Questions Parents Ask about Kindergarten How can I help my child feel good about school? Talk about school in a positive way as a happy and safe place. Avoid teasing your child about having homework or being sent to the principal s office. Young children often do not understand they are only being teased and fears may enter their minds. In reality, there will be homework for the parents. Our Read Now! home reading program will provide a book for you to read with your child each day. During the elementary school years, students benefit greatly from having books read to them. Adults model important reading skills (such as fluency, expression, comprehension). Later in the year, teachers will also send home books for students to read to you. Teachers usually take care of discipline matters in the classroom. Children visit the principal to read to him and to share their successes. Teasing young children about homework or being sent to the principal s office may actually frighten them. What should my child wear to school? To foster independence and positive self-esteem in kindergarten, you are encouraged to dress your child in comfortable clothing that s/he can fasten totally by him/herself. Zipping, snapping, buttoning, tying, and fastening require special coordination and control of the small muscles in children s hands. Please notice the details in your child's clothing and be sure s/he can use self-help skills independently. If your child is having difficulty with a particular piece of clothing, help him/her make another choice before coming to school. We are concerned with the whole child and want to prevent any embarrassing situations, especially those that occur when the need to use the restroom arises. We want to create a positive environment where your child feels successful. This success begins at home, as we work together as a team. Be sure to put your child s name on coats, shoes, hats, mittens, scarves, book bags, etc. Why does my child need to leave a pair of shoes at school? The pair of gym shoes left at school assures that s/he will have the necessary equipment to participate in PE. Please avoid gym shoes that have high tops and long laces. If you buy your child shoes with a larger size during the school year, then you will probably need to buy larger gym shoes also. Why does my child need to play in kindergarten? I expect my child to learn in school. Kindergarten is students first experience in "real school" where there is a core academic curriculum and assessments. Students success throughout their schooling and later in their adult relationships and careers is dependent on mastering certain non-academic skills. Development of the following skills is part of the kindergarten curriculum: Sharing and turn taking Having conversations with children and adults
Working independently Managing use of their own time Gaining a sense of belonging to a group and being valuable to the group Practicing what has been learned Making appropriate choices Resolving conflicts When I ask my child what s/he did at school that day, the answer I get is "nothing". Young children are very involved and focused on what they are doing right now. It often is hard for them to recall and tell in detail what they did earlier in another place. Children who go to daycare after school have another whole set of experiences after they leave Robert Frost that create more "distance" from school. Consider saying something else, such as "Tell me about your day. What was your favorite thing?". Read the teacher s newsletter to learn about what happens in class. What can I do when I have concerns about my child or something else at school? Please talk to the person directly. Talk to the faculty members as soon as you are concerned. That way, potentially bigger problems can be prevented. Please remember to follow district policy, "Communication of Complaints", that is found in the parents calendar/handbook you received at registration. Does every teacher teach phonics? Yes, every kindergarten teacher teaches phonics. A strong phonics foundation is one of several components of effective reading instruction. Research- and best-practice based reading instruction includes: 1. Phonics (ability to relate letters in a word to the sounds the letters represent, write sounds the student hears, and helps students to sound out words) 2. Phonemic awareness (ability to recognize individual sounds in words, is a vital pre-reading skill) 3. Sight words (common, frequent words that the student learns as whole words) 4. Writing integrated with reading instruction (opportunities for students to practice and extend their knowledge of phonics, phonemic awareness, and sight words) Each of the four areas as well as other reading and writing skills are taught and assessed on an ongoing basis. Our goal is to help kindergarten students become strategic readers and writers. Will my child learn to read and write in kindergarten? That may depend on how one thinks of reading and writing. In the past reading was thought of as the ability to read word-for-word with few mistakes. Writing was defined as the ability to make recognizable letters and words. Current research shows that children use important reading and writing behaviors and strategies long before they can actually read everything on a page. Memorizing a book, reading the pictures to tell the story, predicting what will happen next, finding familiar words and letters,
and even guessing are all important strategies that kindergartners use to make meaning out of text. Drawing pictures with an increasing number of details, scribbles and markings are young children s writing. Many children in kindergarten will use some or all of these strategies. Children who are ready to read will be reading and writing simple sentences. Teachers support students individual developmental progress. But my child is already reading and/or doing addition and subtraction! Won t s/he be bored in kindergarten? Kindergarten is a place where learning opportunities are many and varied. A bored kindergartner is a rare child! During the first quarter, teachers will do baseline assessments with all students in the academic areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. When teachers know the levels of each student s development they provide instruction and materials to help students move forward from there. Baseline assessments provide the basis for differentiating instruction on a small group and individual basis. Our experience is that sometimes parents think children know more than our assessments indicate. This may occur when children are asked to do something at school in a way that is different than the parents ask. Also, sometimes parents give little prompts that teachers may not give, since during kindergarten assessments the students need to demonstrate mastery. Teachers provide reading materials at many levels. Advanced readers will be supported as they learn. Instruction will include more advanced writing strategies and tasks, also. Students with advanced math skills will be provided opportunities to extend their skills. It is common for kindergarten students to be able to do math computation without understanding or being able to communicate understanding of basic mathematics processes. Teachers will facilitate students knowledge in the math areas of problem solving and communication of steps they use to solve problems. If a child does not seem to be challenged enough in kindergarten, parents need to speak to the child s teacher. Kindergarten teachers have had training in differentiated instruction. Parents find it helpful to understand that the range of developmental and skill levels in typical kindergarten classes can be as much as five or six years. This means some students will be like three-year-olds in some ways, while others will be like eight-year-olds in some ways. Teachers guide and support the development of the whole child, not just in the academic areas. This provides daily challenges in kindergarten classrooms. Acceptance of this reality can help parents have appropriate expectations of their children s teachers. My child can do so many things that I think s/he is academically talented or gifted. Does my child have to waste time in kindergarten? Children who are gifted, like all children, need opportunities to develop socially and emotionally. Our experience is that it is a rare kindergarten-age student who is fully ready to function well in a first grade classroom, despite having advanced skills. That is the rationale behind the systematic approach we take to identifying and instructing gifted and/or advanced students. In addition to having advanced skills, children who
exhibit the following characteristics are most likely to do well with academically talented support: Have a wide-ranging curiosity. Learn easily and rapidly. Show problem-solving ability. Use advanced vocabulary and sentence structure. Show imagination. Demonstrate appropriate self-reliance. Demonstrate talent in one or more areas. Procedures are in place for these students, and parental cooperation is especially important: Before school starts -Let the principal know that your child already has mastered kindergarten skills. -Discuss your expectations with the principal. Do you seek enrichment for your child during his/her kindergarten year? Do you think your child should be accelerated to first grade? Is whatever the teacher thinks best okay with you? After school starts -Talk to the teacher about what you think your child can do and what s/he needs. Give us at least six weeks to implement our systematic procedures: -Baseline assessments of kindergarten-level skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. -Observations of the child s social and emotional development by experienced professionals -Further learning levels evaluations -Consultation with the Academically Talented (AT) teacher -Follow-up observation and testing by the AT teacher if these are indicated -Conferencing to discuss findings and to make recommendations Support your child s development by following through at home with recommendations made by staff. If a child does not seem to be challenged enough in kindergarten, parents need to speak to the child s teacher. Kindergarten teachers have had training in gifted education and/or differentiated instruction. My child does not bring home worksheets that are graded by the teacher. How will I know my child is learning? Worksheets are not the best way for young children to learn skills. Young children learn by doing real things in hands-on ways. For this reason, regular attendance is vital. It is not possible to send home work sheets and textbooks to make up missed school days. Math, for example, is taught and learned as children use the many manipulatives (math toys) in the classroom. Teachers provide a variety of directed, guided activities to teach the many skills kindergarten children need. Teachers observe and assess children s learning regularly. You will receive written progress
reports four times, and have parent-teacher conferences twice (or more often if needed). If you want to know more about your child s progress, please contact the teacher. Does it mean that my child has a learning disability because s/he reverses letters in writing? It is common for reversals to occur through second grade. Continue to monitor your child s writing progress. You can assist your child when reversals occur by writing letters correctly and asking, "Does this look the same?". Sometimes children s visual discrimination skills (seeing likenesses and differences) are slow in developing. If you have concerns in first grade, please talk to the teacher. My child does not spell words correctly and the teacher does not correct the work. Doesn t my child need to spell correctly? This is called "developmental" or "invented" spelling. It is an early stage in learning to read and write. Children learn to write in the same way they learned to talk through a string of partly correct or correct words and sounds. It is important to honor all forms of children s writing. Just as parents knew that when their children began to crawl they would later learn to walk, kindergartners will learn to spell correctly when they are ready. Correct spelling is modeled at all times. In kindergarten, the most important thing is for children to learn many skills and to believe that they are good and capable learners. Correcting young children s spelling at this stage can be discouraging to them. Remember that incorrect spelling in kindergarten is a stage, not a permanent situation. How will I know if my child is ready for first grade? Ask questions and listen carefully at each parent-teacher conference. If a teacher believes that a child needs extra help, she may do several things: Try different teaching strategies. Tell the parents about problems and give suggestions so that they can help. Hold a student concern session. This process brings together other staff members who can give more suggestions for helping the child. Recommend a referral for a full case study evaluation. Parents will be told about this step and permission is required before proceeding. This evaluation involves specialists, and the results help teachers and parents know what needs to be done to help the child. Recommend staying in kindergarten another year (retention). Teachers will discuss this option with parents during the winter parent-teacher conference or prior to the third quarter report cards. First grade teachers developed the following guidelines for readiness for first grade. Children do better in first grade when they: Listen to stories, poems, and/or nursery rhymes every day at home. Dress themselves (including zippers and buttons).
Tie their shoes. Say their name, address, and phone number. Take care of their belongings (hats, coats, shoes). Organize their school materials (books, papers, pencils, and notes to and from home). Cooperate with other children. Print their first and last name (capital letter first, then small letters). Identify all capital and small letters. Answer questions about a story. Follow two-step directions. Read some basic sight words (examples I, to, is, can, in). Write some words (own name, sight words). Write the letter when hearing the sound (for example, write "b" when hearing the sound, "buh"). Identify basic shapes (circle, square, triangle, and rectangle). Count to at least 25 (50 or 100 is better). Write numbers 1-10 Identify numbers 1-20 Name coins (penny, nickel, dime, quarter) Why don t you have graduation at Robert Frost School? I really want my child to have this experience! Our teachers have carefully planned a sequence of activities to help children make a successful transition to first grade. We prepare our young students during their kindergarten year to take their first steps into full-day formal education in their firstfourth grade buildings, LeVasseur, Shabbona, or Shepard: Emphasis is placed on increasing amounts of independence during the second semester. One example is having the children go to their classrooms in orderly lines by themselves instead of having the teacher come to the gym for them. Teachers introduce "first grade work" that includes more paper and pencil tasks that are done independently by students. Staff accompany students on their visits to their first grade schools. Students meet the principal there, have a tour, and do some enjoyable activities together at either LeVasseur or Shabbona. Kindergarten Fun Day is held to celebrate the end of the year and our joy that we have successfully helped our students be ready to move on to first grade. The word "graduation" implies that students have completed their education or have earned an academic degree. "Graduates" are generally believed to be former students who are ready to move into the larger world and leave formal education behind or enroll in a post high school institution. When we apply these common understandings of the words "graduation" and "graduates" to 5 or 6-year-old children, these words seem quite out of place. The completion of the kindergarten year is one that we hope will lead to our students putting on a cap and gown when they are 17 or 18 years old,
equipped with skills and knowledge that will allow them to move on to the next stage of their late adolescent/early adult lives. Other schools in the area offer full-day kindergarten, why doesn t District 53? Kindergarten performance data collection results and reports from first grade teachers indicate that with few exceptions, kindergarten students leave Robert Frost School ready for first grade. There does not appear to be an academic necessity for keeping kindergarten students in school all day. Also, there has not been a community push for full-day kindergarten and the resultant requirements for twice as many classrooms, teachers, and teacher assistants. What do kindergarten teachers wish parents would do? Look for the colored papers and always read them. Many papers will come home with your students, so we color-code the "must-read" papers. Return notes and papers requiring signatures (esp. field trip permission) immediately. Always put in writing any changes in bus or car rider status. Talk to us about your concerns. Follow the district policy by talking over concerns with us rather than bypassing us and going straight to the principal or the superintendent first. Maintain respectful confidentiality about things you observe in the classroom. Inclusion of special needs students, especially in the early years, is beneficial to all students. Yet we are aware that sometimes parents make inappropriate remarks to others about these and other students. Recognize that we work very hard to meet the needs and reasonable expectations of 40-48 students and 80-96 parents. Let us know when you are pleased and appreciative.