# Kindergarten curriculum advice



## ar_wildflower (Jan 2, 2010)

My son and I started kindergarten at home almost a month ago. After we paid for Classical conversations(which is great). I did not have the the money to buy the reading and math curriculum I wanted. 

*So*, we started on our own with reading and math. 

He is doing *great!* We are adding and counting up to 40 and beyond. and up to 100 on the numberline and he can identify two digit numbers. He knows all his letter sounds and can write all of them (almost always). He can blend sounds and read simple, one sylable words, he is listening to the sounds in our conversations. 

*Now, *I'm not sure where to progress from here. Is there an order to learning the more complicated sounds and the other math concepts? I will be able to get the math and reading books in about a month.


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## stamphappy (Jul 29, 2010)

I do not and will not get into debates about homeschool/public school but IF you are ever interested in public school and want to ensure your child 'keeps up' you can go online and search common core state standards for kindergarten. You can see all the components that are taught in public school. These are required across the nation---well they will be next year. You can see all grades if you're interested.

Here are some ideas for you:
Math
*one-to-one correspondence----counting sets of objects one at a time. Prompt---here are *44* beans. please count out *40*. 
*random numbers---you show random number and he can say what it is. also, you ask him to write a random number. 
*write numbers on number grid up to 110---is he understanding the patterning
*generate more than and less than sets of objects
*tell if numbers are more than or less than each other (which one is more 8 or 22?) It can be tricky with the teen numbers, 21 and 12, 45 & 54, etc...
*identify AND describe geometric shapes----circle, square, oval, triangle, rectangle, rhombus, trapezoid, hexagon, cone, cylinder, cube, sphere
*writing number equations up to 10 (1+3=4, etc...)
*coins----one penny is one cent, nickel, and dime. make exchanges with them. introduce quarter but don't get too caught up in it. focus on the other 3.

literacy
*recognize high frequency words within 3 seconds-you can find dolch sight words online. Our district shoots for immediate recall of 50 sight words. Once he masters them, he can start writing them from recall
*sounds---beginning, middle and ending. If you say cat and ask him the beginning sound, can he say /c/. Same with middle and ending sounds. Can you say words drawn out---such as /c//a//t/ and he then put it together and say cat? Do 2, 3, 4, sound words.
*rhyming---you give a word and he rhyme it with something OR show variety of rhyme picture card and he can find sets that rhyme. 
*usually after learning the typical 28 sounds of the alphabet (hard/soft g and c), then you add the long vowel sounds. Then the digraphs ch, sh, th, wh, suffixes ing, ed, prefixes re, un, and maybe a couple of dipthongs oo, ow, oy, 

Writing
*write first and last name with appropriate upper and lower case letters.
*write letters of alphabet, #'s to 110
*generate an idea then make a picture, label the picture. later one or two words match the picture. after that a short sentence. after that more details. 

communication
manners, social graces, correct things like "her said her likes me". 
Oral Language---does your child speak with others? make whole sentences, etc...
after being read a story, can your child tell you the chronological sequence of events? Who are main characters, problem, solution, setting, etc...

Hope that helps. You can also go to teacherspayteachers.com and find a HUGE amount of free items for different grade levels. These are items made by teachers and they are very relevant to what we are teaching nowadays.


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## ar_wildflower (Jan 2, 2010)

Yes that helps.
I have looked into what we need to get accomplished by the end of the year. 
I guess I would like to know if there is a certain order to go in and do we need to master one thing before we introduce something new?


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## Teri (Jan 13, 2003)

Check out the Core Knowledge books, What Your Kindergartener Needs To Know, etc.
That might give you some ideas. You can probably find it at your library.


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## stamphappy (Jul 29, 2010)

ar_wildflower said:


> I guess I would like to know if there is a certain order to go in and do we need to master one thing before we introduce something new?


Math---There are 2 philosophies on that and if I had 'the answer', I'd be very rich indeed!  Our math program does spiraling --- where we briefly dip into things without mastering then come back later several times throughout the year. Other programs master one thing then move on. For instance, at my district in kindergarten we work on number sense throughout the year, then after the first trimester we introduce the penny, work on it 3 or 4 times. Then do the nickel and work on it 3 or 4 times. Then we put them together and do that 3 times. Then the dime, etc...Does that make sense? In addition we are also working on counting but we start out small---can you count perfectly to 20, then 50, then 110 over the course of the year. The items I gave you in the earlier post were "items to know by year's end" so to speak. 

Literacy---Again, philosophies say 'whole language' or 'phonics' or 'balanced'. In our district, we do a balanced approach. First trimester, we will only work on beginning sounds and rhymes. We'll add ending sounds and digraphs later. Lastly we'll work on 4 sound words and middle sounds. 

Hope that helps!


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## ar_wildflower (Jan 2, 2010)

Thank you Stamphappy. That does help. I think we will do "spiraling" as well. That makes the most sense to me. Do you think it is okay to jump around like add one week, measure things one week, do shapes the next week, jump back over to subtraction the next week? 

On another note. I feel like he should be reading sentences with the words he is learning. Is that too much to expect? Is reading maybe 4 or 5 words a lesson enough?


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## stamphappy (Jul 29, 2010)

Subtraction usually isn't done until a child can master addition, for some reason, even though it's just the opposite of adding, it can be confusing' especially writing the math sentence! But if your child is adept at it, then feel free! It's fine to jump around like you are suggesting.

RE: reading---4 or 5 words might be pushing it...again, depends on your baby. Once he learns some sight words such as I, see, me, like, yes, no then we start putting them together but very easily: I see the cat. Keep a journal for him and for you. You write and he can follow along slowly...one letter at a time. Then you read it together even if he does know the words. He needs to learn that there is a written word for each spoken word, there are spaces between words, etc... There is a great tool "I read, we read, you read". It's used for intervention in the higher grades and it's perfect for kindies. So you'd read a sentence, then you and he would read the same sentence together then he would read it on it on his own. We typically read only one book per week during guided reading time. We do a picture walk and talk about what the pictures show; we predict what's in the book; then "I read, we read, you read". talk about who is author/illustrator, what they do, talk about title page, dedications, blurb. before we even open the book, we look at covers to see if we can figure out the book. we 'buddy read' so you read a page, he reads a page, then start over and he starts with the first page. we'll make flash cards of the nouns and play with them--pocket charts. I'll write a sentence from the book on cardstock " I see the cat " and then cut out each word. We play mixed up sentences where they have to put the sentence back together. we might do a correlated writing activity where the students write (while they look at the book to help them) "I see the ____ and then they phonetically spell something they see (buk--book or tekr--teacher). Guided Reading time is 15 minutes per day. 

Try to find books that are at "aa", "a", "b" levels. 
aa----one word per page that corresponds to one picture, big font: 'cat' with a pic of a cat
a---one to five words per page that correspond to the picture, pages are the same with one word change usually. Lots of sight word, still a big font: 'the cat' or "I see the cat" with a pic of a cat near a tree. next page--- "I see the dog" next pagej--- "I see the pig". 
b---still have picture support but there will be more details in the picture and there will be some descriptive words as well, nice sized font: 'I see that big red cat and the blue bird", next page "I see that big red cat with a tiny mouse". 

You can read online about book levels. I would check them out at the library if you can as your child won't be using the aa, a, and b books for very long...maybe this year only. You can also make your own books easily and add your baby into the books...they LOVE that!! 

Here's an idea of our timeframes for 1/2 day kindergarten:
15 min story time---first 10 weeks of school focuses on one nursery rhyme and one fairy tale per week.
10 min entry task --- may be a number or letter dot to dot (right now up to 15 dots); color by number or letter or sight word; highlight a sight word or certain letters in a nursery rhyme (these get put into a nursery rhyme book they take home after the 10 weeks); write #'s 1-20 on number grid; etc...
20 min calendar: days of the week, weather, a read-aloud, oral language, counting the days we've been in school, finding hidden numbers on the 100s chart, turning 10 ones into 1 ten bundle using straws (place value but this is a hard concept and I don't expect them to know it by years end), counting backwards from 10. Later on---counting backwards from 20 then 30, counting by 10s to 50, then 100, then 200; counting by 5's to 20 then 50 then 100; graphing--that might be hard with just one child  
15 minutes of Guided Reading (I do this for 1/2 hour with 2 different groups each day)
10 min whole writing ---depending on what we're studying, I write on the big whiteboard about something...maybe I made a message to the class. We talk about writing conventions---punctuation, upper case at beginning, spacing between words, stretching out words to spell them, underlining sight words, etc...
5 minutes --- used generate ideas for their writing journals. in the beginning I give them writing prompts. 
15 minutes---individual writing in their journals. this is independent work...I am writing at my desk as well. there should be no talking and they should be trying this on their own. they are writers! Even if it is just scribble writing stage, they are still writing! You can find all sorts of things on line about writing stages. 
20 min ---recess
10 min---read aloud
10 min-whole group phonics lesson that I lead usually over at the big pocket chart
15 min---individual or team work in phonics skills
10 min----whole group math lesson
15 min--individual or team work in math skills

there is no time in the day for science or soc studies so about once a week we integrate science into the writing block. we'll also focus our math, reading, etc... on what we are doing in science. 

Probably gave you too much but hope it helps.


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## ar_wildflower (Jan 2, 2010)

Thank you! This is great stuff. I went to Star Fall and printed a cut and color book for us to work on this week. That web site looks like it could keep us busy until I can get Mc Ruffy reading here. You have been a great help! I am glad to have some direction about subtraction too. All of the competency lists have subtraction on it but I didn't know where to put it in.


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## IndyGardenGal (Apr 5, 2009)

http://www.k12reader.com/grammar-reference/


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## ar_wildflower (Jan 2, 2010)

We did the first starfall learn to read book. I used the I read We read You read. That was great, by Thursday he read the book confidently and was very proud of him self. I am putting together a little math lesson for each week, just keeping it light. I am gonna use alot of household manipulatives like toy cars and lego. Thank you again!!!!


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## IndyGardenGal (Apr 5, 2009)

Bob books are really good for beginning readers too. Our library has them and they really work.


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## ar_wildflower (Jan 2, 2010)

I haven't heard of bob books. Is that available online?


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## IndyGardenGal (Apr 5, 2009)

No, they are really thin little books that come in a box. We have 4 collections we got at Costco for $10/collection--they only sell this version at Costco, but the 3 collections contain sets 1-5. And then we have a pre-reader collection. You can get the sets on ebay, and they have more info on what each set has on their website. http://bobbooks.com

If you want to see anything in any of the sets I have, let me know. I have talked to so many homeschoolers that swear that Bob books are the best for kids learning to read.


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