What Your Child Will Learn in Kindergarten

Grand Rapids Public Schools www.grps.org

Our Mission Our mission is to ensure that all students are educated, self-directed and productive members of society!

Upon graduation students will be:

Educated and therefore able to:

1. Apply skills and knowledge learned from a rigorous and relevant core curriculum.

2. Demonstrate proficiency in current technologies.

3. Transfer career and employability skills across multiple settings.

4. Pursue lifelong learning to succeed in a changing global community.

Self-Directed and therefore able to:

1. Use a high degree of self-awareness to facilitate making life-directing decisions.

2. Identify and initiate career-appropriate post-secondary options.

Productive and therefore able to:

1. Appreciate and respect cultural and individual diversity.

2. Actively participate as productive members of a democratic society.

Graduates will meet the specific credit requirements as defined by the rules of this policy. These requirements will meet or exceed the minimum graduation requirements as defined by the state of Michigan.

Our Belief: We believe that all children can achieve their academic potential through effort, high expectations, and quality teaching.

Our Vision: Our vision is to become a world-class performing district with a diverse portfolio of the highest quality schools, with the top educational talent, to meet the differing academic, social, emotional, and physical needs of every student with unrelenting focus on high achievement, high expectations, and preparation for the 21st Century economy.

Kindergarten is a happy and caring place where a child learns and develops intellectually, physically, socially, and emotionally. It is an adventure for your child. It is the beginning of an exciting new phase of life, the formal schooling years. The various programs and activities in Kindergarten are designed to help your child grow in readiness, not only for the next school year, but also for what lies ahead in life. Therefore, the kindergarten year ahead may be viewed as the stepping stone to all future learning. Grand Rapids Public Schools welcomes you and your child to this exciting new adventure!

Knowing that parents want what is best for their child, we provide educational programs to fit a child’s developmental needs. The following pages are provided to give you an overview of the kinds of experiences your child will have in kindergarten and how you as parents can help.

Language Arts

Language arts is learned through such activities as:

• Recognition of the child’s name in print

• Alphabet work

• Letter-sound relationships

• Teachers/students composing stories about classroom experiences

• Listening and responding to stories

• Speaking in a variety of situations (partners, small and large groups)

• Expanding the child’s vocabulary

• Listening to and learning to sing songs

• Exposing a child to many forms of printed material

• Providing a variety of opportunities for writing experiences

• Beginning to print letters and numbers

Parents can help by:

• Reading to your child every day

• Talking with and listening to your child

• Modeling good speech examples

• Visiting libraries on a regular basis

• Monitoring TV viewing; watching quality programs together and discussing them with your child

• Showing interest in school experiences

• Praise your child’s reading efforts

• Encouraging your child to dictate stories

• Not comparing your child’s performance with that of other kindergartners; reading readiness varies

among kindergarten children

• Encourage written expression through letters, notes, and cards

Manuscript Alphabet

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English Language Arts Standards

Reading: Foundational Skills (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and Fluency)

• Understand basic print features

o Left to right

o Top to bottom

o Page by page

• Recognize and name all uppercase and lowercase letters

• Recognize and produce rhyming words

• Blend two or three sounds together to make a recognizable word

• Use phonics when reading words

• Say the most frequent sounds for each consonant and vowel

• Read common high-frequency words by sight

• The, of, to, you, is

Reading

• With prompting and support:

• Ask and answer questions about a reading selection

• Identify characters, setting, and main events in a story

• Retell stories, including details

Writing

• Recognize that writing is spoken language written down

• Use drawing and writing to express ideas

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• Form upper and lower case letters

• Write left to right and top to bottom

• Stating an opinion or preference about a topic or book in writing (e.g., “My favorite book is . . .”)

• Learning to recognize, spell, and properly use those little grammatical words that hold the language together (e.g., a, the, to, of, from, I, is, are)

Listening and Speaking

• Talk and share in a group

• Use complete sentences

• Listen and interact accordingly

• Pay attention to a speaker

• Follow a two-step direction

Phonemic Awareness Activities

Research has shown repeatedly that phonemic awareness is a powerful predictor of success in learning to read. What is it?

• The understanding that speech is composed of a series of individual sounds called phonemes

• The ability to hear individual sounds in words

• The ability to orally manipulate sounds in words

Support for phonemic awareness development occurs in kindergarten and first grade, and includes the ability to:

• Sing nursery rhymes and songs including playful songs.

• Play rhyming games.

• Play with magnetic letters.

• Use physical responses such as clapping and tapping to demonstrate patterns in song, stories, and words.

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• Separate words into separate sounds.

• Participate in word play where children change beginning, middle, and ending sounds.

• Blend letters when learning common spelling and sound patterns.

• Read big words by recognizing smaller words or word parts within them.

Listening Awareness

Have child close eyes and listen for three sounds you make (ex. Parent clap hands, snap fingers, and stomp feet).

• Child opens eyes

• Parent says, “First you heard

• In the middle, you heard . And last, you heard ___.”

• Child fills in the blanks

Continue listening game using the following:

• Animal sounds (moo, oink, quack)

• Color words

• Familiar items (tree, grass, truck)

• Letters of the alphabet

Rhyming Awareness

Read and teach your child Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes. Substitute rhyming words (ex: Hickory, dickory, dock, the mouse ran up the clock). Child changes clock to a rhyming word such as “sock.”

Continue above substitute rhyming with multiple nursery rhymes and Dr. Seuss books, and any other rhymes/songs your family knows.

Word Family Awareness

Choose a word family to practice

Parent says, “C…..at. What’s the word?” Child says, “Cat”

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Continue with the same word family to reinforce rhyming, vowel patterns and sound blending.

Example:

at an it en ot ake ane ole cat ran bit hen dot cake plane sole sat fan hit pen cot sake cane whole bat man sit ten tot rake lane mole fat clan fit men lot make mane pole

Oral Language Development

Before children can learn to “read” they need lots of exposure to TALK. You can help your child develop the kind of language they need by:

1. Modeling talk

2. Allowing your child to talk

Model Narrative Talk

This type of storytelling uses the past, present, and future tenses with logical connectors that indicate time change.

Children find this type of talk most interesting when the talk is about themselves, other children, or the adult who is speaking.

Questions/Conversation Starters

• I remember when you were…

• When I was your age…

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• I remember a boy in my class who…

• Today we are going to…

• In a minute, I am going to…

• Once upon a time…

• This morning when I was getting ready…

Model Explanatory Talk

This is the type of talk where people explain how something is made, how something works, or how something happened. Explanatory talk helps children make links between ideas, events, and actions.

Questions/Conversation Starters

• “How do you think they made lunch today? First, they picked the potatoes, and then they washed them to get the dirt off…”

• “I wonder why the illustrator drew this spider this way?”

• “Let’s get some water out of the faucet for this plant because I noticed that the soil seemed a little dry. I don’t want to over water it though, because then it might drown if the soil is too moist. Can you take this watering can to the faucet and fill it with water?”

Concepts about Print

Why is it important?

It is important to determine what children know about books, print, and the reading process before reading instruction begins. (Dr. Julie Chan, Director, Curriculum and Assessment, Newport-Mesa Unified School District, November 1, 1996.)

What is it?

These are concepts about the way print works. Some of the basic concepts about print include: directionality (that readers and writers move from left to right and top to bottom); spacing (used to separate words); recognition of words and letters; connection between spoken, and written language; understanding the functions of punctuation; sequencing and locating skills; searching for clues from

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different sources, checking own responses, and correcting own errors. (Clay, 1979).

At the end of kindergarten, every child should have mastered all the concepts of print.

Guidelines for Use of Activities

Reading is for learning and for enjoyment. Please use the following suggestions at your discretion. We do not intend them to be used with every book you read with your child. As you are reading with your child, you can help by addressing the following concepts:

Book handling skills

• Locate front and back of book

• Discuss the cover

• Locate author and illustrator names

• Discuss author’s job and illustrator’s job

• Discuss the title page

• Find beginning and end of book

• Find page numbers

Print Awareness

A child can:

• Recognize the difference between words and pictures

• Point to where Mom or Dad should begin reading

• Understand that reading is from left to right and top to bottom

• Understand that print tells a story and pictures support the story

• Recognize that words are made up of letters

• Point to spaces between words

• Retell the story’s beginning, middle, and end after hearing it read to him or her

• Point to the first and last words on a page

Extra Activities

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• Read to your child every day.

• Choose a newspaper comic strip. Read it to your child. Cut apart the pictures. Have your child sequence and glue down onto paper. Have your child retell the story.

• Make a book with your child by stapling blank pieces of paper together. Allow your child to draw pictures to tell a story. Then have him/her retell the story to you and others.

• Listen to books on tape.

• Visit your public library and/or book store for storytelling and story reading times.

• Sing alphabet songs to reinforce letter names.

• Put magnetic alphabet letters on your refrigerator. Have your child find letters in his/her name. Have the child identify letters.

• While in the car, have your child identify letters seen on signs in the community.

• Have your child sequence family photos from a vacation or special event. Then have him/her retell about the event in order.

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Mathematics

Mathematics is introduced through:

• Using a variety of concrete objects to count, sort, measure, graph, pattern, estimate and order

• Recognizing numbers

• Comparing sizes, distances, and quantities

• Putting quantities together and taking quantities apart

• Identifying, describing, and comparing shapes in our world.

Parents can help by:

• Having your child count common objects

• Having your child become aware of numbers in everyday life such as telephone numbers, calendars, clocks, and money.

• Having your child use words such as larger/smaller, more/less, etc.

• Playing math games with your child – card games, dominoes, counting games

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Social Studies

Social studies is introduced through:

• Learning about ourselves, our families, neighborhood, community and state

• Talking about holidays and special days

• Discussing historical events

• Learning about people of other lands

• Learning about community helpers and other occupations

• Participating in field trips

Parents can help by:

• Reinforcing the awareness that everyone is unique and worthwhile

• Taking your child to new and interesting places

• Discussing newsworthy items at your child’s level

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Science

Science instruction is presented through:

• Recognizing changes in seasons

• Studying animals and plants

• Observing the world around them

• Learning about nutrition and food

• Using their senses

Parents can help by:

• Encouraging your child to wonder and ask why

• Doing simple seasonal activities together

• Taking your child to farms, museums, nature centers, etc.

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Performing & Visual Arts, Physical Education, & Media Center

Kindergarten students receive instruction in music, physical education, art and the media center each week. The kindergarten teachers will let you know the schedules.

Vocal Music

Instruction fosters music awareness and techniques, improved listening habits, and signing, playing, dramatic play and body movements.

Physical Education

Instruction focuses on large muscle activities which build coordination, cooperative team activities and the growth of self-confidence. Gym shoes must be work during physical education class.

Visual Art

Classes focus on helping students to work with colors, creative shapes, patterns and textures. Art activities improve motor skills and lead to an appreciation of art.

Media Center

Instruction introduces students to an enjoyment of literature and learning to appreciate and care for books. Computer awareness is also introduced in the kindergarten year; children gain experience with the keyboard and learn simple programs.

Parents can help by:

• Praising and displaying your child’s artwork at home.

• Providing a variety of musical experiences such as compact disks and tapes.

• Singing songs or doing play activities learned at school.

• Providing safe play equipment at home.

• Reading books aloud.

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