Email comments/concerns.

This is my 1st 'Blog' entry...ever. Hmm. Let's see...Let's talk about KINDERGARTEN and the scoop on some common terms that I might 'throw your way'. Every world has its 'Lingo' and Kindergarten is no different. As you and your child progress through the year there might be some jargon that pops up here and there that you've never heard before...as I'm sure would be the case for me if I were to step into your work place!

 I will list a few with quick, short definitions.

•  Modeling: (you don't need a 'Run-way' for this one!)lol This is a way of teaching by demonstrating. An example would be teaching your child to read from left to right...by sitting with them as you read a book aloud and moving your finger across the page as you say each word. I teach by modeling behavior all day.
• Assessment: I use all kinds of activities to 'gauge' the progress of each child in my classroom. I have already within the first few weeks of school use a variety of assessments to figure out where each one of 'our kids' stand in terms of reading, writing and math. As the year moves on I continue to 'Progress Monitor' in order to compare, evaluate and plan the next steps for my teaching process and lessons.
• Standards and Benchmarks: This is a basis on which I make a comparison of the progress of each individual student. These results will help me to plan adaptations and modifications to the curriculum, set goals (I'm a coach, I'm all about 'setting goals') and will help evaluate not only our kids but myself as well. A Goal that I have set for us is "Use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization and sentence structure...*sigh* that's a hefty goal...but I feel it is Obtainable. We can reach that goal with the specific Benchmarks to make sure our kids are on track. "Writing Upper and Lowercase letters, Write words based on how they sound, Using initial consonants and some ending sounds, Begin to write simple sentences..." 
• Phonemic Awareness: The children recognize the individual sounds that make up words. Example: 'cat' is broken into 3 distinct parts: the hard /k/ sound at the start, the /a/ sound in the middle and the /t/ at the end. This skill also includes being able to blend the sounds /k/, /a/, /t/ into the word 'cat' and being able to hear the common sound in several words 'hen', 'hat' and 'hill' (/h/).
• Comprehension: This turns up a lot in Reading...in a nutshell, it's how well a child understands what they have read. I measure this by how well the child can recall what they have read or what they have just heard read or even their ability to make inferences and predictions about our read aloud story (Journal time)
• Ok...last one..
• High-Frequency Words: This is our 'Sight Words'. These words are taken from a list of the most commonly used words in the English language. We call them 'Sight Words' because we learn them by sight, rather than by sounding or 'stretching' them out. We just got our first group of words: my, is, on ,the. Many of our Sight Words do not follow 'sounding out' rules, which is another reason why I encourage the kids to memorize them and practice them every night! (Please check out the attached 'Flash Card' section on my School Notes page. I have listed them for the entire year, if you'd like to get a 'head start'!)

 :) Questions-Comments-Concerns...

Please Do Not Hesitate to Let Me Know!