Kindergarten is a fun an exciting year in your child’s life.  It is a major milestone and the first year of his/her official school career.  Your child is learning many important social skills, including riding the bus, eating in a cafeteria, switching classes for specials classes, how to play with other children at recess, and how to follow the school and classroom rules.  In addition, he/she is also learning the core skills in many academic areas, including reading, math, and writing.  When your child begins kindergarten, he/she will be learning letters and by the end of the year, we are working on reading simple stories.  In math, he/she will begin learning the numbers and how to count and by the end of the year working on simple addition and subtraction.  Finally, in writing, he/she will begin the year with letter and ending the year writing his/her name and some sentences.  These are all major accomplishments. 

 Coteaching will be beneficial to all of the students in the classroom when working to reach these social and academics goals.  Coteaching is when two certified teachers are present in the classroom and they work together through the teaching process: planning, teaching, and assessing progress. Students frequently have different learning styles and preferences. Coteaching often allows those different needs to be more easily met.

 Having two teachers in the same classroom looks different depending on the activity we’re doing in class and the needs of the students. Sometimes we like to split the class into two groups with each teacher teaching one of the groups; this allows for a smaller teacher-to-student ratio and the option to adapt the lesson to meet the needs of the students in each group. Occasionally, one teacher will pull a small group or one child (for one on one instruction) aside for additional-support instruction while the other teacher works with the whole group on extension activities. This way, students receive additional help when needed or they receive meaningful extension activities led by a teacher instead of busywork to complete independently at their desk. Finally, at times, one teacher leads the group and the other teacher circulates the room to assist any students who requires assistance.  If you are interested in learning more about the different coteaching strategies available, this website offers quick summaries of each strategy: http://www.marilynfriend.com/approaches.htm.

 You got to see a sample of co-teaching on back to school night.  We broke into two groups.  Mrs. Lastauskas worked with the parents, and Mrs. Dench worked with the children.  If you have any questions or concerns, we are available via email: Melissa Dench (mdench@valleyviewsd.org) and Jamie Lastauskas (jlastauskas@valleyviewsd.org) .   You can also call us at the Elementary School at 570-489-7579.

 We are looking forward to a great school year and working with your child in this unique and beneficial environment, and we look forward to seeing his/her success both academically and socially!