Literacy
Reading -
Please read with your Wise Owl for 20 minutes each day. This can be you reading to your child, your child reading to you, or a combination of the two. During this time, ask your child about letter sounds he/she is learning, sight words your child recognizes, and questions about the story. Be sure to make this an enjoyable time with your child. We want to work together to build a love of reading in your child. Your child will have a Reading Log for each month. Please fill in one of the pictures on the log for each day that you and your child read together. This is a homework assignment. The log should be turned in at the end of the month. A new one will come home at the beginning of each month.
As your Wise Owl begins to read more on his/her own, please be sure that your child uses his/her finger to point to the words as they are read. If your child finds a section difficult to read, please read the section to your child first and then have him/her read it back to you (echo reading).
Jolly Phonics/ABC Bootcamp -
We use the Jolly Phonics program in order to help our Wise Owls learn their letter sounds. Each letter has a story associated with it as well as a motion. At the beginning of the school year, we will learn a letter sound a day and then continue to reinforce them throughout the school year. The motions and stories help the children remember their sounds. Please be sure to ask your child what new letter sound and motion was learned each day.
ABC Bootcamp is another program we use in conjunction with Jolly Phonics to help our students learn/reinforce letter names and letter sounds. We try to cover 3 letter sounds a week. At the beginning of the year, you will notice headbands, books, sound searches, and various other activities coming home. This program was so successful last year with both reinforcing and learning letter names and sounds that I am so excited to use it again this year!!
iReady Reading -
During the year, your child will be doing a program called iReady Reading. This will be done on his/her iPad for about 20 minutes at a time. We will be taking a diagnostic assessment early in the year and your child will be placed on a "reading path" appropriate for his/her reading level. The program is fabulous for differentiation because each child is on their own path and the path changes as your child's reading skills improve. I may need to ask you to monitor one or two sessions at home since our time at school is limited.
High-Frequency Words -
Your Wise Owl will be learning many sight words throughout the course of the school year. We have a new English/Language Arts program this year which we are very excited about. Our new program has 120 high-frequency words for kindergartners to learn. It will be very important and extremely helpful for you to help our Wise Owls learn these words. You will be getting lists of the words throughout the course of the year.. |
Writing -
Your child will begin writing very early in the school year. We will begin by drawing pictures to get our ideas across to our readers. Learning how to draw a picture, as well as how to color, are beginning and necessary steps for a child to learn how to communicate with others through their writing. From there we will begin labeling our pictures in order to further learn how to communicate with others through our writing.
As the year progresses, your Wise Owl will begin to write in a journal. When first writing, students begin by writing the sounds they hear. At the beginning, this may be just the first sound they hear in each word. As time goes on and more writing is done, students tend to add the last sound they hear in each word and then the middle sounds. In kindergarten, we don't expect that students will be spelling all their words correctly. I want my Wise Owls to begin their writing careers by listening for the sounds they hear in words and writing those sounds down (developmental spelling). They will begin to spell more words correctly as they read them more and use them more in their writing. A formal spelling program begins in First Grade.
Handwriting -
Your Wise Owl will also be practicing the correct way to form each letter - both upper case and lower case - and each number. Please be sure that your child begins each letter and number at the top of the line. This is extremely important as your child transitions to cursive writing in a later grade.
At the beginning of the year, your child will most likely be writing in all upper case letters. As the year continues, students will be switching to using upper case letters where appropriate and the rest of the letters will be lower case. One of the first times we do this is with showing children how to write their names correctly and having them practice.
Your child will begin writing very early in the school year. We will begin by drawing pictures to get our ideas across to our readers. Learning how to draw a picture, as well as how to color, are beginning and necessary steps for a child to learn how to communicate with others through their writing. From there we will begin labeling our pictures in order to further learn how to communicate with others through our writing.
As the year progresses, your Wise Owl will begin to write in a journal. When first writing, students begin by writing the sounds they hear. At the beginning, this may be just the first sound they hear in each word. As time goes on and more writing is done, students tend to add the last sound they hear in each word and then the middle sounds. In kindergarten, we don't expect that students will be spelling all their words correctly. I want my Wise Owls to begin their writing careers by listening for the sounds they hear in words and writing those sounds down (developmental spelling). They will begin to spell more words correctly as they read them more and use them more in their writing. A formal spelling program begins in First Grade.
Handwriting -
Your Wise Owl will also be practicing the correct way to form each letter - both upper case and lower case - and each number. Please be sure that your child begins each letter and number at the top of the line. This is extremely important as your child transitions to cursive writing in a later grade.
At the beginning of the year, your child will most likely be writing in all upper case letters. As the year continues, students will be switching to using upper case letters where appropriate and the rest of the letters will be lower case. One of the first times we do this is with showing children how to write their names correctly and having them practice.
Assessments -
In Kindergarten we will be covering all the Illinois State Standards and the Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten. I will be informally assessing progress in mastering all the standards, but will be assessing the following standards on the report card during the appropriate trimester:
- Recognizes upper case letters
- Recognizes lower case letters
- Identifies sounds the letters represent
- Blends letters to make words
- Produces rhyming sounds
- Uses developmental spelling
- Constructs a sentence of three or more words
- Recognizes high frequency words
- Is able to sequence a story
- Writes fist name using upper and lower case letters appropriately
In Kindergarten we will be covering all the Illinois State Standards and the Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten. I will be informally assessing progress in mastering all the standards, but will be assessing the following standards on the report card during the appropriate trimester:
- Recognizes upper case letters
- Recognizes lower case letters
- Identifies sounds the letters represent
- Blends letters to make words
- Produces rhyming sounds
- Uses developmental spelling
- Constructs a sentence of three or more words
- Recognizes high frequency words
- Is able to sequence a story
- Writes fist name using upper and lower case letters appropriately