Program Description
The Kindergarten program is specifically designed to provide a warm, safe, enriching, and educational environment that is conducive to the developmental needs of the 5-6 year-old child. Our classroom space is open, bright, and welcoming environment. The children are actively involved in lessons that foster character development, diversity awareness, community service, as well as the use of green principles and technology. Throughout the year students explore themes of family, friendship and community.
Although every year brings milestones in development, Kindergarten is a very special year for children. It is a preparatory year, from which children emerge ready to accept the adventures and challenges of formal grade school. Our program offers a solid curriculum in English language arts, math, science, and social studies that is engaging and stimulating. All learning is facilitated through hands-on activities and developmentally appropriate materials and projects. As in all grades, the curriculum is differentiated to meet the needs of each student at his or her level of readiness.
Curriculum
[wptabs style=”ui-lightness” mode=”horizontal”] [wptabtitle] English Language Arts[/wptabtitle] [wptabcontent]In Kindergarten, students learn literacy skills to support their development of reading and writing. A foundational part of the program is one-on-one individualized instruction with the teacher. This meets the needs of each child and builds upon their prior knowledge. Using the phonetic approach, students learn to decode texts and write words. Students also learn common sight words, rhyming, and story elements. Activities in these areas include:
- Secure naming and writing uppercase and lowercase letters
- Matching letters to sounds and using other methods to figure out unfamiliar words when reading and writing
- Learning and using new words
- Identifying words that rhyme
- Reading common sight words such as the, of, you, are, she, and my
- Reading for information to learn about history, the world, science and other areas
- Asking and answering questions about a story the teacher reads out loud
- Identifying characters, settings, and major events in a story
- Recognizing the person, place, thing, or idea that an illustration shows
- Participating in discussions by listening and taking turns speaking
- Using a combination of drawing, speaking, and writing to describe an event, give information about a topic, or share an opinion
- Taking part in shared reading, writing, and research projects
- Expressing thoughts and opinions, feelings, ideas and information clearly
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[wptabtitle] Science[/wptabtitle] [wptabcontent]The Science curriculum includes:- Physical: Observe properties of materials that can be observed, measured, and predicted. Compare objects on basis of characteristics. Identify and describe objects based on their materials and physical properties. Forces and interactions: pushes and pulls.
- Life: Interdependent relationships in ecosystems: animals, plants, and their environments. Similarities and differences in the appearance and behavior of plants and animals.
- Earth: Characteristics of mountains, rivers, oceans, valleys, deserts, and local land forms. Know that changes in weather and climate occur from day to day and across seasons, affecting Earth and its inhabitants. Identify resources from Earth that are used in everyday life and understand that many resources can be conserved.
- Engineering: Ask questions and define problems. Develop and use models. Plan and carry out investigations. Analyze and interpret data. Use mathematics and computational thinking. Construct explanations and design solutions. Engage in argument from evidence. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information.[/wptabcontent]
[wptabtitle] Mathematics[/wptabtitle] [wptabcontent]The Mathematic curriculum includes:- Counting and Cardinality: Know number names and the count sequence. Count to tell the number of objects. Compare numbers.
- Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from.
- Number and Operations in Base Ten: Work with numbers 11–19 and beyond as foundation for place value.
- Measurement and Data: Describe and compare measurable attributes. Classify objects and count the number of objects in categories.
- Geometry: Identify and describe shapes. Analyze, compare, create, and compose 2-D and 3-D shapes.
- Mathematical Practices: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. Model with mathematics. Use appropriate tools strategically. Attend to precision. Look for and make use of structure. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
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[wptabtitle] Social Studies[/wptabtitle] [wptabcontent]The Social Studies curriculum includes:- U.S.: Community leaders, good citizenship, value of rules, family units, significant American leaders, symbols and icons, and cultural holidays of Americans.
- World: Multicultural studies and diversity.
- Economics: Wise consumer choice, habits of saving, and occupations of local community members and historical figures.
- Geography: Continents, oceans and map awareness. Compare and contrast the locations of people, places, and environments and describe their characteristics.
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[wptabtitle] Co-Curricular Classes[/wptabtitle] [wptabcontent]Music
Spanish
Art
Woodshop
Technology/Maker Space
Physical Education (including swimming)
Library
Equestrian[/wptabcontent] [/wptabs]