S.T.E.A.M.
My Kindergarten classroom is a S.T.E.A.M. kindergarten! That means we integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math into the curriculum in order to build the 6 C's: Collaboration, Communication, Content, Critical Thinking, Creative Innovation, and Confidence.
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Learning through play
According to brilliant psychologist Lev Vygotsky, play is the work of children, allowing them to work at a cognitive level above their current understanding. Play stimulates thinking, helps children practice social roles and rules, inspires creativity and imagination, builds emotional strength, and develops language. In Kindergarten we learn through play--it is the work of the child!
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Number sense
In 2007 education professor Greg Duncan found that a child's early understanding of number was a huge predictor of later success in life (you can learn more about that study here). In Kindergarten we focus heavily on developing a child's number sense--or a deep understanding of number. You can learn more about Kindergarten math concepts here.
The Alphabetic Principle
The Alphabetic Principle is one of the most important skills that your child will develop during kindergarten. The alphabetic principle is composed of two parts:
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phonological awareness
Phonemic Awareness is a child's ability to recognize and play with the sounds of language. A child's ability in this area is a high indicator of their future reading success (Good, Simmons, and Kame'enui, 2001; Torgesen, 1998, 2004). One major emphasis of the Kindergarten year will be evaluating and strengthening students in this area.
Stages of Writing develpmentChildren develop through 6 stages of writing development.
1. Prewriting: Draws a picture to represent a story. 2. Random Letter: Uses random letters to represent words. 3. Emergent: Uses letters to represent the beginning sound. 4. Developmental: Uses capitals and lowercase letters. Represents beginning, middle, and ending sounds with letters. Leaves spaces between words. 5. Pre-Conventional: Adds descriptive words to writing. 6. Conventional: Writes a beginning, middle, and an end. |
About Me
I’m so excited for the new school year to begin! I love working with kindergarteners and watching them learn and grow. 5 year olds are amazing human beings! I graduated from BYU-I with a BS in Elementary Education and Grand Canyon University with a Masters in Reading and have 10 years of teaching experience. My husband is a computer programmer and I have three children. I am so excited for this school year!