About Kindergarten
Please refer to the orientation packet for everything you need to know about our classroom and how things work in kindergarten. Here is the packet: ABC'S of Kindergarten
Behavior Management System
We have a multi-colored clip chart in the classroom that documents each child's behavior on a daily basis. Students have the opportunity to move up for great behavior (helping others, following rules quickly, being great examples for others) or down for making poor choices. The focus of the chart is reinforcing positive, not negative, behavior. Students who reach "Super Estrella," will get a star sticker.
They are written in Spanish, but the translations and colors are below so that you will understand the chart when your child brings it home after school. Please sign or initial the bottom of each chart on a daily basis to show that you have taken a look at and discussed their behavior. In cases when students continue to make poor choices, I may contact their parents. It is important that we work together to help your child not only succeed in academics, but behaviorally as well. By holding them to high standards and expectations for their classroom behavior, they will be more successful.
(From Top to Bottom)
Purple - Super Star
Green - It's an excellent day
Orange - I'm trying
Yellow - I need to improve
Red - It's a difficult day for me.
* All students start back at Orange at the beginning of each day to have a fresh start.
Common Core Standards
The Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How
You may have heard that we have officially adopted the Common Core Standards and have aligned curriculum in both Language Arts and Math.
The standards can be found here: Common Core Standards Click around to get familiar with the Kindergarten Standards.
The standards can be found here: Common Core Standards Click around to get familiar with the Kindergarten Standards.
Watch this three minute video that explains why we have moved to common core and how it works:
Who?
All students in 45 states, K-12.
What?
These standards are designed to prepare students for 21st century jobs. The focus is on critical thinking skills, innovation, creativity, communication, technology, reasoning, etc. Standards are similar across all grade levels, but they build upon each other in terms of their complexity. Ex. Kindergarteners will write an opinion piece and so will 5th graders, but the complexity of the information will be much different.
The biggest change is that we are shifting to a more complex way of asking and answering questions. Students must show they understand something by proving it, explaining their thinking, highlighting evidence, referring to specific text.
When?
Our school district has already started implementing both Language Arts and Math Common Core standards. Students in either second or third grade will begin being assessed (similar to the CST, but computerized) in a few years.
Where?
In our district as well as districts in 45 states.
Why?
As the video explains, the standards are universal throughout most of the country. They also are designed to prepare kids for 21st century skills by requiring that students explain their own thinking and truly understand the content. It prevents mindless guessing and challenges kids to reason and communicate their understanding.
How?
Curriculum is shifting in a few major ways:
- Thematic Units: We are building bridges across all content so that there is a connection between different subjects. For example, we may focus on family members and talk about them in writing, reading, art, and even math. We also try to embed science and social studies into reading and writing.
- Non-Fiction and Informational Texts: Fictional texts are really fun and will still be used a lot, but we will focus more on non-fiction texts. As mentioned above, we will embed a lot of social studies and science content in other subjects.
- Creative Projects: Projects allow kids to be creative while at the same time, show what they know. In addition, students will have to present, which will work on their communication and Spanish skills. Students will be encouraged to use different forms of technology to present these projects: PowerPoints, Prezi's, Glogster, iPhoto, iMovie, etc. They will need to learn how to type for the computerized tests in a few years, so might as well get started now.
- Explain Thinking: Students will be asked to explain how they arrived at an answer, especially in math. They will also learn to highlight parts of stories that give evidence. They will do this more later in the year when they have more language skills to do so. You can start by asking your child at home how they know something or how they did it step by step.
Depth and Complexity Icons in Language Arts and Math: If you aren't already familiar with these icons, you will be very soon. We use these icons to guide students into thinking deeply about the text and in their own writing. They will learn about key vocabulary, details, ethical issues in a story, patterns (repetition) in a story, and the big idea with supporting details. Here they are: GATE Icons. For more information, click here: Depth and Complexity Icon Resources. Again, this is related to the efforts to get kids to think more critically as Common Core requires.
Dropbox for Sharing and Accessing Files
1. I will send you an invite through dropbox.com and you need to register. It's free! You can also follow this link: http://db.tt/vHAmvV2D
2. Just by registering, you will earn me more space (500 MB per person who signs up), so that I will have more room to put files. *You must follow the link in order for me to get credit.
3. Once you have registered, I will invite you to the "Barcellos K3" folder.
4. Once you join, you will have access to that folder on ANY computer as long as you sign in with your account information on the website.
In case you need help installing it, here is a tutorial video that I found on YouTube:
I hope my explanation was pretty simple, but feel free to ask me any clarifying questions. You will be getting an invite in an email shortly. If you don't get it and would like an invite, please email me. If you already have dropbox, just wait for your invite to our class folder.
Thanks!
2. Just by registering, you will earn me more space (500 MB per person who signs up), so that I will have more room to put files. *You must follow the link in order for me to get credit.
3. Once you have registered, I will invite you to the "Barcellos K3" folder.
4. Once you join, you will have access to that folder on ANY computer as long as you sign in with your account information on the website.
In case you need help installing it, here is a tutorial video that I found on YouTube:
I hope my explanation was pretty simple, but feel free to ask me any clarifying questions. You will be getting an invite in an email shortly. If you don't get it and would like an invite, please email me. If you already have dropbox, just wait for your invite to our class folder.
Thanks!
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