Welcome to Ms. Bachman's TK "Kinderstart"
ROOM 6 KAWANA ACADEMY OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES
Monthly Message: November
It is fall in room 6 and we are exploring nature with the leaves all around, and observing changes in the trees and temperatures. It is a good time to remind everyone that the weather can change quickly at this time of year so send your children with jackets and long pants. Many children get cold and hot, so please remember to put your child's name in all clothing that can be removed. The staff all try to keep jackets within our classes, but many do go missing. We ended October with a fantastic Halloween parade, and a trip to the pumpkin patch. The TK and K teachers also held an early literacy night with our parents and students. We practiced strategies for reading together at home, read some Halloween stories, and enjoyed seeing costumes and friendly faces. At the end, we created a word cloud reflecting on experiences past and present of reading in our early years. The students in TK are exploring patterns (ABAB, and ABCABC), counting and writing numbers to 5 (many are also going to 10!) We have concluded the first 3 units of our Happily Ever After language arts program and have science journals for observing how a plant grows. We have a field-trip coming up to see a live performance at the Wells Fargo Center for the Performing Arts. We are grateful to the scholarship that allows all the TK and K students to attend this show about Spot the Dog, a beloved children's book that will come to life on stage. It is parent conference time as well! I really look forward to sharing what your child is doing and how much he/she has grown socially and academically this first trimester. Please be prompt for you scheduled conference so we have enough time to go over everything. I want to hear from you parents as well any concerns or questions that I can address for you at this time. Conference week will be November 16-20 and we will be on minimum day schedule the whole week. Plan to pick up your children at 12:30 everyday so teachers can be on time to the conferences as well. School will be closed on Wednesday, November 11 in honor of our Veterans, and the week of November 23-27 for a fall break and Thanksgiving. Our word for the month is GRATITUDE. Take a moment each day to share with your child how grateful you are to have each other and cherish this time together. Practice simple acts of gratitude by helping a neighbor, remembering to say thank you, and being kind to those around. The holiday season is upon us, so stay tuned for more fun things from room 6 TK! |
Welcome to the Transitional Kindergarten at Kawana Academy of Arts and Sciences! This is a unique classroom of Kinder Starters. Your child will get a hands on, developmental program to begin their education here. The primary focus of this class is to develop social/emotional skills needed to work in cooperative learning groups throughout their lifetime. This is "the gift of time" for your child in the first year of two years of kindergarten, as they develop friendships, and the foundational academic skills needed for success in life.
I have taught in Early Education for my entire adult life, beginning at age 16 working with my high school mentor teacher to set up a community preschool to learn about child development. After 18 years working as the head teacher in a pre-school and K-1 after-school enrichment program in San Francisco, I moved to Santa Rosa and was the Director of the Jewish Community Preschool. When my own daughter began kindergarten, I went back to Sonoma State to complete my Elementary Teaching Credential with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education. I believe every child has the potential for greatness and have dedicated my teaching career to learning how to meet the needs of all our children and to share the joy of learning. The past 20 years I have seen many changes and the addition of Transitional Kindergarten for our most needy children is the best thing California has done yet for education. Thank you for sharing your precious child with me. I will do my best to see they grow a curiosity about their world and a love of learning. Ms. Melinda Bachman I will be 80% again this year as part of the "WillieBrown" pre-retirement workload reduction program. The district is providing a qualified teacher to teach the 20% time I am away. I am happy to announce that Ms. Vicki Cunningham will be my teaching partner for this program. She is very experienced and your children will be in good hands on my off days. |