From the desk of the Kindergarten Teachers-Kindergarten is for Language Development

It is familiarity with the English language that precedes and underlies excellent phonemic awareness instruction.  It is this familiarity that allows a child’s decoding to be error-free and their reading to be fluent.  We must skillfully accelerate language learning – both thinking and oral communication – if we are to take a proactive approach to bridge the achievement gap and prevent later reading difficulties.  That is why we encourage our children to hear grammatically correct English through their daily instruction and the literature they listen to.

As Kindergarten teachers, we must provide experiences that make language come alive, dramatically articulating and fluently modeling the sounds of language.  We invite kindergartners to rehearse language as singers, signers, and storytellers.  Lively discussion about quality fiction and nonfiction allows us to connect books with children’s lives and provide the vehicle for explicit teaching of comprehension strategies. 

We memorize, recite, and perform language.  We differentiate instruction, honoring children’s initial “magical memory reading” and skillfully transitioning them to guided and independent reading.  We are conscious that listening comprehension comes before reading comprehension.  Our curriculum invites children to communicate and interact.  Developing the child’s capacity for language and thought underlies everything we do in kindergarten.   Please remember to read to your child (in whatever language you are native to) and continue to help our students become proficient in the English language!!!