Kindergarten
The Kindergarten curriculum is robust and diverse, responding to the varied ways that children at this age learn and grow. Kindergarten students have a growing sense of cause and effect. They use language to problem solve. They take responsibility for their own actions. They continue to practice group skills such as waiting for a turn or sharing space, time, and resources.
Throughout the year, Kindergarteners are learning to negotiate roles in social settings. They have a growing ability to concentrate and participate in group settings, such as meeting time, and they can follow multi-step directions. They have awareness of and beginning empathy for the feelings of others. They are beginning to use their knowledge of a variety of strategies in their writing and reading. Developing confidence and independence is a major developmental task in Kindergarten.
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Kindergarten language arts recognizes that children have different levels of reading readiness, so the focus is on providing opportunities for students at every level to make predictions, sequence, summarize, and retell stories. They participate in regular small group classes that focus on phonics, decoding strategies, and comprehension skills.
Writing begins when children share experiences about their lives through drawings. Children then learn to label, use approximate spelling, edit, and publish their work. Throughout the year, they write short stories, lists, letters, poetry, and nonfiction work. Other focuses include letter formation of uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as word spacing and punctuation. Through phonics lessons and word study, students are introduced to spelling patterns and sight words.
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Kindergarten math includes counting (one-to-one correspondence is consolidated); measurement; patterns; shapes and geometry; estimation and problem solving; writing numbers; place value; and an introduction to addition and subtraction.
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Major units of study include nutrition, pond life, and polar animals. Kindergarten science focuses on an introduction to scientific tools, observation, and environmental issues in various habitats. Examples of a class inquiry include: What is the meaning of a life cycle, specifically as it relates to ladybugs and plants? What are some ways that we can care for the environment? What do living things need in order to survive?
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Kindergarten social studies continues to respond to the curiosity that students are developing about the world; it expands their focus from their families and homes to the classroom and school communities. Topics include classroom community, a “Me Study,” interpersonal skills, a “School Study,” looking ahead to becoming 1st graders, and varied multicultural studies.
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Kindergarteners engage in activities and instruction in basic movement skills designed to build a sequential foundation for more advanced physical activities. Students receive guidance in the development of social skills, emotional expression, and self-control through participation in group games.
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Music is experiential, and each child is encouraged to participate based on the premise that experiencing music precedes intellectually understanding it. The program involves movement, singing, ear-training games, and playing the rhythm and pitched instruments included in the Orff instrumentarium—both for improvisation and to learn structured accompaniments. The curriculum emphasizes the sequential development of musical skills. Students experience and explore concepts such as meter, form, dynamics, rhythmic notation, and melodic notation. The curriculum also includes drama games, creative movement, and folk dancing.
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The Kindergarten Spanish curriculum advances student’s introduction to comprehending different ways of thinking, communicating, and living in a global society. The two central units of the Kindergarten program are The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Picasso stories. Through these stories, students learn the days of the week, months of the year, fruit vocabulary, common Spanish expressions, expressing basic states and needs, shapes, colors, and parts of the face. Visual materials help them to associate words and meanings. Songs, rhymes, and videos expose children to Spanish phonetics and enhance the learning process.
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Kindergarten projects stem from nature, as we use Central Park as a source of materials for further study and development into artwork. Projects are also tied to literacy and build students’ vocabulary in artistic methods, materials, and tools. Students are exposed to various artists and artistic traditions from around the world as they gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of art and artistic processes. They become fluent in artistic practices and begin to see the connections within interdisciplinary projects.
