Homework
There are many different beliefs with regard to homework. My core belief is that, after a long day of school, children need to spend time with other parts of life, such as time with family, playing with their friends, or doing extracurricular activities. It is important to me to focus on the whole child, which means going beyond academics within school walls. Spending quality time with your child is so important.
With that said, I do still believe that a little practice at home can be very helpful—many kids enjoy doing it especially if they have older siblings who have it as well. Instead of assigning daily homework, I will instead be sending out a “monthly homework calendar” which will have quick activities and practice suggestions to do with your child. I will also send some extra practice home throughout the year, as needed, especially as every student is at a different place in their educational journey. Though there won't be daily expected homework, at home tasks will be suggested and highly encouraged.
Reading
Our number one focus is for children to be immersed in reading for at minimum of 20 minutes a day; this could be you reading to them, your child looking at books with you, or pointing out words in your day to day activities. When they start to learn to read, then they will be trying to sound out words/read sight words to you :) The kinder team is happy to provide suggestions for reading with your child in a meaningful way.
Letters/Numbers
In addition, we will send home letter and number charts. Your child will be assessed on this knowledge. For letters, kindergarten students must identify letters in random order, both upper and lower case. They must also know the sounds of each letter. For numbers, they must be able to identify them in random order as well. Sight words may also be sent home for students to practice. The key is not just knowing the letter names, sounds, numbers, and words, but knowing them fluently. Students should feel confident and be able to identify them accurately within 2-3 seconds.
Once they have these skills in place, we can send home other homework as requested. As a kindergarten team, we have discussed the importance of play, sports, and family time. If your child enjoys completing additional tasks, we can provide some ideas. At certain points in the year, we may assign a project to be completed at home and shared at school. These are optional, but highly encouraged. We will send information home in the Tuesday Folder, as needed.
Once they have these skills in place, we can send home other homework as requested. As a kindergarten team, we have discussed the importance of play, sports, and family time. If your child enjoys completing additional tasks, we can provide some ideas. At certain points in the year, we may assign a project to be completed at home and shared at school. These are optional, but highly encouraged. We will send information home in the Tuesday Folder, as needed.
High Frequency/Heart Words
The list is from "Dolch Words" but you will hear me also call them high frequency and rainbow heart words because they are commonly found in text and after some time will be able to read them "by heart." Though it may not look like it at first, many of the words are decodable, meaning they can be read sound by sound. Even some "tricky" words can be "decoded" once students learn the spelling rule/pattern ("unlocking the code")
Decoding: ability to apply your knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words.
Benchmark is at least 40 words by June 2023. In past years, many Kindergarteners have been able to go past 40, woah!!
We look at over 100 words together throughout the year :)
Decoding: ability to apply your knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words.
Benchmark is at least 40 words by June 2023. In past years, many Kindergarteners have been able to go past 40, woah!!
We look at over 100 words together throughout the year :)
We refer to these as are our "rainbow heart words" or "rainbow sight words." Words have been broken up into color sets. As students master a color set, they will get the next set of cards. Students then color in their own sight word rainbow in the classroom. Fun visual way to see how we are doing! You have been getting these color sets home and new ones will be sent once students master the previous one. Even if students "master" a set, please still go back and practice :)
PDF of Dolch: TO COME SOON!