Kindergarten Orientation

Holy Redeemer School Ms. Mravintz Kindergarten Orientation May 18th 2015

“Holy Redeemer School, founded in 1945 is rooted in the traditions and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and exists to provide a high quality of elementary education in a Catholic setting to the children of the Ellwood City Area.” -Our Mission Statement

Parents, Thank you for choosing a Catholic Education for your child. I am happy to have them in class and look forward to a year of excitement, learning and fun! If at any time you have a question, do not hesitate to contact me at one of the following destinations. Email: [email protected] School: 724-758-5591, please leave a message. (I will be in contact with you within 24 hours) -Ms. Mravintz Our Kindergarten will work hard to stay on task!

When the school year begins, I hope that the children fall into a good routine and are able to control their behavior. Children are children and I know that over the summer they do not want to think about school, so when we jump right into things come August it may take a little bit for some to get into the swing of our daily routine and the things that are expected of them. Our classroom rules are very simple and as you can see I can hope they are things your home works on without even thinking about it:

-Follow directions -Listen when someone is speaking -Stay quiet in the hallways -Respect other’s property -Work quietly -Keep your hands to yourself -Play safely -Bathroom time is just what it is, not social time

*If your child is off task and not following our classroom rules, I will let you know what we as a parent/teacher team need to work on!*

Specials: Each of our specials is once a week for 40 minutes. Gym Spanish Music Art Library Computer

*We do attend Mass each week, usually on Friday, unless a Holy Day of Obligation falls during the week.*

Our Daily Schedule: Arrival Morning Prayers and Announcements Religion Reading and Phonics Snack and Bathroom Break Math Calendar and Lesson Science or Social Studies Recess/Lunch Language Arts/Handwriting Reading Centers Dismissal Curriculum Areas Language Arts: Phonemic Awareness/Phonics *Sound and Word Recognition *Rhyming *Blending *Segmenting *Letter-Sound Correspondence *Sight Words (Get a set of sight word note cards, Dollar Tree has a set for $1) *Reading *Leveled Readers *Sentences

Writing *Print Awareness *Shared Writing *Journal Writing *Sentence Structure *Writing Centers

Stories *Big Books *Class Books *Take Home Books *AR Readers

Math/Science: Both of these areas are very much hands on subject areas. We will be doing a lot of activities that will engage the children in learning. *Measurements *Charts *Time *Patterns *Fractions *Coins *Graphing *Addition and Subtraction *Life Science *Weather *Recycling *Working Together

Social Studies: *Who We Are *Communities *Work *Our Earth *The U.S.A *Family Stories

CVOL: The Catholic Vision of Love *Jesus and Our Homes *Prayer in Our Homes *Communication in Our Homes *Communication Outside Our Homes *Media Use *Proper Word Choice *Knowing When to Say “No” *Being Catholic *Changing and Growing *Modesty

Notes:

Just a few reminders and notes: *Please note, your child should be able to properly write their name. (First letter capital, the rest are lower case.

*Practice number and letter recognition. Billboards, grocery stores, tags on things, toys, menus, placemats, EVERYTHING! Make it a fun game!

*Give them a pair of blunt tip scissors and your old coupons! Give them small things to cut out, newspapers, pictures, anything to help with cutting on the lines.

*Practice with coins. So many of us just use our Debit card without thinking, well our children need to learn the importance of money. Please allow them to sort coins, identify them, and count them. We do a lot with coins in Math throughout the year!

*You will find a list of sight words attached to this packet, please keep them in a safe place, I have note cards available for you to make flash cards if you wish. You can always swing by the dollar store and pick up a set as well. The list is long, but it is also divided into months, this helps the children to not be so overwhelmed! The more words they know, the more they read!

*Practice shoe tying, shirt tucking and belt buckling!

*Each child will be given a vinyl colored folder, this folder is to be used to transport work and notes to and from the parents/teacher, lunch money, and homework. Notes about a change in dismissal should be sent in this folder, too. Anything that is not homework, should be in an envelope and marked on the outside for its destination!

*Kindergarten is SCHOOL, your child will have homework just about every night. This will be something that THEY should be doing, not parents. 

*We do have a homework wiki. This is available to you, so that you know exactly what the homework assignments are daily. You can access the homework wiki by going to: www.holyredeemerschool.com click students, then “homework,” this will redirect you to the homework wiki, look for Kdg-Ms. Mravintz, simply click and read.

*We do have progress reports and report cards in Kindergarten. You will receive an access code/password for the Option C system to check your child’s progress as often as you wish.