Our Classroom: Info & Resources

Two Teachers??
Mrs. T. and I are jobsharing, which means that we divide the school year up evenly and each work half-time. Most weeks, I teach Mondays & Tuesdays, and she teaches Thursdays and Fridays; we alternate Wednesdays, and trade days as needed so that we rarely need to use substitute teachers.

Having two teachers means your child gets the benefit of two sets of experience, and two different personalities/teaching styles. Mrs. T. and I work hard to stay in close communication, and to keep our routines and expectations consistent so that students aren't confused. We think it works out wonderfully for everyone involved!

Daily Folders and Homework
Daily Folders are the lifeline between home and school, and we use them (of course) daily! Laminated inside your child's Daily Folder are all of the basic kindergarten standards we will be working on this year (coins, numbers, letters, shapes), which we encourage parents to review with students at home on a regular basis. Also, inside the back cover are instructions for logging in to your child's Raz-Kids account.

Students turn in their Daily Folders each morning on their way into class; we check them, put any paperwork inside that needs to go home, and put them back in their backpacks to go home that afternoon. Please check your child's folder every day for important notices, forms, and information!

Homework comes home in Daily Folders each Friday, and is due back in the folders the following Thursday. At first, parents will need to help their children with some or all of the packet; but as the year goes on, students should be able to complete much of it independently. We encourage you to let your child do the writing, cutting, and coloring on his or her own as much as possible. Please remember to initial the front page as each item is completed!

Sight Word Testing Procedures
1)Parents sign off each list in the Daily Folder as they feel their child has mastered it.
2) On testing day, we pull individual children for tests using flash cards, which they need to read "on sight"--if the student is sounding out a word or taking more than 3 seconds to read it, s/he does not yet know it "on sight."
3) If the child passes, we celebrate and send home a certificate that day; if not, we mark the ones that were missed and encourage the student to keep practicing!
Once students pass Lists A through E (the standard for kindergarten), we present them with a special "Sight Word Superstar" t-shirt. Students are welcome to keep going and pass as many of the 1st and 2nd grade lists as they can, too!

Sight Word Lists
Not all schools or districts use the exact same sight word lists, but our lists can be found here. Printable flash cards for lists A-E can be found here.

Raz-Kids
Check your child's folder for login instructions and his/her picture "password" and then log in here. Kids can earn points by listening to books (click on the ear icon beneath the book), then reading the books independently (click on the book icon). They also earn points each time they complete a book level, and by taking quizzes on the books.
This is a great way for you to help your child practice reading at his/her individual reading level from home! (Heads up: make sure s/he doesn't just click "next" all the way through--have your child practice reading the words aloud so you can be sure the reading is happening!)

2 comments:

  1. Sight word lists are not accessible on Google docs as it's require proper log in name. Please check, thank.

    Kale P's parents

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the heads-up! I fixed the links and they should all work now...sorry about that!

    ReplyDelete