Kindergarten Step by Step- {Edition Three} KinderStart

Hi all!  It’s the next post in my series of Kindergarten Step by Step blog posts!  This series is designed to assist YOU in transitioning into the new school year (and beyond) with confidence… and most of all – -ease!We all know that there are the “phases” we go through during summer… the initial “WOOT it’s summer” phase… then there is the “I get to live a NORMAL life” phase… and then about July comes the teacher in you… “Oh, I’m going to prep and ‘think school’… Next, comes closer to the start of school… we organize our rooms, prep for open house, and then come the KIDS!  We are so excited to see them and we have a solid “game plan.”  After the initial first days come and go it’s time for our routines and instruction!

I’ve felt like I always had my core curriculum areas solid those first couple months.  However, if you are a kindergarten teacher you know that our littles during the first couple months are never “curriculum” ready per say.  We need time to build phonemic awareness, listen to stories, build basic phonics skills, learn colors, etc.  I always knew the importance of that, but finding the material and a systematic approach to that wasn’t always there.  My team and I created and prepped some super cute games and we would rotate them from class to class each day… but still something was missing!  I just felt like I needed to do MORE those first couple crucial months! That’s when I created KinderStart!

What IS KinderStart?

KinderStart
is a very versatile 8 week Kindergarten starter curriculum created by a teacher
for teachers!  The program is designed to
give kindergarten students an 8 week introduction to skills in the areas of
phonemic awareness, phonics, and oral listening.  You can find success in using this program in
your whole-group instruction, intervention groups, RTI groups, guided reading,
or as a resource for non certified staff members assisting in the
classroom.  The program is based upon a
slotted thirty minutes of instruction.
However, this too is versatile as you can limit or extend this time
frame to best fit your classroom needs.

A KinderStart lesson plan is broken down into three major areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, and oral
listening/storytelling.  For the oral
listening/storytelling the teacher will read an included daily script about the
adventures of, Brisket, your neighborhood dog.
The students will have an opportunity to listen as Brisket goes on his
daily adventures.  Included in the lesson
plans as well are daily follow-up questions.
The students will respond to the story they had just heard.  In the area of phonemic awareness the
students will be introduced to the skills: rhyming {identifying and
generating}, syllables, onset/rime, single sounds, segmenting, and
blending.  The teacher will lead the
students in a variety of activities each week to help build mastery in the
skill.  The lesson plans provide explicit
instruction on what games to play and all necessary pieces are included.  The students will also have a phonics piece
each week.  They will work on names, the
alphabet, color words, and words in sentences.
Please note this is not an explicit alphabet instruction, but a basic
introduction to the alphabet and alphabetic skills.Below is a quick look at a KinderStart lesson plan!  You can see the that the lesson plan in broken down into the three areas described above!  The week is also broken down into 5 lessons, but you can stretch that out if needed or combine!

Along with the above assessment I have also included a phonemic awareness tracker!  It’s perfect for a visual of who has the skills and who is still lacking!

Segmenting sound boxes

Onset and rime letter cards!

I have also organized all of my KinderStart cards/pieces into a small little Rubbermaid tub from Target!