December, 2020
Kindergarten Readiness
Virtual Learning
Welcome!
Disclaimer
Contact Us!
Jamie Kalk, Birth to School Coordinator jkalk@cps.k12.in.us; 219-663-4330 ext. 22019
Dana Coventry, Birth to School Liaison dcoventry@cps.k12.in.us
Sarah Pillman, Birth to School Liaison spillman@cps.k12.in.us
Nicole Yankauskas, Birth to School Liaison nyankauskas@cps.k12.in.us
The CP Birth to School Kindergarten Readiness program is a series of 60-minute sessions specifically designed for 4-5 year old children who will attend kindergarten the following school year to best prepare them for the transition to kindergarten and lifelong learning success.
While virtual, families will signup for individual Learning Kits for each month's session and join the Birth to School Team via Zoom for interactive programming.
Once in-person programming returns, families attend the kindergarten readiness sessions in their future elementary schools. Each kindergarten readiness session provides parents/caregivers further knowledge of their child’s developmental skills and encourages quality interactions and hands-on learning activities in both whole and small groups. Parents/caregivers participate in the activities alongside their children, with the guidance of a Birth to School team member or CPCSC staff member, rotating through four learning stations: Language Arts, Fine Motor, Mathematics, and Social-Emotional. Children also have the opportunity to interact with future classmates and parents/caregivers have time to meet the staff at their child's future elementary school at the beginning and end of each session.
The thematic units for kindergarten readiness change with each month’s program; however, children continue to develop necessary skills in early literacy with letter formation and sound recognition, correct pencil grasp and accurate cutting development, early math skills in one-to-one correspondence, and self-help life skills all while evolving their listening and comprehension skills.
Storytime!
Children and caregivers enjoyed two stories this month from author Anna Dewdney.
English/Language Arts-Alpha Quilt
Children will work independently in this matching activity. Using the llama quilt sheet and colored letter cards for this activity, children will identify and match the uppercase and lowercase of each letter card to the quilt. Children will then match each letter to the beginning letter sound of a picture; there are two pictures per letter. Parents/caregivers will offer assistance as needed.
Math- Roll-a-Llama
Science- Don't Share Germs
Social-Emotional- Draw-a-Llama
At Home Continuation
Children have the option to continue the month’s theme and focused skills with various activities:
My Letter Book (AGS): Mini-booklet with three-pages of various ELA activities for each letter
My Letter Puzzle: Cut & Paste 4-piece puzzle activity
Name worksheets: Children may trace their name up to three times before practicing on their own on developmentally appropriate lined paper
Reading Logs: Given December & January, children can keep track of how many books they read (or are read to)
Find it! Color it!: Children will find each letter and use the color code to fill in the box.
Count & Color: Children will recognize the printed number, count that many objects, and color them in.
More information and printables for these resources are linked below.