Nuts+&+Bolts+of+Kindergarten

**Nuts & Bolts of Mrs. Hammond’s Class ** **Independence ** Kindergarten is a time to foster the independence of your child. In the classroom we will be facilitating your child’s independence as a learner by encouraging responsibility in academic, creative, and social/ emotional domains. Allow your child to make appropriate/ seasonal clothing choices and decide on healthy food choices for lunch and snack (guide your child by offering 2-3 choices that you feel are appropriate). Once at school, encourage your child to carry his/ her own backpack, place snacks and lunches in the appropriate baskets and independently carry out morning routines and rituals once inside the classroom.

**Reading at Home ** The most important homework you can do with your child is daily reading! I encourage at least 20 minutes of reading each day and this can look differently depending on your child (reading to your child, shared reading, your child reading to you, or any combination of the three). Engage your child in dialogue about the book before, during and after reading. Ask questions like... “What is your favorite part and why? Who are the characters? What was the problem in the story and how was it solved?” Always encourage your child to reference the text when answering. Please refer to the Reading Strategies page for more detailed types of reading and engaging questions to increase comprehension. Once we move into guided reading groups (6-8 weeks into school) your child will be bringing home resources to help guide parents in choosing appropriate "good fit" books for your child to read independently at home.

**Math & Writing at Home ** Your child is encouraged to work on math and writing everyday as well and these activities can easily be incorporated into your daily routine at home. Have your child practice writing the alphabet, first and last name, names of family and friends, environmental labels, words in books, and encourage writing in response to books read or about drawings and artwork. Encourage counting real objects for one-to-one correspondence (small snack items, pennies, beads) as well as rote counting (by 1s, 10s, 5s, 2s). Allow your child to help with making meals, baking, grocery shopping, and sorting laundry for awareness of real-world applications of mathematics. Play card games to aid in number sense and strategy games to foster problem solving; look for patterns in architecture and nature; make mention of time and the clock often and use different kinds of timers to help with the passage of time; play with and count money! These are just a few ideas to get you started…please visit the Math, Writing, & Literacy Pages for more specific details/ideas.


 * There will be homework sheets from our Bridges curriculum that come home periodically...please have your child complete and keep at home as I will not be officially collecting these.

This will come home each month and has suggested activities for your child to complete at home. If the suggested activity has a "product", there is no need to send it back to school as I will not be collecting these items. I encourage your to place these in a special folder to keep at home.
 * Homework Calendar **

**Back and Forth Folders ** Your child will bring this folder home every Friday and will need to return it on Monday of each full week. This is a significant piece to our home and school communication. Please look for specific details about this folder when it comes home the second week of school!

**Birthday Celebrations ** We want to recognize each child’s birthday as all children really enjoy these celebrations! Your child will be honored with a sticker to wear and the class will sing a birthday song during our morning routine. For summer birthdays, we can do a 1/2 birthday, so please let me know in advance if you'd like to do this for your child. Your child may bring in 3 special items as a show and tell on his/her special day. //We will NOT accept any kind of food treats due to allergies and food restrictions. Thank you in advance for your consideration of our new school-wide policy!//

**Parent Volunteers ** We have many ways for parents to get involved at Brown. Parent volunteers are always appreciated in a variety of capacities here at Brown. We will have 1-2 room parents that will reach out to parents throughout the year for different ways to support Brown &/or volunteer in the classroom. Once rituals and routines are established, Kindergarten children are more ready to have parents in the classroom. This varies from class to class (around 6-8 weeks into the school year). As we approach this time, I will send out a more detailed survey to gather parent interest and availability specific to volunteering in our room. Thank you in advance for being patient!

Please feel free to contact me when questions or concerns arise or if there is any information you feel will be helpful for me to know in order to ensure your child’s success in Kindergarten. Email is the best ways to reach me. I look forward to our new partnership in your child’s education!

tara_hammond@dpsk12.org