Kindergarten Parent Guide

Through the study of the English language arts, students will learn to read fluently and understand a broad range of written materials. They will learn to be able to communicate well and listen carefully and effectively. They will begin to develop a command of the language and demonstrate their knowledge through speaking and writing for a variety of audiences and purposes.

As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:

Reading

• Print Concepts
  • Identify basic features of print
  • Utilize spaces between words
  • Understand directionality in text, reading left to right and top to bottom
  • Recognize uppercase and lowercase letters
• Phonological Awareness
  • Identify and produce rhyming words
  • Count the syllables in a word
  • Blend and segment syllables in spoken words
  • Blend and segment onsets and rimes of spoken words
• Phonics and Word Recognition: Fundations
  • Develop letter-sound correspondence
  • Read common high-frequency words by sight (Snappy Words)
  • Read simple C-V-C words 
  • Identify patterns in words 
  • Recognize and use short vowel sounds 
  • Identify and use “Snappy words” 
• Literature and Informational Text
  • Ask and answer questions
  •  Retell key ideas 
  • Identify characters and setting
  • Learn and use new words

Writing

• • Strengthen fine motor skills
  • Practice letter formation 
  • Generate ideas for writing – use a combination of drawing, dictating emergent writing to state an opinion about a familiar topic or personal experience, name a familiar topic and supply information and narrate an event or events in a sequence
  • Write ideas using a sequence of events
• Grammar and Usage
  • Identify Nouns and verbs 
  • Recognize question words 
  • Correctly use capital letters and punctuation
  • Spell simple words phonetically 
• Listening/Speaking
  • Participate in collaborative conversations 
  • Express thoughts, ideas, and feelings clearly
  • Listen, speak, and respond respectfully 
  • Demonstrate an understanding of a text read aloud or other media through discussion 
  • Ask and answer questions to seek help, get information or to clarify or to help to understand

• Rainbow Stew written and illustrated by Catheryn Falwell
• Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina Lazo Gilmore, illustrated by Kristi Valiant
• Rainbow Joe and Me written and illustrated by Maria Diaz Strom
• The Story I’ll Tell written by Nancy Tupper Ling, illustrated by Jessica Lanan
• The Skin You Live In written by Michael Tyler, illustrated by David Lee Csicsko
• Lovely by Jess Hong
• Strictly No Elephants written by Lisa Mantchev, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo
• The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
• Elmer’s Special Day by David McKee
• My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis
• It’s Okay to be Different by Todd Parr
• Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin
• I Can See Just Fine by Eric Barkley
• Susan Laughs by JeanneWillis
• Lola Plants a Garden. Anna McQuinn
• Mango, Abuela, and Me By Meg Medina
• One Family by George Shannon
• Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni Morrison
• The NEW Small Person Lauren Child
• Where’s Lenny? Ken Wilson-Max
• You Can Do It Too! Karen Baicker
• Me, Too! By Annika Dunklee
• ABC for You and Me by Meg Girnis
• By Day, By Night by Amy Gibson
• Happy! By Pharrel Williams
• Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell
• Lucia the Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza
• The Rain Stomper by Boswell Addie
• Where’s Rodney? by Carmen Bogan
• Alfie (The Turtle that Disappeared) by Thyra Heder

Social Studies is intended to promote civic competence through the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities. The primary purpose of Social Studies is to help young people to develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.

In kindergarten, students will explore getting to know themselves and others.  They will also learn how to be a good citizen by following rules and classroom procedures.  Students will understand the difference between wants and needs, and goods and services.  

As a result of their schooling, students will be able to... 

Gathering, Interpreting and Using Evidence 

• Asking questions and identifying opinions expressed by others  

Chronological Reasoning and Causation 

• Retell an important life event in sequential order

Comparison and Contextualization 

• Identify similarities and differences between home and school and between self and others with details

Geographic Reasoning 

• Describe how the environment affects his/her activities

Economics and Economic Systems 

• Identify examples of goods and services and the difference between needs and wants

Civic Participation  

• Respect others and their differences

Mathematics is a language we use to identify, describe, and investigate the patterns and challenges of everyday living. It deals with numbers, quantities, shapes, and data, as well as numerical relationships and operations. Mathematics is a way of approaching new challenges through investigating, reasoning, visualizing, and problem solving with the goal of communicating the relationships observed and problems solved to others.

The students will learn the concepts within the following domains:

Counting and Cardinality

• Know numbers and the count sequence to 100
• Compare numbers to 10

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

• Add and subtract within 10
• Understand and create simple patterns

Numbers and Operations in Base Ten

• Work with numbers 11-19 to gain a foundation for place value (tens and ones)

Measurement and Data

• Describe and compare objects using appropriate vocabulary (longer, taller, lighter, etc.)
• Classify and count objects in each category

Geometry

• Identify and describe 2D shapes (circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, hexagons)
• Identify and describe 3D shapes (cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres)
• Analyze, compare, sort, and compose shapes

• The goal of science education is to develop an understanding of the inquiry process as it is related to key concepts and principles of the life, physical, and the earth/space sciences. The curriculum addresses the integration of the sciences with technology and society as students learn to connect the importance of scientific knowledge to its application in everyday life.

   As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:

  • Plan and investigate to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object
  • Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull
  • Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change, and to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool
  • Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem

  The Nature of Science and Engineering

  • Motion and force are observable every day, but students may not be aware of different types of motion and the forces that cause them. Students will explore this important relationship through inquiry, discussion, engineering, and problem solving. Students also practice using descriptive words, building structures, measuring distance, making predictions, and identifying systems. Throughout a series of lessons, students manipulate models to learn about motion and draw conclusions about force, energy, gravity, and friction.

  Life Science

  • Our world includes living and nonliving things that interact in their environments. Every living thing has needs that it must meet if it is to live and grow.  Students will identify living and nonliving things, their needs, and the ways that living things can change their environment.

  Earth and Space Science

  • Weather is observable every day, but students may not be aware of the different types of weather conditions that can be monitored, or that data can be collected and analyzed to predict weather and identify weather patterns. In this unit, students will gain an understanding of the weather in the world around them. 

Science:

• Interactive Simulations https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/new
• Interactive Simulations http://education.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1390665/
• Interactive Games http://education.abc.net.au/home#!/games/-/science/all/interactive
• Clearinghouse of Websites http://interactivesites.weebly.com/science.html
• Animal Games https://switchzoo.com/
• Videos http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/index.htm

Math:

• Videos https://www.khanacademy.org/
• Math Fact Fluency https://xtramath.org/#/home/index
• Math Fact Fluency https://www.factmonster.com/math/flashcards
• Problem Solving Games https://www.mathplayground.com/

Special Education Programs

A special education program means specially designed individualized or group instruction to address students’ academic goals in the areas of reading, writing, and math.  The Committee on Special Education will determine appropriate program recommendations based on the continuum of services and students’ progress. 

Related Services

Related services are supportive services required to assist a student with a disability and include speech-language pathology, hearing services, vision services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling services, and parent counseling and training.  A student’s need, identified through an evaluation, will provide the basis for written annual goals and appropriate provision of services. 

Resource Room & Consultant Teacher

Resource Room is a special education program where students require specialized supplementary instruction in a small group setting outside the classroom for a portion of the school day.  Resource Room is capped at five students per group.  Consultant Teacher, another special education program, is for students who require additional specially designed individualized or group instruction within regular education classes.  

Integrated Co-Teaching, or “Inclusion”

Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) is a special education program where students require specially designed instruction in an individualized or small group setting for multiple subjects within regular education classes.  A general education teacher and a special education teacher jointly provide instruction to a class that includes both students with and students without disabilities to meet the diverse learning needs of all students in a class.  ICT is capped at 12 students with a disability.

Special Class

Special Class is a special education program where students with disabilities have been grouped together with similar individual needs and academic goals for the purpose of being provided specially designed instruction in a small-sized class without general education students.  Students in a special class are exposed to the general education curriculum and are on a Regents pathway to graduation.  

Supplementary Aids and Services

Supplementary aids and services are other supports (i.e., additional personnel, assistive technology, instructional modifications) that are provided in regular education classes, Specials, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings to enable students with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled students to the maximum extent appropriate in accordance with the least restrictive environment. 

What is ENL?

English as a New Language (ENL) programs provide instruction in English with home language support, emphasizing English language acquisition. Students in ENL programs can come from many different language backgrounds, and English may be the only common language among the students. As per CR Part 154, there are two types of ENL components:

Stand-Alone ENL: Students receive English language development instruction taught by a New York State certified ESOL teacher. Students acquire the English language needed for success in core content areas (English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and/or Mathematics). Stand-Alone ENL is a separate time devoted to English language acquisition and English language development. The required amount of stand-alone ENL instruction depends on the English proficiency level of each student.

Integrated ENL: Students receive core content area (English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and/or Mathematics) and English language development instruction including home language supports and appropriate ELL scaffolds. Integrated ENL along with the subject area are taught by a New York State certified ESOL teacher and a New York State certified Common Branch (K-6) teacher or a teacher that is dually certified. The length of instruction depends upon the student’s proficiency level. The English Language Proficiency levels are: Entering, Emerging, Transitioning, Expanding and Commanding. For a child to exit the ENL program he/she must score an English proficiency level of Commanding on the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT) or a level of Expanding and a 3 or 4 on the English Language Arts (ELA) assessment.

The Dual Language Program (DL) represents an innovative approach to education whereby students learn all curricular areas in TWO languages. The Patchogue-Medford School District DL Program serves both the English dominant and Spanish dominant student.

Goals of our program:

• Promote educational excellence for all students
• Foster the development of bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate individuals
• Promote multicultural awareness
• Provide high-quality instruction in TWO languages that supports students in demonstrating mastery in all the core subjects
• Provide an academically challenging curriculum
• Encourage all parents to become active partners in their child’s education

Our Bilingual Programs serve youngsters in kindergarten through fifth grade at:

• Bay Elementary (K-5 DL)
• Canaan Elementary (K-4 DL)
• Eagle Elementary (K-5 DL)
• Medford Elementary (K-5 DL & 4/5 Newcomer Program-Transitional Bilingual)

Side-by-Side Dual Language (DL) is comprised of English and Spanish dominant children, each receiving instruction both in their Native and New Languages. English instruction is provided by an English-speaking classroom teacher and Spanish instruction by a bilingual teacher.

Newcomer Program (TBE) provides English Language Learners with high-quality instruction in both their native and new language simultaneously while promoting cultural awareness and support until students are ready to be mainstreamed into English-only classes.

Information literacy is a skill necessary for today’s world of rapidly increasing information. Students will have to assimilate more information than has appeared in the last 150 years.

As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:

Information Literacy

• Recognize that information is available in a variety of formats, both print and nonprint.
• Identify the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
• Identify the difference between fact and opinion.
• Listen to a variety of high-quality children’s literature, representing a variety of genres, and understand the roles of author and illustrator.
• Actively listen when books are read aloud or viewed and be able to retell a story in correct sequence, identifying beginning, middle, and end.

Technology: Computers

• Identify and practice basic Internet safety rules.
• Introduce proper input techniques.
• Review hardware components appropriate for specific tasks (mouse, keyboard, printer, and monitor).
• Introduce kid friendly search engines, address bar, back and refresh button.
• Introduce symbols such as hourglass icon, cursor, scroll bar, desktop, and task bar.
• Work collaboratively with a team using information technology resources.
• Introduce how to use basic operation commands (opening and closing programs, using mouse to point and click, double click).
• Adhere to safety and security policies.
• Introduce why personal information should not be shared.
• Introduce how to prepare documents that include a variety of media.
• Explain the risks and dangers of sharing personal information.

Physical Education Programs offer students the opportunity to enhance their minds and bodies.

As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:

Physical Skills

• The student will be able to perform different locomotor skills such as skip, gallop, hop, etc. The student will be able to develop and work on their gross motor skills 

Knowledge

• The student will be able to understand the importance of problem solving, cooperating with one another, communication, and lifelong physical activity 

Physical Activity

• The student will be able to understand the importance of being physically active daily and what it does for their bodies. Students will achieve this through fitness-based activities

Intrinsic Value

• The student will be able to understand the routines and expectations in the gymnasium and benefits of teamwork and cooperation

Our art and music programs help our students build perseverance and achievement, teach responsibility, expose students to history and culture, help improve coordination, reading, math, and social skills, as well as nurture self-expression and creativity.  The arts connect us to the world and open our eyes to new ways of seeing.

Music Appreciation

• Students will learn about history and genre throughout their experiences, building knowledge of key musical terms, analyzing melody and harmony, rhythm, and form.  Students will learn to read, write, and compose music as well

Movement

• Reinforcing body awareness with various movement activities

Improvisation

• Exploring creativity through movement, rhythm, and pitch

Performance

• Giving opportunities for students to learn to sing, as well as use the recorder, ukulele, and world drumming, as a foundation to performing within an ensemble

The elementary art curriculum focuses on integrating aesthetics, studio art, collaboration, connections to literature, and art history in an engaging, creative, and imaginative environment emphasizing the Elements of Art and Principles of Design.

Art skills/fine motor skills are taught as scaffolded skills based on appropriate development of the young artist and accommodations are made for students to reach their individual goals. 

• Exploring Materials: Students will learn how to hold and use materials such as: pencils, markers, crayons, paintbrushes, and scissors.
• Use of Principles of Design and Elements of Art: Students will touch on all aspects with a focus on line, shape, and pattern 
• Cultural Connections: Students will explore worldly examples that coincide with the principles and elements studied to create their art
• Cross-Curriculum Connections: Students will use literature with illustrations to find numbers, lines, and letters that they already know and use it to create new images in art
• Reflections: Students will be introduced to looking and understanding their own craftsmanship i.e., staying in the lines, leaving no white spaces, and tracing on lines. They will also have the chance to look at the work of their peers to observe different variations of the assignment