Welcome Parents Kim Shearer Blastic 1 st Grade Room 109

Married. Have a 10 year old son, named Brett, 5 year old daughter, named Caitlyn, & 22 month old, named Ross. Parents were both teachers. Grew up in Livingston County. Community Volunteer A Little About Myself

The Birmingham Public Schools’ kindergarten program is committed to fostering life-long learners by developing and nurturing the whole child through the use of challenging curriculum, offering age- appropriate, differentiated instruction within a caring classroom and school community. BPS Kindergarten Philosophy

A “Day in the Life” of a Kindergarten Classroom Morning Meeting Language Arts (120 minutes) –Reading & Writing Workshop Morning Recess Lunch/Recess (40 minutes) Quiet Time (20 minutes) Math (60 minutes) Unified Arts (45 minutes) Science Purposeful Play (90 minutes) Social Studies

Reading Instruction

Writing Instruction

Teacher directed “mini-lesson” Problem-solving and inquiry Individual group practice Hands-on Facts practice Strategy games Mathematics

Science Hands-on kits Exploration with live animals and plants Science experiments Science journals Integrated into other subjects Science for Life and Living Personal Space 5 Senses Weather Taking care of ourselves Birds Fish Worms

Scientific Observation Physical Science - Push and Pull (Forces) Life Science: Living & Non-Living Things Live Animals Bowers Farm Science Units

Social Studies Integrated into other subjects Role-playing, games, discussions, projects, books Social Studies themes: –Who am I? –What is a family? –How to get along with others and make friends? –My neighborhood –How do people live around the world? –How can I take care of the world?

Unified Arts

Art Physical Education (twice) Vocal Music Media Center Unified Arts

Two kinds of play in kindergarten: Free play initiated by children Teacher-guided learning experiences Characteristics of purposeful play: Includes physical & mental activity Enjoyable Flexible and changing Focused on process, not product Learning through Play

...More About Myself Sports Cooking Reading Music

Worked 3 years in a Montessori school. 2 summers at the Midvale Center. 15 th year teaching. Certification in Group Science & Language Arts (K-8) Z.A. endorsed (Birth-2 grade) Completed my Master’s in Reading. My Professional Side

Why I Become A Teacher To make a difference in the world. Inspire young minds To surround myself with loving children.

My Teaching Beliefs I believe that all children have the potential to succeed. I teach by the individual child in order to help expand and broaden different areas of success per each child. I build upon each of their successes in order to discover what is unique about each one of them. I show children that school is exciting and that learning is fun.

Our Daily Schedule 3Free Choice & Handwriting 3Calendar, Daily Routine, Oral Language Lesson 3Music & Movement 3Teacher Directed Whole Group Lesson 3Snack & Recess 3Centers 3Clean up 3Story Time 3Dismissal

Home Links Brought back weekly (completed and/or signed) in their Going Home folder. Short activities that show parents what we’ve been doing in Math!

Kindergarten Corner News 3Sent home periodically –A letter to let you know what your Kindergartner is doing at school –May also contain weekly reminders, school information, upcoming class or school wide events

Volunteers Field Trips (vary per trip) Reading Parents Computers Parties (per room mother) And many, many more! We would love to have you!  Room mothers:

Parent Homework: Please me with your name and child’s name My address

The End Thank you all for coming! I look forward to seeing you in our classroom again!