Kindergarten Parent Teacher Conference
Last week, I attended a parent teacher conference to review my daughter’s first marking period. She did not receive a report card but I did obtain a data notebook. The goal of the notebook is to provide a tool that assists in ensuring a happy, productive and capable student.
The data notebook is a 1” 3 ring binder that also serves the following purposes:
- Monitor a child’s learning,
- Communicate his progress, and
- Provide opportunities for parents to work with on areas that need improvement.
The following areas of the reading/ language arts kindergarten curriculum were addressed in the data notebook:
Letter Identification
Her teacher assessed her ability to identify the letters of the alphabet. They specifically tested the following items:
- 26 upper case letters,
- 26 lower case letters, and
- 2 “funky” lower case letters, a and g which are often found in early emergent text.
High Frequency Words (Sight Words)
Throughout the year, assessments are performed to determine a kindergartener’s knowledge of high frequency words (sight words). Children enter kindergarten at various levels. Identifying a child’s ability to identify high frequency words assists in instructional planning.
Our school system identified 25 words that students should master by the end of kindergarten. In addition, they provided 2 additional lists of 25 for those students who are beginning to read higher level texts.
Some students will master all 75 high frequency words and when possible are encouraged to learn an additional 100 words which are assessed in first grade. Mastering these 100 words enables a child to join the exclusive 100 club. After a child masters reading these 100 words, the focus shifts to writing them correctly.
Our school emphasizes that the first goal is mastering the 25 high frequency words for kindergarten. These 25 words are slowly introduced throughout the school year. Parents should assist their child in knowing the words as they are introduced. The ability to read these 25 words fluently will greatly assist a child in reading a level 4 book.
If your child enjoys playing games, check out Erudition™, an award winning educational board game that exposes players to these high frequency words and basic phonics.
Guided Reading
Our kindergarten curriculum assesses a child on basic foundational reading skills. The assessment is performed 3x’s a year. After a student successfully masters many of the foundational skills, they are ready to embrace a guided reading program. Our teachers provided the following examples of foundational skills:
- Concepts about print,
- Letter identification,
- Phonemic awareness,
- Knowledge of high frequency words, and
- Phonics.
Through the application of skills and strategies, the guided reading program promotes reading at advanced levels. For approximately fifteen minutes, small groups gather with their reading teacher to learn skills and strategies. The ability to read a level four book is the benchmark for students after completing kindergarten. A level four book typically contains the following:
- 3 to 4 lines of text per page,
- Picture clues,
- Pattern of repetitive text, and
- Presence of high frequency words (also called sight words).
Our school district identified the seven keys to college readiness. Interestingly, the first key is advanced reading in grades kindergarten through second grade. Reading a level six book has been identified as the stretch goal for the end of kindergarten.
Handwriting
Assessments are given three times a year to track the progress of a child’s ability to write. Students are instructed to write both their name and a sentence.
At the end of the school year, students are expected to write their name correctly; beginning their name with an uppercase letter and the remainder using lowercase letters. Unless you are my child who has two “first” names (i.e. Emma Leigh). In addition, they are expected to use an uppercase letter at the beginning of a sentence and lowercase letters for the remainder. Finally, students are expected to use punctuation at the end of a sentence.
Writing for Personal Expression
This section encompasses the developmental stages of writing, a rather lengthy topic. So look for a sequel post elaborating on this section, which addresses a child’s attempt at spelling and creating a picture to match her/ his writing. After a group lesson, a child independently creates a picture and writes about it. Click here for a writing sample template.
For example, my daughter’s teacher told her class something about herself. She then instructed them to draw a picture and write something about themselves.
My daughter drew a fabulous picture of a home with smoke coming out of the chimney, a tree, a smiling sun and a bird. She wrote the following: I Youst to Liv in Phlodfa it was fon in Phdofa in my old home. By: Emma Leigh Bossard.
Translation: I used to live in Philadelphia. It was fun in Philadelphia in my old home.
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