group, to read social cues, to conform to expectations
and rules and to develop his/her own style for making and keeping friends. What a
Kindergartner learns about handling him/herself in a group and about embracing new
situations will last forever.

Here are some ways that parents can support their childs school efforts at home:

! Encourage independent actions and delegate responsibility in return of materials

to school, following directions, buttoning, zipping, and tying shoes.

! Check your Kindergartners backpack each day. Discuss school activities with
enthusiasm. Try to display work at home.

! Listen to your child and try to encourage complete sentence responses in conversation (and
give the time necessary). Also, expect your child to speak in turn during conversations.

! Send your child to school with appropriate clothing. We plan an outdoor play period each
day, weather permitting. Children need hats and mittens on cold winter days.

! Do not allow your child to bring toys to school except on designated days.
! Provide a book bag or backpack large enough to hold your childs belongings.
! Make sure your Kindergartner has a good nights sleep and a healthy breakfast
each morning. When packing lunch, try to include some protein, limit sweets and
remember that fresh is best.

.Language

Arts

In Kindergarten, we strive to allow children to develop as listeners, speakers, readers

and writers through active involvement in the communication process. The approach
we use integrates oral and written language and fosters learning across the
curriculum.
Kindergartners learn the skills of reading and writing through direct instruction as
well as through active participation in the reading/writing process. They are read to every day
and they have developmentally appropriate writing experiences throughout the week.
Phonemic awareness is an integral part of our Language Arts program. The children are taught
to associate letters and sounds through a variety of activities. This helps them todevelop early
decoding skills. Please note that we skip the step of naming the letters(and instead refer to
theletters only by the sound they make), while introducing and initially working with the sounds,
in order tofacilitate fluent correspondence between the letter sounds and their symbols.
Kindergartners are given direct instruction in and are encouraged to use
developmental spelling. We call this 'sound spelling' in Kindergarten. This earliest
stage of writing allows children to write down the sounds they hear in words,
approximating the correct spelling of words. Children are also introduced to high
frequency words ("Star Words") throughout the year to assist in their early
reading and writing skill development.
Kindergartners are assessed on an ongoing basis, formally and informally. Instruction is
provided in pre-reading and emergent reading skills as they become appropriate for each child.

Kindergarten is the beginning of the

DNealian handwriting method. This is
a program that helps to facilitate the
transition from manuscript to cursive.
This is done by introducing the
manuscript letters in Kindergarten
with strokes which are similar to
cursive, which is introduced in Second
Grade.

Mathematics
In Kindergarten, your child will be using a mathematics program designed to help him/
her learn a wide range of mathematical concepts as well as insure knowledge of the
basic arithmetic skills. This program is called enVisionMATHTM and is based on
current research evaluating the most effective ways to teach young children
mathematics.
The program, enVisionMATHTM, is based on the principle that better conceptual understanding
begins with problem-solving. Each lesson begins with the daily spiral review and the problem of
the day, which focus on childrens prior knowledge and serve as a warm-up for each days
lesson. Learning activities integrate visual, manipulative and language-based learning.
During the school year, the children will work on patterns, sorting, classifying, position and
location, graphing, measurement, addition, subtraction, time, money, fractions, geometry,
numeration, place value and problem solving.
Children share discoveries and ideas with one another and learn to share the classroom space
and materials.

Science
The goal of Kindergarten science is to help students gain an awareness of
living things and the environment.
The children are involved in creative problem solving and a variety of
hands-on experiences. Our program is designed to relate science to the childs
daily experiences. Children are encouraged to share their knowledge and ideas
with others.

Social Studies
Kindergarten children start school with a great deal of experience interacting in the world.
Thus, our goal is to build on knowledge that children already have and help them to explore new
horizons. Our program allows children to grow socially, by interacting with peers; intellectually,
by solving real problems; and emotionally through self-expression.
The immediate world is much more accessible to the young child than are long
ago times and far away places. Therefore, this program starts close to home
with activities centered on the school, the family and the local community.
Faraway places and times long ago are reached through connections to the
childs own personal world.