Reading
The following is a brief summary of the different reading activities your child will take part in daily in kindergarten:
- Guided Reading: small group reading instruction based on student needs.
- Reader’s Workshop: whole group reading instruction with an in-depth focus on how reading works. This includes a mini lesson, time to read independently, and a time for students to share their noticings about what they’ve read.
- Read Aloud
- Shared and Interactive Reading: students are involved in reading an enlarged text
- Independent Reading: students read of their choice at their independent level to practice fluent and phrased reading.
| Unit of Study | Time Frame of Study |
| Getting Started | 1 week |
| How to Use Reading Materials | 1 week |
| Kinds of Things Readers Do | 2 weeks |
| Identifying Characters, Setting and Major Events | 3 weeks |
| Retelling Fiction Texts | 1 week |
| Getting Meaning From the Illustrations (Fiction) | 2 weeks |
| Getting Meaning From the Illustrations (Non-Fiction) | 2 weeks |
| How to Read Using Punctuation | 1 week |
| Making Inferences | 2 weeks |
| Comparing and Contrasting Characters | 2 weeks |
| Reading and Retelling Non-Fiction | 4 weeks |
| Comparing & Contrasting Two Texts on the Same Topic | 2 weeks |
| Visualizing | 2 weeks |
| Making Connections in Fiction Texts | 2 weeks |
| Making Connections in Non-Fiction Texts | 2 weeks |
| Road Map of Fiction | 3 weeks |
| How to Ask and Answer Questions (Fiction) | 2 weeks |
| How to Ask and Answer Questions (Non-Fiction) | 2 weeks |
| Finding Meaning in Unknown Words | 1 week |
Order of Letters Taught
In kindergarten we believe that letters are best learned within context instead of in isolation and we talk about all the letters and their sounds throughout the day. However, to make sure we have formally introduced all the letters we teach them in the following order.
| M | S | A | T | F | B |
| I | P | H | Z | N | O |
| D | G | L | W | E | J |
| K | Q | Y | U | X | R |
| V | C |
Kindergarten students will also work throughout the school year to learn how to read and write 18 Kindergarten Core Words and read 25 Level 1 Dolch Words.
Kindergarten Core Words
| I | by | the | go | to |
| we | is | in | it | am |
| my | went | like | you | play |
| and | can | see | me | have |
| of | this | with | get | was |
Level 1 Dolch Words
| of | to | I | go | like |
| play | up | jump | is | my |
| and | see | are | the | this |
| run | can | look | little | ride |
| come | said | he | funny | red |