Rituals and Routines During this unit, students will be welcomed to school, and will be introduced to the rituals and routines of the classroom following the Responsive Classroom Model. They will learn what it means to be a safe and respectful friend within the social aspects of the classroom, playground, and lunchroom. This transition period is an important part of each child's positive social-emotional development.
Realistic Fiction: Chrysanthemum This unit introduces students to literary text that help build classroom community and getting to know each other.After teacher reads the text, students will describe literary elements including setting, major events from Chrysanthemum. Students will ask and answer questions about key details in texts, recognize common types of texts and their differences, name the title, author and illustrator and define their roles and engage in teacher led read alouds. Students will describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear. Students will engage in group discussions, share ideas and recall information. Students will use a combination of drawing, dictating and/or writing to narrate a single event, tell about the event and provide a reaction about what occurred.
Foundational Skills 1. Demonstrate understanding of directionality (left to right, return sweep, top to bottom, front to back); 2. Establish bodily and spatial awareness; 3. Identify environmental sounds; 4. Count the number of environmental sounds heard (e.g., clapping, rhythm band instruments); 5. Identify whether environmental sounds are the same or different; 6. Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly; 7. Hold a writing utensil with a tripod (or pincer) grip and make marks on paper; and 8. Use spatial words: there, here; in, on; in front of, behind; at the top of, at the bottom of; under, over; above, below; next to, in the middle of; near, far; inside, outside; around, between; up, down; high, low; left, right; front, back. 9. Demonstrate understanding of directionality (left to right, return sweep, top to bottom, front to back); 10. Blend syllable to form words; 11. Listen to one-syllable words and tell the beginning or ending sounds, e.g., given dog, identify initial /d/ or final /g/; 12. Orally blend sounds to form words, e.g., given the sounds /k/.../a/.../t/, blend to make cat; 13. Add or substitute phonemes to spoken one-syllable words; 14. Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly; 15. Hold a writing utensil with a tripod (or pincer) grip and make marks on paper; 16. Write own name; and 17. Use spatial words: there, here; in, on; in front of, behind; at the top of; at the bottom of; under, over; above, below; next to, in the middle of; near, far; inside, outside; around, between; up, down; high, low; left, right; front, back. By the end of the first 22 days of school, students will be able to Read 4 Common Sight Words and Name 13 Upper and Lower Case Letters.
Humanities Integration Students begin the year by getting to know one another and talking about the meaning behind their names. They then learn about one another by asking one another about their favorite things and begin to recognize that different people have different favorite things, that colors can mean different things in different parts of the world, and that even the same piece of clothing (e.g., pants) can look different depending on the weather, season, culture, and region. (Adapted from: Reimers, Fernando; Chopra, Vidur; Chung, Connie; Higdon, Julia; O'Donnell, E. (2016-07-28). Empowering Global Citizens: A World Course. Kindle Edition.)
Essential Questions
How are the beginning, middle and end of a story different from each other? How do you know how a character is feeling and when these feelings change? How can a character’s actions help you describe a character’s traits? How do we get energy from the sun? What is the difference between a push and a pull? How can I describe an event in writing? What can I learn about a story from the setting and the illustrations? What do names mean and why are they important?
Reading Literature RL.K.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text RL.K.2. With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details. RL.K.3. With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. RL.K.5. Recognize common types of texts (e.g. storybooks, poem). RL.K.6. With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story. RL.K.7. With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts RL.K.10. Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
Reading Informational RI.K.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text RI.K.7. With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what moment person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts). RI.K.10. Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
Reading Foundational RF.K.1. Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.
Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.
Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.
Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.
Recognize and name all upper-‐ and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
RF.K.2. Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
Recognize and produce rhyming words.
Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.
Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-‐syllable spoken words.
Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-‐phoneme (consonant-‐vowel-‐ consonant, or CVC) words.1 (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or/x/.)
Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-‐syllable words to make new words.
Words, syllables, or phonemes written in /slashes/ refer to their pronunciation or phonology. Thus, /CVC/ is a word with three phonemes regardless of the number of letters in the spelling of the word. RF.K.3. Know and apply grade level phonics and word analysis skills and decoding words.
Read common high-‐frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).
RF.K.4. Read emergent-‐reader texts with purpose and understanding.
Writing W.K.3. Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. W.K.5. With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed. W.K.6. With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, in collaboration with peers.
Speaking and Listening SL.K.1. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
Follow agreed-‐upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others, taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion). Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.
SL.K.4. Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and with prompting and support, provide additional detail. SL.K.5. Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail. SL.K.6. Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.
Language
L.K.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
Print many upper-‐ and lowercase letters.
Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs.
form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/ (e.g. dog, dogs, wish, wishes)
L.K.6. Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.