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Pre-Kindergarten Student Profile
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Dear Parents,
During the last few years, the Texas Department of Education has been
reviewing what they want children to learn at each grade. The standards
have become higher and higher. Plus, there are new types of tests being
given to children at the end of third grade through high school. These
tests look at each child's ability to think through problems and apply
the information they've learned.
This page will give you information on what our teachers will cover
with your child during this school year. Our goal is for every child
to learn these skills, and to be very well prepared to go into first
grade.
The goals you see in this booklet are based on the curriculum set by
the state. It's called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
If you would like to see a copy of the Kindergarten TEKS, please ask your
child's teacher or the ECC Principal, Brenda Mann. Also, you can learn
more about the TEKS, and about the state testing program, by calling the
Texas Education Agency at 1-800-832-1221 or using the web site: www.tea.state.tx.us.
It is important that you know that, at the end of third grade, your
child will need to pass a reading test for him/her to be promoted into
fourth grade. Every year, we will be looking at each child to be sure
they are learning what they need to know to succeed. We have many special
programs to assist children who are having difficulty.
We are very proud of our Pre-Kindergarten program. Above all, we want
each child to love school and love learning. We hope that you will be
proud of what your child accomplishes during this school year. Please
don't hesitate to come to talk to us if ou have any suggestions or concerns.
The Staff
Medina Valley ECC
Language and Early Literacy
In Pre-Kindergarten Language Arts, your child will have the opportunity
to:
LISTENING COMPREHENSION. Students
will:
listen with increased attention
Understand and
follow simple oral directions
Enjoy listening
to and responding to books
Listen to tapes
and records, and show understanding through gestures, actions, and/or
language
Listen purposefully
to English-speaking teachers and peers to gather information and show
some understanding of languages being spoken by others (ESL)
SPEECH PRODUCTION
AND SPEECH DISCRIMINATION. Students will:
Perceive differences between similar sounding words
Produce speech
sounds with increasing ease and accuracy
Experiment with
new language sounds
Experiment with
and demonstrate growing understanding of the sounds and intonation of
the English language (ESL)
VOCABULARY. Students will:
Show a steady increase in listening and speaking vocabulary
Use new vocabulary
in everyday communication
Refine and extend
understanding of known words
Attempt to communicate
more than current vocabulary will allow, borrowing and extending works
to create meaning
Link new learning
experiences and vocabulary to what is already known about a topic
Increase listening
vocabulary and begin to develop a vocabulary of object names and common
phrases in English (ESL)
DEVELOPING KNOWLEDGE
OF LITERARY FORMS. Students will:
Recognize favorite books by their cover
Select books to
read based on personal criteria
Understand that
books and other print resources are handled in specific ways
Become increasingly
familiar with narrative form and its elements by identifying characters
and predicting events, plot, and the resolution of a story
Imitate the special
language in storybooks and story dialogue, and uses it in retellings and
dramatic play
Asks questions
and make comments about the information and events from books
Connect information
and events I books to real life experiences
Begin to retell
some sequences of events in stories
Show appreciation
of repetitive language patterns
WRITTEN EXPRESSION. Students will:
Attempt to write messages as part of playful activity
Use known letters
and approximations of letters to represent written language (especially
meaningful words like his/her name and phrases such as "I love you"
or (Spanish) "Te quiero"
Attempt to connect
the sounds in a word with its letter forms
Understand that
writing is used to communicate ideas and information
Begin to dictate
works, phrases, and sentences to an adult recording on paper
PRINT AND BOOK AWARENESS. Students
will:
Understand that reading and writing are ways to obtain information and
knowledge, generate and communicate thoughts and ideas, and solve problems
Understand that
print carries a message by recognizing labels, signs, and other print
forms in the environment
Understand that
letters are different from numbers
Understand that
illustrations carry meaning but cannot be read
Understand that
a book has a title and an author
Begin to understand
that print runs from left to right and top to bottom
Begin to understand
some basic print conventions
Begin to recognize
the association between spoken and written words by following the print
as it is read aloud
Understand that
different text forms are used for different functions
LETTER KNOWLEDGE
AND EARLY WORD RECOGNITION. Students will:
Begin to associate the names of letters with their shapes
Identify 10 or
more printed alphabet letters
Begin to notice
beginning letters in familiar words
Begin to make
some letter/sound matches
Begin to identify
some high-frequency words (age 4)
MOTIVATION TO READ. Students will:
Demonstrate an interest in books and reading through body language and
facial expressions
Enjoy listening
to and discussing storybooks and information books read aloud
Frequently request
the re-reading of books
Attempt to read
and write independently
Share books and
engage in pretend-reading with other children
Enjoy visiting
the library
VERBAL EXPRESSION. Students will:
Use language for a variety of purposes
Use sentences
of increasing length and grammatical complexity in everyday speech
Use language to
express common routines and familiar scripts
Tell a simple
personal narrative, focusing on favorite or most memorable part
Begin to retell
the sequence of a story
Engage in various
forms of nonverbal communication with those who do not speak his/her home
language (ESL)
Use single words
and simple phrases to communicate meaning in social situations (ESL)
Attempt to use
new vocabulary and grammar in speech (ESL)
Ask questions
and make comments related to the current topic of discussion
Begin to engage
in conversation and follow conversational rules
PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS. Students
will:
Become increasingly sensitive to the sounds of spoken works
Begin to identify
rhymes and rhyming sounds in familiar words, participate in rhyming games
and repeat rhyming songs and poems
Begin to attend
to the beginning sounds in familiar words by identifying that the pronunciations
of several words all begin the same way(e.g.) "dog," "dark,"
(Spanish) "casa," "coche"
Begin to break
words into syllables or clap along with each syllable in a phrase
Begin to create
and invent words by substituting one sound for another
SCIENCE
In Pre-Kinder Science, your child will have the opportunity to:
SCIENCE PROCESS. Students will:
Begin to demonstrate safe practices and appropriate use of materials
Ask questions
about objects, events, and organisms
Show an interest
in investigating unfamiliar objects, organism, and phenomena
Use one or more
senses to observe and learn about objects, events and organisms
Describe observations
Begin to perform
simple investigations
Gather information
using simple tools such as a magnifying lens and an eyedropper
Explore by manipulating
materials with simple equipment, (e.g., pouring from a cup, and using
a spoon to pick up sand and water)
Use simple measuring
devices to learn about objects and organisms
Compare objects
and organisms and identify similarities and differences
Sort objects and
organisms into groups and begin to describe how groups were organized
Begin to offer
explanations, using his or her own words
Predict what will
happen next based on previous experience
Solve simple design
problems (e.g., making a box into a little house for a storybook character,
toy, or pet)
Participate in
creating and using simple data charts
Share observations
and findings with others through, pictures, discussions, or dramatizations
SCIENCE CONCEPTS. Students will:
Observe and describe properties of rocks, soil, and water
Describe properties
of objects and characteristics of living things
Begin to observe
changes in size, color, position, weather, and sound
Identify animals
and plants as living things
Group organisms
and objects as living or nonliving and begin to identify things people
have built
Begin to recognize
that living things have similar needs for water, food, air
Begin to identify
what things are made of (e.g., distinguishing a metal spoon from a plastic
spoon)
Use patterns (such
as growth and day following night to predict what happens)
Identify similarities
and differences among objects and organisms
Begin to use scientific
words and phrases to describe objects, events, and living things
HEALTH AND SAFETY
In Pre-Kinder Health and Safety, your child will have the opportunity
to:
HEALTH. Students will:
Become aware of routine healthy behaviors (e.g., brushing teeth)
Begin to follow
health promoting routines (e.g., washing hands)
Begin to understand
the need for exercise and rest
Refine use of
eating utensils
Begin to recognize
and select healthy foods
Prepare simple
healthy snacks
SAFETY. Students will:
Recognize the danger of fire and learn to treat fire with caution
Respond appropriately
during a fire drill
Know how to seek
help in an emergency
Know how to cross
a street safely
Recognize the
symbol for poison
Know never to
eat substances that are not food
Recognize the
symbol for poison
Know never to
eat substances that are not food
Recognize the
danger of poisonous substances, including drugs
Know not to talk
to, accept rides from, or take treats from strangers
Know how to get
help from a parent and/or trusted adult when made to feel uncomfortable
or unsafe by another person/adult
Know never to
take medicine unless it is administered by an adult
Know about safe
behavior around bodies of water (e.g., pools, lakes)
Your child will also learn Fine Arts, Personal and Social Development,
Physical Development, and Technology.
SOCIAL STUDIES
In Pre-Kinder Social Studies, your child will have the opportunity
to:
INDIVIDUAL, CULTURE, AND
COMMUNITY. Students will:
Share ideas and take turns listening and speaking
Cooperate with
others in a joint activity
Identify and follow
classroom rules
Participate in
classroom jobs and contribute to the classroom community
Identify similarities
among people like him/her self and classmates as well as among him/her
self and people from other cultures
Begin to examine
a situation from anther person's perspective
HISTORY. Students will:
identify common events and routines (e.g., snack, time, story time)
begin to categorize
time intervals using words (e.g., today, tomorrow, next time)
recognize changes
in the environment over time (e.g., growth, seasonal changes)
connect past events
to current events (e.g., linking yesterday's activity with what will happen
today)
begin to understand
cause and effect relationships (e.g., if one goes out in the rain, one
will get wet)
GEOGRAPHY. Students will:
identify common features in the home and school environment (e.g., the
library, the playground)
create simple
representations of home, school, or community through drawings or block
constructions
begin to use words
to indicate relative location (e.g., front, back, near, far)
identify common
features of the local landscape (e.g., houses, buildings, and streets)
ECONOMICS. Students will:
understand the basic human needs of all people for food, clothing, and
shelter
understand the
roles, responsibilities, and services provided by community workers
become aware of
what it means to be a consumer
MATHEMATICS
In Pre-Kindergarten Math, your child will have the opportunity to:
NUMBER AND OPERATIONS. Students will:
arrange sets of concrete objects in one to one correspondence
Count by ones
to 10 or higher
Count concrete
objects to five or higher
Begin to name
"how many" are in a group of up to three (or more) objects without
counting (e.g., recognizing two or three crayons in a box)
Recognize and
describe the concept of zero (meaning there aren't any)
Begin to identify
first and last in a series
Combine, separate,
and name "how many" concrete objects
PATTERNS. Students will:
Imitate pattern sounds and physical movements (e.g., clap, stomp, clap,
stomp)
Recognize and
reproduce simple patterns of concrete objects
Begin to recognize
patterns I the environment
Begin to predict
what comes next when patterns are extended
GEOMETRY AND SPATIAL SENSE. Students
will:
Begin to recognize describe, and name shapes
Begin to use words
that indicate where things are in space
Begin to recognize
when a shape's position or orientation has changed
Begin to investigate
and predict the results of putting together two or more shapes
Put together puzzles
of increasing complexity
MEASUREMENT. Students will:
Cover an area with shapes (e.g., tiles)
Fill a shape with
solids or liquids
Begin to make
size comparisons between objects
Begin to categorize
time intervals and use language associated with time in everyday situations
Begin to order
two or three objects by size (serration) (e.g., largest to smallest) (age
4)
CLASSIFICATION AND DATA
COLLECTION. Students will:
Match objects that are alike
Describe similarities
and differences between objects
Sort objects into
groups by an attribute and begin to explain how the grouping was done
Participate in
creating and using real and pictorial graphs
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