TKP Strand at Upcoming California Kindergarten Conference!
The January 2012 California Kindergarten Conference will be featuring a strand on Transitional Kindergarten – just in time for the Fall 2012 phasing of the program! The strand will include sessions such as…
- Transitional Kindergarten in California – an Overview
- Nuts and Bolts of Transitional Kindergarten
- Practical Strategies for Implementing a Transitional Kindergarten
- Program
- Meeting the Broad Range of Needs in Transitional Kindergarten
- Transitional Kindergarten: The Combination Class Approach
To attend, keep an eye out for the conference brochure which will be emailed in late August!
Common Core State Standards!
The State Board of Education adopted Common Core State Standards for K-12 students in language arts and mathematics to replace the California Academic Standards in those subject areas.
Each month CKA will select a standard and offer activities, lesson plans and/or resources to help teachers meet these new standards. June’s CCSS is contributed by Kathleen Waite, former kindergarten teacher and now a second grade teacher. Click here to view the activity, “Egg Theme for Spring”, which addresses Writing Standard #2.
Want to contribute your ideas? CKA posts the next month’s standards on the CKA website. Click here for August 2011. If your idea is selected you will receive a special CKA gift!
RaeAnne Michael: Cheering for Children!
An Administrator’s Support of Early Childhood Education
By Judy Crenshaw, Camarillo
2009 Recipient of the Judy Brown Administrator of the Year Award, RaeAnne Michael of Pleasant Valley School District, continues to stand out as a cheerleader for children, teachers and the school community. Inspired by dynamic exposure to Dr. Jean’s ‘developmentally appropriate’ techniques and experiences at 2009’s California Kindergarten Conference in Santa Clara, Ms. Michaels returned to her home District with ideas and materials to share with her own preschool, kindergarten and first grade teachers.
A year later, RaeAnne moved up to District Director of Curriculum and began visiting classrooms throughout the District. It was gratifying to see that many district teachers were already using many of Dr. Jean’s CD’s and songs in their classrooms. She began making plans for all district teachers of young children to attend Dr. Jean’s scheduled day-long workshop and/or had the opportunity to participate in her sessions at the SoCal Kindergarten Conference. RaeAnne’s hope was, of course, that all of her teachers would implement Dr. Jean’s various strategies and activities in their own classrooms to make Math and Language Arts come alive for their own students.
Rae Anne loves her job as Director of Curriculum: “Having been in the classroom for over 16 years and in the field of Education for 30, I recognize the tremendous value of appropriate professional
development. I’m grateful that my position allows me to access Title II Professional Development funding for our teachers and am pleased that, as a District, we’ve made Early Childhood a priority for the funding.
Through the support of Title II funds, thirty-two of Pleasant Valley School District’s forty Kindergarten, Junior Kindergarten and Preschool Teachers attended the recent Southern California Kindergarten Conference in Pasadena. Funding was used for substitutes, conference registration, and hotel accommodations. Attendees covered their own meals and mileage to the conference, and upon their return, enthusiastically shared favorite Dr. Jean strategies with other Kindergarten teachers at a subsequent Grade Level Meeting. Those who attended expressed appreciation to RaeAnne for making the conference a reality and for supporting her teachers
as professionals.
With an all-state focus on Transitional Kindergarten, districts are evaluating and implementing programs to meet the needs of our youngest learners. Opportunities for collaboration between Preschool, Junior or Preppy Kindergarten, and Kindergarten must be provided. In RaeAnne’s words, “We must keep a focus on early intervention as a critical first step in keeping students at grade level and insuring their success as lifelong learners.”
RaeAnne Michael is a true cheerleader for early childhood education. As an effective instructional leader, she continually supports learning environments that insure every child’s success. She seeks opportunities that support her teaching staff through resources and training, encouraging their effectiveness in increasing student achievement. RaeAnne Michael sees the big picture in which the community of learners must ever seek to grow, to build and to fortify, in order to succeed.
Innovative Ideas Grant
CKA is offering an Innovative Ideas Grant of $150 for the development and implementation of appropriate environment, curricula or classroom project to meet the diverse needs of young children. Our mission is to facilitate quality education for all kindergarten children. We aim to advance the professionalism of early childhood educators; promote an understanding of how young children learn and develop; contribute to and promote the seamless transition from preschool to kindergarten and beyond.
Proposals will be evaluated on: Title; Goals and Objectives; Description of Project/Activities; Relevant Research and Theory; Benefit to Children; Evaluation; Project Timeline; Proposed Budget; Resume/Educational Background; Two Current Professional Letters of Reference.
The Grant Application and Guidelines are available as a download on the CKA website. Grant applications are due by October 15 and will be awarded by November 30, 2011. Grantees will be introduced at the California Kindergarten Conference on Sunday, January 15, 2012. Applicants should be current members in good standing of CKA.
Defeat of SB634 (Runner)
As school districts prepare to implement Senator Simitian’s legislation, the School Readiness bill, an attempt was made by Senator Sharon Runner (R-Antelope Valley) (SB634) to impede the
implementation of the transitional kindergarten program. If a school district’s financial status were designated by the state to be qualified or negative, districts would not be required to offer a
transitional kindergarten program. Senator Runner’s argument was that the state couldn’t afford the transitional kindergarten program. Savings of $700 million annually would occur if the transitional kindergarten were not implemented. This dollar amount represents what the state would save if young children were not admitted to a TK program.
SB 634 was defeated by the legislature. However, Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) did state that the bill could be re-introduced at a later time. The roll back of the starting age for kindergarten was
not in jeopardy but those children being affected by this rollback would not have the opportunity to attend a transitional kindergarten program and districts would stand to lose the funding for those
children. Remember that Senator Joe Simitian’s (D-Palo Alto) bill was a zero revenue bill. The children affected by the kindergarten change would have attended kindergarten. Thus, the agreement reached in the School Readiness Bill was to reinvest the funds into those children who will not attend due to the age change. It is interesting to note that Senator Sharon Runner has introduced legislation in the past to rollback the kindergarten age to insure that children were
ready for kindergarten.
JOIN CKA and become part of a network of educators who want kindergarten to be the best it can be! This year CKA members can look forward to:
- TKP Implementation
- Common Core State Standards lesson plans
- More You Tube videos
- Development of a Members Only portal on our website.Click here to join!
CKA on Facebook!
Have a comment? Want to chat about kindergarten issues? Wondering what we’ve been up to? Come join us on Facebook and connect with other CKA members!
Be sure to check out our “Tuesday Teaching Tip” every week on Facebook!
Student Drawings Needed!
Student drawings are needed for our conference brochure and art exhibit posters. You are invited to send or email camera ready photos of your students’ original drawings. All drawings must be
received by Saturday, July 16th. Please include the following:
- age and name of students
- teacher’s name
- grade level
- school
- school
- district
- personal email address
Pictures can be emailed to cka@ckanet.org or mailed to the CKA Office at 1014 Chippendale Way, Roseville, CA 95661.
Art Really Teaches, 4th Edition
The new, 140 page 4th Edition is bigger and better! The new edition includes new color photos of art projects by four-, five-, and six-year-old artists from throughout the state, tips for framing
artwork, and a project title index as well as over 400 activities to help you teach the standards in Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and Visual Art.
ART Really Teaches helps you teach academic standards the way children learn best–with hands-on art projects. It’s a must for Kindergarten teachers. The cost if $35 plus shipping and handling.
To order yours today and put it to use in your classroom, please contact the CKA office atcka@ckanet.org or 916-780-5331.
CTA’s Summer Institute
UCLA
July 31 – August 5
The focus will be planning for the transition from the California Content Standards to the Common Core Standards.
www.cta.org/conferences
(650)552-5355
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