Literacy Websites
http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/customer_login.asp——>user name is scdsb password: books
About Full-Day Kindergarten
Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program
The following is a look at many of the Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten expectations. Kindergarten is a 2 year program, so the expectations are for the end of the Early Learning-Kindergarten Program.
Kindergarten Program. It is available online at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindergarten_english_june3.pdf
Personal and Social Development
• Learn how to make and keep friends (e.g., sharing, helping, listening, taking turns )
• Use different ways to solve social problems (e.g., talk to other students about possible
• solutions, ask an adult for help)
• Respond to each other’s feelings (e.g., make someone a picture when he or she is sad)
• Be understanding of others differences (e.g., help a friend who speaks another language)
• Identify their own interests, strengths, and accomplishments (e.g., A child says “I can sing in my own language”)
• Share their thoughts and experiences
• Demonstrate self-reliance (e.g., make choices and decisions on their own) and a sense of responsibilities (e.g., take care of their own belongings)
• Willing to try new experiences (e.g., try to use different ways to write a message) and adapt to new situations (e.g., going on a field trip)
• Demonstrate self-motivation, initiative, and self-confidence to complete learning tasks (e.g., choose which centre to play at on their own)
• Begin to demonstrate self-control and change behavior according to different expectations (e.g., follow routines and rules in the gym, hallway, library, and classroom)
• Recognize people in the community and talk about what they do (e.g., police, nurse)
• Recognize places and buildings in their community and talk about their function (e.g., Shoppers Drug Mart – sells medicine and things for the home)
Language:
• Identify the front, back, title, and author of a book
• Be able to point to letters, words, and sentences on a page
• Identify most upper case and lower case letters
• Orally tell what sound is heard at the beginning and ending of words
• Recognize and create rhymes
• Be able to read a few of the following important sight words: a, and, he, I, in, is, it, of, that, the, to, was
• Use letters, pictures, and words to write a message
• Understand and follow one and two step spoken directions
• Read and understand simple pattern books
• Make predictions (guesses) about what will happen in a book
• Show understanding of stories by retelling or acting them out
• Identify characters (people or animals in a story), setting (where the story takes place) and main idea of a story (what the story is about)
• Communicate their ideas about a variety of media materials (e.g., describe their feelings about what happened in a DVD, paint a picture in response to an advertisement)
Mathematics
• Demonstrate 1 to 1 correspondence (e.g., put one plate for each person at the table)
• Sort and classify objects by shape (e.g., or circle), size (e.g., big or small), or colour (e.g., red or green)
• Identify, copy, extend, and create patterns (e.g., red, blue, red, blue)
• Identify the five basic shapes (circle, oval, square, rectangle, and triangle)
• Label sets with the corrects numeral (0-10)
• Identify the numbers from 0 to 10
• Count forwards to 30
• Compare sets of objects and uses the terms equal, more than, or less than correctly
• Begin to understand addition using manipulatives (e.g., “You have 2 green blocks. I give you 3 red blocks. How many blocks do you have now?)
• Begin to understand subtraction using manipulatives (e.g., “You have 6 blocks. You give your friend 2 blocks. How many blocks do you have now?)
• Measure length with a variety of non-standard measurements (e.g., “How many blocks high is the table?”)
• Compare and order two or more objects by different measures (e.g., length, mass, temperature) and use measurement terms (e.g., shorter/longer for length, heavier/lighter for mass, hot/cold for temperature) correctly
• Use words to explain location (e.g., between, above, below, etc.)
• Ask and answer questions about graphs
Science and Technology:
• Talk about and/or use pictures, letters, or words to describe patterns and cycles in the world (e.g., life cycle of a butterfly)
• Investigate and talk about what common materials are and what they are used for (e.g., sand can be wet or dry)
• Use pictures, letters, words to describe what they found out from doing investigations by themselves or with others
• Ask questions and make predictions (guesses) what will happen before and during investigations (e.g., what would happen if we leave ice in a bowl)
• Investigate and use familiar technological items and describe their use in daily life (e.g., computer, calculator)
• Investigate how different forces make things move (e.g., wind makes a kite move)
Health and Physical Education
• Begin to name and understand the benefits of eating healthy food (e.g., able to name healthy snacks and why you should eat them)
• Practice and discuss appropriate personal hygiene that helps to keep themselves and others around them healthy (e.g., wash your hands before eating)
• Discuss what makes them happy and sad
• Participate actively in creative movement and other physical activities
• Begin to demonstrate control of small muscles (e.g., painting with a paint brush, cutting paper, writing with a pencil or crayon) and large muscles (e.g., roll, throw, and catch a variety of balls; hop, gallop, march, or slide in the gym
Drama and Dance
• Demonstrate a sense of accomplishment in drama and dance (e.g., create a movement for a new dance)
• Explore different elements of drama (e.g., character, setting) and dance (e.g., space, shape)
• Use problem-solving skills and their imagination to create drama and dance
• Dramatize stories, rhymes, legends from different cultures including their own
Music
• Explore a variety of tools and materials of their own choice (e.g., spoons, rhythm sticks) to create music in familiar and new ways
• Explore different elements (e.g., beat, speed, volume) of music
• Use problem-solving skills and their imagination to create music
• Respond to music from various cultures including their own
Visual Arts
• Demonstrate a sense of accomplishment in visual arts
• Explore a variety of tools and materials of their own choice (e.g., spoons, rhythm sticks) to create visual arts
• Explore different elements of design (e.g., colour, line, texture) in visual arts
• Use problem-solving skills and their imagination to create visual art forms (e.g., choose materials to make a three-dimensional structure stable)
What You Can Do At Home
Targeted activities you can do at home to help your child be more successful in kindergarten:
Practice writing his/her first and last name
1. Have your child practice writing his/her name using a variety of tools such as a Magna Doodle, crayons, pencils, and markers. Check that your child is gripping the writing utensil correctly. You may even consider having your child practice writing his/her name using different items around the house such as pudding, rice, sand, or shaving cream.
*** Be sure that your child uses a capital letter only at the beginning and lowercase letters for the rest of the name.
2. Write your child’s name in large letters (or use magnetic letters). Say each letter aloud as you write or place it so your child can associate the name of the letter with the shape of the letter.
3. Cut apart the letters of your child’s name (or use magnetic letters) and have him/her put them back in the correct order saying the name of each letter while doing so. (Start with just the first name, adding the last name only when they have mastered this.)
4. Label your child’s door or other objects so his/her name can be seen in print.
Practice recognizing and writing the numbers 0 to 10 (or higher)
1. Read and enjoy counting books together.
2. Point out numbers in license plates, in the store, in your home, and all around you.
3. Use magnetic numbers to have your child practice naming them. Have your child put the numbers for your phone number in order saying each number while doing so.
4. Practice writing numbers using a variety of materials such as pencils, crayons, markers, and sidewalk chalk, etc.
Practice counting orally and practice counting objects (to 10 or
higher)
1. Have your child count his/her own snacks such as pretzels, goldfish crackers, grapes, etc.
2. Count each item as you pick up 10 things to put away in the house or bedroom.
3. Count the number of stair steps in your house or the number of steps from your car to the store.
Practice naming and correctly writing the letters in the alphabet
1. Read and enjoy alphabet books together.
2. Help your child recognize letters of the alphabet in everyday life (ex. Restaurants, road signs, store signs, cereal boxes, etc.).
3. Practice recognizing and writing both upper and lowercase letters.
Practice book handling skills
1. Discuss how to open the book from the front. Point out the front of the book and the back of the book. Discuss that the front of the book is where the story begins and the back is where the story ends.
2. Discuss how to hold a book so it is not upside down and show where to start reading.
3. Read with your child on a daily basis.
Practice recognizing the eight primary colors
1. When your child is coloring, ask what colors were used.
2.Have our child draw objects on paper and ask him/her to color the objects in certain colors.
3. Have your child sort objects or food by colors. Use items such as clothes, blocks, Skittles, M&M’s, or Fruit Loops. Have your child name the colors.
4. Discuss colors of things in the world around you such as the sky, the grass, cars, clothing items.
Practice naming and drawing the four basic shapes (circle,
triangle,square, rectangle)
1. Point out objects in your house or environment that have the basic shapes such as doors, windows, clocks, can tops, kites, etc.
2. Read and enjoy shape books together.
3. Have your child draw the shapes on chalkboards, paper, etc. then cut them out naming each shape while doing so.
Practice your phone number and address
1. Have your child practice his/her phone number on a play telephone.
2. To help your child remember his/her phone number, make up a rhyme or song to go along with it.
Practice coloring within the lines and cutting on the lines
1. Have your child cut out coupons.
2. Have your child cut out pictures from old magazines of things that he/she is interested in.
3. Have your child draw simple objects with some detail (including “self, family, house, and pets).
4. Explore coloring with a variety of resources including markers,
crayons, chalk, and paint.
Helpful Tips
Some Tips to Help with Beginning Reading and Writing
The greatest benefits of reading are obtained when your child is an active participant engaging in discussions about stories, talking about meanings of words and the story, predicting outcomes, and relating the story matter to other texts and his/her own life.
1. Read to your child daily.
2. Talk about the book as you read with your child and after you have finished reading it.
3. Look at the book cover before reading. Point out the title, author, and illustrator.
4. Point out words or phrases that are repeated several times throughout the story.
5. Encourage your child to finish predictable phrases or rhymes.
6. Remember to focus on the meaning of the story. If a child reads something that doesn’t make sense, often he or she will go back and try again. If this doesn’t happen, stop and ask, “Does that make sense?”
7. If your child comes to a word he or she does not know and asks for help, consider asking these questions:
• Does the picture give you a clue?
• What word would make sense here?
• What letter does the word begin with (or end)?
If these strategies fail and your child wants you to say the word, go ahead and do so rather than having your child labor over it.
8. Don’t worry if your child memorizes a particular phrase or story. That is an early stage in the reading process.
9. Encourage your child to point to the word with his or her finger as he/she reads.
10. Some helpful questions:
• What happened at the beginning, middle, or the end of the story?
• What do you think will happen next?
• Why do you think the character did that?
• What would you have done if you were that character?
• What was the best thing about the story?
11. Make sure your child sees you as a reader, (reading a newspaper, enjoying a good book, reading a catalog, etc…)
12. When reading with a child, always sit beside the child with the book between you so that you can both see the text and enjoy the pictures.
13. Consider giving books as presents so they become associated with a pleasurable experience and have special meaning.
14. Make sure your child sees you as a writer, (writing things such as grocery lists, thank you notes, notes to other family members, etc….)
15. Have a wide variety of writing supplies available for your child to write and draw on including various sizes and types of paper, pencils, crayons, markers, chalk, etc.
16. When your child draws a picture, encourage him/her to tell you about it. Then write down what your child says as he/she says it. Let your child see you write down what is said. Read it back. Point to the words as you read.