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The Kindergarten Year

During this school year your child will be learning about the world and exploring the environment. Each child comes with different strengths and will progress at a different pace. Most of our work in class is done in small groups or individually so that each child gains the most by learning material at the appropriate level. If you look at the lists below, you will be able to find a level that your child is working at now. As the year progresses your child will move down the list, acquiring new skills at a regular pace. Just as each child comes in at a different level than other children, each child will finish kindergarten at different skill levels. Our goal is to help your child learn the most that is possible in a fun and enjoyable way. Very few children will achieve the skills at the bottom of the list, while most children will achieve the skills in the middle.

Math

Writing

  • Scribbling.

  • Drawing shapes.

  • Drawing recognizable figures.

  • Drawing letters.

  • Association sounds with letters.

  • Writing "c" for "cat", "r" for "rainbow".

  • Writing some memorized whole words ("cat", "love").

  • Writing more letters in words ('dg" for "dog", "pr" for "paper").

  • Writing short sentences "Joshua iz mi frnd".

  • Writing stories using a continually developing invented spelling.

    Reading

  • Identifying a few letters (especially letters in child's name).

  • Recognizing certain words ("stop", child's name, "McDonald's).

  • Identifying all letters.

  • Matching some letters with their sounds.

  • Recognizing written words in our songs and poems.

  • Matching all letters with their sounds.

  • Recognizing whole sentences in our poems.

  • Reading our songs and poems.

  • Reading more words in the environment.

  • As the child begins to write with ease, being able to read unfamiliar words by sounding them out and using contextual cues. Reading unfamiliar sentences and even stories.

    Exploring the World

    In addition to all of these academic skills, we will be doing a lot of fun activities that help the children learn about the world around them. They will be able to continually express themselves through painting. Markers, crayons, colored and regular pencils will be available for drawing, writing and creating stories. We will be taking care of our garden and watching our winter crops grow.

    The guinea pigs need daily care and love and our worms in our classroom worm box need constant nourishment from the leftover scraps from our snacks. We have eight computers that are in constant use, teaching the children math and language skills through entertaining games.

    It should be a fun year for all of us. Some parents are already participating in the classroom by volunteering. Some people like to sit and work with the children, while others like to take home a project to work on. We would love to have someone who would like to work with the children in the garden, weeding, mulching and planting seeds. Some parents also like to come in on a regular basis and read a story to the class. If you would like to join us, just let me or Bobby Brown (my assistant) know.

    Watch for our weekly newsletter every Friday in your child's backpack. We'll let you know what we've been doing and how you can reinforce the new things that we have learned. You can also read the newsletter on-line.

    It should be a great year of learning and fun for all of us!

    Return to Mr. Shivers Kindergarten Page