Kindergarten

The kindergarten art program continues with centers that offer choice and autonomy for students, allowing them to begin taking ownership over their own learning. Elements and principles of art are reinforced and reviewed from the previous year.  Within each of the centers, students are exposed to a variety of different materials and are able to compare and make decisions about which media will be the best fit for their artwork.  Students are encouraged to discuss their work with one another and offer suggestions or compliments.

The kindergarten literacy program builds a solid foundation for all future reading and writing skills. A multisensory approach is used to help children build phonemic awareness and development of letter-sound recognition. Students learn to decode and encode simple words. Students also develop sight word vocabulary as well as comprehension strategies through guided reading activities which allow teachers to expose students to text through small-group instruction and explicit, leveled practice. Students learn and apply these skills through cooperative group activities, small group instruction, and independent practice.

Handwriting skills continue to be developed systematically using the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. Students have a variety of opportunities to write at their developmental level through guided writing experiences.

Our kindergarteners explore diversity through literature, learn how to compare and contrast different versions of stories, and learn to differentiate between fiction and non-fiction. Kindergarteners learn basic research skills, becoming familiar with the library as a primary source of materials and develop their own literature preferences. The foundation for proper use of resources is reinforced extensively during their kindergarten year.

Beginning in kindergarten and continuing through fourth grade, students explore important math concepts through the Everyday Math program. Patterns, graphs, subitizing and counting (by ones, tens, fives, and twos to 100) are accompanied by the use of manipulatives and a consistent vocabulary. Concepts such as adding on, more than/less than, and basic fractions build incrementally throughout the year. Students learn to decompose numbers with the assistance of hands-on manipulatives. Skill development and practical application occur in whole group and in small group center activities.
 

 In music, kindergarten students are encouraged to sing in unison as well as individually and to recognize differences in pitch, rhythm, beat, timbre, tempo, mood, and dynamics. Expression of the beat and the playing of simple rhythm patterns using classroom percussion instruments increases the understanding of beat and rhythm. Emphasis is placed on helping each student experience the confidence and enjoyment of producing music vocally and instrumentally as well as moving and listening to many different kinds of music. Basic musical concepts are introduced using songs, speech, games, patterning, and activities designed to begin developing listening, reading and writing skills. The methodology of Carl Orff plays a major role in this program, helping each student relate to music in a natural, child-centered way. Kindergarten students perform at the Mother's Day Tea and at their Moving Up Ceremony.

In kindergarten, our students fine tune their locomotor skills by increasing the intensity of their play from that of the junior kindergarten level. Students improve hand/eye coordination through throwing and catching skills, jump rope, parachute fun, beach ball, and bean bag games. As we continue to improve coordination and fine motor control, students progress to activities such as rock climbing, gymnastics and tumbling, as well as age appropriate sports drills. While all of this sounds like a lot of fun (and it is!), we nurture the gross motor development of each child through these varying activities. Our goal as a Lower School Physical Education Department is for all students to be equipped with appropriate knowledge of varying sports and to develop a lifelong love for fitness.

The Lower School years are ones of rapid growth and development. Each new birthday brings tremendous change. Typical challenges and characteristics of children, by age and developmental stage, can be found on the School Counseling webpage along with recommended resources.

Kindergarteners are naturally curious and inquisitive with all of the science topics we study. A real goal of this year in science is to help them form predictions and then eventually conclusions based what they observe. This is done through mini units of study covering weather, seasonal changes occurring in the school’s forest, earth science, animals, and seed germinations.

Kindergarten focuses on "My School and Family" using the Social Studies Alive! curriculum. Students are active participants, experiencing social studies through innovative teaching practices that include role-playing, creative simulations, dynamic group projects, and other interactive activities. Some of the topics include: How do we get along in school? Why is it important to learn from each other? Why do schools have rules? Who works at your school? How are we good helpers at school?

The program is a marriage of the Communicative Language Approach (CLT) and the Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) approach. Both approaches encourage self-expression and communication.  Furthermore, the FLES approach emphasizes cross-curricular content and tasks at grade level.

Kindergarten students are introduced to Spanish in a friendly, hands-on, interactive way through songs, chants, choral repetitions, stories, games, and crafty activities.  They go from simple units on greetings, colors, shapes, numbers, that are reviewed throughout the year, to more complex units on fruits, foods, toys, and farm animals.  They learn to form sentences with basic verbs such as is, want, love, there is/are.  They go on imaginary trips to South America, covering three major habitats and six animals.

In Lower School, our learning design involves high engagement, structured so that students are drawn into appropriate levels of challenge. Curiosity and creativity are nurtured, along with consistent encouragement for teamwork and partner work. Students are encouraged to try new things, and to think and talk through problem-solving steps.

During the kindergarten year, students are introduced to coding, robotics, and computational thinking through the use of developmentally appropriate resources, both “plugged” and “unplugged.” They participate in a variety of hands-on maker challenges.

Technology is integrated into classroom curriculum units to promote information literacy, creative work, and critical thinking. Students also use quality learning software appropriate to their developmental level in the areas of literacy and reading, and in math and problem solving.