Mrs.Brunson
Mary Moore Elementary
5500 Park Springs Blvd.
Arlington, Texas 76017
Welcome to my Home Page. I hope you enjoy reading about our classroom happenings.
April 16-May 25
Unit of Study- Ocean, Weather, Insects, Texas
Welcome to Kindergarten!
Welcome to the 2011-2012 School Year!
The next few weeks will be studying: ocean, weather, insects and Texas.
Our end of year Reading and Math testing begins May 7th. This will take several weeks to complete. Please come to school on time. We will begin each morning at 8:30.
Just a few reminders: Please let me know if you have a change in transportation plans for your child. If someone new is picking your child up, please add them to your information card in the office. Please do a backpack check. Sometimes, toys find their way to school. We need to leave toys at home. Thank you for allowing your child to come to class independently. They are doing great with this. Also, remember to send a snack. We eat lunch so early.
Please walk your child into the main building, if you arrive after 8:20. Someone from the office will walk them out to us. Our building is locked and we may not know that they are outside.
End of Year Events
End of Year testing- May 7-18
May 22nd- Kinder Graduation @2:00pm in the cafeteria
May 25th- End of Year Party @ 9:30- Bring a sack lunch
May 28th- Holiday
May 30th and 31st- Early dismissal at 1:45
May 31st- Last Day
Kinder Quotes:
As the kindergartner said..." I can't wait until I am a "grader", right now, I am just a "gartner"! So funny!!!!
I really should publish these quotes.
It's okay not to know, but it's not okay not to try!
The more that you READ,
The more THINGS you will know,
The more that you LEARN,
The more PLACES you'll go!
Dr.Suess
Helpful info about our curriculum plus things you can do at home:
Homework:
Handwriting- Review papers and practice writing letters of the alphabet. Also, practice writing names with a capital for the first letter and lowercase for the rest. We are also practicing starting sentences with a capital letter.
Letter sound and ID- Play games that encourage your child to identify the capital and lowercase letters. Also, the children should be able to isolate the sound the letter makes( even the short and long vowels). Once the children know all the sounds, they will begin bringing home readers that are on their DRA level for homework.
Writing and Spelling- Encourage writing. The children are beginning to sound out words in writing by printing the beginning, middle and ending sounds. Some of us are spelling high frequency words correctly! WOW! We will have weekly spelling homework.
Read- Read to your child everyday. Go to the library and check out fun books to share. Review the weekly readers that come home. It is fun to store them in a shoebox and have a private library to read. The children know these readers and love the repetition.
Our Classroom Schedule
8:05-8:20-Children are dismissed from cafeteria with the safety patrol to come out to classroom. A safety patrol student will greet them at the door as they enter the outside building, supervising the walk from the main building.
8:20- Tardy Bell and morning announcements-Any children arriving after the tardy bell must go to the office before coming to the classroom. The children will be escorted to the building. No one can come out to the kindergarten building alone. The doors remain locked for safety reasons.
8:30-9:00- Calendar Math, music, large circle time
9:00-10:25- Language Arts Block- small groups, reading, writing workshop, word work, large group lesson
10:25-10:50- Recess (outside, weather permitting)
10:50-11:00- Prepare for lunch
11:04-11:34 -Lunch
11:34- 12:00- Restroom/Story and begin Math Block
12:05-12:55 - PE/Literacy time with TA's and teacher conference
12:55-1:30- Continue Math Block
1:30- 1:50- Quiet Reading with book boxes/ journal writing/ soft music ( bring a towel to keep in the locker)
1:50-2:00 - Snack (children bring a simple, individual snack-please no drinks) -our lunch is really early.
2:00- 2:50- Workshops (centers) / Guided Reading Groups/ Science activity/Art
2:50-3:00 - Clean and prepare to dismiss
3:00-3:15 - Review Day-get folders ready/ pass out papers
3:15 Walk to flagpole in front of school, daycare buses or YMCA in the gym.
Extra activities in our week;
Our Library Day: Wednesday
Computer Lab- Wednesday afternoon
Language Lesson with Mrs. Waller( speech pathologist)- Tuesday
Some of these skills, you can work on at home too!
Read below for our reading goals in Kindergarten:
* Reaches Level 3 of the DRA program by year end. Three formal tests given throughout the year.
* Knows the parts of a book and their functions.
* Tracks print when listening to a familiar text being read or when rereading own writing.
* "Reads" familiar texts emergently (i.e., not necessarily verbatim from the print alone).
* Recognizes and can name all uppercase and lowercase letters.
* Understands that the sequence of letters in a written word represents the sequence of sound (phonemes) in a spoken word (alphabetic principle).
* Learns one-to-one letter-sound correspondences.
* Recognizes emergent sight words.
* Uses new vocabulary and grammatical constructions in own speech.
* Makes appropriate switches from oral to written language situations.
* Notices when simple sentences fail to make sense.
* Connects information and events in texts to life and life to text experiences.
* Retells, reenacts, or dramatizes stories or parts of stories.
* Listens attentively to books teacher reads to class.
* Can name some book titles and authors.
* Demonstrates familiarity with a number of types or genres of text (e.g., storybooks, expository texts, poems, newspapers, and everyday print such as signs, notices, labels).
* Correctly answers questions about stories read aloud.
* Makes predictions based on illustrations or portions of stories.
* Demonstrates understanding that spoken words consist of a sequences of phonemes.
* Given spoken sets like "dan, dan, den," can identify the first two as being the same and the third as different.
* Given spoken sets like "dak, pat, zen," can identify the first two as sharing a same sound.
* Given spoken segments, can merge them into a meaningful target word.
* Given a spoken word, can produce another word that rhymes with it.
* Independently writes uppercase and lowercase letters.
* Uses phonemic awareness and letter knowledge to spell independently (invented or creative spelling).
* Writes to express own meaning.
* Builds a repertoire of some conventionally spelled words.
* Shows awareness of distinction between "kid writing" and conventional orthography.
* Writes own name (first and last) and the first names of some friends or classmates.
* Can write most letters and some words when they are dictated; begins to write sentences when dictated.
* Reads at least 60 words per minute by year end.
These are our writing goals to work toward throughout the year. These skills are discussed with your child during writing lessons and conferences. You can help at home by writing with your child and encouraging these skills.
-Begins writing at the top of the paper.
-Begins writing on the left side of the paper.
-Uses the paper’s guidelines to form letters.
-Forms letters correctly.
-Leaves spaces between words.
-Uses a capital at the beginning of a sentence.
-Uses capitals for names.
-Uses punctuation (. ! ? ,)
-Uses lowercase letters appropriately.
-Uses invented spelling.
-Spells high frequency words correctly( words that occur most often in print- the, said, could, etc).
-Recognizes that the print conveys a message (able to read what they wrote).
- Uses the beginning sound to signify a word.
-Writes the beginning and ending sounds in words.
-Sounds out most of the word and begins to include some vowels.
-Begins to check and self-correct mistakes.
-Uses neat handwriting.
-Writes more than one sentence.
-Writes a story.
-Writing conveys a beginning, middle and end.
-Applies knowledge of high-frequency (Word Wall Words) words, and word families.
-Applies knowledge of digraphs and clusters.
-Writing remains on topic.
Please let me know if you have questions or concerns. Good parent/teacher communication is the key to a successful year for all.
Robbie Brunson
Mary Moore Elementary
rbrunson@aisd.net
682-867-8911
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