Academics
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Welcome to Kindergarten!
Our classroom is full of excitement and very active students! That’s why we are the “Curious George” class! We have a lot of fun with Curious George in many of the things we do. Curious George is our class mascot and a very special part of our year.
*A major part of our day is spent using the Go Math! curriculum. Math uses a hands-on approach and manipulatives are used every day in class, and also for homework- at times. Work sheets will come home to show you what we have worked on that day. Some skills that are covered are: counting, patterns, time, money, shapes, adding, and subtracting. Math “evaluations” are given after each chapter.
*"Reading Street" is another major part of our day and includes a wide variety of activities. We use "Skill Buddy" books, a Readers and Writers Notebook, and have two new readers every week. We read stories, do daily activity sheets, learn sight words, make decodable readers, and have a letter of the week which includes a letter songbook. Students learn letters and their sounds, vowels, compound words, rhyming, syllables and accents. Frequent evaluations and reading practice activities are done in class and parents are expected to support, review and practice these skills at home. Our goal is for each child to begin sounding out words and take steps toward finding the joy of reading!
*We use the Zaner-Bloser handwriting workbook to help your child learn the proper way to form and write letters. This will be practiced at school and at home.
*Kindergartners love "Jesus Time" and enjoy using their own Bibles! We learn a Bible story each week and learn how to apply the lesson to our lives. A story sheet will come home to share that with you. We also attend chapel in our church each Wednesday with the whole school.
*Kindergartners also enjoy social science, music, art, physical education and classroom library. We learn about plants and take a field trip to the Discovery Garden at Longue Vue House and Gardens! We learn about life cycles and watch caterpillars turn into Painted Lady butterflies! Local firemen come and help us learn about fire safety. We read and learn about famous Americans, bugs, dinosaurs, and our community. Our class loves to sing, but we also begin learning how to play handbells and perform for church services a couple of times a year.
*Our class enjoys free choice and structured center time, which includes blocks, computer, a house center, art, puzzles, manipulatives, learning games, teacher directed activities, and many more.
*We have fun tasting new food sometimes! We try to follow the letter of the week which gives us a lot of variety. We have a "My Plate" unit that helps learn how to eat healthy.
*Students will have homework each night. Homework sheets will be a review of classwork or skill building activities. Good homework habits, responsibility, and organizational skills are a major reason for these homework assignments.
*Each week our newsletter, “Curious George Gazette,” is sent home. It will keep you informed about what we have experienced and future events.
*Discipline in kindergarten uses a 3 step method with a banana tree as our visual. Each child has a banana and wants to keep it from falling off the tree! Each child that has 5 good days gets to “shop” at my store – Wood-mart.*Students takes turns being the “Top Banana” of the week! They get to be the leader and helper. The child’s parent is invited to come and read to the class one day that week. The best part of being Top Banana is that on Friday the child gets to take home Curious George! He has a back pack with a journal and spends the weekend with the child!
Our Kindergarten year is full of learning, hard work, and lots of fun! Children are exposed to many different activities and experiences - whether it be cooking green eggs and ham, celebrating the 100th day of school, digging for worms, or attending Curious George's birthday party! There is always something to look forward to and learn in our class...we are a "curious" bunch!