WELCOME
SES WELCOME
ADMINISTRATION
SES ADMINISTRATION
STUDENTS
PARENTS
Welcome to Shenandoah Elementary School! We look forward to working with you and your child. Our Kindergarten teachers are anticipating a great start to the 2019/2020 school year and are eagerly awaiting your child’s arrival to our full-day program.
If you haven't already, you will soon receive an email with your child’s username and password to their PowerSchool account. If you do not have an email address on file in the SES office, you can call the SES office to get the login information. On Monday, July 29, you are invited to attend our Kindergarten Blast Off at SES. It will start promptly at 6:00 PM and end around 7:30 PM. We have many different activities planned for the kindergarten students and the parents. Please enter through door #4 at SES. This is a great time to bring in school supplies, meet the teachers, and get ready for the new school year.
On Friday August 2nd, 2019, your kindergarten student will not come to school on the bus with the other students. Instead, you and your Kindergarten child will attend a meeting in your teacher’s classroom at 9:00 AM, and it will last about 45 minutes. When you leave, your child will stay and complete the school day. Your child will ride home on the bus or be a car rider on that first day.
The Shenandoah Elementary School community is excited to get the year started and meet all of our new kindergarten students.
Your child will learn and grow this year by participating in a variety of enrichment activities. Below is a list of some of those learning opportunities:
Field Trips
Art, Music, PE, Library
Technology/innovation instruction
Hands-on Learning Centers
Holiday Celebrations
Special Programs
When we think of being ready for kindergarten, the first thing that comes to mind is core academic skills, such as knowing your ABC's, numbers, colors, and shapes. While those skills are important, there are other important readiness skills that are equally, if not more, important. In the article "Ready for Kindergarten" by Ellen H. Parlapiano, kindergarten teachers identify a list of top readiness skills. The readiness skills include:
*Enthusiasm toward learning-Does the child approach learning enthusiastically? Is he/she eager to explore and discover?
*Solid oral-language skills-Research shows that one of the best predictors of later reading success is a well-developed oral vocabulary in kindergarten.
*The ability to listen-Children's literature is a rich resource for expanding language. Besides fostering vocabulary and comprehension, reading develops the attention skills necessary in a kindergarten classroom. Students must be able to concentrate on what the teacher is saying, listen carefully for directions, and tune in to the sounds in letters and words.
*The desire to be independent-Encouraging self-help skills is an important step to preparing your child for kindergarten. Teachers expect children to:
Get coats on and off and hang them up
Follow simple two-step instructions such as "take off your boots and put on your sneakers"
Go to the bathroom and wash their hands
Blow their nose and cover their mouth when they cough
Fasten and unfasten simple buttons and snaps
Eat neatly and pour into a cup
Open up a juice box and get the straw in
*The ability to play well with others- By the time children reach kindergarten, they should be able to express their feelings in words and begin to understand that two people can use the same thing at the same time
*Strong fine-motor skills- Your child's hands must be strong enough to master coloring, cutting, pasting, and holding a pencil--fine motor tasks that kids use every day in kindergarten.
*Basic letter and number recognition- Incoming kindergarten students should be able to recognize most letters by sight. They also should be able to count to 10, identify numbers 1 to 5, and know some shapes and colors.
Ellen H. Parlapiano. Ready for Kindergarten. [Online] Available
Welcome to Kindergarten! This is an exciting year in the life of your child. It will be an exciting year of learning, sharing, and growing together.
Here are some ways you can help your child now to prepare for kindergarten:
Count anything and everything
Find numerals on signs, mailboxes, telephones, television channels, price tags, toys, etc
Read environmental print, including store signs, restaurant signs, street signs, etc
Practice patterns: ABAB, AABB, patterns on clothing, repeat clapping patterns
Sort objects or pictures by size (ie. silverware by size)
Talk about how things are alike and different (ie. How are milk and water alike/different)
Sequence activities (ie. what comes first, next, last?)
Practice reciting nursery rhymes and singing songs from memory
Read to your child often and ask questions about the stories
Visit the local Public Library
Practice with your child his/her birthday, telephone number, address and zip code
Help your child to tie their shoes, zip their clothing, use Kleenex, scissors, etc
Work with your child to hold a pencil correctly
Practice writing your child's first name with him/her
Work on letter recognition from A to Z. They should be able to recognize upper and lowercase letters individually and in random order
Look for different colors to identify and label
Begin to associate a sound with each letter
When your child completes kindergarten year, they will at a minimum know to . . .
Print full name independently and correctly use upper and lowercase letters
Produce proficient reading and writing skills(3-4 sentences with correct capitalization and punctuation)
Produce rhyming skills (verbal and picture)
Identify and print all 26 upper case and lower case letters correctly.
Follow words from left to right; top to bottom
Identify title, cover, author, illustrator, characters, setting, and main idea of a story
Use inventive spelling
Recognize shapes: square, circle, triangle, rectangle, and cube
Count to 100 by 1's, 2's. 5's and 10's
Count objects to 20
Recognize numbers to 20
Write numbers 1 to 30
Know concepts of measurement
Know value of numbers. Understand the concept of more, less, and equal
Model addition and subtraction with objects
Use graphs to answer simple questions
Identify and create patterns
Retell stories
Read the 50 word wall words
Read simple sentences
Tie shoes, button, snap & zip
Know home address and phone number
Follow school & classroom rules
Volunteer to help or donate supplies in the classroom
Discuss school activities with your child. Say, "Tell me/show me what you learned today." If the answer is "nothing", ask again!
Check and review the contents of your child's folder each day
Read classroom newsletter or visit the teacher's website on a weekly basis for updates and information
Read the school newsletter and mark important dates on the calendar
Attend Parent Night and Parent/Teacher Conferences
Get involved with the PTO
Attend book fairs, spring plays, and family movie nights
Assist your child with homework
Read and discuss a book with your child