Kindergarten
At Home Learning
Dear Families,
It is our hope that this page provides a rich resource to guide you in creating meaningful learning experiences for your child during his/her time at home. While this space provides resources and support to develop a balanced day, each of our Kindergarten classes will be utilizing Seesaw to offer connection throughout your learning time together at home. We look forward to working with you to ensure your child's growth, development, and learning as our year continues to unfold.
Thank you in advance for being brave in learning and playing together in lots of new ways!
Your friends,
Mrs. Twomey & Mrs. Pfeiffer
Balancing the Day: Anchor Charts & Play Boards
Use the slides below to access the most current activities for Specials and Playing with Words activities for the week. Click the button for a printable version of tasks to help you organize a happy day of learning and playing.
Morning Messages & Daily Mini Lessons
Use these slides each day to:
- Warm up your brain for the day!
- Practice sight words
- Practice reading and concepts of print (pointing to words, left to right movement, reading strategies)
- Receive mini-lessons and focus ideas from Mrs. Twomey and Mrs. Pfeiffer
- Review concepts previously covered
- Maintain a consistent routine to start your day
- Support connected and meaningful learning experiences
Adventure Day!
Each Friday we will be posting a new learning adventure! The most recent learning adventure will be posted at the top of this section. Enjoy learning in special ways as you explore our adventure slides. Remember that you can enlarge any slide deck to view it on a full screen!
Optional Additional Resources:
This resource has been added so that families may access supplemental activities. These are not required, but are meant to provide access to experiences that may support you in building and balancing your day together. Clicking on the activity will take you to a printable .pdf for your use at home.
Please see the notes at the top for tips on utilizing and/or printing.
Please make sure you are connected to your child's Seesaw class. This will allow us to share with you AND you to share back with us! Families can easily share messages, photos, videos, and utilize all of the Seesaw features from home. This video will support you in learning how to best utilize these features with your child.
Getting Ready to Learn
The teachers will be providing a variety of materials that may be picked up at the school. The following is a list of additional materials that will be helpful to have on hand as you prepare to learn and play from home:
- A marble composition notebook (or other notebook for writing)
- Pencils/erasers
- Crayons/markers
- child scissors
- glue sticks
Optional materials:
- Play dough
- Rimmed cookie sheet/salt (for sensory writing)
- magnetic letters
- chalk
- Post it notes
- Highlighters
Balancing Your Day
As you prepare to engage in Kindergarten experiences from home, remember that five and six year old learners require a balance of activities. Creating a routine that works for your family will be the key to a happy and productive day. Each day, the Kindergarten teachers will be sharing a Morning Message with a focus mini-lesson. This is meant to provide a sense of connection, purpose, and continuity for all Kindergartners.
After the morning check in, you can start to organize the day with your child. This will look different for all families! The best thing that you can offer your child is a clear routine that will work for your family. In the materials provided by your teacher, you will find options for the experiences highlighted here.
Kindergarten Learning Menu
Playing With Words
This is also known as "word work." Children have a variety of options to play with words in order to develop sight word vocabulary and fluency. These fun experiences provide daily exposure to letters, words, and word patterns.
Reading & Listening
Each day children should have the opportunity to read "just right books" and listen to stories read by others. Raz-Kids provides children access to books at individual reading levels, as well as access to books for enjoyment. In the resources provided by teachers, children may select from a variety of book response options. This can be done for select books throughout the week.
Writing
At this point in the year children are exploring many possibilities as writers. The April and March writing journal prompts provided by the teachers offer children space to explore meaningful ideas with the support of visual reminders for writing mechanics. Children should work through writing experiences at their own pace and comfort level.
Exploring My World
Young children are natural observers and explorers. Science and Social Studies experiences in Kindergarten include lots of opportunities for children to discover and verbalize. Guided Scavenger Hunts included in the teacher materials will support your children in exploring the world at home. Photos and videos may be uploaded into Seesaw to share ideas with teachers and classmates.
Math
You will find that there are many naturally occurring math experiences that you encounter throughout your day. Counting, identifying flat and solid shapes, measuring, comparing, and solving problems connected to real life are all perfect opportunities for exploration. In your Math Bag you will find a variety of experiences from our math program, along with access to your child's Everyday Math account online. Children will benefit from as many hands-on learning opportunities as possible. Along with take home materials, your child is also receiving a set of pattern blocks for exploration.
Pick & Choose Learning Choices
While there are many experiences we would like children to complete over the course of learning time at home, choice experiences should represent a significant portion of their learning as well. In your Pick and Choose Bag you will find a variety of learning calendars. Children may complete as many of these activities as they would like. In addition to the calendars, a comprehensive resource of sensory experiences has been provided for you. These ideas represent critical experiences for your child's physical, academic, and emotional development.
As you engage in these activities, your teachers would love to see you in action! Please upload photos and videos to Seesaw and share! We have lots of special ways we will be gathering your documentation from home to extend our learning once we are back together again.
Tips & Tricks for Little Learners
- Look for ways that learning naturally happens in your home. Story collections, open-ended toys, daily chores and experiences (such as cooking together), and outdoor adventures all contribute to rich learning experiences. These opportunities count as part of the at home learning model.
- It would be helpful if children had a home base for their at home learning materials. This could be a basket, corner, small desk or table, bag or backpack. Find a system that encourages independence for your child.
- Your child may need varying levels of support depending on the activity. Families are encouraged to engage in learning together.
- Time for reflection and closure is an important part of any learning experience. As you finish your learning activities for the day, take time to talk to your child about how he/she is feeling. The Feelings Heart above can be used to develop vocabulary and explore strategies for dealing with different feelings. Discuss what worked in your day, what children enjoyed, and how you would like to approach the next day of learning and playing together.
Resources:
Many of the resources below have already been made available in your material bags from teachers. If you need additional printable copies, they have been provided for you using the buttons below. We will continue to add resources as needs arise.
...And then I realized
Adventures are the best way to learn.
- Anonymous