Welcome to Kindergarten!
“Children grow into the intellectual life around them.” - Lev Vygotsky

Walla Walla Public Schools has a full-day kindergarten program at all six district elementary schools.  The typical school day begins between 8 and 8:30 a.m., and it ends between 2:30 and 3 p.m. 

Kindergarten curriculum includes reading, language arts, math, science and social studies.  Students have two 30-minute music classes per week and they visit the library at least once per week as part of their regular curriculum.  Physical education is also offered to kindergarten students at many of our schools.

Enrollment for the next year’s kindergarten program traditionally takes place during the two weeks prior to spring break at all of our elementary schools.  More information will be published in school newsletters, the local newspaper, and on the district website.

Note: Students must turn five no later than August 31st of the year in which they enroll for kindergarten.    Younger students, who turn five between September 1 and October 31, may be tested for early entrance, but there is no guarantee of placement.   For more information, please contact the district Curriculum Department, 526-6735.

The following files are in PDF Format, you will need -->

• 2008 Kindergarten and Open Enrollment registration dates
• Kindergarten Enrollment Information - English
• Kindergarten Enrollment Information - Spanish
• Readiness Checklist and Reading List

• Boundary Map (pdf)

Kindergarten Learning Targets

What Are Learning Targets?
Learning Targets for Reading
Learning Targets for Writing
Learning Targets for Math
Learning Targets for Social Studies
Learning Targets for Science
Learning Targets for Health & Fitness/Physical Education
Kindergarten Assessments

What are “learning targets?”
The State of Washington has established standards that identify a basic level of proficiency in skills, knowledge and understandings essential to student success and well-being. These standards are called the State of Washington Essential Academic Learning Requirements. The EALRs identify learning targets in reading, writing, math, social studies, science, health and fitness, communication, and the arts for all students in the State of Washington. The Walla Walla School District is in the process of aligning their curriculum content areas with the EALRs and supports all children in their continuous progress toward these standards of achievement.

Student-Centered Learning
All students do not learn at the same rate because they develop at different rates. Children have their own developmental timelines for learning to walk or talk. They also have their own developmental timeline for learning. The goal of the Walla Walla School District is to support students through continuous levels of learning that match individual learning needs.

Curriculum
Walla Walla School District's curriculum frameworks identify and organize concepts, essential understandings, processes, skills and critical content that students need to know and be able to do at each grade level. Critical content is outlined in the state's curriculum frameworks as well as in the Walla Walla School District's content-specific curriculum guides. These guides outline the most important topics and factual knowledge required for study in each academic content area. Students are taught basic skills and processes in reading, writing and math and are encouraged by their teachers toward a greater depth in thinking and learning. Many of the content areas organize learning around essential questions or “big ideas” that encourage investigation and exploration of topics and ideas.

The following information identifies the learning targets in reading for students who are in kindergarten in the Walla Walla School District.

By the end of Kindergarten, most children will:

• understand that pictures and text convey meaning;
• show an awareness of print in the environment;
• know and use letters and their sounds to predict and confirm text;
• recognize some words in different contexts;
• understand the way we read affects the meaning of what we read;
• reread a range of books and explore new ones.

Kindergarten Reading Expectations

Uses Skills and Strategies
• hears sound sequence in words
• recognizes and names all upper and lower case letters
• uses letter-sound links (including initial and final)
• matches spoken and written word
• is able to distinguish when letter names and sounds match
• can distinguish similar and dissimilar sounds in groups of words
• identifies repetition of sounds, words, or phrases
• uses simple plural forms

Understands What is Read
• focuses on text detail to identify or confirm
• recognizes some words in different contexts
• uses pictures to predict text
• identifies the beginning, middle, and end of a story
• retells a simple text in sequence
• connects characters with actions
• recounts information gained from books
• interprets and uses pictures, labels, photographs
• reads labels and captions around the classroom
• reads and follows simple directions and symbols
• understands that some words name or describe actions, ideas, or information

Reads Fluently
• develops a memory for text
• pauses and sometimes reruns or self-corrects if meaning is lost
• rereads to gain confidence and pace in known text

Shows Effort to Become a Life-Long Reader
• participates in the reading of stories, poems, songs
• asks for nonfiction as well as fiction books to be reread
• explores new books, including nonfiction
• returns to read and/or review favorite books
• responds to acknowledgement and encouragement

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The following information identifies the learning targets in writing for students who are in kindergarten in the Walla Walla School District.

By the end of Kindergarten, most children will:

• identify topics by talking, drawing, thinking, or writing;
• recognize and use beginning, middle and end;
• begin to dictate and write complete sentences;
• share illustrations and writing with different audiences;
• begin to use correct manuscript formation and spacing.

Kindergarten Writing Expectations

Writes clearly and effectively

• demonstrates main idea or topic by listening or illustrating
• identifies topics by talking, drawing, and thinking
• illustrates or dictates with detail
• uses a variety of forms in illustration and dictated texts (fiction, non-fiction)
• recognizes and/or uses beginning, middle and end
• organizes ideas using graphic organizers (lists, clustering/webbing)
• identifies and uses transitional words and phrases
• develops an awareness of imagery
• dictates sentences with a variety of lengths and types
• begins using letters to represent words
• is aware of subject-predicate agreement
• begins to learn correct manuscript letter formation
• writes for own satisfaction and/or purpose

Writes in a variety of forms for different audiences

• matches writing to audience expectations
• shares writing with many audiences
• identifies fiction and non-fiction
• writes labels, signs, or captions for drawings and models

Understands and Uses Steps of Writing Process

• identifies topic and organizes ideas
• begins to identify and use resources in schools, libraries, and community
• becomes aware of writing conventions (grammar, punctuation, letter form and spelling)
• reads own writing
• begins to use a picture dictionary
• sometimes asks for and willingly accepts additions and changes to writing
• begins to add missing or necessary words
• shares published work with pride

Analyzes and evaluates the effectiveness of written work

• reflects on and improves writing when prompted
• seeks, offers, and may employ feedback

Spelling

• hears the sounds in words
• begins using temporary spellings with letters representing the major sounds in a word
• writes a few words (including own name and names of some family/friends) correctly

The following information identifies the learning targets in math for students who are in kindergarten in the Walla Walla School District.

By the end of Kindergarten, most children will:

• recognize, count, compare, and order numbers or objects to 31
• solve simple addition and subtraction problems using concrete models
• measure objects with a variety of nonstandard units
• compare, describe, and classify 2D and 3D geometric figures
• discriminate between impossible, probable and certain events in a real world context
• answer questions by collecting and sorting data
• describe and create patterns
• recognize and search for patterns in everyday situations
• identify questions to be answered in everyday situations
• select and use appropriate mathematics tools
• validate thinking using models
• predict results in everyday problem situations
• reflect on results in everyday problem situations
• follow a plan for collecting information
• organize and clarify mathematical in at least one way
• express ideas orally or in writing using models and/or pictures
• explain the process used to solve problems
• use mathematical knowledge to solve everyday problem situations
• recognize equivalent mathematical models in familiar situations
• recognize equivalent mathematical models in familiar settings
• recognize mathematical patterns in familiar situations in other disciplines

Kindergarten Expectations in Math

Content Strands:

Number Sense
Establishes one-to-one correspondence in counting objects
Determines the cardinal number of a set of objects less than 31
When given three groups of objects (1-20), orders them from smallest to largest
Given two sets of objects, each less than five, determines how many in all
Uses a variety of approaches, strategies, and manipulative materials to create and tell stories involving addition and subtraction as found in familiar settings
Demonstrates the relationship between addition and subtraction situations when creating and telling stories
Estimates the number of objects in a set, using comparative language (less than ten, more than ten, etc.)
Uses a known quantity to estimate an unknown quantity (sets of objects to 30) using a variety of strategies and approaches

Measurement
Uses comparative words (longer, heavier, lighter) in meaningful situations to compare objects relative to weight/mass, length, area, volume, time, and temperature
Measures in meaningful situations in other disciplines with nonstandard units

Geometric Sense
Classifies real world 3-D objects as ball, box or can shape
Identifies squares, circles, rectangles and triangles
Describes and compares geometric figures using spatial vocabulary such as corners, curves, inside, outside, right, left, below and above

Probability and Statistics
Discriminates between impossible, probable and certain events in a real world context
Uses objects to sort and classify data in order to draw conclusions in familiar situations
Uses physical objects to build and discuss graphs in order to answer questions in familiar situations

Algebraic Sense
Recognizes and copies patterns using sounds, objects and symbols
Sorts objects and classifies them by common attribute
Uses physical objects and numerals to show the meaning of equality and inequality

Problem Solving
Recognizes and searches for patterns in everyday situations (e.g., finds simple ABAB color patterns in clothing)
Identifies questions to be answered in everyday situations (e/g/, when shown a completed attendance graph, generates questions such as How many girls are here today? How many children are absent? etc.); formulates questions
Organizes relevant information to solve a problem (e.g., when asked how many more children are wearing tennis shoes than other types of shoes, arranges the children in a way that will help answer the question)
Selects appropriate tools for a given problem (e.g., cubes, calculator, pan balance)

Mathematical Reasoning
Validates own thinking using models (e.g., uses a manipulative such as links to prove that one object is longer than another) and uses appropriate models given choices.
Predicts results (e.g., guesses what color cube will most likely be drawn from a bag containing 2 red cubes and 1 blue cube)
Reflects on results in familiar situations (e.g., tells why a can rolls but a box doesn’t)

Communication
Follows a plan for collecting information (e.g., places a clothespin on a yes/no graph to answer a survey question each morning when coming into the classroom)
Organizes and clarifies mathematical information in at least one way (e.g., arranges two sets of cubes in order to determine which set has more)
Expresses ideas using models and/or pictures (e.g., draws a picture to show which of two sets of cubes has more), relates small quantities using mathematical notation
Given sets of objects, draws conclusions about attributes and explains possible reclassification of the data

Connections
Recognizes equivalent mathematical models in familiar settings
Recognizes mathematical patterns in familiar settings in other disciplines (e.g., looks for patterns in the shapes of tree leaves)
Uses mathematical knowledge in everyday situations (e.g., determines how many more students in the class come to school in a car than on a bus)

Teaching resources for math include:

• “Investigations in Number, Data, and Space,” Dale Seymour Publications. This program was developed at TERC (Technical Education Research Center) and is an innovative approach to teaching mathematics based on engaging activities and group learning experiences. The curriculum at each grade level is organized into units that offer from three to eight weeks of mathematical work in number, data analysis, and geometry. The units link together to form a complete K-5 curriculum that teachers can adjust to fit their classroom needs.

The following information identifies the learning targets in social studies for students who are in kindergarten in the Walla Walla School District.

Most five-year olds can begin to combine simple ideas into more complex relations. They have an interest in their community and the world outside their own. The social studies curriculum should provide a rich environment of printed materials to stimulate the development of literacy skills in meaningful contexts and include a variety of experiences to develop students’ cognitive, physical, emotional, and social capacities.

Learning About Myself and My Classroom Community
History
Describe personal changes that have occurred over time related to physical development, personal interests, and ideas about who s/he is and what s/he can do and achieve.

Civics
Explain how one’s feelings and actions can be similar or different from those of others.
Describe situations that are fair in relation to him/her and others.
Identify classroom rules and explain how the rules balance the needs of individuals and groups.
Explain why it is important for people to work together to solve problems.

The Food We Eat
History
Compare and contrast the kinds of foods we eat today with food eaten in the past.
Compare and contrast how foods are preserved and prepared today with the past.
Describe how technology has changed how people prepare and get food today.

Geography
Explain that people in every culture may eat different foods because of location, culture, and personal taste.
Identify foods/meals that are eaten for special occasions and recognize the diversity of foods/meals among families.

Economics
Explain that food is a basic need providing nutrients needed to build strong and healthy bodies.
Explain that people make choices about the food they eat, based on cost of food, availability of food, family customs, religious beliefs and personal taste.

Kindergarten teaching resources for social studies include:

• All About Me, Harcourt Brace & Company
• World/U.S. Wall Map and Globe

LEARNING TARGETS FOR SCIENCE
In kindergarten, students begin their scientific inquiry. They understand that scientists observe carefully and ask questions. Students develop the skills of observing, sorting, and identifying parts and begin using scientific tools to understand the natural world.

The following information identifies the learning targets in science for students who are in kindergarten in the Walla Walla School District.

Kindergarten Expectations in Science
Properties, Structures, and Changes in Systems

• Identify and describe a property of an object.
• Sort common materials and objects using a simple property (e.g., texture, color, size, shape).
• Sort rocks based on size, shape, and other physical properties (e.g., color, texture).
• Identify observable characteristics of living organisms (e.g., spiders have eight legs; birds have feathers; plants have roots, stems, leaves, seeds, flowers)
• Identify the parts of objects, organisms, and materials (e.g., toys with moving parts, plants, animals, soils).
• Observe and show how living things look different under a magnifier.

Skills, Processes, and Nature of Scientific Inquiry

• Wonder and ask questions about objects, organisms, and events based on observations of the natural world.
• Report observations of simple investigations using drawings and simple sentences.
• Record what is observed and explain how it was done accurately and honestly.
• Raise questions about the natural world and seek answers by making careful observations and trying things out.

Developing Solutions to Human Problems

• Describe ways in which common tools help people in their everyday lives.
• Describe what humans obtain from their environment (e.g., a school garden yields vegetables; a sheep yields wool, which is used to make sweaters).

Kindergarten teaching resources for science include the following kits:

• GEMS Ladybugs – Children learn about ladybug body structure and symmetry, life cycle, defensive behavior, and foods. Math is an integral part of this unit and role-playing is interwoven in the activities. In “Ladybugs Rescue the Orange Trees,” children learn important lessons about the environmental role of ladybugs and interdependence found in nature.
• GEMS Sifting Through Science – Children learn about objects and their properties. They investigate material properties, including those of materials that sink and float, magnetic and non-magnetic objects, and a sand-and-bean mixtures whose elements can be sifted and separated. Each student is given a “garbage dump” of various materials with which they learn about recycling and the environment.
  
  GEMS = Great Explorations in Math and Science, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley

The following information identifies the learning targets in health and fitness for students who are in kindergarten in the Walla Walla School District.

Health
By the end of Kindergarten, students will begin to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to maintain an active life and healthy life, including movement, physical fitness, nutrition, safety, and reducing health risks.

Lessons focus on:

• Disease prevention
• Safety (street crossing, fire prevention and escape, vehicle safety for passengers)
• Refusal skills
• Medicine safety (What are medicines?)
• Wellness
• Exercise

Fitness/Physical Education
By the end of Kindergarten, students will begin to know and apply the core concepts of health and fitness and to provide opportunities to become responsible citizens, contribute to their own economic well-being and that of their families and communities, and enjoy productive and satisfying lives.

Students will:

• Demonstrate body control while performing a variety of basic physical skills (e.g., jumping, hopping)
• Demonstrate safe movement, follow directions and demonstrate sportsmanship
• Begin to develop an introductory fitness vocabulary
• Participate in rhythmic activities

Kindergarten teaching resources for health and fitness include:

• Your Health by Harcourt-Brace Publishing
• Second Step, A Violence Prevention Curriculum from Committee for Children

The Walla Walla School District requires teachers to assess students using a variety of tools to inform instruction and evaluate programs. These tools provide the teacher with specific information about student skills and progress toward standards.

STUDENT SUCCESS IS OUR GOAL
We encourage you, as parents and guardians, to be actively involved in your child's learning. The staff at your child's school can answer questions concerning their progress and give you suggestions about how you can support their education at home. The school district and parents need to work as partners to ensure that every child finds success.

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