to Ashford Elementary School Kindergarten Orientation Administration Mrs. Valarie Sikes Principal Mr. Christopher Walker Asst. Principal Kindergarten Team Breakfast Breakfast All students can eat a free breakfast each morning. Breakfast is served each morning from 7:15 until 7:45. Please make sure that your child arrives for school early enough to eat breakfast. Kindergarten student eat their breakfast in the cafeteria. Students are to wait for their teacher to come and take them to the classroom after eating breakfast. Lunch Lunch Students may eat the school lunch or bring a lunch from home. If your child is eating the school lunch please make sure that your child has the necessary money on their account. Paying for lunch: Students may bring their lunch money, parents may pay in person, or you can pay online. If the student does not have money on his/her account, the student is given an alternative lunch. Kindergarten Daily Schedule Kindergarten Sample Daily Schedule Morning Meeting and Procedures Reading Literacy Block Success Time Specials Classes Lunch Math Recess Science or Social Studies Dismissal Reading Literacy Block Guided Reading Group Guided reading instruction is at the heart of our comprehensive literacy program. Guided reading occurs when a teacher meets with a small, flexible group of students with a common reading goal. During guided reading, your child has the opportunity to develop reading strategies in order to read increasingly difficult stories independently. A guided reading level indicates the degree of difficulty of a text and is based on a number of factors which include: story length, vocabulary, use of illustrations, and sentence structure. Your child’s guided reading level is considered an "instructional" level. This level is your child’s ability to read certain texts with adult guidance. Literacy Workstations The purpose of Literacy Workstations is to keep children engaged and on task while the teacher is pulling students for small group reading instruction. Workstations also reinforce literacy skills (letter/sound knowledge, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and word study.) During workstation time students make choices, work at their own pace, learn to work independently or with a partner, work hands on with literacy materials, and overall feel successful. Math Block Kindergarten Math Math in kindergarten will be hands on - working from concrete experiences, to pictorial, to the abstract as students gain a greater understanding. Concepts are addressed in a large group setting through calendar activities, direct lessons, everyday routines, graphing, sorting, counting rhymes, etc. in relation to the theme or literature being studied, independent and small group work at centers and tubs, and one on one skills practice. Specials Art Class Music Class Physical Education Library Science/Math Lab Parent Communication Parent and Teacher Communication Daily Folder Every teacher should send home a Daily Folder. The purpose of this is to improve parent/ teacher communication. Inside this folder is student work, flyers and information from the school and teachers and a conduct and work habits chart. Wednesday Folders will be sent home every Wednesday, it is a school wide system, all parents know to look for the folder daily. Parents review the folder, keep the contents and then send the folder back signed. At the end of a nine weeks teachers keep the paper as a record of behavior and also use it determine what should be marked on the behavior section of the report card. Parent/Teacher Conferences can be scheduled with your child’s classroom teacher. Classroom Behavior Classroom Behavior Kindergarten Teachers use a chart system to manage behavior in the classroom. First Offense -- Warning Second Offense – card turned – privilege taken away Third Offense – card turned – note in Daily Folder Fourth Offense – card turned – Referral/Office It is very important that you talk with your child about classroom behavior to prevent lost instruction time each day. Classroom Supplies Kindergarten Supply List 1 pkg Construction Assorted Paper (50 ct) 1 pkg Manila Paper (50 ct) 3 boxes Crayola Crayons 3 bottles Elmers Glue 1 pkg Broad Color Markers 1 pair 5” Blunt Scissors 36 each Yellow Pencils 1 pkg Baby Wipes 1 box Sandwich Bags 1 box Gallon Bags 1 each Blue and Red Plastic Folder 6 each Glue Sticks 2 each Pink Erasers 1 each Marble Comp w/story lines 2 boxes Kleenex Tissue Please label all supplies with your child’s name with a sharpie marker. Transportation How do I get home? Please keep your child’s teacher informed about the way your child will be getting home from school. Make sure on contact information is kept up to date. Parents must send a note in order for the child to be sent home another way. Walker Day Care Please be on time to pick up your child from school. Bus Rider Testing Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test The Iowa Test, also referred to as the ITBS, was developed in the1930s by the University of Iowa, which still administers the test and evaluates the results. While the Iowa Test is used by schools in other states, it is most popular in its home state. The Iowa Test covers a wide range of subjects which vary depending on the grade level of the students. More subjects are covered in older grades and topics vary as well. Areas examined by the Iowa Test include Science, Mathematics, Language, Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Problem Solving, Maps and Diagrams and more. Iowa Testing is unique because it is specifically meant to not only evaluate current knowledge, but to identify areas that should be reinforced or that have not been covered in a child's education. The results of the ITBS test can help teachers, schools and parents to identify areas of focus for the rest of the school year. One of the tools for measuring a student’s ability to enter the gifted program is the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test®* (NNAT®*) published by Harcourt Assessment, Inc. The NNAT®* is a culture-fair, nonverbal measure of reasoning and problem solving abilities. This test does not require English language skills or mathematics, instead consisting of problems that use a complex set of geometric shapes and designs. It is a 38 question test with four types of questions: Pattern Completion, Analogy, Serial Reasoning and Spatial Visualization. The number of questions in each test area on the NNAT®* exam varies by test level: Field Trips Field Trips Kindergarten students take two field trips each year. Fall Field Trip Dewberry Farms Spring Field Trip Children’s Museum IStation WHAT IS iSTATION? Istation is the leading provider of fully integrated computer-based assessments and intervention reading programs. Istation automatically places students into a highly animated and engaging intervention program based on the results from their highly interactive and animated computer adaptive assessments (known as ISIP, Istation’s Indicators of Progress). The company’s intervention products are standards and research-based and are targeted at students in all grade levels who are at-risk of failure and in need of intervention. An entire class can be assessed in approximately 30 minutes – putting hundreds of valuable teaching hours back into the classroom. Readiness Skills Listening Skills * Follows 1-step & 2-step directions Reading Readiness * Listens well to read aloud stories Alphabet * * * * Recites the alphabet Identifies uppercase & lowercase letters Matches uppercase letters to lowercase letters Identifies the sounds each letter makes Writing * Recognizes and writes letters in first name Fine Motor Skills * Zips and Snaps pants, Lace and tie shoes * Grasps crayon and pencil correctly * Good scissor skills Math * Sort by colors * Counts to 20 * Identifies 4 shapes: circle, square, triangle, and rectangle Creative Arts * Identifies 10 colors: red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, black, white, brown, pink Dual Language