As you are looking forward to one of the most important days in the life of your child, the first day of school, you undoubtedly have questions and concerns. This web page has been provided to help you prepare your child for successful kindergarten experiences, as well as answer questions that you may have about this exciting time.

School time should be both happy and productive. We hope you will work with us to help your child feel secure and successful in the first of many school experiences.

You are welcome at school. Let's work together for your child.

Cordially,

Kindergarten Staff
Adams Elementary School

Your part in registration is to:

• Bring your child's certified birth certificate (children must be five years old on or before September 1)
• Bring your child' s immunization record
• Fill out registration form that you received in the mail
• Read carefully the information sent to you about busing and the need for birth certificates and immunizations

PHILOSOPHY

The best assurance for a good beginning in school and a favorable attitude toward learning is a happy, successful year in which the kindergartner is permitted and encouraged to grow continuously in his/her own way at the strongest rate of learning possible. The Kindergarten child needs a structured curriculum environment that allows for individual progress and uniqueness.

GOALS

The major goal of the classroom is to provide opportunities for your child to grow and develop as an individual, as a functioning member of a group, and as a learner. More specifically, your child will be exposed to a learning environment that fosters growth and development in the following areas:

• Self-discipline and responsibility
• Initiative and a sense of independence
• Communication
• Visual, motor, and tactile skills which foster perception
• Readiness experiences which lead to success in math
• Readiness experiences which lead to success in reading
• Sense of self worth and value as a person
• Respect for others
• Living in a varied social environment
• Aesthetic appreciation
• Developing a positive attitude toward learning
• Understanding and appreciation of one's heritage

KINDERGARTEN IN-SERVICE

Kindergarten teachers attend an In-service once a month to help them become better teachers and to share ideas that will benefit the quality of your child's education. Class will not be held on these In-service dates.

Teachers will send home a note to let you know when these In-service will be.

BUSING

The district will provide buses for kindergarten students both to and from school for those parents who desire this service. It is necessary for us to know, in writing, how your child will be getting to and from school. Children must ride the bus unless they have a note stating they may walk.

STOP, LOOK , and LISTEN

To protect your child and to assist us, please talk with your child and have him/her prepared to know the following:

• His or her name, address, telephone number, and parents' names.
• The best route to and from school and that the same route is followed every day. (Go over this route together with the child until he or she knows it well.)
• Letting the school know if there will be a change in plans as to how your child gets home from school.
• What to do if lost.
• Going directly home each day.
• How to behave when riding the bus.
• Know the bus driver and bus number or name.

EARLY TO BED, EARLY TO RISE . . .

Your child will be placed in either a morning or an afternoon kindergarten session. Each session is two hours and thirty-five minutes long.

We would like to be able to give you a choice of sessions, but often class size, bus schedules, and geographic location make this difficult.

A successful school experience is the responsibility of the children, the parent and the school. Your child's progress, both academically and socially, are influenced to a great extent by daily participation. Regular attendance without tardiness is a key.

Children should not attend when they are not feeling well. Although we miss them, we understand and try to make them feel welcome when they return to class.

To gain the most from kindergarten, you child should expect to participate in all activities, both indoors and out.

Your child should be well rested (10-12 hours of sleep per night) and well nourished.

CLOTHING

So your child won't come home with two "left footed" shoes or other mismatched items, you will want to CAREFULLY LABEL all clothing and any other items sent from home.

However, it is important that the child's name NOT appear on the outside of his/her coat or book bag, as this makes it easy for a stranger to call your child by his/her name.

Indoor clothing should be simple, safe and sturdy. It should be appropriate for kindergarten activities which include paint, clay, glue, etc.

Outdoor clothing should be appropriate for the weather (hats, gloves, and boots). It should be easy for your child to manipulate.

Please send a book bag or back pack every day.

CURRICULUM

A planned curriculum is an essential element in a program for young children and includes more than the daily lesson plan or schedule of events.

The kindergarten curriculum is and should be unique, distinct, and above all understood. Kindergarten means many things to many people. To some, it is just a "place to play," or a "junior first grade." To others, it means either children sitting at a desk with workbooks and pencils or an activity which takes the child out of the home too early. Actually kindergarten is none of these . . . it is an educational experience planned specifically for five year-old children which is designed to meet their needs and promote growth in intellectual, personal and social areas.

The kindergarten curriculum is based on the following guidelines.

• Child oriented, relaxed, warm, flexible, and reasonably permissive, yet with sufficient structure to achieve desired goals.
• The opportunities to explore, experiment, create, understand and learn.
• A program designed to develop gross muscular activity (large muscles), fine motor (small muscles in the fingers and hands), and sensory (sight, hearing, touch, listening), experimentation, construction, disassembling, dramatic and creative play.
• A program to provide introductions, investigations, observations, expression, and stimulation toward educational experiences within the child's realm of understanding.
• A program positively planned to provide many opportunities for success.
• A program to asses the child's ability to think, engage in problem solving and developments independence.
• A program to provide preparatory experience which will lead to success in reading. In addition to our regular classroom activities your child will spend 15 minutes each day on our new Waterford Early Reading Computer learning program learning about letters, sounds, rhyme, and concepts of print.
• A program to provide hands on experiences which will enhance the development of number concepts and operations.
• A program to foster maximum assurance and minimum emotional upsets.
• A program to provide aesthetic (art and music) and creative experiences.
• A program emphasizing learning about learning, learning how to learn, learning to learn.
• A program with sequentially developed learning objectives, record keeping designed to chart individual progress (teacher/parent oriented), and a guide of activities designed to allow your child's teacher to structure the educational environment according to the needs of the individual child.

Learning is a continuous experience and each child learns according to his/her own ability. Our classroom will offer the child many opportunities to continue growing. In kindergarten, the child will learn new ways of behaving and should make progress in his individual pattern of development.

PARENT'S ROLE:

Those who work with young children have long realized the need for cooperation of parents in the education of their child. Traditionally, the school and home have worked closely through cooperation of teachers and parents. When the child enters school for the first time, it presents a major change in a lifestyle for parents as well as children. An instant bond and mutual interest are developed, thus creating a unique responsibility for the home an school. Parental suggestions, advice, and involvement are always welcome in our classroom. You can make a big difference in your child's kindergarten experience by:

• Understanding the kindergarten program - - its purpose and relationship to the total school program.
• Accepting the fact that each child is different and has his/her own growth patterns, physically and intellectually.
• Calling on the teacher or principal for help when questions arise.
• Taking an active part in school activities.
• Encouraging positive feelings toward school.
• Helping your child learn the class rules.
• Being sure your child knows his/her full name, address, and telephone number; also, mother and dad's full names and the name of the school.
• Teaching your child how to care for him/herself when using the toilet.
• Requiring your child to hang up personal clothing and put away toys and possessions at home.
• Giving your child simple responsibilities, such as helping with small tasks around the house.
• Helping your child follow directions by giving only one direction at a time and then checking for understanding in doing what you ask.
• Teaching your child to listen when others speak.
• Teaching your child to speak clearly and distinctly.
• Providing as many varied experiences as you can by planning trips and visits to increase readiness readiness for learning.
• Marking each piece of a child's clothing so that both child and teacher can identify them.
• Seeing that your child is dressed in comfortable clothing appropriate for the weather and in sturdy shoes which fit.
• Establishing a regular routine of going to bed, getting up, resting and playing that the child can continue when he/she starts school.
• Praising your child each day for something he/she has done. Have a special place to put art work or whatever else is brought home.

VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

Any help in the classroom or in preparation of teaching materials is always greeted with open arms. if none of these suggestions are for you, any other ideas would be great. Every little bit of parental involvement adds to the quality of your child's education. The following are suggestions:

• Room Mothers
• Field Trip Volunteers
• Tables
• Teaching material preparation

FIELD TRIPS

Field trips are very important for the kindergarten child. Not everything is learned in the classroom. Occasionally walking field trips, bus trips and excursions will take your child away from school.

Parents are usually notified of the trips so they also may participate.

Although your help is needed on these occasions, you will be asked not to bring along a younger brother or sister, as the focus of the trip is the kindergarten class.

Field trips are a safe and exciting way to have new experiences during school.

PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES

Your child's progress in kindergarten will be discussed with you at two regularly scheduled conferences in the fall and the spring. We invite you to request a conference at other times if the need arises. A pupil progress report will be given to you on each conference. Parent Teacher Conference dates will be in October and January unless otherwise notified.

TYPICAL DAY

Your child will be involved in the following activities:

• Large Group Instruction: The teacher or aide will discuss the activities for the day (theme setting) with games, stories and music activities. Daily routines are also part of rugtime-calendar, weather and Pledge of Allegiance.
• Small Group Instruction: The group may be divided into small groups for instruction in readiness skills for language arts or math.
• Physical Education and Outdoor Activity: P.E. experiences will center mostly on movement and rhythmic experiences and games.
• Snack: Snack times are handled many ways by individual teachers. It is a daily routine that is designed to foster many broad goals and student participation. As children take turns setting up and helping in the preparation for snack time, they will practice counting and develop fine motor skills. Children are encouraged to talk, share experiences, and to describe. This helps them develop oral language skills.
• Work and Choices: Children are given a choice of activities. Many children may be working independently of the teacher. They may be involved in activities at the learning centers where they will work individually or in small groups. Included in the activities are opportunities for dramatic play, arts and crafts, gross motor development (large muscles), fine motor development (small muscle), listening centers, sand and water, science experiences, music experiences, individual reading with partners, and other experiences planned by the teacher or aide.

SLIDE INTO READING

Reading readiness is an expression used to describe the preparation stage which "learner" readers must experience before they start the formal mechanics of reading.

We encourage you to help your child develop reading skills by doing the following:

• Encourage a positive attitude toward reading. If you read books, magazines and newspapers, your child will likely follow your example. When you used the local library, take your child with you.
• Help your child develop language awareness, speak clearly and use complete sentences.
• Provide a quiet time in the evening when you read stories to your child.
• Provide a balance in stimulating entertainment. Parents are encouraged to limit the amount of time their children watch TV. If children become too accustomed to passive viewing, they will miss many of the exciting challenges of childhood. Some TV programs, however, provide a takeoff point that parents can use to interest their children in books, in science and in fantasy.
• Watch educational programs with your child. Children who watch such programs as Sesame Street with their parents come to school better prepared than those who watch it by themselves
• Provide as many resources in the home as possible - books, balls, ropes, simple musical insttruments, and art work (scrap materials are as much fun for children as expensive painting supplies).
• Use all local resources to stimulate your child's curiosity - the zoo, the library, nature walks, museums, galleries, and puppet shows.
• Encourage your child to tell about interesting sights or sounds or new experiences. Have your child recite original stories or poems you can write down for the two of you to read together.
• Teach your child to sort and classify by color, number or some other common characteristic.
• Allow your child to write about experiences. It may be nothing more than scribbles, but is a beginning step of writing.
• Spelling is not important at this point, the ides generated is.
• Limit the time your child spends playing video games. Research shows children who spend too much time playing video games do not concentrate as well in school.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PLAY IN KINDERGARTEN

If you ask your child what he/she learned today in kindergarten, the answer may likely be, "We played." Your response may be, "Is that all kindergarten children do? Play?"

Actually, it's a great compliment to have a kindergarten program described as play by a youngster or have a parent say those learning activities seem to look more like play! The fact that children experience their most rapid growth in learning and personality development during times which feel and look like play is phenomenal. The phenomenon is that play in the world of children is a serious scheme through which they learn. What appears to be play to the outsider observing a kindergarten program is a very carefully planned and staged program of instruction. The informal learning may resemble play; it is not of a frivolous manner, however. As the problem solver and the decision maker, the child is building ego, willpower and reasoning.

The kindergarten curriculum is one in which children learn by doing rather than through "formal lessons" which come later in the elementary school years. Play sounds weak as a central activity of a school. Free play sounds worse. But young children's play is not a lighthearted activity. Through play, children develop the concepts and skills that establish a foundation on which all future learning can be built.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Children who know how to handle books and are familiar with stories learn how to read much faster than those who have little or no book experience.
• Children who learn to read early are the ones who are read to by parents, siblings, or other care givers.
• Reading aloud to a child is the single most important thing a teacher, parent, or other care giver can do to make the child a reader.
• Telling a story with pictures is as important a step in the learning to read process as exposing the child to print.
• "Pretend" reading by the child is a critical step in the developmental process of learning to read.
• Talking develops language. Encourage children to talk about the things they like to do.

("Did you know?" From Berniece E. Cullen, author of Read to Me: Raising Kids Who Love to Read.