Kindergarten

Ms. Nancy Salamone
Years Teaching: 27 At SJB: 20
Education: B.A. in Ed., Northeastern, IL, NAEYC Certificate.
Favorite thing about teaching:
My favorite thing about teaching the Kindergarten Busy Bees is watching them grow academically. The excitement and eagerness on their faces when they learn new skills is rewarding not only for them but for myself.

 
Classroom Site

Assessment

The students are assessed throughout the year. In September, the assessments consist of the following: letter recognition, number recognition, basic shapes, colors, printing and recognizing their first name and cutting successfully. The rest of the year the students are assessed on the following: phonics, counting to 100, addition, and sight words.

Program Description

Third grade is a transitional year between early childhood and intermediate education. Students begin to develop the skills necessary to think and work independently.

Main Themes/Skills

Religion
Students are introduced to the weekly homily with the Promise Magazine. They also learn prayers, various Bible stories, Holy Days, the Sign of the Cross and being a follower of Jesus.

Language Arts/Phonics
Students focus on letter recognition, matching upper and lower case letters, rhyming words, sound recognition (consonant and short vowels), sight words, decoding, comprehension strategies and sequential order.

Handwriting/Reading Readiness
Students follow top to bottom progression, understand the conventions of left to right, write words and sentences in a journal, print neatly, and identify how many words are in a sentence.

Mathematics
Students identify shapes, recognize numbers, count to 100, match sets containing the same number of objects, add sums to 20, identify ordinal numbers, create patterns, and tell time to the hour.

Social Studies
The students learn about community workers, fire safety, constructing maps (of their classroom, neighborhood, fire escape plan at home), historical figures, their heritage, and being a good friend.

Science
The curriculum centers on the five senses, dental health, plants, healthy lifestyle, musical instruments and sounds and the seasons.

Art
Art is integrated into all subject areas and thematic units. Students have the chance to experience many different mediums. The students study Van Gogh and do their own version of “The Starry Night.”

Instructional Methodologies
The students are engaged in small/whole group activities, centers, hands on activities and individual activities.