Kindergarten Messages

Science Online Support

Michelle Duncan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:59:59 GMT

Harcourt Science Support

Unit 1 - Physical Science - The World Around Us

Unit 2 - Life Science - Animals and Plants

Biographies

Unit 3 - Earth Science - Our Earth

Biography

Edward Lorenz

Math Steps Online Support

Michelle Duncan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:41:15 GMT

Math Steps Kindergarten

Time

Identify, Sort, Classify

Patterns

Social Studies K

Michelle Duncan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:32:46 GMT

Science K

Michelle Duncan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:32:20 GMT

Math Steps K

Michelle Duncan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:31:42 GMT

Houghton Mifflin Reading

Michelle Duncan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:31:23 GMT

Social Studies Online Support

Michelle Duncan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:21:23 GMT

HARCOURT REFLECTIONS

Our World, Now, and Long Ago

Unit 1 - Being a Good Citizen

Unit 2 - My Country

Unit 3 - Workers

Unit 4 - Where We Live

Unit 5 - Time Goes By

Unit 6 - Stories of the Past

Language Arts Online Support

Michelle Duncan — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:07:27 GMT

THEMES

Look at Us

Colors All Around

We're a Family

Friends Together

Let's Count!

Sunshine and Raindrops

Wheels Go Around

Down on the Farm

Spring is Here

A World of Animals

Science

Michelle Duncan — Thu, 24 May 2007 18:16:26 GMT

This year we have adopted Harcourt as our new science curriculum. The kindergarten curriculum contains: a Flip-Chart Textbook, an Activity Book, an Assessment Guide, a Hands-On Resource Book and Vocabulary Picture Cards.

In addition, Harcourt has a wonderful website (www.hspscience.com). This website offers many resources such as an online teacher’s guide, an audio version of the text, and lab activities and experiments that compliment the text.

Harcourt California Science Level K Online Support

To supplement Harcourt’s science, we’ve added the following seven books to enhance the science curriculum as well as motivate and engage your student:
My Five Senses
My Feet
How a Seed Grows
What’s Alive?
What Makes a Magnet?
What is the World Made Of?
What Will the Weather Be?

Social Studies

Michelle Duncan — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:56:11 GMT

In order to meet State Standards for Social Studies, we are using a new social studies curriculum from Harcourt Publishing. We are excited about having this new curriculum and hope you will be too. The Harcourt series is called Reflections: Our World, Now and Long Ago and comes with a hardbound text book and a Homework and Practice Book. The Homework and Practice Book workbook purpose is to provide students with the concepts, knowledge, and skills they will need to become informed and effective participants in the 21st century. In addition there are Activity Packets (AP) available to supplement each unit. Each packet includes additional support, vocabulary and Unit Tests. These can be found in the Kindergarten GLD.

Harcourt Reflections Social Studies Online Support

United Streaming Video
www.unitedstreaming.com is a Video-On-Demand website that VOCS is incorporating into each grade level “Grid” for the 2007-2008 school year. The website has many features to enhance your child’s learning experience. Lesson packets to support each video are located in the Kindergarten GLD.

Math

Michelle Duncan — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:38:24 GMT

Our school-wide recommended curriculum for mathematics is Math Steps, a curriculum that is closely correlated to the State Standards. The chapters in the book cover Geometry, Number Sense, Addition and Subtraction Facts, Place Value, Time and Money, and Fractions and Measurement. Your child will complete approximately four lessons per week. There is a Math Steps Lesson Support Booklet available for the Cumulative Review sections of each unit. We hope you will take advantage of our extensive collection of math manipulatives to help your child master the concepts introduced.

Math Steps Level K Online Support

Language Arts

Michelle Duncan — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 22:43:20 GMT

The Kindergarten language arts program delivers just what you need to start emerging readers on an exciting journey toward literacy. The language arts component consists of 10 different themes each lasting three weeks. Each theme revolves around a particular theme such as “Look at Us,” “We’re a Family,” and so on. Click here for online support for ideas, links, and help with Houghton Mifflin Reading.

The following are the resources needed for the Kindergarten yearlong curriculum plan.

Big Book Read Aloud
Provides daily opportunities for developing comprehension skills and reading strategies through modeled instruction. The Content Area Link in each Big Book connects the story to other curriculum areas.

Alphafriends
26 delightful alphabet characters that teach phonemic awareness and phonics. Each Alphafriend brings the shape and sound of the letter to life.

Letter, Word and Picture Cards
A comprehensive set of Letter Cards, Word Cards and Picture Cards that provide manipulatives for word-and sentence building.

On My Way Practice Readers
These little books give young readers additional practice with phonics skills and high frequency words within these original stories.

Phonics Library
These engaging original selections for beginning and early readers, target phonics skills and known high frequency words.

Student Practice Book
The Practice Book contains activities for application and reinforcement of phonemic awareness, letter identification, phonics, handwriting, and comprehension skills. Formats in the Student Practice Book align with program assessments, state standards, and standardized tests.

Word and Picture Books
These quick stories for use at home are ideal for practicing phonics and high frequency words.

Higglety Pigglety: A Big Book of Rhymes
Favorite rhymes, songs, and chants help children develop oral language and phonemic awareness.

Nursery Rhymes for Kindergarten
This book is a supplement to the Houghton Mifflin series and is used to start the beginning stages of reading. Repetition and rhyming words are one of the foundational skills needed to start an emerging reader.

My Kindergarten Book of Poems
Your child will be encouraged to memorize most of the poems in this book. Poetry is a perfect vehicle for teaching children about the workings of language and the workings of the world around them. Poetry is by nature meant to read aloud, and as such is a powerful tool for building children’s phonemic awareness-that is, their ability to pick out and manipulate the sounds in spoken words. As you share the poems in this book with you child point out word families, syllables, beginning and ending consonants, long and short vowels and other aspects of language. Beyond introducing the workings of language, poetry opens up children’s imaginations and hearts, helping them look at their familiar world in a new way.

Resource Packets
Teacher reproduced material that supplement the letter of the week. A lot of great ideas and reproducible materials that reinforce each letter and sound. These are located in the Kindergarten Grade Level Drawer. (GLD)

Trade Books
Aside from the “Big Book Read Alouds,” your child should read, or be read to, for minimum of 20 minutes daily. Each theme has suggested tradebooks that will connect, enhance and enrich the core curriculum theme being presented. These books are not required reading, however, it is very important that you supplement the core curriculum. VOCS has made a conscientious effort to procure tradebooks listed on the grids for our library. Core Literature books have been purchased in large quantities and are marked by an asterisk on the grid.

Handwriting
VOCS offers Zaner-Bloser Handwriting: Level K and D’Nealian Handwriting

Assignments for the Year

Michelle Duncan — Mon, 08 Nov 2004 20:51:08 GMT

Kindergarden Grid

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Bryan Bell — Thu, 16 Sep 2004 15:57:22 GMT

A Time to Wonder

Kindergarten is a time for children to expand their love of learning, their general knowledge, their ability to get along with others, and their interest in reaching out to the world. While kindergarten marks an important transition from preschool to primary grades, it is important that children still be children. This year will be one of the most important milestones in your child’s life - the first year of school! A successful adjustment to kindergarten will often influence the child’s perceptions, attitudes, and performance in subsequent school years. The Kindergarten theme, “A Time to Wonder,” is centered on finding out about themselves and the world in which they live. This yearlong plan encompasses the California State Standards for Kindergarten but leaves room for parents who follow the grid planning flexibility while maintaining content consistency.

Assignments for the Year View and Print a week by week grid of your assignments for the 2008 - 2009 school year.

Language Arts Links to more information on the Kindergarden Theme Books.

MacMillan Mcgraw-Hill Links to more information on your math textbook.

Harcourt Science Links to information and activities for your Science textbook.

Social Studies Links to information for your Social Studies textbook.