To attend kindergarten in South Carolina, a child must be 5 on or before September 1of the year he or she enters school.

South Carolina law requires that 5-year-olds attend public, private, or church-related kindergarten.

To enroll a child, a parent must bring the child’s state birth certificate (not a hospital certificate), proof of residency (a water or electric bill showing the parent’s name and home address within the district), the child’s Social Security card, and a South Carolina Certificate of Immunization to the school. The Certificate of Immunization may be obtained from the local health department or a physician’s office.

Parents are encouraged to attend a kindergarten orientation held at our school. Information concerning the time of this meeting will be available before school starts in August.

Schedules
A successful school experience is the shared responsibility of the child, the parents, and the school. Regular attendance is stressed. Being in class daily and on time is very important.

Excuses should be sent for all absences. Up to ten (10) parental excuses can be accepted; all other excuses should be from your child’s doctor.

Notes must be sent for any changes in transportation. Early dismissals must be handled through the office.

What Do Children Learn in Kindergarten?

It is our responsibility to offer each child a learning environment that will enable him or her to achieve his or her fullest potential in all areas of development -- social, emotional, intellectual, and physical.

We believe the kindergarten program should be one of balance. We feel that each child attending our school should have opportunities to be known and understood as a person, to learn, and to develop a love of learning.

Language Arts

By the time children enter kindergarten, they will already possess many of the skills related to language arts. More will be learned during the year.

Children learn to read at a time when their whole bodies and minds are ready for those skills. They need to develop all the skills necessary to read; but, of equal importance, we want children to develop a love of reading.

Reading and writing are extensions of oral language. Children need to talk frequently about their experiences and ideas and have opportunities for responses from peers and adults. In kindergarten, children will be encouraged to write when the time is right -- as muscles develop and become coordinated. At appropriate times, children are taught correct letter formation.

Children will also have many opportunities to develop their speaking and listening abilities in kindergarten.

Beginning reading skills will be based on the Alpha Time Reading Series (Letter People).

Kindergarten children will visit the school media center for story time and to check out books.

Children at Midway will Learn to Read and Write Through....

• Telling stories in sequence and expressing ideas with spoken words
• Hearing rhyming words, phrases, and different sounds in words
• Making books, labeling pictures, cutting, and pasting
• Dictating ideas and discovering that spoken words can be written
• Listening to stories and poems
• Dramatizing stories and experiences
• Seeing likenesses and differences in objects, shapes, and letters
• Hearing likenesses and differences in sounds
• Using manipulatives, lacing, tying, and typing
• Working with puzzles and pegboards
• Running, skipping, climbing, bouncing, and throwing balls
• Pounding and molding clay
• Following recipes during cooking activities

To children, the world centers around their immediate surroundings. In kindergarten, children will broaden their understanding of themselves, their families, their community, their country, and even people around the world.

Periodic cooking activities will reinforce health, safety skills and good nutrition.

"Skills for Growing" is used to develop important social skills.

Mathematics

Our kindergarten program emphasizes instruction in many mathematics concepts. Children can also learn numbers, shapes, and sizes through many daily activities at home -- setting the table, playing games with friends, and counting out treats for others.

Beginning math skills will be based on the Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (CSMP) series.

Children at Midway will Learn About Numbers Through....

• Recognizing shapes
• Measuring sand and water
• Counting on the calendar
• Comparing positions (behind or in front of)
• Recognizing numbers on a clock
• Using the telephone
• Comparing objects (more or less)
• Balancing and weighing objects
• Measuring and counting in cooking
• Using games and manipulatives in a math center
• Graphing

To understand the world, children must be guided to observe, think about, feel, solve problems, and ask questions. They must discover, explore, and experiment. Teachers at Midway will provide activities and materials to stimulate these scientific concepts.

In addition, the AIMS (Activities Incorporating Math and Science) Program will be used to extend concepts of graphing, comparing and measuring.

The Expressive Arts

Children have many ideas and feelings to express. They are creative when they can express them freely in their own way. The expressive arts include music, art, creative dramatics, and movement exploration. All the arts should give children a chance to develop self-awareness through expressing themselves in a way that is satisfying to them.

Physical Education

The central focus of the physical education program is helping individual children learn to use their bodies more efficiently and effectively. Gross motor activities are used to develop eye-hand and eye-foot coordination. Demonstrations of large muscle control include running, jumping, hopping, skipping, throwing, catching, drawing, painting, playdough activities, etc.

Helping Your Children With Kindergarten

Please let us suggest the following:

1. Be interested in the work your children bring home.
2. Listen to voluntary talk and ask your children for details of their day.
3. Adopt a supportive attitude toward school, teachers, and learning.
4. Encourage your children to believe they can do new and difficult things.
5. Give your children responsibilities to make them feel they are contributing to the family.
6. Go to the library with your children. Help them pick out interesting books to read.
7. Talk to your children about subjects they find interesting.
8. Set aside a special "reading time." Let your children know that you look forward to and enjoy your time together.
9. Provide counting experiences for your children.
10. Give your children a special place (box, dish pan, etc.) to keep items they must take to school each morning. This ends last minute searching for library books, important papers, homework, etc.-- all of which can cause them to be late for school.
11. School is easier when your children feel their best. A regular bedtime and a nourishing breakfast are essential
12. When sending money or a note to school, put it in a sealed envelope and write the child’s name, teacher’s name, and the purpose for which money is sent on the outside of the envelope.
13. So that your children will come home with their own jackets, caps, and gloves, label any clothing they might take off during the day. Also write their names on any "special" show and tell items brought to school.
14. Please check your child’s backpack daily for classroom papers and information as well as school-wide letters.

Kindergarten begins the first school experience for many children, opening new worlds filled with exploration, discovery, and friendship.

We at Midway Elementary School want your children both to enjoy and to learn from this special year of school. Please remember that children develop and mature differently. Some skills which are easy for one child may be more difficult for another.

Your enthusiastic support of your children’s endeavors and the school will bring many positive results. Homeroom parents and parent volunteers are a welcome part of our kindergarten day. They may be needed to do projects at home or work in the classrooms. We encourage you to participate by assisting the kindergarten teachers whenever you can.

When we all work together, we can make school, and more importantly, learning pleasant and exciting.