WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN

1. WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN Mrs. Ball Room S-4 Please… Make yourself comfortable and take a look around the room! Find a seat, there will be time to sign up for things after the presentation  The presentation will begin shortly.

3. The Responsive Classroom Approach • The Responsive Classroom is an approach to teaching and learning that fosters safe, challenging, and joyful classrooms and schools, kindergarten through eighth grade. The approach was developed by The Northeast Foundation for Children in 1981.

4. Principles of the Responsive Classroom • The social curriculum is just as important as the academic curriculum. • How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand-in-hand. • The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction. • There is a set of social skills children need in order to be successful academically and socially: cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control.

5. Principles Continued… • Knowing the children we teach individually, culturally, and developmentally, is as important as knowing the content we teach. • Knowing the families of the children we teach and working with them as partners is essential to children's education. • How the adults at school collaborate is as important as individual competence: Lasting change begins with the adult community.

6. Responsive Classroom’s Teaching Practices • Morning/Afternoon Meeting: A daily routine that builds community, creates a positive climate for learning, and reinforces academic and social skills. • Rules and Logical Consequences: A clear and consistent approach to discipline that fosters responsibility and self-control. • Guided Discovery: A format for introducing materials that encourages inquiry, heightens interest, and teaches care of the school environment. • Academic Choice: An approach to giving children choices in their learning that helps them become invested, self-motivated learners. • Working with Families: Ideas for involving families as true partners in their child’s education.

7. Morning/Afternoon Meeting • Greeting • Sharing • Activity • Daily Message • Smartboard • Routine

8. Calendar Activities • The Pledge of Allegiance • Yesterday, today and tomorrow • Days in School/Date • Counting on, tally marks • The Number of the Day • Weather Graphing • Addition/Subtraction • Days of the Week • Months of the Year • Writing High Frequency Words & Letters

9. Hopes and Dreams • The first week of school students created their hopes and dreams that they would like to achieve in kindergarten. These hopes and dreams will allow the class to create rules based on giving everyone the opportunity to achieve their hopes and dreams.

10. Kindergarten “Do’s” • Listen to teachers. • Take care of yourself. • Take care of each other. • Take care of the classroom and school. • Learn & discover as much as you can! • Do your best work 

11. Classroom Discipline • “Time-out” or “Take a Break” is a strategy to help children learn self-control. A child who is disrupting the work of the group is asked to leave for a few minutes. Give the child a chance to regain composure and rejoin the group on his own.

12. Language Arts • Your child will… • Appreciate literature and have a strong desire to read. • Identify capital/lower case letters. • Identify sounds of the letters. • Gain knowledge of concepts of print. • Begin to sound out simple words • Read at least 20 high frequency words. • Read SIMPLE texts. • Gain knowledge of literature concepts. • Read at their own reading level.

13. Mathematics • Your child will… • Count to 100 by 1’s • Count by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s • Count backwards from 20 to 1 • Gain number sense • Use measurement • Tell time to the hour • Identify coins • Recognize and make geometric shapes • Make number families • Read and write simple fractions • Begin to add and subtract

14. Handwriting Without Tears • Your child will… • Learn child-friendly language • Use multi-sensory, hands-on materials • Learn a proper pencil grip

15. Writing • By the end of the year your child will be a beginning writer. • Students will write their full name with capital and lowercase letters. • Students will be introduced to the writing process. • Students will communicate their ideas through pictures and words. • Students will write their own books.

16. Science • Weather • Trees-Seasonal Study • The Five Senses

17. Social Studies • Families • Holidays

18. HOMEWORK READ READ READ… for 15 minutes every night!

19. Homework Homework will reinforce the concepts we are working on in class & helps develop responsibility. • The monthly calendar can be completed at home and handed in at the end of the month. (it is optional ) • Read every night! • High frequency words should be read and written every night.

20. AM Tuesday-Library (parents & I) Wednesday-Music with Ms. Sosio Thursday-Gym with Mr. Ngo Friday- Art with Mrs. Lelli PM Monday-Gym with Mr. Ngo Tuesday- Art with Mrs. Lelli Library (parents & I) Thursday-Music with Ms. Sosio Specials *Sneakers with closed backs must be worn or your child will not be able to participate in activities!

21. Absence Policy If your child is sick or going on vacation, the school policy states that any missed work will be given to them after they return to school. Please make sure you contact the office about and absence.

22. Safe List • The safe list is a list of three to four people who can pick up your child from my backdoor, i.e relatives, neighbors, or car pool group. • If someone is picking up your child, who is not on that list, I MUST HAVE A NOTE WITH YOUR WRITTEN PERMISSION!

23. Snack • Please only send in pretzels, crackers, fruits or vegetables. (Please refrain from yogurt. It is messy, sticky, and hard to open) • Each day students bring in a small snack. Due to time restraints of half-day kindergarten, we only have about 10 minutes to eat snack. If your child forgets a snack, I keep extras in the classroom. Please provide a fork if they need one.

24. Birthday Procedures • To celebrate a child’s birthday, students are permitted to bring in a special snack to share with the class. • Please include napkins and plates. Drinks are not necessary. • Birthday party invitations are permitted in school, only if you are inviting the entire class.  • Summer birthdays will be celebrated in June and the date will be arranged with me .

25. Scholastic Book Club • Owning your own books is special, and encourages children to be enthusiastic about reading. • The price of the books are inexpensive compared to Borders or Barnes and Noble. • The class earns free books for our classroom!

26. How To Contact Mrs. Ball • Sending a note in with your child is the best way to communicate with me. • My standard e-mail policy is to respond within 24 hours, excluding weekends. • You can also leave a message with the secretaries if it’s urgent with your name and phone number. • I do not check my voice mail daily. If you left a message and I did not get back to you in a day, please write me a note.

27. Mrs. Ball’s Website • There are many exciting things that are posted on my website! It is used in class with the students and is a great form of communication. • If interested, go to the New Providence District website. http://www.npsd.k12.nj.us/awres/site/default.asp

28. Procedures for Inclement Weather in Kindergarten • Drop off for AM is in front of the South Court or the front door. Drop off for PM is at the front door of AWR. Someone will let students in and be with the class at 12:00 to watch them until 12:05. • AM students will line up in the hallway near our classroom on when they come into school.

29. Conferences January -Discusses and explains the report card *Please schedule a conference with me beforehand if you have a concern.

30. AM Mrs. Davies (Susie & Patrick’s mom) Mrs. Naik (Isla’s mom) PM Mrs. Chibwe (Ethan’s mom) Mrs. Reed (Olivia’s mom) Class Moms

32. Thank You For Coming! I look forward to a wonderful and successful year with you and your child! Please remember to write on your child’s “Kissing Card” in their cubby!