Welcome Parents and Students!

Facts about your teacher

Welcome everyone! My name is Sydney Teal, and I am going to be your child’s kindergarten teacher this year.

I am from a family of four, and I see family as a number one priority.

I enjoy health and fitness. I believe that being healthy gives you a healthy mind.

Education Information I currently have a degree in

Early Childhood Education that I received from Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina.

From this degree, I am certified by the State of South Carolina to be an educator.

I have got to spend a multitude of hours in many different types of classrooms to help me to be prepared for today. 4k, 5k, 2nd, and 5th grade

Expectations in and outside the classroom

I come from a family where my parents were involved with my school. From that personal experience, I saw how important it is for the parents to be involved with their child’s schooling. Ask your child how was their day at school? Check their book bag for letters from the school Help them with their homeworkThese are some small things that show them that you care about their school, and will help them care about it as well.

Expectations continued…

Everyday I will give my expectations that I have for my students. It will be a routine that I will imply before, during, and after class.

I ask the students to give me the respect that they would want me to give to them. Also, to give their peers the respect they deserve.

At the end of the year, I expect them to have have accomplished goals that we had set at the beginning of the year.

My Philosophy of Teaching

I want my students to know that I care for them. I will strive to have a personal relationship with each student. My classroom environment will be warm and welcoming, so that each student will feel secure. Students learn best when the lessons are engaging and hands-on. This makes the learning experience concrete. One way that I make my lessons engaging, is to know what my students are interested in. I like for parents to be involved in their child’s academics. I welcome any parent who wants to volunteer in my classroom.

Classroom Management

I am a big fan of “Love and Logic”. I am not one to enforce what is being done wrong, but what is being done in the right. Never will I say “ Your child is a bad child”. I will just imply that they made a bad choice. Love and Logic in the classroom helps promote healthy and positive relationships. I want to have respectable limits in the classroom, with no anger as the result.

Rules of my Classroom

1) Learning is always going to be fun 2) Treat your teacher and classmates with

kindness3) Watch for the “Attention getter” 4) Always do your BEST, and you will succeed!

Consequences for breaking the rules:

1) Always a verbal warning first2) 5-10 minute timeout3) I will give them a “sad” talk4) Call home or a note will be sent home

Yes for Rewards

Rewards will be given out daily to students who meet a certain achievement that day. Team pass for any good behavior A visit to the surprise box Stickers for good grades or good behavior Special Privileges Star Student for the day

Teaching Strategies

Throughout this year, I want to help each child succeed in Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, Science, and Health. My goal is for each child to leave my classroom understanding each concept that I had to teach them according to the standards.

Reading

I will help each child learn all letters of the alphabet and how to pronounce each one correctly.

They will learn how to read small sentences, then eventually learn to read small books that they have created themselves.

I plan to do this with fun activities to help them stay focused and interested in each lesson.

Writing

Your child will be expected to write his or her name with all uppercase letters, then gradually learn both uppercase and lowercase letters.. They will begin to write their last names, but this will be taught more in the following year.

I will use traceable letters from writing books to help each child learn how to write letters correctly. Also activities to help them learn the difference in upper and lower case letters.

Math

Each child will learn small math skills such as addition and subtraction. They will be introduced into multiplication and division but it will be strongly enforced in the following year.

Fun games, and activities will be the way I help each child learn mathematics. I always enjoyed learning math through activities, but I will also use book work for some material as well.

Social Studies

I will help your child learn and grow in their surroundings.

I will use fun maps, videos, and trips to help them learn more about our world today and its history.

Science

Learning how the life cycle works will be one of the fun activities we will do in science. I will have a Monarch Butterfly set up in the classroom. We will watch it transform from a caterpillar to a butterfly. This is one of my all time favorite science activities. We will also learn about all different kinds of animals, their habitats, and different cycles.

Health

A healthy lifestyle is very important for adults and children. This year I will help each child understand how to live healthy lifestyles.

I will teach them how to understand the nutrition pyramid, learn how to help prevent germs, and how to keep a healthy hygiene. These are just a few examples that will be taught throughout this year.

Fun Experiences

This year I would like to take our class on a few different educational field trips.

I would like to take a trip to McLeod Farms to show the class what is required to grow healthy fresh foods. Then we would go and pick fresh strawberries to take home with us.

Another trip would be to the Aquarium or to the Zoo. This trip would allow the students to see the animals in real life, and their habitats.

Thank You For Coming I am VERY EXCITED about

being your teacher this year!