Reading and Writing

We are moving quickly now into Reading and Writing.  In Reading, we are working on beginning sounds and looking at the pictures to tell the story.  We are still reviewing the alphabet and will begin to work on the process of applying their knowledge of letter sounds to reading and sounding out words.  In Writing, we are working on using "Turtle Talk": 1.  Say the word you that you are thinking,  2.  Listen to the sounds you hear,  3.  Think of the letters that make that sound,  4.  Write the letters.  There are different phases of beginning writing.  Some students are still solely using pictures to tell the story, some are writing random letter strings, some are using the beginning letter for each word and some are using words they know and phonetic spelling.  As you have your child do their homework, have them verbally tell you the story, draw a picture and try to write at least one word to go with that story.  If they are frustrated, don't push it, we don't want to place a mental block toward writing.  It will come.

If you have any questions, I am always available!  

Ms. Baker

davis-bakm@duvalschools.org

Make Up Weather Days

Makeup Days for Duval County Public Schools’ Students are Set

Tropical Storm Fay caused Duval County Public Schools’ students to miss three days of school at the beginning of this school year.  The District currently has five days built into our school calendar in order to makeup any days missed due to weather. 

Makeup days for students due to Tropical Storm Fay will be on November 10 and December 18 and 19.  The storm also required us to move the end of the first quarter, changing the date for Teacher Planning Day from October 20 to October 24.  Students will need to now attend school on October 20, not on Teacher Planning Day, October 24.

More "In-Action" Pics

Open House

Open House was a HUGE success!!!  Thank you so much for all of you that came!  I realize it was a long day for everyone.  I have the links for DCPS, Chaffee Trail's Website, and the Chaffee Trail Blog on the side of our Blog.  For those of you that were not able to attend the Open House, I included most of the information in the previous blog.  If you need to get in touch with me, my email is davis-bakm@duvalschools.org.  

Thank you so much for entrusting your precious angels to me for Kindergarten.  I do not take this responsibility lightly!!!

Ms. Baker

In the Beginning.......

The beginning of Kindergarten is an exciting time!  However, it can be daunting and overwhelming for these precious little ones.  We spend the first two weeks going over our Rituals and Routines of the classroom so the students become comfortable and are able to focus their brainpower on learning instead of trying to figure out what they are supposed to do. As they arrive at school, they sit along their assigned wall reading a book from the class basket until they are called to come into the classroom. 

As the day progresses, there are other Rituals and Routines - coming to the carpet as a group, sitting on the carpet during mini-lessons, where and how to sit during independent reading, how to work in groups, when to go to the bathroom, how to line up and walk in line--just to mention a few, but reinforcing these details early on will allow the rest of the year to progress smoothly. When children know exactly what to do and how to do it, they can spend their energy thinking about the new skills as they are presented and teachers do not lose valuable time with behavior. Students know the exact expectations and these remain the same for the year. 

The day begins with activities involving the Every Day Calendar.  These activities are teaching the foundations of math skills.  These activities lead into a Skills Block which is where the basics of Kindergarten are covered:  letter and sounds, numbers, colors, shapes, sight words, etc.  After Skills Block is Reader's Workshop where the students are taught the fundamentals of the reading process: reading left to right, using illustrations to determine meaning, decoding skills, etc.  After lunch we have Writer's Workshop where the students are learning how to put ideas from their minds into print on paper. Then we have Math Investigations where they are able to use different manipulatives to reinforce their understanding of mathematical skills.  This leads into Science and Social Studies Workshops.  Add to this the different Resources: PE, Music, Art, Computer Lab, and Library.  Each Workshop follows the same format:  a mini-lesson, work period and closing. The district has written the first 10 lessons for Readers' and Writers' Workshops, helping the teachers institute those all-important rituals and routines including early lessons in Readers' Workshop, charting as a class how independent readers look and sound and good listeners look and sound.

These beginning days are busy as new kindergarteners learn the workings of their new classroom. Keep in touch to see how "A day in the life of a Kindergartener" is progressing! :-)

partnership

As stated by our wonderful Superintendent:

Education must be a joint venture among students, teachers, staff, parents and community members. Let’s continue to work together to enable our students to achieve at their highest levels.

Thanks again for all that you do.

A New Year

Summer is over and a new year is beginning.  We will spend the first two weeks of Kindergarten learning the daily rituals and routines of the class. These routines help the class to run smoothly allowing us to optimize our teaching and learning time.  I hope that parents will visit our blog often to get an inside peek into the fun and learning in Ms. Baker's Kindergarten class.  I am looking forward to an exciting year!  Ms. Baker