Kindergarten Back to School Night
September 11, 2019
Our Class
Sean Barrett
Varishtha Cherukuri
Jack Childers
Cooper Gardner
Sara Jayaseelan
Madison John
Trey Neill
John Obusek
Rishabh Pal
Vanessa Ramoni
Lochlan Schaadt
Dhriti Shah
Forrest Wang
Nyla Ware
Nikki Werner
Cole Wertz
Samuel Wolfington
Who is Mrs. Phelan?
I look forward to having a fun and exciting school year with you!
Outside of school, I enjoy spending time with my family. I have a daughter, Teresa, who is 14 years old, a son, Larry, who is 11 years old and a husband who I have been happily married to for 17 years. We reside in Morgantown.
Who Is Mr. Pat?
I am currently going to West Chester University and I am majoring in Professional Studies.
I can’t wait to work and learn with your children this year.
When I’m not in school I enjoy spending time outside, doing activities such as skiing and snowboarding, and I enjoy climbing at the Downingtown rock gym. I have four younger siblings, three sisters and a brother.
I look forward to getting to share more about myself as I learn more about you and your children.
Our Class Slogan
Parent Involvement
You are welcome to:
- Read a book to our class (be a Mystery Reader)
- Share a holiday tradition
- Share skills/facts needed for a career you may have.
A Day in the Life of a Kindergartener
Your child will be working on Morning work, P.R.I.D.E. time, morning meeting, Language Arts (phonics, handwriting, and reading groups)
In the P.M.
Your child will have lunch, recess, Math, Social Studies, Science/STEM, and guided center time.
Specials: Your child will have Specials everyday from 10:55 to 11:45 everyday.
P.R.I.D.E. Time
P.RI.D.E. Time takes place at 8:40 to 9:00 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.
We share different projects, class activities, share awards and interesting ideas from outside of school.
We sing a Schoolwide birthday song.
We end our PRIDE time with a kindness pledge and our school pledge.
Classroom Dojo
- Helping others
- Staying on task
- Participating
- Showing their best
Students will have opportunities to win treats for the class. The program promotes teamwork!
Kind challenge
Be A Lion
On Friday, during P.R.I.D.E. Time, they will receive a lion paw print for the recognition (these are a surprise for the students.
What will my child learn?
- Learn to think on their own.
- Challenge themselves to try new things.
- Meet new teachers and friends.
- Have fun and learn to LOVE learning.
Notes about Instruction
- Students are grouped during the week to focus on reading skills, such as phonics, fluency and comprehension strategies. We will also so please differentiated writing activities.
- Math instruction is also differentiated based on the needs of each student.
- Science/S.T.E.M.and Social Studies will be taught in small groups, cooperative pairs, independent workshops and whole group.
Social Skills for Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a particularly important period for this area of development, it’s where appropriate social behavior is being learned and embedded.
- Understanding the difference between right and wrong and the consequences for their actions.
- Using words to express their feelings
- Sharing, taking turns, and using nice words when playing with friends.
- Sometimes the student may play alone or with other children
- Making decisions independently and taking risks, while remaining safe.
What will you see from my learning?
- Identifying sight words to help with reading
- An increase in vocabulary from the amazing words we use with the curriculum
- Fluency
- Comprehension skills
- Writing sentences to express ideas and thoughts
- Telling time
- Addition and Subtraction up to 10
- Counting by 10’s and 5’s
- Counting by ones to one-hundred
Working together on iPads
Celebrating our 1st day
Participating in Specialty classes
My Support Curriculum
- It is aligned to the Common Core State standards.
- Diffentiated activities are designed to meet all students needs.
- There is an online component which allows students to access enrichment activities that correlate to the material being taught.
Tadpoles
See-Saw Digital Portfolio
- See-Saw is a digital portfolio (pictures, videos, class work, dictation, etc) of your child’s work.
- Specialty classes and all subject areas are highlighted.
- Parents have access and a place to comment.
Kindergarten Specialty Classes
Technology
- Work with different forms of technology such as: iPad, Sphero, Ozobots, Makey Makey and various coding programs.
- Integrate with classroom teacher and STEMscopes.
Music
- Students will study various forms and styles of music from around the world including: the blues, jazz, opera, classical, and world music.
- Perform a live version of self-composed blues
- Perform in a winter music program
- Perform in a Kindergarten play/musical.
Physical Education
- Students will work on fundamental skills such as, overhand and underhand throwing, soccer skills, basketball skills, catching, working as a team, different games, exercises and health.
- Students will use movements such as skipping, running, jumping, hoping and sliding.
- Students will begin to develop movement combinations and manipulative skills.
- Students will learn concepts, such as, sharing, teamwork, individual development
- Students will participate in Hoops for Hearts and Kindergarten Field Day.
Spanish:
- Students will learn different words for families, animal names, colors, etc...
Art
- Students will explore paint, fiber arts, ceramics, drawing, book arts, and multimedia work
- Students will paint watercolor skyscapes for our Outer Space unit
- Students will learn to use a variety of tools for art-making
- Students will create art for school-wide celebrations such as Dia de los Muertos
- begin to integrate technology into their art work and practice
Experimental learning/ Learning with tools
- Fire visit/ Community Helpers - October 10th
- Farm visit - October 22nd
- Tyler Arboretum
- Delaware Children’s Museum
- Brandywine Red Clay Alliance - November 13th
Project Based Learning
- Apple Investigations
- Pumpkin Study
- Christopher Columbus Exploration
- Native American and Pilgrims
- Family Traditions and Cultures
- President’s Day
- Flower/Plant STEM unit and investigation
- Going Green for Earth day
- character Day
- “Giving without Walls” / Service Learning Projects
Character Day
- In the third quarter, students have the opportunity to showcase their reading and writing skills through a creative presentation.
- Each child selects a favorite book fo their choice.
- Students work through the Writing Process to create a final book report/presentation.
- Students will dress up like their character and present writing pieces at a special P.R.I.D.E. Time!
“Giving without Walls”
- Giving without Walls is a service-based project designed to enhance our Kindergarten curriculum
- The program teaches students to become better citizens.
- The project benefits our community.
21st Century Learning
Technology Intergration
Throughout the year, your child will use Apps such as, pic collage, pages, and keynote.
I-READY
- Kindergarten will use the I-Ready Diagnostic and Instruction program. It is an online Diagnostic assessment and online instruction in Reading.
- This diagnostic assessment will pinpoint a child’s needs in Reading down to the domain and sub-skill level by using sophisticated adaptive logic, and a bank of thousands of test items.
- this allows all teachers to differentiate instruction based othe student’s needs.
- I-Ready provides a exile score, which is a number used to identify books fore each child to read at their own level.
- I-Ready is built around the Common Core Standards
- Students will have a formative assessment at the end of each quarter.
S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)
- We will use a program called STEMscopes.
- STEMscopes is a program that will help Science become cross curricular.
- STEMscopes is both a digital and hands-on program
- Students will participate in virtual investigations hands-on investigations, and inquiry based investigations.
- Students will work like scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to explore, discover, and design solutions.
- Students will develop a real world understanding of Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math.
- Some units of study will be: Animal needs, plant needs, Weather, conditions and hazards, organisms impact on the environments, use of natural resources, pushes and pulls, and speed and direction.
Report Cards and Personal Learning Plan (PLP)
- Your child will receive a quarter report card.
- Your child will receive an achievement and effort grease in each area.
- We will conference 3 times a year.
- During the conference, we will design a personalized learning plan (PLP) to meet each of your child’s needs in literacy, self-help, and social skills.
Our Kindergarten Celebration
Our celebration is on Wednesday, June 3rd from 9:30 to 11:30. Mark your calendars.