I received my Kindergarten handbook for teachers from Core Knowledge a couple of days ago and I am so excited about it. Literally, it lays out for you what your Kindergartner needs to know in the areas of Literature, Art, Music, Science, Math, and Social Studies. It was an expensive book ($80) but spread out over four children, that really doesn't seem so bad to provide such a solid framework for what we need to cover this year. Rachel has made great strides in reading this summer and I know where we're headed there (starting to work on attacking words on her own, looking at blends, and spelling). Math is pretty straightforward with the Math-U-See that we're using and she's doing great with that. I was starting to get a little nervous, though, about Science and Social Studies and now I at least have a place to start. The idea behind Core Knowledge is that knowledge builds on itself, so if we continue with this program she will have been given the background knowledge that she needs to go to the next level. As a former public school teacher, I can tell you that the biggest thing the kids I taught lacked was background knowledge. It's hard to read a story and picture what's happening when you have no idea what they are talking about! I get very excited about planning. My favorite part of the school year was always the week before school started when I got everything ready to go and I'm feeling that all over again but with even more excitement because we can do it however we want!!!
Let's get planning!!!
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