GLEN RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Curriculum Guide

Course Title: Language Arts

Subject: Language Arts

Grade Level: Kindergarten

Department/School: Forest Avenue. and Linden Avenue Schools

Duration: Full Year

Number of Credits: N/A

Prerequisite: N/A

Elective or Required: N/A

Authors: Diana Bendin

Lynn Rowan

Date Submitted: Summer 2006

Course Description

The kindergarten language arts curriculum prepares students to achieve their maximum potential in language arts literacy through exposure to quality children’s literature in a wide variety of genres from which grade-appropriate strategies and skills are specifically taught.

GLEN RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

LANGUAGE ARTS MISSION STATEMENT

In order to pursue lifelong interdisciplinary learning, students need the skills to communicate effectively. Through a challenging, sequential academic curriculum, the Glen Ridge Language Arts Literacy Program provides all students with varied and integrated experiences. The skills of reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, presenting, and researching will enable them to effectively participate in school and in society, respectful of various points of view while displaying creative and critical thinking skills.

Goals of the Glen Ridge Language Arts Literacy Program

Provided with an environment that encourages creativity as well as expression of unique feelings and thoughts, students will:

• become competent critical readers who learn to analyze, evaluate, reflect upon and respond to the ideas of others;
• approach reading with an appreciation for a variety of literary styles, genres and contexts;
• implement the writing process including: pre-writing, drafting, revising, proofreading and publishing;
• write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for different audiences and purposes;
• apply appropriate conventions of spelling, grammar, punctuation and language usage;
• speak for a variety of real purposes and audiences;
• listen interactively in diverse situations to information from a variety of sources;
• view, understand and construct meaning from non-textual sources;
• gather, evaluate, synthesize and cite data from a variety of technological sources and print materials;
• share, display and/or publish individual and collaborative products.

New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards

STANDARD 3.1: (READING) ALL STUDENTS WILL UNDERSTAND AND APPLY THE KNOWLEDGE OF SOUNDS, LETTERS, AND WORDS IN WRITTEN ENGLISH TO BECOME INDEPENDENT AND FLUENT READERS, AND WILL READ A VARIETY OF MATERIALS AND TEXTS WITH FLUENCY AND COMPREHENSION.

STANDARD 3.2: (WRITING) ALL STUDENTS WILL WRITE IN CLEAR, CONCISE, ORGANIZED LANGUAGE THAT VARIES IN CONTENT AND FORM FOR DIFFERENT AUDIENCES AND PURPOSES.

STANDARD 3.3: (SPEAKING) ALL STUDENTS WILL SPEAK IN CLEAR, CONCISE, ORGANIZED LANGUAGE THAT VARIES IN CONTENT AND FORM FOR DIFFERENT AUDIENCES AND PURPOSES.

STANDARD 3.4: (LISTENING) ALL STUDENTS WILL LISTEN ACTIVELY TO INFORMATION FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES IN A VARIETY OF SITUATIONS.

STANDARD 3.5: (VIEWING AND MEDIA LITERACY) ALL STUDENTS WILL ACCESS, VIEW, EVALUATE, AND RESPOND TO PRINT, NONPRINT, AND ELECTRONIC TEXTS AND RESOURCES.

Curriculum Description

PRE-UNIT - SMART START

Standard 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4

Objectives:

1. Comprehension Strategies: Listening comprehension. (3.3, 3.4)

2. Skills: The alphabet recognition of upper and lowercase letters.

3. Phonemic Awareness: Sequence of sounds, word segmentation, recognize rhyme, syllable blending, and phoneme isolation. (3.1, 3.4)

4. High Frequency Words: I, can (3.1)

5. Concept Words: None

6. Daily Writing Activities: Introduce sentence completion. (3.2, 3.3)

Approximate Duration: 3 weeks

UNIT 1 – FAMILIES

Standard 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

Objectives:

1. Comprehension Strategies: Recognize text structure. (3.1, 3.2, 3.5)

2. Skills: Make predictions, identify setting. (3.1)

3. Phonemic Awareness: Onset/rhyme blending, isolation, blending. (3.1, 3.4)

4. High Frequency Words: we, the (3.1)

5. Concept Words: Size words. (3.1)

6. Writing: Introduce: Upper and lowercase, Mm, Aa (3.2)

7. Daily Writing Activities:

a) Shared Writing: Lists (3.2)

b) Interactive: Sentences (3.2)

c) Independent: Prewrite and draft labels. (3.2)

d) Independent: Revise and edit labels. (3.3)

e) Independent: Publish and present. (3.2)

f) Journal Writing: Daily topics to go with theme/skill taught. (3.2, 3.5)

Approximate Duration: 3 weeks

Activities:

- Create a family photo collage.

- Act out a puppet show using a family theme.

- Create a family book.

UNIT 2 – FRIENDS

Standard 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

Objectives:

1. Comprehension Strategies: Ask questions. (3.3, 3.4, 3.5)

2. Skills: Identify character, compare and contrast. (3.1, 3.2, 3.3)

3. Phonemic Awareness: Phoneme isolation and blending. (3.1)

4. High Frequency Words: like, a (3.1)

5. Concept Words: Color words, number words. (3.1)

6. Writing: Introduce: Upper and lowercase, Ss, Pp (3.2)

7. Daily Writing Activities:

a) Shared Writing: List. (3.2)

b) Interactive: Sentences, word web. (3.2)

c) Independent: Prewrite and draft sentences, picture web. (3.2)

d) Independent: Revise and edit sentences, picture web. (3.3)

e) Independent: Publish and present. (3.2)

f) Journal Writing: Daily topics to go with theme/skill taught. (3.2, 3.5)

Approximate Duration: 3 weeks

Activities:

- Create a Friendship Tree by having the children draw nice things friends can do for each other on paper leaves.

- Act out a skit.

- Create an advertisement about what it means to be a friend.

UNIT 3 – TRANSPORTATION

Standard 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

Objectives:

1. Comprehension Strategies: Recognize text/story structure. (3.3, 3.4)

2. Skills: Make predictions, classify and categorize, character and plot. (3.1, 3.3, 3.5)

3. Phonemic Awareness: Phoneme isolation and blending. (3.1)

4. High Frequency Words: see, go (3.1)

5. Concept Words: Shape and sound words. (3.1)

6. Writing: Introduce: Upper and lowercase: Tt, Ii (3.2)

7. Daily Writing Activities:

a) Shared writing: List. (3.2)

b) Interactive: Sentences, posters, book title. (3.2)

c) Independent: Prewrite and draft sentences, posters, book title. (3.2)

d) Independent: Revise and edit sentences, posters, book title. (3.3)

e) Independent: Publish and present. (3.2)

f) Journal Writing: Daily topics to go with theme/skill taught. (3.2, 3.5)

Approximate Duration: 3 weeks

Activities:

- Transportation-themed Show-and-Tell presentation.

- Collect pictures of modes of transportation from the past and from today, and create a class mural.

UNIT 4 – FOOD

Standard 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4

Objectives:

1. Comprehension Strategies: Summarize. (3.1, 3.3, 3.4)

2. Skills: Identify sequence of events, make inferences. (3.1, 3.3)

3. Phonemic Awareness: Phoneme isolation and blending. (3.1,3.4)

4. High Frequency Words: to, have (3.1)

5. Concept Words: Fruits and vegetables, season words. (3.1)

6. Writing: Introduce: Upper and lowercase: Nn, Cc (3.2)

7. Daily Writing Activities:

a) Shared writing: A numbered list. (3.2)

b) Interactive: Lists, a recipe, a menu. (3.1, 3.2)

c) Independent: Prewrite and draft sentences, a recipe, menus. (3.2)

d) Independent: Revise and edit sentences, a recipe, and menus. (3.2,3.3)

e) Independent: Publish and present. (3.2)

f) Journal Writing: Daily topics to go with theme/skill taught. (3.2, 3.5)

Approximate Duration: 3 weeks

Activities:

- Create a healthy lunch menu.

- Make a class book of favorite foods.

- Create a 2- or 3-step rebus recipe for a favorite food.

UNIT 5 – ANIMALS

Standard 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

Objectives:

1. Comprehension Strategies: Recognize story structure. (3.1, 3.3, 3.4)

2. Skills: Make and confirm predictions, identify character and plot, classify and categorize.(3.1, 3.3, 3.5)

3. Phonemic Awareness: Phoneme isolation, blending, segmentation. (3.1, 3.4)

4. High Frequency Words: is, play (3.1)

5. Concept Words: Position words (3.1)

6. Writing: Introduce: Upper and lowercase: Oo, Ff (3.2)

7. Daily Writing Activities:

a) Shared Writing: A list (3.2)

b) Interactive: Lists, sentences (3.1, 3.2)

c) Independent: Prewrite and draft ABC page, letters. (3.2)

d) Independent: Revise and edit ABC page, letters. (3.3)

e) Independent: Publish and present. (3.2)

f) Journal Writing: Daily topics to go with theme/skill taught. (3.2, 3.5)

Approximate Duration: 3 weeks

Activities:

- Make an Animal ABC book.

- Make clay animals for display.

- Have children make up riddles about animals for classmates to solve.

UNIT 6 – NEIGHBORHOOD

Standard 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

Objectives:

1. Comprehension Strategies: Summarize. (3.1, 3.3, 3.4)

2. Skills: Identify main idea and details, retell. (3.1, 3.3, 3.4)

3. Phonemic Awareness: Phoneme isolation, blending, segmentation. (3.1, 3.4)

4. High Frequency Words: are, for, you (3.1)

5. Concept Words: Sequence words, words that compare. (3.1)

6. Writing: Introduce: Upper and lowercase: Hh, Dd, Rr (3.2)

7. Daily Writing Activities:

a) Shared writing: Dialogue, directions. (3.2)

b) Interactive: Dialogue, directions, lists. (3.2)

c) Independent: Prewrite and draft dialogue, directions, sentences. (3.2)

d) Independent: Revise and edit dialogue, directions, and sentences. (3.3)

e) Independent: Publish and present. (3.2)

f) Journal Writing: Daily topics to go with theme/skill taught. (3.2, 3.5)

Approximate Duration: 3 weeks

Activities:

- Make a map of the school playground and/or classroom.

- Act out a skit about community helpers.

UNIT 7 – WEATHER

Standard 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

Objectives:

1. Comprehension Strategies: Visualize. (3.1, 3.3, 3.4)

2. Skills: Identify main idea, details, and setting. Distinguish between fantasy and reality. (3.1, 3.5)

3. Phonemic Awareness: Phoneme isolation, blending, segmentation. (3.1)

4. High Frequency Words: this, do, and, what (3.1)

5. Concept Words: Words that compare, sound words (3.1)

6. Writing: Introduce: Upper and lowercase: Ee, Bb, Ll (3.2)

7. Daily Writing Activities:

a) Shared Writing: Lists, a chart (3.2)

b) Interactive: Sentences (3.1, 3.2)

c) Independent: Prewrite and draft weather report, sentences. (3.2)

d) Independent: Revise and edit weather report, sentences. (3.3)

e) Independent: Publish and present. (3.2)

f) Journal Writing: Daily topics to go with theme/skill taught. (3.2, 3.5)

Approximate Duration: 3 weeks

Activities:

- Record the weather on a chart for 2 weeks.

- Draw a picture of themselves outside for each of the 4 seasons.

- Make a scrapbook of weather pictures and words.

UNIT 8 – PLANTS

Standard 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

Objectives:

1. Comprehension Strategies: Recognize text and story structure. (3.1, 3.3, 3.4)

2. Skills: Identify sequence of events, draw conclusions, retell. (3.1, 3.3, 3.4)

3. Phonemic Awareness: Phoneme isolation, blending, segmentation. (3.1, 3.4)

4. High Frequency Words: little, said, here, was (3.1)

5.