Welcome To Kindergarten ! Please sign in at the back table and find your child’s seat (sorry all the chairs are little!).

Students will be eating lunch each day in the cafeteria Students will be eating lunch each day in the cafeteria. They may either buy their lunch or bring their lunch. You may either send money in an envelope marked with your child’s name or set up an account online through child needs to go eat breakfast as soon as they arrive at school. Your child will receive a lunch number that they will need to learn to put into the number key pad in the cafeteria. Lunch: Ice cream: We recommend you use ice cream as a reward. BEHAVIOR Clip Chart – Every Kindergarten class has a clip chart with a numbered clothespin for each student. Students start every day on “Green = Good”. There are four colors: Green = “Good” Yellow = “Satisfactory” Orange = “Needs Improvement” Red = “Unacceptable” Students will be given 2 warnings before their clip is moved down. They have the chance to move back up for making better choices. Certain situations (such as physical/safety) will not receive any warnings and will be an automatic red (“Unacceptable”) Super star – At the top of the clip chart is a star for “Superstar”. This is for when a student goes above and beyond what is expected. These are rare and special so please do not be disappointed or expect them daily/weekly. Remember - Green is good! Please celebrate when your child comes home on “Green”!

Students will be eating lunch each day in the cafeteria Students will be eating lunch each day in the cafeteria. They may either buy their lunch or bring their lunch. You may either send money in an envelope marked with your child’s name or set up an account online through child needs to go eat breakfast as soon as they arrive at school. Your child will receive a lunch number that they will need to learn to put into the number key pad in the cafeteria. Lunch: Ice cream: We recommend you use ice cream as a reward. BEHAVIOR Behavior Chart – In the daily binder there will be a chart where we will record each days behavior. Please initial the box every day. If a student moves a clip down, there will be an explanation as to why his/her clip was moved. Report Card Grades - The marks on the behavior chart will be used to determine their conduct grade (E, S, N) each 9 weeks. Point System: Satisfactory: 1 Needs Improvement: 2 Unacceptable: 3 Grading Rubric: 0-5: E 6-10: S 11 or more: N

Kindergarten Daily Schedule 8:20 School Doors Open. 8:50 Official Start of the School Day 8:50-9:00 Pledges & Announcements 9:00-9:45 Writer’s Workshop 9:45-10:00 Reader’s Workshop 10:00-10:30 Reading Intervention (Small groups, Guided Reading groups, Daily Five) 10:30-11:30 Lunch & Recess 11:30-12:10 Language Arts & Daily 5 12:10-12:40 Math Intervention (Calendar, Math Daily Five) 12:40-1:40 Specials (Music, Art, PE) 1:40-2:30 Math Workshop (Journals, Math Lesson, Hands On) 2:30-3:00 Science & Snack 3:00-3:30 Social Studies 3:30-3:40 Developmental Centers 3:40-3:50 Prepare for Dismissal

Academics

WRITING We follow Lucy Caulkin’s “Writer’s Workshop”. Basics of Writers Workshop – The format is the same all year: Mini-lesson (10-15 minutes) Students write independently (work up to 30 minutes) Author’s Chair (a couple of students share their writing with the class) Conferring – Teacher meets with individual students to discuss their writing progress during “independent writing time” Phonetic Writing – writing the sounds we hear Example: A ball is big and red. Phonetically written: A bl is bg ad red. Word Wall Words (Sight Words) - Students are expected to write these words correctly.

READING Reading Level: The end of the year reading expectation is a Level D. If your child is already at a D we will continue to move forward and challenge them. Reading Strategies: We use the “beanie baby” reading strategies to give students different ways to decode words they don’t know. Sight words : These are 40 common words that are often found in our reading. The list is attached to your handbook and also in your student’s Daily Folder. They are also on teacherweb. They will receive a grade every 9 weeks on their report card based on how many words they know. These words are memorized. Comprehension : The students must be able to understand, retell with detail, and answer questions about the story. Retelling includes the characters, setting, beginning, middle and end of the story. Our goal is for student’s to retell independently without a lot of adult prompting.

DAILY 5 Students are independently working on one of the following: It is a daily literacy structure that teaches independence and helps create a love of reading and writing. Students are independently working on one of the following: Read to Someone Listen To Reading Work on Writing Word Work Read to Self During this time, the teacher is pulling guided reading groups (groups of 4-5 students to work on their specific reading levels).

PEARSON is our new math adoption to correlate with the new Math TEKS. What does math look like in Kindergarten? Interactive and Hands On Repetition Understanding from the foundation on up Lots of Discussion Math Journals – creating problem solvers Students will explain and justify their answers to math problems. Encourages peer teaching and looking at “more than one way” to solve a math question. Tools – Manipulatives, Recording Sheets, Math Book, Journals

Science Social Studies Science Lab – we have a science lab that is stocked full of tools we can use to explore science! Topics: Safety, Magnets, Energy, Rocks, Life Cycles, Weather, Characteristics and classification of Plants/Animals, Landforms Social Studies Second Step: Social Skills Program Other topics: Important dates and people, Texas history, community, rules and authority figures