Our instructional framework is rooted in the following key components:
Content: All students work on core disciplinary issues in ways that enable them to develop conceptual understandings, develop reasoning and problem-solving skills, and use disciplinary concepts, tools, and methods in relevant contexts.
Cognitive Demand: All students have opportunities to make their own sense of important ideas, developing deeper understandings, connections, and applications by building on what they know.
Equitable Access to Content: All students are supported in access to central content and participate actively in the work of the class. Diverse strengths and needs are built on through the use of an extensive repertoire of strategies, resources, and technologies that enable all students to participate meaningfully.
Agency, Ownership, and Identity: All students build productive disciplinary identities through taking advantage of opportunities to engage meaningfully with the discipline and share and refine their developing ideas
Formative Assessment: Every student’s learning is continually enhanced by the ongoing strategic and flexible use of techniques and activities that allow students to reveal their emerging understandings and provide opportunities to rethink misunderstandings to build on productive ideas.
Mystery Readers
As a way to make reading fun in our KG classroom, we will have what we call, “Mystery Readers” an opportunity to come read to your child’s class. Students will not know who the reader is until they arrive. You may wonder, who can be a Mystery Reader? Mystery readers can be anyone from parents, grandparents, older siblings, and family members. The mystery reader will sign up for a day to read a picture book of their choice to the class. It takes about 15-20 minutes. Your child's teacher will be sending a signup sheet next week. In an effort to give every child the opportunity to have someone they know to come in, we will be limited to one mystery reader per child. Remember, it's a surprise for the whole class, including your child!
Lastly, we ask that the following protocols be observed:
● All volunteers must sign in at the main reception and wear a guest or volunteer badge while in the building.
● All volunteers must note the purpose and destination of their visit and not deviate from this purpose or destination without prior notification.
● All volunteers follow confidentiality guidelines when working with students.
● Volunteers should not bring either under-school-age children or school-age children not attending school.
● COVID-19:
What do Mystery Readers bring?
Mystery Readers should bring one or two of their or their child’s favorite books to read and share.
How to prepare to be a Mystery Reader:
Please practice reading your story/stories out loud ahead of time to ensure the reading as a whole doesn’t last much longer than 20 minutes max. Simple comprehension questions are a great way to fill those last few minutes after the reading. Ex: Who was the main character of this story? Who can tell me the setting of this book?
Click the links below for some book ideas:
Book Suggestions 1
Book Suggestion 2
We look forward to having you come read! Happy reading!
Recess
Students generally go outside for recess every day (25 min max), they should wear appropriate shoes. Exceptions are made only when a child brings a doctor’s note excusing him/her from outdoor recess. If students are not following behavior expectations, it will be addressed with the student(s). Based on the behavior, the child may be asked to sit out for a few minutes or not be able to play.
Curriculum Corner
Student Objectives for Reading and Writing:
(These objectives will be modeled and practiced for the next four weeks.)
KG1:
- I can participate in class by speaking clearly.
- I can participate in class by waiting my turn.
- I can recognize, name, and print some of the upper and lowercase letters.
- I can identify some of the letter sounds.
- I can follow along while my teacher reads.
- I can tell what the author and illustrator do for a book or poem.
- I can ask questions about words I don’t know.
- I can show the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.
- I can write my name.
- I can write some letters of the alphabet.
KG2:
- I can participate in class by speaking clearly.
- I can participate in class by waiting my turn.
- I can recognize, name, and print upper and lowercase letters.
- I can identify letter sounds.
- I can follow along while my teacher reads.
- I can tell what the author and illustrator do for a book or poem.
- I can ask questions about words I don’t know.
- I can show the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.
- I can follow the direction of the print.
- I can show spaces between words.
- I can use pictures to help me understand what a book says.
- I can recognize some sight words.
- I can write my first name and last name
- I can write the letters of the alphabet.