
Mrs. Duchensky, Mrs. Galluzzi, Mrs. Repasky, and Ms. Santafiore
Everything you need to know … you learned
in Kindergarten!
Kindergarten is
a time of wonder, discovery and growth.
Your child will be learning through a variety of multi-sensory
activities throughout their school day!

The Daily
Five is a way of structuring the language art’s block so every student is
independently engaged in meaningful literacy tasks. These researched based tasks are ones that
will have the biggest impact on student reading and writing achievement, as
well as foster a love of reading and writing.
Students receive explicit whole group instruction and then are given
independent practice time to read and write independently while intense
instruction is given to individuals and small groups of students. The Daily
Five is comprised of: Read to Self, Work
On Writing, Read To Someone, Listen To Reading and Word Work.
Our Writing Workshop
program is modeled after Lucy Caulkins Units of Study. The kindergarten units begin with Lucy and
her colleagues helping children approximate writing by drawing and labeling
first in all-about books and then in stories. The first unit, Launching the
Writing Workshop, acknowledges that most children will be labeling their
drawings—and the letters in those labels will include squiggles and diamonds.
The second unit, Writing for Readers, helps children write true
stories—but does so fully aware that the hard part will be writing read-able
words. Growth in kindergarten is spectacular, and by the later kindergarten
units, children are invited to use their new-found powers to live writerly
lives. In How-To Books: Writing to Teach Others, Unit 3, students write
informational how-to texts on a procedure familiar to them. In Persuasive Writing of All Kinds: Using
Words to Make a Change, the fourth and final unit in the kindergarten
series, students craft petitions, persuasive letters, and signs that rally
people to address problems in the classroom, the school, and the world.
Courtesy
of Heinemann
Our Reading Workshop
program is also modeled after Lucy Caulkins Units of Study.
In kindergarten, your students begin to establish their
identities as readers while they build the foundational skills for reading. In
the first unit, We Are Readers,
children will develop concepts of print, phonemic awareness, phonics, and the
knowledge necessary to use story language to support their approximations of
reading. The second unit, Super
Powers: Reading with Print Strategies and Sight Word Power, glories
in children’s love of play as they learn “super power” strategies that help
them search for meaning, use picture clues, work on fluency, and communicate
meaning. In the third unit, Bigger
Books, Bigger Reading Muscles, children attempt more difficult
books with greater independence and use reading strategies to read with more
accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. The last kindergarten unit, Becoming Avid Readers, helps
youngsters role-play their way into being the readers you want them to become.
They pay close attention to characters, setting, and plot while reading
fictional stories, become experts in nonfiction topics as they read together in
clubs, and play with rhyme and rhythm while reading poetry.
Courtesy of Heinemann
Raz Kids: www.kidsa-z.com/main/Login

Our
Go Math! curriculum is extremely fun
and interactive. This program is made up
of 12 chapters that integrate skills including: number facts, addition,
subtraction, 2D shapes, 3D shapes, measurement and much more! This year our classes will also follow a
workshop model when completing math lessons. Each day, differentiated groups will visit
different centers that represent an acronym for MATH:
M - Math
Facts
A
- Apps on the iPad
T - Teacher Time
H - Hands On
Think
Central: www-k6.thinkcentral.com/ePC/start.do
The district is currently phasing in FOSS
(Full Option Science System). FOSS is a research-based science curriculum for grades K-8
developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley.
FOSS has evolved from a philosophy of teaching and learning that has guided the
development of successful active-learning science curricula for more than 40
years. The FOSS Program bridges research and practice by providing tools and
strategies to engage students and teachers in enduring experiences that lead to
deeper understanding of the natural and designed worlds. The kindergarten units include:
Physical Science: Materials and Motion
Earth Science:
Trees and Weather
Life Science:
Animals Two By Two
FOSS Next generation: https://www.fossweb.com/what-is-foss
STEM Laboratory: https://thestemlaboratory.com/stem-activities-for-kids/#_a5y_p=4873548

All About Me
Families and Friends
The Big Wide World
Long Ago and Today
Community Helpers
Our Country, It’s a Great Place
We will be learning about and discussing holidays and special
days during the school year, including:
Columbus
Day
Halloween
Election
Day
Veterans
Day
Thanksgiving
Christmas
Hanukkah
Kwanzaa
Diwali
Las Posadas
New Year's Day
Martin Luther King Jr.
Day
Chinese New Year
Valentine’s Day
Presidents' Day
St. Patrick's Day
Earth Day
Mother’s Day
Memorial Day
Father’s
Day

Character Education is an umbrella term loosely used to describe
the teaching of children in a manner that will help them develop variously as
moral, civic, good, mannered, behaved, critical, and successful individuals. We believe that it is critically important to
begin your child's education through teaching strong character traits that they
will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
This school-wide program will focus upon a different character
trait each month and include: Respect,
Cooperation, Patience, Work Ethic, Kindness, Perseverance, Responsibility, Citizenship
and Initiative.
Mindfulness
focuses on paying attention, on purpose, to the present moment. Various books, activities and projects are
used to promote mindfulness. Teaching
kindergartners how to be mindful has many benefits:
Decreases
a child’s stress and anxiety levels
Increases
a child’s concentration and engagement skills
Aids in
a child’s sleep habits at night
Helps a
child recognize their emotions
Enhances
a child’s decision-making and problem-solving skills
Guides
a child in communicating feelings verbally rather than physically
Increases
a child’s capacity for compassion
Sanford
Harmony is our newest program and is filled with activities and techniques to
guide children in being mindful of others.
The program is designed to teach kindergartners about cooperation,
empathy and effective communication.
Sanford Harmony’s mascot is Z, an alien who crash lands on earth and learns about friendship
from some amazing children.
Sanford Harmony: https://www.sanfordharmony.org