Kindergarten Curriculum
Literacy
Kindergartners spend much of the year building a solid background in the basic skills of reading. Key areas of reading instruction are incorporated into learning our balanced literacy curriculum. Students will understand not just how to read and write, but the meaning and purpose of what they are learning through phonemic awareness; systematic, explicit phonics; fluency; vocabulary and comprehension.
The daily lessons in balanced literacy include:
Kindergartners spend much of the year building a solid background in the basic skills of reading. Key areas of reading instruction are incorporated into learning our balanced literacy curriculum. Students will understand not just how to read and write, but the meaning and purpose of what they are learning through phonemic awareness; systematic, explicit phonics; fluency; vocabulary and comprehension.
The daily lessons in balanced literacy include:
- Word Work The class will work on vocabulary, phonics and decoding skills using techniques such as the Orton-Gillingham approach, Red Words and High Frequency Words from Pinnell and Fountas.
- Interactive Read Aloud The teacher reads aloud a text and pauses at planned points to ask students to turn and stalk, stop and jot, act out, or respond to a question about the text.
- Shared Reading The whole class will read on-grade level materials. Shared reading will focus on the reading process, strategies and skills.
- Reading Workshop/Independent Reading After a mini-lesson, with demonstrations and guided practice, students will self-select text at their independent reading level to practice reading strategies, develop fluency, and improve comprehension. The teacher confers with individual students to support their reading growth.
- Strategy Groups & Guided Reading Students will work in small groups with the teacher. Students will read material on their reading level focusing on the reading process, comprehension and vocabulary.
- Writing Workshop A whole group mini-lesson will provide demonstrations and guided practice about a chosen genre and/or skill. The students work independently to compose text and learn about the writing process. Teachers confer with individual students to support their writing.
- Interactive & Shared Writing Teachers and students compose text together. Teacher provides instruction and scaffolds for students throughout the writing process.
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Mathematics Investigations
Math helps children develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Just as the brain is "pre-wired" to learn and use language, it is also a part of human nature to learn and use math concepts.
Children need math experiences that incorporate their senses, require them to experiment and make observations, and allow them time to investigate a topic further. Children learn at their own rate and frequently return to former tasks and try solving them in new ways. In our kindergarten classes, mathematics curriculum is called Math Investigations. It uses a variety of manipulatives and games to enhance math skills and concepts. The instruction incorporated whole group, small group and individual learning.
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 to gain foundations 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 shapes
Social Studies
Kindergartners learn to understand themselves, their families and other families around the world using a global approach to examine change and compare how they are alike and different. They develop an awareness of all families worldwide with basic common needs and understanding of cultures through celebrations, rituals and traditions.
Kindergartners learn to understand and apply traits of good citizenship in the classroom and other social environment. They learn to follow rules and procedures and demonstrate an understanding of appropriate behavior in different environments assuming responsibility for their own actions.
Kindergartners learn to apply basic geography and economic concepts describing familiar places in the home, school and other environments. Activities are included that require division of labor and distinguish between wants and needs highlighting jobs performed in the community and explaining how money is used in the family and community.
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Science
Kindergarten science is based on hands-on, inquiry-based learning using the students’ natural curiosity.
The kindergarten goals for science include:
-Understanding the positions and motions of objects and organisms observed in the environment.
-Understanding how objects are described based on their physical properties and how they are used.
-Understanding change and observable patterns of weather that occur from day to day and throughout the year.
-Comparing characteristics of animals that make them alike and different from other animals and nonliving things.