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Parents as Partners in Kindergarten
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic… What can I expect?
Here in the Franklin Township School Kindergarten we value and implement developmentally appropriate practice. We understand the nature of child development and learning as well as the individual characteristics of the young child. We strive to create a caring and responsive learning environment that is inclusive of the diverse backgrounds of all children. We also strive to establish positive mutual relationships of trust and respect with families and we recognize that shared goals benefit children and their education. In an effort to facilitate a quality program with parents as partners, we wanted to share with you some of our core curricular beliefs that are supported by research.
Literacy/Reading Readiness - At the early Kindergarten stage of development we are typically introducing letters and their sounds we then progress to sight word recognition, decoding skills, reading sentences and basic sentence formation through writing enrichment. Children at this stage are growing in their vocabulary and concept development. They are beginning to see a connection between speech and print and identify a relationship between letters and words (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2000). Literacy involves the concurrent and interrelated development of oral language, reading and writing (Morrow & Smith 1990).
Mathematics - In Kindergarten the children typically are developing their numeral recognition and are beginning to count with understanding and recognize “how many” in sets of objects. They are beginning to sort and classify objects by size, number and other properties. They are beginning to describe and extend patterns and at the end of the year develop strategies for whole number computations. They are also starting to develop an understanding of mathematical terminology.(National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000).
Handwriting - At the Kindergarten stage of development there are many children who enter the classroom with a wide variety of fine motor abilities. There are at least six stages of writing development: drawing, scribbling, invented letters, random letters, invented spelling and common spelling (Morrison, 1996). In kindergarten the children typically progress from basic stroke formation to letter formation and then to short sentence writing. Children need many experiences with tools such as: paper, paints, pens, markers, chalk, brushes, pencils and crayons to master refined strokes (Elaison, Jenkins, 2003). Exposure to these tools is encouraged throughout the year. There are six skill areas that are prerequisites for handwriting: small muscle control, eye-hand coordination, ability to hold a writing tool, basic strokes, letter perception and orientation to the printed language (Elaison, Jenkins, 2003). These skill areas are addressed through the curriculum.
The purpose of sharing this information is to provide parents with a greater understanding of the curriculum being presented in class as well as the research based purpose for this curricular implementation.
