Kindergarten
Our Kindergarten class builds on these skills by appreciating and challenging where children of this age are developmentally. Most children around 5 years old are very interested in learning, in knowing and in discovering. We take this natural interest and fuel it with open ended materials, a project based learning approach and plenty of time to explore and learn from each other and the world around us. In order to develop a strong educational foundation children must be able to experience great moments of discovery as well as longer, thoughtful times of learning. The ability to discover at their own pace and to work to the detail they need is a critical part of integrating new information into what children already know.
Curriculum Objectives
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General
- Respect for self, others and the space
- Love of learning and process
- Ability to follow directions and rules
- Respect for nature and natural world
- Ability to communicate with peers and work in large or small groups
- Ability to express self
- Ability to participate in multi-staged project
- A clear understanding of planning, researching, doing and reflecting on the learning process
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Visual Arts
- Develop critical and creative thinking skills and expression
- Integrate other areas of development into creative expression and use of color, texture and special reasoning
- Identify primary and secondary colors, understand color mixing and use of light to change color and texture
- Understand special relationships , experimenting with lines and shapes
- Recognize emotions and feelings and the ability to use different colors and mediums to express them
- Invent imagined or observed imagery to explain and understand people, places and things in the environment
- Recognize differences among people, recognize individuality in expression and creation
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Mathematics
- Develop recognition and understanding of numbers through 30
- Read and write numbers
- Count numbers in a set and recognize individual categories
- Use estimation techniques
- Recognize and compare attributes of objects.
- Display understanding of color, weight, height, width, length, texture
- Compare likeness and differences of geometric shapes
- Develop understanding of data collection, reflection and recording
- Ability to sort and classify objects
- Ability to create and understand patterns
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Social Studies
- Develop an understanding of self: compare how individuals are similar and different, how cultures are alike and different
- Recognize that all people have basic common needs
- Describe differences and similarities in people and how they are unique and valued
- Examine divers families, cultures and routines
- Exhibit skills of an active member of a group or society such as responsibility, trustworthiness, respect, thoughtfulness and caring
- Recognize and describe changes in people, places or communities over time
- Locate familiar places in a house, classroom or on a simple map
- Create maps, guides or directions of familiar places
- Explore how resources are used within a community
- Develop personal responsibility for materials, space and use of resources
- Recognize and participate in examples of how families and communities help each other to get basic needs met
- Demonstrate a basic knowledge of currency and how it is used in a community
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Language Arts
- Build reading, writing, listening, comprehension and expression skills
- Develop book and print awareness
- Demonstrate knowledge that alphabet is a sequence and has identifiable meaning and function
- Read or begin to read: recognize common words, attempt predictable texts, dictate and repeat own stories
- Make connections through written, oral and other forms of language
- Demonstrate comprehension of text that is read, written and seen
- Apply skills to create oral written and visual texts, including using description words, writing left to right, maintain a conversation, follow a coherent story line, create thoughts and stories with beginning middle and end.
- Demonstrate understanding of language: upper and lower case letters, develop skills to attempt spelling and decoding of words, begin to write letters in a predictable form
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Science
- Ability to make observations
- Demonstrate understanding of similarities and differences in animals using concepts such as growth, changes and movement
- Demonstrate how to care for animals and create appropriate habitats
- Observe and demonstrate understanding of patterns in humans and other animals including an awareness of basic needs, growth and change
- Build an understanding of weather: use of tools, observation of changing weather and awareness of weathers effects on human behavior
- Build understanding of properties of common items and develop appropriate vocabulary for describing these things such as color, size, shape and texture
- Demonstrate an ability to use science tools for measurement
- Understand the use of nonstandard and standard measurements
- Participate in the scientific process to hypothesize, test, observe, re-test and report
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Dramatic Arts
- Build an understanding of real and make believe, using self and language to act out a variety of roles
- Use improvisations to demonstrate understanding of roles and creative uses for self and others
- Develop ability to use variety of instruments and recognize music and rhythm
- Build a foundation for an understanding of music and use of music for emotions and storytelling
- Develop an understanding of integrated arts, using dance, theatre and music to express ideas and emotions
- Build a repertoire of movements in the body and a comfort with using ones body
- Work as a collaborative and as an individual to create works of art
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Physical Development
- Fine Motor Skills: using pencils, scissors and beading items
- Gross Motor Skills: skipping, hopping, jumping from one foot to the other, jumping on one foot, balancing, throwing and catching a ball
- Demonstrate comfort or beginning comfort climbing
- Build a foundation for comfort using body for fun and exercise