Mrs. Jankovic Kindergarten Room 207

Contact Information The easiest and fasted way to communicate throughout the day is by . Please be sure that you picked up a contact card that was available at open house.

Curriculum Making Meaning: Making Meaning focuses on learning and applying reading comprehension skills and strategies. Through the use of a read aloud story, I model the comprehension strategy and provide students with the opportunity to practice what is being taught. Reading comprehension strategies that will be taught are: Retelling a story Making connections Visualizing Wondering/Questioning

Curriculum Being a Writer: Being a Writer centers its instruction on children’s trade books to inspire and model good writing. Lessons focus on the following areas: Getting ready to write: Students gather to hear and discuss a read aloud story, brainstorm ideas for writing, and participate in shared or modeled writing exercises. Writing time: Students are provided time to work independently as writers. Sharing and reflecting: Students share their writing with peers in a safe and caring environment.

Curriculum Jolly Phonics: In Jolly Phonics the 42 main sounds of English are taught, not just the alphabet sounds. There is a physical movement associated with each letter sound, which helps the children remember the sound that each letter makes. In addition to learning letter sounds, students learn how to form (write) letters correctly, blend sounds together to make a word, and identify sounds in a word. All of these learning activities build skills that help students become independent writers.

Curriculum Phonemic Awareness: These daily listening and speaking activities will develop and strengthen language awareness. Activities include identifying initial/final letter sounds, blending sounds, recognizing rhyming words, exposure to multisyllabic words and compound words, and so much more!

Curriculum Math: In math we will cover the following: Positional language Counting 0-10 objects Counting 0-20 objects Comparing and Measuring Combinations within 5 Combinations within 10 Teen Numbers Flat Shapes Solid Shapes

Curriculum Social Studies: Topics covered will include: Who? School friends, family, and neighbors What? Food, shelter, tools, and wishes Where and When? Places near, places far, and a time for all

Curriculum Science: Topics will include: Science, engineering, and technology Life science (Living and Non-living things) Earth Science (Earth, sky, weather, climate) Physical Science (Objects, matter, and motion)

100 Book Challenge 100 BOOK CHALLENGE is an independent reading program designed to maximize the effectiveness of a school’s reading curriculum. Its goal is to develop avid, lifelong readers, students whose proficiency in and love of reading enable them to flourish throughout their lives—in the classroom, on standardized tests, at the college of their choice, and in a life-enriching career—allowing all aspects of their experience to be enhanced by the information and perspectives gained from reading. 100 BOOK CHALLENGE does this by dramatically increasing the amount of reading a student is expected to do. The program’s high standards require a minimum of 30 minutes of independent reading a day in school and an additional 30 minutes of reading at home. It provides each student with a selection of hundreds of books matched to their reading level (each reading level is designated by a different color) and allows students to choose the books they want to read. Students track the amount of reading they complete on logsheets that are signed by parents and are reviewed daily by their teacher. Teachers regularly hold individual conferences with students to be sure they are engaged with their books, to assess the students’ understanding of the material they’ve read, and to set goals for future reading

100 Book Challenge 100 Book Challenge is a component of our literacy curriculum Students will be assessed to determine appropriate reading level. Students will shop for books within their reading level. They will be allowed to choose 3-4 books to take home with them each night. Students will be required to read for 30 minutes (2 steps) during the school and then another 30 minutes (2steps) at home. I will meet with students regularly to discuss reading goals. There is a recording sheet in each students’ 100 Book Challenge folder to keep track of how many steps they are reading.

100 Book Challenge Parents/guardians are asked to initial next to each step the child reads. I will have the steps highlighted in yellow that are supposed to be read at home. For each 100 steps, the students will earn a medal and also get to pick a prize.

100 Book Challenge 100 BOOK CHALLENGE follows a carefully structured Readers’ Workshop model. The 30- to 45-minute daily sessions include the following elements: Home reading check-in and book exchange (5 minutes) Teacher-directed mini-lesson (2–5 minutes), setting the focus for the independent reading session and connecting the independent reading to strategies (Common Core State Standards) taught at the beginning of class Independent reading (15–30 minutes); teacher conferences with individual students or small groups during this time Class sharing and discussion of strategy focus (5 minutes).

Questions? Do you have any questions based on the materials that we have discussed or questions about materials from open house? Thank you for your support! This is going to be a great year!! Mrs. Jankovic