Dover-Eyota

   Kindergarten

 

Our Program

Our program is all-day, every day kindergarten. We began full time kindergarten during the 1999/2000 school year. There will be 4 classrooms of kindergarten in the fall. Class assignments will take place in August. You will receive a letter with your child’s placement shortly before school begins.

 

Our Philosophy

Our program emphasizes the importance of providing activities unique to five and six year olds. We offer learning experiences that are appropriate for their level of development. We focus on concrete experiences, hands-on exploration, and both structured and unstructured opportunities for learning and play.

 

Rules and Discipline

We use two programs at our school.  Judicious Discipline and Responsive Classroom.  We hope to teach the children how to be responsible for their own actions as well as respecting each other.  We have four basic guidelines: 

1. Respect Property
2. Be Ready to Learn
3. Be Healthy and Act Safely
4. Act Appropriately

We spend time with the children discussing many rules that would fall under each guideline.  We want all of the children to feel safe and welcome at Dover-Eyota.  This is necessary for everyone so we can all be successful.

Curriculum

We use the Scott Foresman Reading Street  curriculum.  It involves phonics and sight words. There will be a lot of small individual reading booklets coming home to help you read with your child throughout the year.  For math we use the Math Expressions curriculum, and we do some word problems generated by a philosophy called Cognitively Guided Instruction.

 

What kind of "work" will they do?

Our kindergartners do plenty of "work", but it’s very appropriate for their age level and abilities. We make a some books: big books, small books, class books, and individual books. The children make some projects that go along with a unit or holiday we are studying. Each day the children will draw and write in a journal of their own. There are worksheets that go with our math and reading programs.  We often use our assistants or volunteers to break our class into smaller groups.

 

Preparing for Kindergarten

As your child prepares to enter kindergarten, focus on what they can do rather than what they can’t do. Help them with skills to make them more independent:

·       Dress themselves. Simple is best. Provide clothing that they can learn to manage themselves. Encourage them to find and put on their own jacket, zip, and put on shoes. When your child can handle their own clothing they are better prepared to try new things in kindergarten.

·       Follow directions. Give 2 or 3 step directions. For example: 1) Go to the closet. 2) Find your jacket and shoes. 3) Put them on.

·       Play games. It’s a fun way to learn rules, follow directions and learn both how to win and lose.

·       Fine motor skills. (Working with their fingers and hands.) Color, cut, trace and use a glue bottle. No need to buy "workbooks". Have children cut out coupons, cut from magazines, draw pictures on plain paper using regular size crayons and pencils.

·       Practice walking up and down the steps. In school we are up and down the steps a few times a day. Please work on having your child walk with alternating feet with one foot on each step to prepare for this.

·       Read stories daily. Review nursery rhymes also.

·       Print their name. (Some children are not ready until closer to school time.) When your child is ready, teach them using only a capital letter at the beginning and the remaining letters small. Example below:

 

Michael

 

If you teach your child to use all capital letters for their name, it will be harder for them to re-learn how to print their name in the fall.

 

·       Bring your child to our playground this summer. A fun way to get to know "their" school.

·       Kindergarten Orientation. On the first day of school next fall, we set aside a half day for you and your child to experience kindergarten together. Plan for one or both parents to attend that day. You will receive word on your day and time in August. The half-day will include a chance for the children to have lunch for the first time with you. On Kindergarten Round-up we will have half of the class attend in the morning and half of the class in the afternoon. The second day of school will be when the kindergartners begin to attend school on their own.

·       Choose a large school bag. It need not be new. A bag that your child knows how to open and shut. Zippers are much better than buckles. Imagine that on a “typical” winter day it will need to be large enough for shoes, a large library book, snow pants, a show and tell item and several projects. Do not purchase a school bag with wheels. There are too many safety concerns with wheeled backpacks.

·       School Supplies: In your class assignment letter you will receive a list of supplies to purchase. Please read each item carefully and purchase what is on the list. We want all children to begin with the same school supplies. Be on the lookout for heavy duty thick tag board or plastic pocket folders for a reasonable price. Paper folders only last a short time. We will want each child to have sturdy pocket folders to organize their take home notes and papers each day. They need about 4 per year. You will receive a list of supplies that will be needed, but you do not need to purchase anything until the prices are reasonable in late July. If you wait until late August you will have a hard time finding the correct supplies.

Other important information

Buses:

All students who ride a bus will receive a bus number and/or animal name (Ex: “Cat” bus) and time of pick-up sometime in late August. Our buses have a familiar animal picture taped inside the front window to help our kindergartners recognize their bus. If your child will have a dismissal schedule requiring them to go more than one place during the week you need to provide us with a weekly note and a backpack tag indicating dismissal for each day of the week.

Lunch:

Children can buy hot lunch or bring cold lunch and purchase milk. Your child will be assigned a number for their account. You will deposit money in their account at the beginning of the school year or the beginning of each month. Anyone that feels they may qualify for free or reduced meals may apply at the start of the school year. Students may also purchase breakfast in the same manner.

Milk Break:

Milk for the afternoon milk break is free for kindergartners. Parents take turns sending a snack for the class. You will help provide a snack 5 or 6 times a year.

 

 

 

***NICKNAMES?***

If the name we have on our list is not the one your child is used to seeing or writing, please let us know before school begins you can call the office or send me an email. For example: Michael/Mike, Jennifer/Jenny. Before the school year begins we label many areas in the room with student names. It can be confusing for some children if we label everything different than they are used to.

Schedule:

(This is only a sample, but it gives you an idea how often we change activities and how many experiences your child will have during the course of each day.)

 

8:05      School begins

8:20      Calendar

8:35      Story/Songs
9:00      Target Time for reading skills
9:35      Unit Work and Journal
10:10     Free Choice
10:50     Lunch

11:20     Recess

11:50     Rest Time (children rest on a beach towel)

12:20     Story/Songs

12:30     Unit Work – project time or rotating centers

1:00      PE/Music/Media/Art
2:00     Milk Break

2:35      Story/Songs/Announcements

2:45     Prepare for dismissal

2:55     Dismissal

 

Eagles Nest

For anyone interested, our school does have childcare available after school each day. If you have questions regarding this program please call our school office for more information.

  

 

How would you feel?

Imagine that you’re starting a new job next fall. You’ve never met your boss or your co-workers. You aren’t even sure what your duties will be. Would you be a bit nervous - as well as excited? That’s probably how your child feels about starting kindergarten. We hope we’ve given you some ideas how to get off to a great start and we’re sure you have many ideas of your own. We see this as a team approach. We want you to call us with any questions or concerns that were not addressed tonight. We will cover many more "specifics" at Round-up in September. We look forward to getting to know you better in the fall.

 

 

Questions?  Call 545-2632.

 

 Kindergarten Teachers: Paula Braun, Julie Bushman, Suzette Rowen and Megan Tuohy

Secretary: Heather Wobschall       Office Misc.: Vicki Koehler

Principal:  Jeanne Svobodny