Mississippi Kindergarten Guidelines. Fourth Edition.

This document details regulations that govern the administration of kindergarten programs in Mississippi public school districts. The guidelines are prefaced by a list of members of the K-3 Reading Work Group, who reviewed the regulations; a list of six learning principles; and the state's kindergarten philosophy with nine accompanying goals. The first section lists the state's Kindergarten guidelines in ten areas: (1) curriculum; (2) organizational procedures; (3) physical settings for existing structures; (4) physical settings for new structures; (5) outside play area; (6) staff; (7) entrance age; (8) educational materials; (9) parent participation; and (10) assessment. Optional guidelines are then listed for physical setting for existing and new structures, outside play area, staff, educational materials, parent participation, and transportation. The final segment of the document details reading benchmarks in ten categories: (1) attends and responds to print; (2) has sense of story; (3) exhibits developmentally appropriate oral language for communication purposes; (4) recognizes uppercase and lowercase letters; (5) uses knowledge of letter-sound relationships to manipulate sounds in the written word; (6) demonstrates phonemic awareness; (7) constructs meaning when responding to print; (8) creates a written form using various materials; (9) develops listening skills; and (10) develops and expands sight vocabulary. (KK)