Kindergarten Superkids!
Juan Diego Academy October 23, 2015
Announcements:
I am writing this letter to introduce myself. I am Mrs. Amparo Farias. I will be teaching your child English Literacy starting the first week in November. Ms. Nuria and I are working on finding the best time for me to come in each day. The only day I will not teach will be on Thursdays due to morning Mass taking up some instructional time that Ms. Nuria needs.
I have taught Kindergarten for more than 15 years. I am presently the Pre-K 4 teacher along with Sra. Raquel Lambrecht. I do some administrative work in the afternoons as the Director of the Juan Diego Program.
The reading program we will be using is called "Superkids." It is divided into two parts. Below you will read about what will be taught:
The first part of the year will include the following skills:
This level begins children’s formal phonics instruction by teaching 13 letters of the alphabet—five short vowels and eight consonants. Students learn one sound for each of the letters and how to blend the letter-sounds to read words and eventually sentences. They also learn how to write the capital and lowercase form of each letter and to encode (spell) words with the letters and sounds they’ve been taught.
Comprehension instruction begins with lessons about read-aloud stories and then continues, starting in the middle of the level, with lessons about short decodable stories children read themselves. Lessons for each story build background and vocabulary before reading and help guide children’s comprehension as they read.
Expressive writing is taught through shared writing activities and independent writing in which children dictate what they want to write or use temporary spelling. By the end of this level, students understand how written language relates to spoken language.
The second part of the year will include the following skills:
This level continues children’s phonics instruction by teaching the remaining 13 letters of the alphabet, one sound for each, and how to write the capital and lowercase forms. With each new letter they learn, children are able to decode and encode (spell) more and more words. They read longer decodable stories as the level progresses, and lessons continue to develop their comprehension and vocabulary through reading. Expressive writing is taught the same way as in the previous level, but as children increase their knowledge of letters and sounds, they are able to write more words themselves.
Another job I have this week is to be your child's instructor for "Touching Safety." This is a lesson that lasts for 45 min. I will be teaching your child to protect themselves from unsafe touching. They will learn to say "No" when situations arise that make them feel uncomfortable. They will learn who the safe adults are in their lives. There is a video that I will view and decide whether or not to use it. I have taught this lesson many times in the past. I use some visual cards that are excellent. However, this is a new program from the Archdiocese of Seattle. I plan to use what I feel works for this age group.
If you ever want to contact me please do. My e-mail address is afarias@hrrsjda.org. I am excited to get to know you and your children.
Best regards,
Sra. Farias