Class Facts

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Curriculum Guideline
Kindergarten has a unique curriculum with the development of social skills and good work habits 
equally as important as academics.  Therefore, I have included expectations for these areas as well as 
for the core subjects.    

Social Skills
The student will learn:
	1.	to make and be a friend
	2.	to solve a conflict
	3.	to share both objects and others’ time
	4.	to work as a member of a group
	5.	to ask for help when necessary
	6.	to make a decision and to live with the consequences
Work Habits
The student will learn:
	1.	to be an attentive listener
	2.	to see assignments through to completion
	3.	to be satisfied with their own best product
	4.	to appreciate neatness
	5.	to take care of supplies and clean up after him/herself

Religion
Text:  God Made the World, Sadlier  
The student will:
	1.	celebrate himself/herself, the world, and God’s love
           2.	express his/her uniqueness, learning to appreciate that each is special and loved by God
	3.	grow in appreciation of God’s providence expressed
		in the great variety present in God’s creation
	4.	explore the ways human beings join together with one
		another in families, friendships, communities, and in the
	 	Church	
	5.	come to know Jesus as a friend and brother and the 
		second person of the Blessed Trinity
	6.	recognize Mary as the Mother of Jesus and our 
		Blessed Mother
	
7.	learn to say the Sign of the Cross, Our Father, Hail Mary,
		Glory Be, and the Grace before Meals
	8.	show concern for those in need by participating in
		school  mission drives
	9.	learn appropriate behavior and responses for participating
		in school liturgies

Reading/ Language Arts/ Phonics
Text: Scott Foresman Reading Street 2008
Resources: Trade Books
The student will:
	1.	appreciate and enjoy great literature
	2.	experience literacy as a natural process and a 
		continuation of the language acquisition involved since 
		birth by being immersed in meaningful language activities
	3.	recognize the connections between listening, speaking,
		reading, and writing
	4.	develop an awareness of print and grammatical conventions
	5.	establish sound/symbol relationships for the consonant
		sounds, consonant blends, and the five short vowel sounds
6.	learn and apply decoding and comprehension strategies	
7.	print in manuscript all the capital and lower-case letters
8.        write and recognize complete sentences
	9.	recognize the wealth of their personal stories and possess               
		the desire to tell them

Math
Text: 		 Saxon Math – K
Resources:	 Mathematics Their Way –  Mary Baratta-Lorton
		 Box It or Bag It Math 
                       Silicon Valley Math Initiative Activities
The student will:
	1.	look forward to math time and see math applied in real life
	           situations
	2.	recognize patterns (the underlying theme of all 
		mathematics) in a variety of manifestations
	3.	use manipulatives to explore number concepts and 
		operations
	4.	investigate the concepts or more, less and equal and apply
		the appropriate labels
	5.	count to 100
	6.	recognize and write the numbers 1-30
	7.	make and interpret real, pictorial, and symbolic graphs
	8.	estimate with increasing accuracy
	9.	identify correctly the four basic shapes: circle, triangle,
		rectangle, and square and recognize cubes, spheres, cylinders
                      and pyramids
	10.	tell time to the hour 
	11.	know the days of the week, months of the year, and seasons
	12.	recognize and know the value of the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter 
		

Social Studies
Text:  Houghton Mifflin History Social Science
The student will:
1.	understand that being a good citizen involves acting in certain ways
2.	recognize national and state symbols and icons such as the national and state flags, the bald 
eagle, and the Statue of Liberty
3.	match simple descriptions of work that people do and the names of related jobs at the school, 
in the local community, and from historical accounts
4.	compare and contrast the locations of people, places, and environments and describe their 
characteristics
5.	know the triumphs in American legends and historical accounts through the stories of famous 
people
					
Science (Mrs. Krista Imrie)
	Text: Scott Foresman Science and other resources
	Subject matter: Physical science, Life science, Earth science, 			Environmental science, 
Investigation and Experimentation, and Health science.

Art
The student will:
	1.	realize art is another way to express oneself
	2.	develop ways of expressing ideas in visual form
	3.	explore and experiment with different art media
	4.	grow in awareness of the environment and heightened
		sensitivity to beauty
	5.	experience a sense of personal achievement and the joy
		of creation
	6.	develop muscular coordination through manipulation 
		of art materials
	7.	learn to appreciate the visual expression of others

Music (Mr. Piontek)  
The student will:
	1.	enjoy expressing him/herself musically
	2.	appreciate different types of music
	3.	be introduced to beginning music theory


Computer (Mrs. Lomando)
	Resources - Kidpix Studio Deluxe 3D
		          Kidspiration
		          Mathletics

	The student will:                                    
1.	be familiarized with state of the art computer hardware 
        	2.  utilize an array of educational software and the Internet
	3.  have hands-on participation resulting in completed activities

P.E. (Mr. Darren Deonigi)
       The student will:
	 1.  participate in physical games and motor skills in group play and                           	      
team sports
	 2.  learn teamwork and good sportsmanship
	 3.  grow in self-discipline

Spanish (Señora Campbell)
        The student will:
	 1. learn the Spanish words for colors, fruits, parts of the body, clothes, and animals
	 2.  appropriately use common phrases in conversation
    	 3.  count to 20 in Spanish and correctly identify the numerals
	 4.  sing Spanish songs		
	
Homework
An optional monthly homework calendar is sent home on the first school day of the month.
The suggestions given involve family participation and hands-on experiences. They are not busy 
work.  The best homework is time spent with you talking, visiting places old and new, exercising, 
reading, and praying together.  When something is to be returned to school, I will put a star in the 
upper right hand corner.  

Conferences
I am usually available for conferences any afternoon at 2:15.  Please send a note or call the office to 
make an appointment. You can also reach me by email (mdomin@csdo.org). I check my email in the 
morning before school and then won’t check it again until after school, as I will be busy teaching your 
adorable children.
  
Grading
Kindergarten is ungraded.  From daily work, informal observations, and individual assessments, I 
keep track of your child’s progress and growth and will be happy to share this information with you. 

School-Wide Rules
1.   Respect yourself, others, and things
2.	Contribute to the learning environment
3.   Follow school and classroom procedures
	
Class Rules
1.	Hurt no one on the inside or the outside
2.	Raise your hand before you speak.
3.	Walk inside.
4.	Use an inside voice.	


Discipline Policy
  	Each day the child has an opportunity to earn a happy bear. If, however, a child has ignored a 
warning, no bear is earned. This gives you a daily behavior report.  A blue bear is very serious and is 
only given when a child physically or emotionally hurts another. These are serious infractions. Blue 
bears must be signed on the back and returned the next day. Please make sure you ask for a bear 
every day. Do not let them accumulate in backpacks or folders, or you will have no idea when that 
bear was earned. A monthly behavior record is sent home which is to be signed and returned. There 
should be no surprises.