mkm

Hi my name is Sarah Ard. This summer I visited Mexico with my husband John and we celebrated our one year anniversary. I enjoy reading, cooking, riding my bike and love my cat, Sully. This will be my eighth year teaching. I am looking forward to another great yearJ

Our daily schedule varies from day to day, but the activities below give you an idea of what goes on in our classroom during the week. Monday’s are motor days, so please dress your child appropriately. This will be similar to gym class, so gym shoes and comfortable clothes should be worn.

Arrival: During arrival I check students MOOSE Books. Students will then have a choice of a puzzle, book or game to work on until all students have arrived and we are ready to begin our day. They may also have assignments to work on such as name practice, letter/number identification, etc.

Center time varies throughout the school year. A lot of times students participate in centers while I am working individually with students. The centers are as follows; homeliving, animal, blocks, and cars, reading, phonics, math, listening, puzzles & games, writing/art, and computers.

We will complete calendar activities as a whole group everyday. The calendar consists of the days of the week, months of the year, season, weather, counting the number of days of school, colors, shapes, and numbers. We also have a variety of songs that we sing.

The Daily Message is written on the whiteboard during carpet time. We practice writing and identifying letter names, sounds and words. We also count the number of letters or words and practice reading the message aloud. As students become more familiar with the daily message they will begin to write independently (for example: journals).

Read aloud time consists of a wide variety of literature related to the weekly theme, letter of the week, a math skill, just for fun etc.

Our daily Saxon Phonics & Spelling activities are related to the letter of the week, but continuously review previously taught skills throughout the year.

Library day is Tuesday for 30 minutes. If you would like to volunteer in the library please let the school know.

Outside time is weather and time permitting.

Theme related activities vary throughout the year. For example we will start the school year learning about safety.

•

The kindergarten students do not need a lot of supplies. The MOOSE books are the most important thing, but I have purchased those myself. The cost usually ends up being between $2-3 for the binder, folders, paper, and labels. The other items are listed below. We have added one more item to our school supply list for the 2008-2009 school year. That is a subscription to Scholastic’s Let’s Find Out magazine. Students will receive weekly copies of the educational magazine that correlates with classroom themes and helps with early literacy skills. The cost of the subscription plus shipping & handling is $5.50.

24 count Crayola crayons x2

2 large glue sticks (preferably-goes on purple dries clear)

1 shoebox size container (ex: Rubbermaid)

*Please write your child's name on the shoebox size container, but not

on the crayons and glue. Students will be sharing crayons and glue.

•The ABC's of Kindergarten

KRA-L

Handwriting Without Tears

Saxon Phonics & Spelling

The order in which the letters are taught are as follows: l o g h t p a n m i s f r k b u z c e y d v j x w and q (qu sound). Students will need to be able to identify all upper and lowercase letters and identify the sounds they make by the end of kindergarten.

DIBELS

Parent’s Guide to the Kindergarten Curriculum

Sight Words

*Sight words will be added throughout the school year beginning with the word the. Sight words will be written in red so students can easily identify them.

Book Boxes:

We use the shoebox size container (ex: Rubbermaid from the school supply list to keep our weekly mini-alphabet books and any other books to practice reading in them. The boxes stay in the classroom. You can keep a box like this at home so your child can practice reading at home. You can start with picture and alphabet stories and then as your child's skills develop you can begin to add more difficult books. The children will also begin bringing some of these books home with them and this can be a great place to keep them safe.

Your child's MOOSE books contains all the information that you will need to know about what is going on in our classroom and in the school.

MOOSE stands for: Management Of Organizational Skills Everyday
It is a 1/2” binder purchased by the teacher (I purchase them in large quantities from Sam's Club because I can get a better deal on them)

Students bring the binders to school everyday

The daily behavior report is kept in the inside pocket

A folder is provided for important papers to be returned to school and papers to keep at home

Notebook paper can be kept inside the MOOSE book so the teacher and parents can write notes to each other

The back pocket is for your child’s weekly homework

If you would like to add a school pocket pouch for breakfast money or other important items this can be added too, but I would prefer if the pocket is clear so we can see inside it