Kindergarten Learning Tool

Kindergarten Learning ToolThe Kindergarten Communication of Learning Tool

January 19, 2017

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Beginning in January of 2017, kindergarten educator teams will be implementing a communication tool which replaces the former, junior kindergarten checklist and senior kindergarten report card. During the first year of implementation,

The Kindergarten Communication of Learning Tool will be the focus of first term parent / educator team conferences and at the end of term 2, in June 2017, a formal written version of this tool will be shared with parents/guardians.

As educator teams gather information related to your child’s achievements, they reflect on the path of his/her learning and ensure that ongoing planning supports the next best step that will stimulate new learning. Assessment and evaluation of children’s learning in kindergarten are focused on the individual child and are not based on standard levels of achievement.

As educators assess children’s learning, they must bear in mind that children enter the Kindergarten program at different stages of development and with diverse backgrounds and experiences – and that they will leave it at different stages and at different points in their growth in relation to the program expectations.

The Kindergarten Program

(2016, p. 43)

Parents/Guardians will have had an opportunity to attend a progress conference in the fall of 2016 to discuss initial observations and their child’s adjustment to school. This opportunity, along with other communications help parents understand how their child has adjusted during the new school year.

In February 2017, educator teams will invite you to attend an additional conference that will describe your child’s key learning, growth in learning and next steps in learning in relation to the four frames of the Kindergarten Program (

Belonging and Contributing, Self-Regulation and Well-Being, Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours, Problem Solving and Innovating). The Term 1 assessment and communication period is a time where educator teams consolidate the many artifacts of learning and engage in discussions with parents related to their child’s growth in learning over the previous months. Planning for Term 2 is an important part of this conversation as it includes the sharing of the educator’s planned response and next steps related to your child’s progress. These next steps may offer parents a reference into how they might support learning outside the school environment.

All Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board schools will implement a formal written record of learning for kindergarten students in June 2017.

The Kindergarten Communication of Learning will provide families with descriptions about their child’s strength and growth within The Kindergarten Program.

Thank you for your partnership as we engage and support your child during these very exciting and important early years of school. We look forward to our continued partnership as we journey forward together in this wonderful path of learning.

S. Steer
Superintendent of Well-Being, Experiential Learning and Learning Services
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board

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