The following statement expresses the philosophy of the Early Childhood department of Plano ISD. It is printed each time student work contains temporary spelling published as a way of helping parents and community members understand the way young children learn.

Young children learn to write much as they learn to talk. Even though toddlers make many "mistakes" or approximations in speech, parents enjoy the conversations and encourage the child to talk, knowing that talking develops by talking. In the primary grades, writing is approached in much the same way. Teachers accept children's approximations of spelling. Just as parents are proud of a child's every attempt to say works, teachers praise young writers efforts at writing. They allow much practice by encouraging very young children to use written language for real purposes: phone messages, shopping lists, labels, and stories. As words of high frequency appear in a child's writing, teachers model correct spelling, and children gradually incorporate conventional or standard spelling into their writing. A translation of the primary student's writing, made as the child reads his work aloud, is included when the writing is published.

OUR KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS Planning Time 9:45am - 10:35pm Tami Cornford - Team Leader I have been teaching for sixteenth years, and they have all been at Forman Elementary. I have taught 4th grade, Reading Recovery, and Kindergarten. When I am not teaching, I love to read, exercise, go to movies and spend time with the people I love. email:Tami.Cornford@psid.edu Ext 21241 Clarissa Adas I received my Bachelor's Degree from Texas A&M and my Master's in Bilingual Education from SMU. I am a mother of 2 boys, ages 4 and 2. I have been teaching for 9 years. One year I taught bilingual pre-k, and then I taught eight years in bilingual kindergarten. I really enjoy teaching kindergarten because I can see the progress of students at the end of the year. It is a joy to work with them because they always are excited to learn new things email:Clarrisa.Adas@pisd.edu Ext 21224 Jennifer Wills     email:Jennifer.Wills@psid.edu Ext 21225 xt 21242 Brenda Sanchez-Davis My students call me" Mrs. Davis".   I am new to Forman and very much enjoy working with both the students and the faculty/administration.   I hold a Bachelor of Science in Child Learning and Development and  Psychology (with a focus on children) and  I am currently working on my certification in Bilingual Education.  My husband and I have two wonderful boys ages 7 and 16 and I have lived in Plano for over 10 years. One of my goals is to share my love for learning with my students.  I  look forward to a great year!  Go Falcons! email:Brenda.Sanchez-Davis@pisd.edu Ext 21222 Teresa Marcano I’m originally from El Salvador and have been living in Texas since 1985.  I currently live in McKinney with my husband and our 5 year-old daughter Bianca, who is a Kindergartener at Forman this year.  I have been a bilingual teacher since 2004 and am also a freelance writer.  I graduated from UNT in 2000 with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a minor in Psychology.  My hobby is mostly taking dance classes, including Belly dancing and various styles of Latin dancing.  I love new experiences and have enjoyed working at Forman for the past 3 years.  There is definitely no place like Forman! email:Teresa.Marcano@pisd.edu Ext 21221 Victoria Rodriquez I recently graduated from UNT with my Bachelor’s in ESL/Bilingual Interdisciplinary Studies.  I am looking forward to returning to school to earn my Master’s in either History or Journalism.  My family and friends are the greatest blessings in my life and I feel that I wouldn’t be where I am without their support.  I absolutely love teaching!  I think the world of my class and am thankful that we can share this experience together.  I have two cats at home and they are my babies!  I am glad to be a part of the Forman family. email:Victoria Rodriquez@pisd.edu Ext 21220 Tiffany Turner     Email:Tiffany.Turner@pisd.edu Ext 21223

Curriculum
Language Arts in Kindergarten
The following language arts objectives are listed in the six-week period in which they are introduced. However, the skills are continually revisited thorough out the year in order to build upon those foundations.

1ST SIX WEEKS
Follow Directions, Using Illustrations to Comprehend Text, Sequencing Events in a Story, Initial Introduction of Letter Names, Phonological Awareness-listening for sounds, rhyming words, and sound sequencing, Understanding of writing from left to right, Writing name on paper.

2ND SIX WEEKS
Oral Comprehension, Story Details, Identifying Action Words, Identifying Capital and Lowercase Letters, Identifying Letters in a Word/Words in a Sentence, Identifying/Counting Syllables, Blending Sounds, Identifying Beginning/Medial/Ending Sounds, Using Diagrams, Idea of Using Pictures and Print to Convey Meaning.

3RD SIX WEEKS
Fantasy vs. Reality, Opposites, Oral Comprehension, Alphabetical Order, Making Predictions, Position Words, Matching Sounds, Word Patterns (Word Families), Writing Name and Familiar Words, Writing Top to Bottom.

4TH SIX WEEKS
Main Idea, Compare and Contrast, Inferences, Word Endings, Describing Words, Using Finger Spaces in Writing, Hearing Consonants to Write (Temporary Spelling).

5TH SIX WEEKS
Nouns, Story Structure, Summarization, Read Signs, Listening Skills, Word Endings/Diagraphs, Finger Spacing in Writing, Using a period at the End of a Sentence.

6TH SIX WEEKS
Cause and Effect, Sequence a Story, Sort and Classify, Blending With All Vowels, Diagraphs, Capital Letter to Start Writing, Describing Words Used in Writing.

Math in Kindergarten
We have listed the primary objectives for each six-weeks. Each objective is explored throughout the six-week period and then built upon in the following periods.

1ST SIX WEEKS
Number Concepts to Six, Oral Counting to Ten, Relative Position, Read a Calendar, Problem Solving Strategy - Draw a Picture, Processes and Tools.

2ND SIX WEEKS
Number Concepts to Ten, Oral Counting to Twenty, Patterns, Read a Calendar, Concrete Graphing, Problem Solving Strategy - Look for a Pattern, Processes and Tools.

3RD SIX WEEKS
Number Concepts to Ten, Oral Counting to Fifty, Measurement, Sorting and Classification, Problem Solving Strategy - Use Objects, Processes and Tools.

4TH SIX WEEKS
Number Concepts to Twenty, Oral Counting to Seventy, Shapes and Models of Solids, Read a Calendar, Pictorial Graphing, Problem Solving Strategy - Use Objects, Processes and Tools.

5TH SIX WEEKS
Concrete Modeling of Addition and Subtraction, Oral Counting to Ninety, Solids, Compare Based on Time/Temperature, Read a Calendar, Problem Solving Strategy - Act it Out, Processes and Tools.

6TH SIX WEEKS
Whole to Equal Parts, Concrete Modeling of Addition and Subtraction, Oral Counting to 100, Read a Calendar, Sequence Events, Problem Solving Strategy - Guess and Check, Processes and Tools.