Pre Kindergarten Syllabus Dekalb County Schools

DeKalb County School System
Pre-Kindergarten Syllabus

Pre-Kindergarten students will receive instruction in Content Standards for support in the development in ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Creativity, Social & Emotional skills as well as Health & Physical Development. The content standards can be found at www.decal.ga.gov. During Pre-K, teachers will provide instruction to promote mastery of the following skills:

Literacy

Develop skills in listening for the purpose of comprehension

☐ Listen to and follows spoken directions

☐ Respond to questions

☐ Listen to recordings & show understanding through body language or by interacting appropriately.

☐ Distinguish fact from fiction in a read aloud text

☐ Make predictions from pictures and titles

☐ Use pictures or symbols to identify concepts

☐ Listen to stories read aloud & show understanding through body language or by interacting appropriately.

☐ Become familiar with the structure of stories

Discriminate the sounds of language (phonological awareness)

☐ Differentiate sounds that are the same and different

☐ Repeat rhymes, poems and finger plays

☐ Recognize the same beginning sounds in different words

☐ Show the ability to hear & discriminate separate syllables in words

☐ Create & invent words by substituting sounds

Develop an understanding of new vocabulary introduced in conversations, activities or books

☐ Increase vocabulary through everyday communication

☐ Use new vocabulary words correctly

☐ Connect new vocabulary with prior experiences

Develop and expand expressive language skills (speaking)

☐ Use language for a variety of purposes

☐ Engage in conversations with adults and children

☐ Use complete sentences of increasing length

☐ Use language to pretend or create

Develop age-appropriate strategies that will assist in reading

☐ Demonstrate an interest in books or stories

☐ Discuss books or stories read aloud

☐ Exhibit book-handling skills

☐ Associate symbols with objects, concepts and functions

☐ Recognize that print represents spoken words

☐ Dramatize, tell and retell poems and stories

☐ Identify some individual letters of the alphabet

☐ Share books & engages in pretend-reading with others

☐ Recognize that sentences are composed of separate words

☐ Connect information & events in books to real-life

☐ Participate in oral reading activities

☐ Recognize that sentences are composed of separate words

☐ Use pictures or symbols to identify concepts

Children will begin to develop age-appropriate writing skills

☐ Use left-to-right patterns

☐ Use scribbles, shapes, pictures & letters, or writing forms

☐ Understand that print is used to communicate

☐ Experiment with a variety of tools, materials & surfaces

☐ Dictate words, phrases, and sentences to an adult recording on paper

Math

Develop an understanding of numbers

☐ Count by rote

☐ Count objects using one-to-one correspondence

☐ Compare sets of objects using language

☐ Arrange sets of objects in one-to-one correspondence

☐ Understand concept of part and whole using real objects

☐ Identify ordinal numbers

☐ Associate numeral name with set of objects

☐ Understand the concept of estimation

☐ Recognize numbers

☐ Understand the concept of currency as an exchange

Create and duplicate simple patterns

☐ Independently create patterns using objects

☐ Copy a pattern using sounds or physical movements

☐ Recognize and reproduce simple patterns of objects

☐ Reproduce and extend a pattern using objects

☐ Spontaneously recognize and identify patterns in the environment

Sort and classify objects

☐ Match like objects

☐ Sort objects using one characteristic

☐ Classify objects using more than one characteristic

☐ Sort and classify objects using self-selected criteria

☐ Explain sorting or classifying strategy

☐ Participate in creating and using real and pictorial graphs or other simple representations of data

Develop a sense of space and an understanding of basic geometric shapes

☐ Recognize, describe and compare basic geometric shapes

☐ Use classroom materials to create shapes

☐ Use language to indicate where things are in space: positions, directions, distances, order

Learn how to use a variety of non-standard and standard means of measurement

☐ Associate & describe the passage of time with events

☐ Order two or more objects by size (seriation)

☐ Use mathematical language to describe experiences involving measurement

☐ Measure the passage of time using non-standard or standard measures

☐ Measure the length of objects using non-standard or standard measures

☐ Measure the volume (capacity) of objects using non-standard or standard measures

☐ Measure and compares the weight of objects using non-standard or standard measures

Science

Use processes of science to actively explore and increase understanding of the environment

☐ Ask questions about objects, organisms, or events

☐ Use senses to observe, classify, & learn about objects

☐ Predict what will happen next based on experiences

☐ Use language to describe observation

☐ Use simple equipment to experiment, observe, and increase understanding

☐ Record observations through dictating to an adult, drawing pictures, or using other forms of writing

Acquire scientific knowledge related to life science

☐ Observe, explore & describe a variety of animals & plants

☐ Recognize there are basic requirements for all common life

☐ Participate in activities related to preserving the environment

☐ Observe, explore, and describe a variety of living and non-living objects

☐ Understand that plants and animals have varying life cycles

Acquire scientific knowledge related to physical science

☐ Investigate and describes the states of matter

☐ Describe objects by their physical properties

☐ Explore simple machines

☐ Investigate different types/speeds of motion

Acquire scientific knowledge related to earth science

☐ Participates in activities to explore the earth & sky

☐ Investigate, compare, & contrast seasonal changes in the immediate environment

☐ Discover through observations that weather changes from day to day

Social Studies

Develop an appreciation of his/her role as a member of the family, the classroom, & community

☐ Understand family structures and roles

☐ Participate in class jobs & contributes to the class

☐ Become aware of family/community celebrations & events

☐ Become aware of the roles, responsibilities & services provided by community workers

Develop a respect for differences in people

☐ Identify similarities and differences among people

☐ Demonstrate an awareness & respect for culture & ethnicity

☐ Demonstrate awareness and respect for abilities

Express beginning geographic thinking

☐ Identify common features in the home & school environment

☐ Create representations of home, school, or community

☐ Use & responds to indicate directionality, position & size

☐ Develop awareness of the community, city, & state

☐ Recognize characteristics of other regions & cultures

Creative

Explore and use a variety of materials to develop artistic expression

☐ Experiment with a variety of materials & activities

☐ Use materials to create original work

☐ Share details about personal creations

☐ Express interest & appreciation for the work of others

Participate in music and movement activities

☐ Use music & movement to express thoughts & feelings

☐ Participate in group singing or other musical activities

☐ Participate in creative movement & dance

☐ Explores music & instruments of various cultures

Use drama to express individuality

☐ Participate in dramatic play to express feelings, dramatize stories, reenact real-life roles and experiences

☐ Recreate a story or poem through drama

☐ Participate in activities using symbolic materials and gestures to represent real objects and situations

Health and Physical

Participate in a variety of gross-motor activities to develop control, balance, strength & coordination

☐ Develop coordination and balance

☐ Coordinate movements to perform tasks

☐ Participate in a variety of indoor and outdoor activities that increase strength, endurance, and flexibility.

Participate in activities that foster fine motor development

☐ Perform fine-motor tasks that muscle strength & control

☐ Use eye-hand coordination to perform fine-motor tasks

☐ Exhibit manual coordination

Understand healthy and safe living practices

☐ Participate in activities related to health & personal care

☐ Participate in activities related to nutrition

☐ Discuss and utilize appropriate safety procedures

Social Emotional

Develop confidence and positive self-awareness

☐ Demonstrate knowledge of personal information

☐ Recognize self as a unique individual and becomes aware of the uniqueness of others

☐ Demonstrate confidence in his/her range of abilities and expresses pride in accomplishments

☐ Develop personal preferences

Develop curiosity, initiative, self-direction and persistence

☐ Show interest in new concepts & new experiences

☐ Initiate interaction with others

☐ Demonstrate self-direction in use of materials

☐ Develop independence during activities, routines, play

☐ Sustain attention to a task or activity appropriate for age

Increase the capacity for self-control

☐ Help to establish classroom rules and routines

☐ Follow rules & routines within the learning environment

☐ Use classroom materials purposefully and respectfully

☐ Manage transitions and adapts to changes in routine

☐ Express feelings through appropriate gestures, actions and language

Children will develop interpersonal & social skills for relating with other members of the learning community

☐ Interact appropriately with peers and familiar adults

☐ Begin to recognize the needs and rights of others

☐ Show empathy and understanding to others

☐ Participate successfully as a member of a group

☐ Participate in resolving conflicts and disagreements with others

Ways to support instruction at home:

Literacy

☐ Play games like “Simon Says.” Give one-step commands and then progress to two or three-step commands. “Simon says turn around, clap your hands and touch your toes.”

☐ Read a favorite story together, and ask your child to give a signal each time he hears a particular word. For example, “Clap your hands when you hear me say the word bear.”

☐ Go outside and identify sounds you hear.

☐ Teach your child some hand clapping chants or jump rope rhymes you remember from childhood.

☐ Talk to your child while engaged in activities like cooking or chores. Explain what you are doing & the tools you are using.

☐ Discuss the day’s events

☐ Give your child lots of opportunities to engage in conversation with adults.

☐ Let them order in a restaurant or answer the telephone using phrases you have rehearsed ahead of time.

☐ Create silly stories together while riding in the car or waiting at a restaurant.

☐ Practice reading environmental print – street signs, store names, favorite foods.

☐ Cut out logos from the paper or store ads. Paste them on paper, or put them in an album to make a book for your child to read.

☐ Discuss books with your child after reading them together. Ask “How” & “Why” questions to extend learning.

☐ Use newspapers & magazines for letter find activities. Have children find and circle the letters in their names.

☐ Invite your child to write when you write.

☐ Let your child write on old calendars, order forms, check registers, or grocery lists.

☐ Provide a “grown-up” pen or pencil.

Math Development

☐ Encourage children to identify coins by name as they place them in a piggy bank.

☐ Let your child count out coins for purchase at a store.

☐ Before giving your child a snack, have them estimate how many (crackers, cookies, etc.) are in the container.

☐ Estimate how many steps it will take to walk from the kitchen to the front door.

☐ Encourage counting frequently in daily routines, such as counting forks as you put them away.

☐ Create games around counting, such as counting the number of doors, windows and telephones in your home.

☐ Choose books from you local library that encourage counting, such as Splash by Ann Jonas.

☐ Build one-to-one correspondence by letting your child set the table. Show him how to put one plate, one cup and one fork at each place.

☐ Ask your child to find shapes by saying, “Find something that is round or something that is a triangle.”

☐ When riding in the car, identify the shape of street signs.

☐ Put your child’s shoes in a pile and have them match the pairs of shoes and then put them away.

☐ Develop the concept of part to whole by doing puzzles. Make your own puzzles by cutting apart magazine pictures and gluing them back together again.

☐ Have your child help sort laundry by putting socks in one pile, shirts in one pile, and towels in a pile.

Science Development

☐ Create a “feely” bag using a bag or old sock. Place objects in the bag & have your child identify the objects by touching only. Ask your child to identify the object & describe how it feels (soft/hard, smooth/bumpy, etc.).

☐ Help your child learn about life science through planting a seed (such as a bean or grass seeds) in a small cup or pot. Talk with your child about what the plant needs to grow, such as water and light. Have you child draw a picture of the plant once a week to chart the plant’s growth.

☐ Help your child understand the different properties of matter by making gelatin. Have them use their senses to observe and describe the changes from liquid to solid. Eat and enjoy!

☐ On the weekend allow your child to check the weather and decide what to wear.

☐ Take a nature walk & collect rocks. Have you child sort the rocks by as many ways possible (size, color, texture, shape, etc.).

☐ Check out books from your local library about animals, plants, and other science concepts.

☐ During bath time provide several different objects for your child to play with in the tub. (IE: a rubber duck, a metal spoon, and a plastic bowl) Talk about why some sink and some float. Do some “experiments” to see if you can change what they do. Fill the bowl with water, for example, to see if it will sink.

☐ Look at the night sky for several weeks around the same time and locate the moon. Is it behind a tree, over the garage, or across the street? Does it change places? Does it seem higher or lower in the sky? Does it change shape? Invite your child to draw a picture showing all the different ways he has seen the moon.

Social Studies Development

☐ Create an “All About My Family” Book. Let the child bring to class to share.

☐ Invite parents to the classroom to share information about their jobs.

☐ Encourage families to identify “jobs” children can help with at home (sorting silverware, folding laundry, cleaning up toys, feeding pets, helping with siblings).

☐ Talk about how everyone in the family should help make the home a comfortable place to live.

☐ Provide families with lists of community landmarks (library, local historical sites, parks) to visit.

☐ Encourage children to look for community helpers such as mail carriers, police officers, bus drivers, teachers, doctors, nurses, cashier, custodians, crossing guards, and firemen.

☐ Go through old magazines and cut out “people pictures.” Point out differences in hair color, length, style and texture, skin color, ages, genders, and abilities.

☐ Produce and distribute a class cookbook of favorite family recipes (from children in the classroom).

☐ Create self-portraits; suggest using mirrors to examine individual differences.

☐ Draw the outline of the home. Point out the windows & doors. Have them draw in beds and other furnishings.

☐ Visit the local library and choose books relating to various cultures, genders, & disabilities.

Creative Development

☐ Give your child markers or crayons and a variety of surfaces to draw on – newspaper, waxed paper, foil, pages from an old phone book, cardboard, or Styrofoam.

☐ Make some homemade paint from food color and water, or food color and liquid starch. Or add water to backyard soil for a wonderful “mud paint.”

☐ Put some shaving cream on a tray and finger paint to music.

☐ Visit a museum or art gallery, and talk to your child about what they see. Explain what an artist is. Let your child become an artist when you return home.

☐ Help your child learn about different kinds of music. Find the jazz station on the radio & listen together for a while. Talk about the sounds of the instruments & how the music makes you feel. Then try a different station with a different style.

☐ Roll a section of newspaper tightly and tape it together in several places to form a stick. Cut it in half to make a pair. Turn on some lively music and encourage your child to play his drumsticks on a variety of surfaces around the house – the kitchen table, the back of the sofa, his own knees. What makes the best drum?

☐ Sing songs together. Sing in the car, at home, or outside. Recall some songs from your own childhood.

☐ Fill a cardboard box with old scarves, hats, purses, and other dress up props. Invite your child to dress up and act out a favorite slogan, song, or jingle.

☐ Practice making faces together in front of a mirror. Who can make the scariest face? Most surprised?

☐ Use your hand or object to pretend it is a phone. Carry on a pretend phone conversation with your child.

Social & Emotional Development

☐ Make an “I Can” can with your child. Cover a clean can with paper and decorate it. Each week, write a new skill on a strip of paper (“I can hop on one foot,” “I can feed the dog,” etc.) and place it in the can.

☐ Look through photos with your child often. Point out how she has grown and changed over time.

☐ Allow for independent “time alone.” Talk with your child after about what he did.

☐ Give your child some choices throughout the day. “Should we get out the LEGOS or the play dough now?” “Would you like noodle soup or tomato soup for lunch?”

☐ Remind your child that every place has its own rules. Practice being quiet in the library and waiting at the bank or store.

☐ Take turns speaking or listening. During dinner let each person take a turn “in the spotlight” to share something about the day.

☐ When reading, talk about how the book characters feel. Point out their facial expressions, actions, and words. Say “Show me how you look when you’re disappointed,” or “How do people look if they’re excited?”

Health & Physical Development

☐ Talk about the different colors of healthy foods. Make a simple chart and have your child color in a square for each food she eats during a day –a brown square for cereal or a green square for broccoli. At the end of the day, have him/her decide if she “ate a rainbow.”

☐ Talk about ways to stay safe before going on outings to stores, restaurants, or playgrounds.

☐ Show your child how to roll socks together to make a ball & practice tossing them into an laundry basket.

☐ Make a bean bag by filling a small zip-lock bag with beans or rice and taping securely closed. Encourage your child to balance the beanbag on different parts of his/her body. Can she walk with it on her shoulder? Jump with it on her head?

☐ Play the mirror game. Face your child and ask him/her to copy your movements – put hand on head, touch nose, etc. Then switch places, and you copy his/her movements.

☐ The kitchen is a great place to develop the fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination needed for handwriting. Give your child lots of opportunities to use tongs, tweezers, spatulas, hand juicers, and clothespins. Learn to use chopsticks together if you don’t already know how.

☐ Let your child cut magazines or newspapers before your recycle. Cutting also develops small muscles in the hands necessary for writing.

☐ String O-shaped cereal on lengths of yarn and hang over an outside bush or tree limb for the birds and squirrels to enjoy. Stringing also helps to develop small motor muscles.

☐ Make healthy snacks with pretzel sticks and cheese cubes. Spear the cheese with the pretzel and enjoy.

☐ Let your child squeeze play dough to further develop small muscles in hands. You can make homemade play dough with your child: ½ cup salt, 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon cream of tarter, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 cup water & food coloring. Combine ingredients in saucepan. Heat gently, stirring all the time. When dough has good consistency, take it off the heat and cool.

Pre-Kindergarten Assessment & Grading

The pre-kindergarten program uses the Work Sampling program. Assessment occurs as teachers observe and record student performance as they engage in the learning activities planned by the teacher. Teachers assess the work completed by students and frequently collect work samples that show growth or provide a clear picture of a child’s performance. With WSS students are not assessed in a one-on-one setting, nor are they asked to complete activities strictly for the purpose of assessing learning. The assessing of children’s learning takes place as teachers and children go about their normal routine.

Results of the assessment are used by the teacher to plan instruction to meet the needs of children and to inform parents about their child’s performance. Teachers use the “data” they have collected about individual students and groups of students to plan instruction to meet the needs of all students in the classroom. They also use the “data” to keep parents informed of their child’s performance. Working together, parents and teachers can better meet the needs of children.

Parent/guardian conferences are held at least two times per year at which time the Georgia Pre-K Progress Report is shared with parents. While frequent communication between parents and teachers is important, twice during the school year parents will be asked to attend a conference to discuss their child’s performance. Teachers will provide information about the child’s performance in language/literacy, mathematics, social studies, science, social/emotional development, health and physical development, and creative expression. Comments are written to parents that explain the rating in each domain. They also highlight each child’s strengths and areas for growth. During the conference, teachers share strategies that parents can use at home to address areas of concern and to build on children’s strengths.

Homework for Pre-Kindergarten:

Pre-Kindergarten students are not assigned homework. Students are provided with optional instructional experiences via Learning Prop games and monthly activity calendars. Both items are meant to support appropriate adult-child interactions with an instructional focus.

General Web Links for Parental Support

Resources, research tools, and activities lightspan.com

Games for students & advice for parents school.discovery.com

PBS Kids pbskids.org/

Primary Games www.primarygames.com/

Starfall Learning www.starfall.com/

Reading Rockets www.readingrockets.org

Online Math Games www.coolmath4kids.com/

Ask-a-scientist. www.madsci.org/

National Geographic www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

World Almanac for Kids www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/timeline.html

Learn about customs from various cultures www.netlaputa.ne.jp/~tokyo3/e/

Increase your family’s physical fitness www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/hl/fit/star/kfphyact.jsp

PE Central www.pecentral.org/

A Healthier U.S. www.healthierus.gov/exercise.html