Mrs. Abraham Mrs. Cook

Mrs. Dickson Miss Gable

We are very happy you are at Story Elementary for the 2017-2018

school year!

Story Facts: We are the Story Falcons

School Colors are Blue and Silver

Our mascot’s name is Sammy

On Friday’s we wear Allen

or Story shirts for Spirit day.

We are in our 31st year

Kindergarten Chant

Story Falcons

Silver and Blue

We love Kindergarten!

How about you?

Kindergarten’s Daily Schedule

7:40 – 7:50 Backpack Put Away/Lunch Count/Attendance 7:50 – 8:00 Morning Announcements 8:00 – 8:15 Second Step 8:15 – 9:00 Calendar/Saxon Phonics 9:00 – 9:30 Focus/ Literacy Centers 9:30 – 10:00 Recess 10:00 – 10:35 Poem/Word Work/ Writing 10:45 – 11:20 Lunch 11:20 – 12:35 Math & Science & M/S Centers 12:35 – 1:20 Specials 1:20-2:00 SS/ Reading 2:00-2:30 Snack /Social Centers 2:30-2:45 Pack up/Restroom/Reflection of the day 2:50 – 3:00 Dismissal

Kindergarten Behavior Expectations

1. Follow directions of all staff.

2. Listen when others are speaking.

3. Keep hands, feet and objects to your self.

4. Use school appropriate language.

5. Tell the truth.

Kindergarten Reading Read To Why read aloud?

•To provide a reading role model •For vocabulary and language development •To build listening comprehension skills •To identify story patterning and sequencing •It’s fun!

Click on the picture for a video about reading aloud!

• We will teach phonics through the Saxon Phonics program this year.

• Saxon phonics builds foundational skills in

phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, and fluency. We have already learned letters Ll, Oo and Gg! You will see the worksheets coming home as we do them at school.

Saxon Phonics

We will

We will teach 2 Second Step lessons each week to integrate social-emotional learning into our classroom. Examples of lessons that will be taught are. Empathy How to calm down Skills for learning Fair ways to play Problem solving steps

Second Step Lessons

Read With

• Shared reading – students are invited to read along with the teacher

Big books, poems, posters

• Guided reading – small group instruction based on the student’s instructional level to apply reading strategies and skills

Easy words Repetitive text

Read By Students read independently based on

their independent and instructional levels. • Reading buddies • Book baggies ( home readers sent home later in the

year)

• Book box (school)

High Frequency Words

• Sometimes called “sight words” or “hot words”.

• These are words your child should know by looking at them. We will include them in your newsletter each month. They are also listed on the Kindergarten website.

Please practice them at home. You can create flash cards with these words to use with your child.

First Reporting Period: I, see, like, to, am, a, can, you, my, are, the, we, an, go, it, and, on,

in, look Second Reporting Period:

do, what, me, in, look, an, is, for, up, at, no, me, this, here, come, will, they, all, of, she

Third Reporting Period: he, said, big, that, not, his, her, so, him, down, was, with, play,

make, yes, too, some, have, one, two, little, out Fourth Reporting Period:

there, be, but, did, get, from, them, find, who, where, more, how, when, then, many, why, saw

Kindergarten Writing Write to • The teacher demonstrates the reasons

for writing and the thought process behind it.

• The teacher models writing strategies that include spacing, handwriting, spelling, punctuation, and vocabulary choices.

Write With

• The students and teacher collaborate to create different types of writing. These may include morning message, class stories, class poetry, and a class research project.

• The students and teacher share the pen while the teacher guides, responds, and extends the students’ skills and ideas.

Write By • Students will write in Draft Books • Students select topics and are in

charge of their own writing. • Students will write every day. • The teacher supports each student

based on their individual writing level. • All writing is collected and kept in a

blue binder that students will bring home at the end of the school year.

Writing Continuum

Math

Math To The teacher presents mini-lessons to explain new concepts and materials.

Math With The teacher interacts with the students to apply the new skill.

Math By The students independently practice and demonstrate the concepts taught.

Social Studies and Science

• We often embed social studies and science into our literature and across curriculum.

• We also set aside time during the regular school day to participate in a variety of activities such as labs, hands-on learning, watch videos, listen to speakers, etc.

Social Studies and Science Topics to be covered include. .

--All About Me and my Family --Becoming a Scientist --Needs and Wants --Matter and Energy --My Community --Weather --Holidays, Customs and Traditions --Space (Fall, Winter, Patriotic) --Force and Motion --Voting --Living and Nonliving -- Presidents --Earth Science --National/State Symbols --Plants --Texas historical figures --Natural Resources --Maps, Regions of the world --Animals

Grading Kindergarten focuses on the development of reading, writing, math, and social skills, and students develop these skills at different rates. As a result, the students do not receive typical grading marks such as A, B, C etc. The grading marks below indicate the level of mastery your child is performing at in any given area. 4 Demonstrates high achievement of grade level expectations. 3 Meeting grade level expectations. 2 Progressing toward grade level expectations. 1 Not yet demonstrating grade level expectations.

Report Card/Testing

• Report Cards are sent home 4 times per year at the end of each nine weeks

• The first one will be sent home in a manila envelope. Please sign envelope and return only the envelope to school with your child. The report card is yours to keep.

• The rest of the report cards will be viewed on line in skyward.

• ISIP ( Reading Readiness – 3 times a year) • AMI ( Math – 3 times a year) • CogAT (Cognitive Abilities - December)

Let’s Talk About Arrival

• School doors open at 7:30 a.m.. Please make sure your child is at school and in the cafeteria by 7:40 a.m. (Teachers will pick them up promptly at 7:40). • Side doors lock at 7:50 a.m. Students are late if

they are not in their classroom by 7:50. If you arrive later, you will need to drop them off at the front door.

• If students are eating breakfast, they need to

arrive in time to finish breakfast by 7:45 a.m.

Let’s Talk About Dismissal

Afternoon dismissal is at 3:00. Kindergarten will dismiss a few minutes early

(around 2:55)

Carpool Please hang your kindergarten car tag when you drive through the car line.

Daycare and Bus Riders Students will be picked up by a staff member and taken to a designated spot for day care pick-up. • Bus riders are also picked up by a staff member

and taken to a designated area to wait for their bus.

Dismissal Continued Walkers • Walkers are students who will be walking home with other

students but without an adult. Kindergarten walkers go to the gym and wait for the older student to pick them up before they may leave the building.

• If the student your child will be walking home with is absent please let us know how your child will be getting home that day.

Walk-ups • Walk-ups are students who will be picked up by a parent or

designated adult. They will exit the gym door by the bike racks.

• If a parent is not picking up their child but has designated another adult to do so, the student’s teacher needs this in writing. We will ask that adult to present ID.

Snacks • Each child may bring one snack for themselves daily. Due

to state nutrition laws, students/teachers cannot provide a snack to others.

• Please put your child’s snack in a separate container from their lunch. Be sure to choose something healthy. Please do not send candy or anything messy.

• A sports type water bottle is acceptable. Please be sure to only fill with water, and use a leak/spill proof container. • Please do not send anything with

peanuts or peanut products. Please be aware that we have several students with food

allergies.

Kindergarten Communication

We will send home a Daily folder each day with your child. Please

check, empty and initial the folder each night.

Most information will be coming home via e-mail, so please make

sure to check it daily for important reminders and events.

A Kindergarten newsletter will be e-mailed monthly.

On Thursday, a school folder will come home. Please check

these folders, remove all papers, and return the folder the next

day.

The school will also send out an electronic newsletter each

Thursday.

We Tweet!

Please follow us on twitter.

@JennyAbraham3 @cathyycook

@miss_gable @MrsDickson1991

@storyfalcons

Teamwork

An apple for a teacher is really nothing

new, except when you remember, parents

are teachers, too!

We look forward to working with you this

year as we, together, teach your child so

many new things!

IMPORTANT

If for any reason your child needs to go home a different way you must send a note or call

the office notifying us of the change. Teachers cannot rely on the student’s word alone. Please do not rely on an email sent the

same day.

If another adult is picking up your student, they will need to present

identification and be on the list in skyward.

Practice writing first and last name (with 1st letter being upper case and the rest lower case)

Practice recognizing birthday (month, day, year)

Saying the alphabet (not singing the song)

Identifying letters of the alphabet- both upper and lower case letters randomly Practicing Letter Sounds Identifying numerals 0-20 Counting orally Identifying shapes and colors Taking care of personal needs ( zipping, buttoning, tying shoes etc.)

Please click HERE for more activities!

How to Help at Home

Parent Teacher Conference Day • October 23rd • Conference times will be held through out

the day (no school this day) • Scheduling will be sent out from your child’s

teacher in October • We look forward to meeting with you!

Thank you for watching our presentation!

Please review the Kindergarten ABCs for further information!

We look forward to an amazing year!

All I Ever Really Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom

was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

There are things I learned: Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.

Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows

how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup - they all die. So do we.

And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK . Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology and politics and

sane living.

Think of what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put

things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick

together.

Robert Fulghum