Report Cards

Report cards are coming home in backpacks this afternoon for many kids (if we have two households on file, report cards will be mailed to both households).  Please keep the report card, but sign and return the envelope.

Be aware that many areas of the report card are left blank each term.  We only grade the areas that are taught during that term.

Here is my "big picture" view of report cards.  Hopefully it will help as you try and make sense of your child's first report card...

5 thoughts about kindergarten report cards…

1)    My sense is that almost every kindergarten teacher would love to substitute conferences for report cards.  We are interested in who your student is, how they are learning and growing, and how they fit into the community that is our classroom.  This is very hard to fit into a set of marks and boxes.

2)    I didn’t write the language on the report card.  Parts of the report card are excellent for many students and truly reflect their accomplishments and our concerns.  Other parts are a mystery for parents and teachers alike.

3)    Along the lines of #2, I mentally divide the report card into four areas; comments, objective marks, subjective marks and “huh?” marks.  Objective categories like “recognizes and names all uppercase letters in random order” and subjective categories like “listens and follows directions” are very useful tools to see how your child is doing in class.  Kindergarten teachers sometimes gnash their teeth when trying to fairly and objectively score a five-year-old on a “huh?” item such as “Uses process skills in scientific inquiry.”  If a category is full of "edu-speak", take the grade with a grain of salt.

4)    The “big-picture” sections of the report card are the “characteristics of a successful learner” section and the comments.  To my mind, this is where we try to get at how your child approaches learning in kindergarten.  The individual subject areas are useful as a way to make sense of your child's academic progress.   If your child is clearly having difficulty in one or more specific area, please shoot me an email if we haven’t already spoken about these issues.  At the same time, kindergarten is too early to stress about whether your child has exceeding marks on everything.  Academic progress in early-childhood is much like shoe size; it comes on in fits and starts.

5)    Finally, feel free to contact me with any questions or worries about your child, whether from the report card, or from other aspects of kindergarten life.  

This Week in Kindergarten

Here are some notes about our last week in January.

Report cards come home Friday.  Most students will bring them home in their backpacks, but we plan to mail report cards to those families who have two separate addresses on file (for parents who live apart) in order to insure that both parents get a report card.

Speaking of report cards, I enjoyed taking Monday to look at students work and to reflect on each student's strengths and areas of challenge.  We have a neat group of students in Room 2.  I hope to post more on the subject of report cards later in the week.

We are still undergoing something of a library book crisis.  Last week, more than a third of the kids in the class were missing their books at library time.  I really want library time to be a positive experience for everyone.  Please help your child search your home for missing books.  If you cannot find yours, please contact Cynthia to make arrangements.

Theme Book: Bunny Day
Literacy Theme: Sequence
Chapter Book; Dinosaurs Before Dark
New words: are, that, do
Words we know: I, am, the, little, a, to, have, is, we, my, like, he, for, me, with, she, see, look, you, of, they
New letter:  Hh
Letters we know: m, a, t, p, s, i, n, b, r, d, k, o
Math: Double digit numbers, pennies and nickles
Switch: Science
Song: My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains
Star of the Week: Lula

The little red hen

1st grade students from Mrs. Andrew's class stopped by today to present a "readers theater" version of "The Little Red Hen."

Another stadium

This is the year of great stadiums

This week in kindergarten

Here are a few notes for our short week:

Tomorrow is a late start Wednesday.  School starts at 10:00 and all buses run two hours behind schedule.  There is also no school next Monday for a teacher planning day.  I will be here working on your child's first report card.

Please search for any missing library books.  For the last two weeks, more than a quarter of the class has not been able to check out books during our regular Thursday library time.  If a book is truly missing, stop by the library to see Cynthia (or email her at csteven1@pps.net); she can make arrangements to clear the record.

Please be sure that you have noted several changes to the calendar.  The Art Ball is has been moved to April 15th and the last day of school is now June 9th.  Our kindergarten performance will be February 11th.

Theme Book: Hide Clyde
Literacy Theme: draw conclusions
Chapter Book; Dinosaurs Before Dark
New words: they, you, of (week 2)
Words we know: I, am, the, little, a, to, have, is, we, my, like, he, for, me, with, she, see, look
New letter:  Oo (week 2)
Letters we know: m, a, t, p, s, i, n, b, r, d, k
Math: Double digit numbers, pennies and nickles
Switch: Social Studies 
Song: Jamaica Farewell
Star of the Week: Lazarus

This week in kindergarten

After a short week of review, we return to our regular routine.  For the next two weeks we will be focusing on the letter Oo, and three new sight words, they, you and of.  We will introduce our "challenge writing paper", and begin focusing on adding details to our writing.  In math we will be working more on two-digit numbers and the concept of odd and even.

The kindergarten teachers been working behind the scenes to put together a musical performance.  This will be the first kindergarten program in many years.  This is tentatively scheduled for February 11th.  There will be an evening performance for parents,  tentatively scheduled for 6:00 p.m., and a afternoon performance for the student body, probably at 1:15.

I have posted the new volunteer calendar for the rest of the year.  Sign up early and often.  As always, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are our  days of highest need.

Library day is Thursday.  We have a number of kids who are missing books.  It would be great to have everyone check out a new book this week.

Please note that there is no school for the following two Mondays.  Next week we celebrate Martin Luther King day, and the following week is a teacher planning day.

Theme Book: Seeds
Literacy Theme: Draw conclusions
New words: they, you, of
Words we know: I, am, the, little, a, to, have, is, we, my, like, he, for, me, with, she, see, look
New letter:  Oo
Letters we know: m, a, t, p, s, i, n, b, r, d, k
Math: Double digit numbers, pennies and nickles
Switch music / dance 
Song: Jamaica Farewell
Star of the Week: Liana

Snow houses

On Wednesday we made pictures of the recent snowstorm.

A too tall castle

This castle was declared in violation of room 2 safety standards and subsequently dismantled.  It was cool while it lasted.

 

This (short) week in kindergarten:

I hope everyone had a wonderful time over our long winter break.

Somehow, our class has ended up several weeks ahead of schedule in our literacy work.  During this abbreviated week, our focus will be on reviewing the reading and writing skills we worked on in the fall.  Our math focus will be on our calendar, on 10-frames and on reviewing the games we have learned.

On Thursday we will have library day and share day.  Be sure your children pack their library books and consider bringing something that they want to share.

It looks like we will be on stage this Friday, along with other kindergarten classes, to sing "This Land is Your Land"

I plan to post the January volunteer calendar soon.  We always love volunteers especially on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.