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Kindergarten
Kindergarten has year-long theme of "Self" and focuses on the concepts of Pattern and Discovery. We nurture, stimulate, and encourage growth in all areas of a child's development--intellectual, physical, emotional, social, aesthetic, and cognitive--and find pleasure in facilitating their desire to become a successful learner. This is an especially exciting time in school because it is when teachers have the opportunity to introduce students to a lifelong love of learning. At The School, we lay the important groundwork for the acquisition of knowledge and skills--a foundation that will serve children well as they become comfortable and confident with learning new things.
Literacy
Jen Dare, Vanessa D’Egidio, Shnieka Johnson, Amy Liebov, Cynthia Muir, Lauren Pemberton, Marla Powell, and Joyce Tsang with Bonnie Greenwald
Starting with our youngest readers and writers, literacy goals and objectives are divided into four strands: reading, writing, word study, and communication. Each piece of the curriculum touches on aspects of these four strands. A comprehensive literacy program is used and includes many strategies and materials addressing various interests and needs. Teachers identify individual learning styles through a variety of classroom methods, including whole group, small group, and one-on-one instruction. Teachers set the stage for children to take learning risks by honoring their self-expression and individual developmental levels. They create supportive and comfortable environments where children are encouraged to grow their skills at a comfortable pace. In the first semester, the entire kindergarten curriculum centers on the exploration of pattern, an approach which the students use to develop their emergent literacy skills — exploring patterns in the appearance and sound of words and letters, and analyzing thematic and structural patterns encountered in literature. Concurrently, they begin identifying letters and words; representing their ideas through pictures, letters or words; and making predictions about a text as they read.
In the second semester, the students’ learning revolves around the general concept of discovery. Thus in literacy the students record and discuss the discoveries they make as they start reading and writing more broadly, exploring the connections between a variety of literary genres and their own experiences. They read developmentally appropriate books, using their growing phonetic knowledge to record their thoughts and ideas.
Math
Jen Dare, Vanessa D’Egidio, Shnieka Johnson, Amy Liebov, Cynthia Muir, Lauren Pemberton, Marla Powell, and Joyce Tsang with Nancy Wong
In Kindergarten, children begin stretching their mathematical minds. In the fall, they start by confronting the key question, “What is number?” With the first semester learning centered on the concept of pattern, they identify patterns in number and number relationships. The students explore these patterns through counting and sorting, sequencing and ordering, and data collection and graphing, and in the process arrive at a growing understanding of quantity.
In the second semester, the children extend their exploration to include geometry and measurement while building on their expertise in counting and number recognition. Guided by the over-all concept of discovery, the students investigate the tools for mathematical thinking, from unifix cubes and pattern blocks to paper clips and popsicle sticks, a lively process that provides many opportunities for them to communicate and share their discoveries and their conclusions as they build a class-wide foundation of mathematical knowledge. Our approach to numeracy, the understanding and use of symbolic systems based on number, embodies the idea that students learn best by doing, and that "doing" is most meaningful when in the context of solving real problems as encountered in diverse fields. Problem-solving means engaging in a task for which the solution method is not known in advance. To find a solution, students must draw on their knowledge, and through this process, they will often develop new mathematical understandings.
Dance
Kathleen Hill
Kindergartners immerse themselves in the discovery of dance. Grounded in the theme of “My Self,” students learn all about themselves as safe and creative movers. Students are introduced to basic movement skills such as freeze, levels, and directions and they learn to be safe and careful with personal and relational space, whether being still or traveling. During the unit on “Pattern,” students practice recognizing, repeating, and creating patterns in shapes and movement phrases. While studying “Discovery,” students are inspired by a variety of dance activities drawing upon nature, storybook, and cultural themes, and create their own movement improvisations as a means of personal expression and communication. Students practice and perform simple choreographies to music and song. In the process they learn to connect the joy and importance of their own thoughts and movements to those of the world around them.
Music
David Gordon
Young children are innately musical, so the study of music gives kindergartners a natural and compelling way to learn. To explore the concept of pattern in the first semester, they perform musical patterns with their feet, their bodies, and their voices, as well as on simple instruments introduced in class. As a result, they develop an understanding of rhythm, tempo, melody and form.
In the second semester, the children focus on discovering the further nuances of key musical concepts and methods — dynamics: loud and soft; tempo: fast and slow; melody: singing and pitch matching; rhythm: steady beat and rhythm patterns; movement: rhythmic and melodic interpretation; improvisation: through stories and songs; instrument technique: pitched and un-pitched percussion; and ensemble work: class participation and group work.
Science
Lisbeth Uribe
The School philosophy of science education is grounded in “doing” science by asking relevant questions, making observations, manipulating materials, and conducting student-designed experiments. Students learn to record what they discover using numbers, drawings, and writing. They search for patterns to make sense of what they learn. Practicing this method enables children to solve problems creatively. Through hands-on investigation and exploration, young scientists learn the content information of science by engaging in the process scientists use to make discoveries. In Kindergarten children learn how to learn as scientists. Focusing in the first semester on identifying patterns, they are encouraged to use the methods of scientific thinking with initial evidence-gathering by means of their senses, but they soon augment this approach by using tools that can extend the senses. Children are introduced to the magnifying lens, graduated cylinder, thermometer, and other tools.
Reflecting their second semester’s exploration of the concept of discovery, the children encounter animals, investigating what it means to be alive and putting living things in categories. They focus on a different class of animals each week, including mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish, learning how to observe closely and also to care for the creatures in the discovery room.
Social Emotional
Jen Dare, Vanessa D’Egidio, Shnieka Johnson, Amy Liebov, Cynthia Muir, Lauren Pemberton, Marla Powell, and Joyce Tsang with Dr. Elizabeth Marek
A key feature of the child’s experience in the primary division is the development of the social being within a learning community. Strongly emphasized in kindergarten and gradually cultivated over the following years are: responsibility and accountability for one’s behaviors, words, and choices; and an understanding of the implications of one's actions on oneself and others as applied to academic and social situations. As a student’s growing maturation in the primary division prepares her/him for school years that remain, social-emotional learning is considered an integral part of the program.
In Kindergarten, social emotional learning skills and objectives are first woven into the children’s study of pattern. Students learn to recognize patterns in their daily routines, their interactions with others, and their own emotional responses. They also master specific SEL skills, including recognizing and naming their own feelings and the feelings of others, and employing self-calming techniques when they become upset.
By the second semester, when the children’s friendships have deepened, they learn how to start resolving conflicts independently, using words to express their feelings while listening to the needs of their friends.
Social Studies
Jen Dare, Vanessa D’Egidio, Shnieka Johnson, Amy Liebov, Cynthia Muir, Lauren Pemberton, Marla Powell, and Joyce Tsang
Kindergarten students examine and interpret the self in relation to oneself and others. Students look inward and outward, examining the roles they play and the responsibilities that come with those roles, as well as social rules and expectations within a school. Children gather information through sensory experiences and begin to communicate their understanding through auditory, oral, visual, and written responses. Research, investigation, and exploration in kindergarten is experiential. All teachers in kindergarten connect their studies to the theme Self and the concepts pattern and discovery in order to develop a deeper self awareness in students.
Spanish
David Rosas
Languages are acquired most easily by the young, so Spanish is a key part of the kindergarten curriculum. Students learn basic phrases and expressions in Spanish, and practice this new vocabulary through a variety of activities ranging from the artistic to the musical to the kinesthetic. They explore colors and create color patterns, and they pair their new color vocabulary with corresponding movements. Using their senses of smell and taste, students sample a variety of foods, learning to communicate their likes, dislikes and favorites in Spanish. Finally, they also name and identify parts of the body in the process of creating life-sized representations of themselves labeled in Spanish. In the springtime, their Spanish study is directed towards nature, as the children learn the names of different animals and the environments they inhabit.
Technology
Gina Marcel
Technology in kindergarten respects the physical, developmental and cognitive levels of our youngest learners at The School. In kindergarten, students are exposed to technology in meaningful ways. Understanding that fine motor skills are still developing, computers are introduced as tools to support the growth that is taking place. Simple tasks, like moving the mouse and dragging and clicking, are practiced. The students draw shapes with the mouse and drag items to identify and create patterns. Bee-bot and Roamer, turtle robots designed for young learners, are introduced as a starting point for teaching programming.
Visual Art
Yoshiko Maruiwa
All children are born artists, and the study of art is for kindergartners a joyful process of discovery and self-expression. In the first semester, they expand their understanding of pattern by exploring the patterns of lines, colors, shapes, and textures through drawing, painting, collage, and clay beading. In the process they develop basic artistic skills, art studio routines and appropriate behavior in a collaborative space.
In the second semester, the students investigate more ways of making art using paper, clay, fabric, and recycle materials. These efforts culminate in larger projects, from the creation of pots to the making of a group tapestry. Towards the end of the school year, the children build on their first-hand knowledge and experience of art to study the work of important artists, discovering how to express themselves in diverse media.
Wellness
Doug LeBlanc, Sophie Hy, and Laura Walrath
In kindergarten, children start taking control and responsibility for their bodies while expanding their physical capabilities. They learn about personal space and how to maintain it, while also identifying and practicing the eight basic locomotor skills (walk, run, hop, jump, skip, gallop, side-slide, and leap) as well as basic ball handling skills. They are introduced to healthy habits like balanced eating and dental hygiene. The students also connect their classroom learning to the fun of physical play — for example by making their ABCs and their 123s with their bodies.
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