Miss Rivas Kindergarten 2018 2019 School Year I

Miss Rivas’ Kindergarten 2018 -2019 School Year

• I have a Bachelor’s degree in Multicultural/Multilingual Elementary Ed. from ASU and a Master’s degree in Educational Technology from Ottawa University with an Early Childhood Endorsement. • This will be my 9 th year teaching Kindergarten & I am blessed to learn, grow, & experience joy every day with your wonderful children!

Tonight I will take you through our daily schedule as I talk about each curriculum area and other important information you will need to know.

§This everyday routine incorporates many skills of our curriculum. §Calendar teaches many different skills, including but not limited to: math, number recognition, calendar knowledge, oral language, chants, and poems.

§ Kindergarten AZ Reading College and Career Readiness Standards Focus on: ü Literature ü Informational Text ü Foundational Skills ü Speaking and Listening ü Language

The Foundational Skills Include: • Phonological Awareness- some skills included in this area are: initial/final sounds, blending sounds, rhyme recognition, syllable segmentation • Print Concepts- follow words on a page, understand words are separated by spaces, recognize and name all uppercase and lowercase letters • Phonics- knowledge of letter-sound relationships and decoding words. • Fluency- Reading emergent reader texts with purpose and understanding. (We use a Core Knowledge Resource to teach these skills)

Our daily reading block of time also includes: § Cooperative learning (guided and flexible reading groups, instructional focus groups-IFG and literacy work stations)

Core Knowledge Language Arts Speaking and Listening Domains • Designed to help students build the background knowledge and vocabulary critical to listening and reading comprehension and oral language skills. (rich vocabulary words, asking and answering questions based on text) • Social Studies and Science standards are integrated into the CKLA lessons

Core Knowledge Domains • Nursery Rhymes and Fables • The Five Senses • Stories • Plants • Farms • Native Americans • Kings and Queens • Seasons and Weather • Columbus and the Pilgrims • Colonial Towns and Townspeople • Taking Care of the Earth • Presidents and American Symbols

AZ Language Arts College and Career Readiness Standards (ACCRS) • Focus on: Reading Development -Students will be able to provide key ideas and details from text -retell familiar stories, identify characters, setting, and major events in a story -comprehension of a text read aloud -Understand the structure of various kinds of text -Make comparisons within and between texts -Participate in collaborative conversations about kindergarten topics and texts.

AZ Language Arts College and Career Readiness Standards (ACCRS) • Focus on: Speaking and Listening Development -Students will be able to demonstrate listening comprehension -present knowledge and ideas orally Writing and Language Development -Students will be able to draw, dictate, and write to create different types of text (opinion, personal narratives, etc) -engage in the writing process -use appropriate writing conventions and vocabulary -participate in projects to recall or gather information

§ Writing instruction teaches students to develop the skills needed to become beginning writers. § Involves phonetic writing and prompt writing § Writing is integrated into other subject areas

• Promotes letter forms that are rhythmical and easy for students to master • Provides a variety of print experienceletters, numbers, tricky words, name • Needs practice at home too!! (with the Skills Handouts sent home).

Please make sure you read the menu to see if your child likes the choices for lunch (menu is on-line also) § Lunch Prices$2. 90 for students $3. 50 for adults §You may pay on-line for your child’s lunch at: Efunds which you can access this directly from the Kyrene School District home page

§If your child is nominated for the Proud Principal Lunch, please bring you and your child lunch (from home or a restaurant). §Or your child can buy school lunch, if you are planning on buying school lunch bring cash please ($3. 50 for an adult and the child uses their school account).

§Teaches how to play safe § Becomes involved in sports § Interaction with peers § Problem solves

§ Use a hands on math series called Investigations in Number, Data and Space § This series is an innovative approach to the learning of mathematical content along with reaching all students needs.

Investigations in Data and Space: • An activity based math resource acting as a replacement approach. It encourages students to think creatively, develop critical thinking skills and get a deeper understanding of the math and how to apply it. Your children will constantly be encouraged to reason mathematically, develop strong problem solving strategies and represent their thinking using models, diagrams and graphs. • -free and guided exploration • -hands-on activities and games • -use of concrete materials and technology

Math College and Career Readiness Standards Focus on: • Counting and Cardinality (counting objects, comparing numbers, knows number names, count sequence) • Operations (problem solving, adds and subtracts numbers, decomposing numbers) • Measurement and Data • Numbers and Operations-Base 10 (work with numbers 11 -19 to gain foundations for place value) • Geometry (identify and describe shapes as well as analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes). • Mathematical Practices

§ integrated into Core Knowledge LA units § Hands on activities and experiments § Builds experience base for older grades §Introduction to formulating predictions, questions, and hypothesis based on observations §STEM projects incorporated § Builds higher level of thinking skills

§Integrated into Core Knowledge ELA units §Our kindergarten social studies curriculum focuses on these topics: American history, world history, civics/government, geography, economics (Being a good citizen, our country, workers, where we live, time, and stories of the past). §Our S. S. program incorporates a wide variety of rich literature and informational text.

§Our Health program helps students develop positive behaviors and attitudes that will lead to a lifetime of good health.

§This year we are incorporating Growth Mindset, that promotes learning for all students. See Tan Handout “Growth Mindset”

§ Teach basic parts of the computer § Locate keys on the keyboard § Log on and off computer § Go in and out of programs § Using the Pixie 4 program, students are able to create different projects (slide shows, pictures, etc. ). §Use various educational programs to enhance our learning §Laptops in our classroom as well

§ Monday: P. E. §Tuesday: Music §Wednesday: Art §Thursday: Computer Lab §Friday: Library

§Homework calendar will begin coming home in the third week of August §Homework focuses on practicing skills that have already been taught in class §Occasional extra home involvement activities §Helps your child get into a homework routine.

§ Will assess frequently or as needed §District Interim Assessments for Math and Reading to help guide teacher instruction. § Conferences will be first and third quarter (3 rd quarter is student-led conferences) §Report cards will go home after second and fourth quarter (January & May)

• Character Clips- displays positive behavior choices along with negative behavior choices. • The character clip calendar stays in their binder so that you can see and discuss daily with your child. • Class Dojo-also displays positive behavior choices along with negative although can be accessed throughout the school day

Character Clip Colors • Green- “Ready to Learn”- All students begin their day on green • Blue- “Warning/Reminder”- made a choice that was inappropriate for the classroom learning environment. Everyone in life needs reminders from time to time. • Yellow- “Refocus Desk”- continued inappropriate choices and needs to refocus at separate desk for 5 min. (notification sheet comes home) • Orange- “Partner Teacher Refocus”- after having refocus time in the classroom, continued to make inappropriate choices. Needs to refocus in another classroom for 10 min. (notification sheet comes home and phone call home)

Character Clip Colors • Red- “Office Referral”- student was consistently making choices that affected our learning environment and could not demonstrate desired behaviors. Student will be sent to the office and parents will be notified. • Purple- “Super Shark”- means your child has consistently demonstrated positive behavior choices for that day. • Remember and reinforce to your child that green is a great day!

S. H. A. R. K. • Esperanza has a school wide positive behavior intervention plan • S. H. A. R. K. stands for Safe, Honest, and Respectful Kids • The S. H. A. R. K. matrix defines the behavior expectations in each common area of the school • Please go over the S. H. A. R. K. matrix found in your child’s binder with your child at home to reinforce what is being expected at school.

§ Special days and we want to celebrate them with your child § State Dept. forbids any unhealthy snacks/treats § Your child may bring a book to share or donate to our classroom library

You can easily reach me at my school email: brivas@kyrene. org Classroom Phone Number (after/before school hours only)- 541 -2913 Office Phone- 541 -2800 Attendance Line- 541 -2801

My webpage • Directions to access my class webpage: 1. Go to Kyrene School District homepage 2. Click on Schools 3. Click on Esperanza 4. Click on Classrooms 5. Click on Miss Rivas Please check the website frequently for newsletters, important dates, and other information.

§ Snack- Please send a snack to school for M, T, Th, F (if sending snack in a lunch box, please be sure that your child is aware of it). No foods that contain peanuts please. § Binders and backpacks § Transportation changes § Class directory - please use for birthday party invitations, set up play dates, etc. § Class Parties- Sign Up Genius

§ Classroom (will be scheduling and starting in September) §PTO (special events) Volunteer in our Classroom!

for taking the time to attend Curriculum Night! I look forward to working with you and your child this year. It is going to be a wonderful year filled with exciting learning activities! To access facts about the Kyrene curriculum and the AZ College & Career Readiness Standards go to: www. kyrene. org