Kindergarten

Ms. Renée Haire

Email: renee.haire@apsva.us

Instructional Assistant:  Michael Hope

Renée Haire teaches kindergarten and has been at Randolph Elementary since the fall of 2020.  She has taught kindergarten and preschool students in North Carolina and Virginia for several years.  She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.  Her four children attended Randolph.  Renée enjoys reading, cooking, gardening, traveling, and spending time with her friends, family, and new grandson.

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Dr. David Siu

Email: David.Siu@apsva.us

Instructional Assistant:  Maria Perez 

David Siu teaches kindergarten and serves as Randolph’s instructional lead teacher. He started working at Randolph in 2009. Prior to coming to Randolph, David taught in District of Columbia Public Schools as well as Harvard University. He did his undergraduate work at Oberlin College and graduate work at Harvard and American University. David enjoys exercising, reading and spending time with his family.

Ms. Lydia Helgesen

Email: lydia.helgesen@apsva.us

Instructional Assistant:  Marcela Ranz

Lydia Helgesen teaches kindergarten and has been at Randolph Elementary since the fall of 2022.  She began teaching in 2007 and has taught kindergarten and first grade in public, charter, and private schools in DC and Maryland.  Lydia did her undergraduate work at The American University and graduate work at George Mason University and the University of Virginia.  In her spare time, Lydia enjoys reading, swimming, traveling, and visiting the many parks of northern Virginia with her husband and two children.

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In Kindergarten,  students focus on oral language development through interactive read aloud, content knowledge building, morning meeting and play.  Phonological awareness skills and phonics are taught daily to help students acquire foundational literacy skills necessary for beginning reading.  General content knowledge and vocabulary are developed through thematic units using  the Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts resource. Beginning writing skills are included as part of phonics and Amplify CKLA.  Letter formation is also emphasized in Kindergarten.  Small groups both extend and reinforce necessary skills for all students.

In mathematics, Kindergarten students begin to develop important foundational numeracy skills.  They build these skills  through repeated practice with counting objects and by learning how to represent, read, and write numbers through 20.  Students develop a sense of 5 and 10 and build fluency of relationships within 10.  Students at this age model and solve story problems through 10 using both addition and subtraction.  Children also explore concepts such as geometry as they learn attributes of shapes and patterns using their bodies and objects in the classroom.  We want students to see the beauty and wonder of numbers and recognize that math is all around us!

The PYP trans-disciplinary framework offers kindergartners  authentic opportunities to focus on key developmental abilities. Teachers create learning experiences and environments that meet the needs of our youngest learners.  Play is a central focus of this approach that allows children to develop language, knowledge and the approaches to learning.