Kindergarten Orientation Presented by: Keri Ramsay K-12 Reading Supervisor

What Will Your Child Experience at School?  Core reading program – Houghton Mifflin  Kid Writing  Centers  Targeted instruction  Small group reading  Homework

What will my child need to do by the end of Kindergarten???  Listening and Speaking Skills  Reading Skills  Writing Skills

Listening and Speaking Skills  Listen attentively  Stay on topic and participate in class discussions  Wait his or her turn to speak in a group

What Can I Do to Help My Child with Speaking and Listening?  Dinner conversation – practice taking turns sharing about the day  Ask your child to look at you when you are speaking to them  Play board games  Ask your child his or her opinion about various topics at home (ex: what to have for dinner, how should we make lunch, tell me about the TV show you were watching, why do you like this game or show, etc.)

Reading Skills  Book handling skills  When hearing a word, can identify beginning, ending, and middle sounds  Segment a spoken word into 4 sounds  Identify all letter sounds  Identify capital and lowercase letters  Recognize about 33 high frequency words  Decode simple words with short vowels  Talk about the beginning, middle, and end of a story in order

What Can I Do to Help My Child with Reading Skills?  Read to him or her at home every day  Take your child to the library  Play games (at home, in the car, waiting on line at the grocery store, etc.) to practice phonemic awareness  Practice reading high frequency words every day and look for them in books you read  After reading, ask your child to retell the story to you. Ask what happened at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end.  Whenever possible, MAKE IT FUN!!!

When Reading To Your Child, Ask Him or Her…  What do you think this story will be about?  What do you think is going to happen next?  Do you think this story is real or make-believe?  Does this sound like another story you know?  Who are the characters?  How are the characters alike/different?  Where is this story happening?  Why do you think that happened?  What was this mostly about?

Writing Skills  Print first and last name correctly  Draw a picture and write about it  Spell high frequency words

What Can I Do to Help My Child with Writing Skills?  Have writing materials available for your child (a basket, drawer, desk, etc.)  Practice phonemic awareness skills at home  Encourage your child to draw pictures and tell you about them  Watch as your child writes to avoid incorrect letter formation habits (Remember: Top to Bottom!)  Ask your child to spell words every day

Think Central  Surveys will come home   Directions and further information will come home with your child

How Will the Teacher Know What My Child Needs?  Regular informal assessments – letters, high frequency words, sounds, journal writing  DIBELS Next screener  First Sound Fluency (FSF): The assessor says words, and the student says the first sound for each word.  Letter Naming Fluency (LNF): The student is presented with a sheet of letters and asked to name the letters.  Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF): The assessor says words, and the student says the individual sounds for each word.  Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF): The student is presented with a list of VC and CVC nonsense words (e.g., sig, rav, ov) and asked to read the words.

We Are in This Together!!!  Don’t panic!  Every child develops at his or her own pace  Let’s work together as a team!

Have a Wonderful School Year!  Questions???  Contact Information: Keri Ramsay K-12 Reading Supervisor (570) ext. 1313