The Kindergarten Program is available for children 5 to 6 years of age for five days a week, M-F, as a half-day program. The program is from 8:30 – 11:30 in the morning. The class has a maximum size of ten children with one teacher.
This program supports the 5-6 year old child’s transition into more abstract thinking while still supporting his or her need for meaningful, hands-on activities and social activity. At this level, children can explore advanced curriculum at their own pace, able to practice activities individually or within small groups. They work within a more structured environment and have assigned work in addition to free choice.
The class emphasizes math, language, social studies, and science. There is also instruction in music, art, and foreign language. The morning is divided into three segments: large group time, individual work time, and outdoor activity.
Each session begins with a large group time which includes patterning, skip counting, songs, poems, sight word practice and group lessons/readings in an area of thematic study. Students then begin a two hour work period where they choose work from individual files of weekly assignments and receive individual lessons on reading, writing, and math from the teacher. After completing their assigned work, students may choose freely from a variety of educational Montessori and enrichment activities on the shelves. The work period closes with another large group time with singing, reading aloud from a chapter book, and individual skill review followed by outdoor activity.
The Language Arts curriculum provides practice in phonics and sight words. Sight words are introduced throughout the year. Consonants and short vowel sounds are reviewed, then blended. Next, students practice long vowels made by “silent e” and double vowels. Blends, diagraphs and compound words follow. Students have many opportunities to read and write. They make books and keep journals throughout the year. As they are ready, they bring home readers they have practiced at school. They study capitalization and punctuation, alphabetizing and the function of nouns and verbs.
In Math, students work with patterning and problem solving. They review shapes and geometric solids such as trapezoid, quatrefoil, curvilinear triangle, sphere, ellipsoid, and rectangular prism and match them with written labels. They also review reading and writing numerals 0 – 9999, compare inequalities (greater than and less than), begin adding and subtracting one, two, three and four digit numbers. When they are developmentally ready, they are introduced to multiplication and division. Students learn how to read a thermometer, work with solid and liquid measurement, count money, tell time on the hour, half hour, and quarter hour, and are introduced to fractions.
Science is taught in a series of units which include experiments and projects for: States of Matter, Light and Energy, the Human Body, Classification of Animals (mammals, reptiles, insects, etc.), Biomes, Layers of the Earth, Rocks and Minerals, Magnets, Dinosaurs, Solar System, Simple Machines, and Environmental Studies.
Social Sciences are also taught in units throughout the year and include: Grace and Courtesy, Me and My Family, Colonial America, Civics, Winter Celebrations around the World, Presidents of the United States, Famous Americans, Maps and Globes, Continental Studies, and Peace Education.
The Music curriculum includes singing and learning cultural and traditional folk dances. Students learn to play a variety of rhythm instruments such as maracas, claves, tambourines, guiros, cymbals, triangles, drums, and chimes. They learn to read rhythms composed of quarter, eighth, whole and half notes and rests. They also have opportunity to play melodies on desk bells and “Boomwhacker” tubes. Children listen, move to, and tell the story of classical compositions for children such as, “Peter and the Wolf,” and “The Carnival of Animals” while learning about the Families of Instruments (woodwind, brass, string, percussion, etc.).
Art is an important part of the curriculum. Children experiment with various techniques and mediums: collage, drawing, painting, sculpting, chalk, paint, crayon resist, adhesives, oil pastels, clay, torn paper. They also learn about the elements of art: line, shape, form, space, texture, color, and value (differences in hue).
Children are exposed to Foreign Language in cultural units of study through songs and games. Children learn songs, poems and phrases in Swedish, Chinese, German, and French throughout the year. American Sign Language is introduced and basic Spanish is taught once a week.
The Physical Education program includes Adventure Aerobics, an exciting physical education program designed by a team of physical and occupational therapists to enhance the physical fitness of all children. It combines a warm-up, aerobic activity, and a cool-down with imaginative story-telling and music. Activities that build strength, flexibility, balance and coordination are offered in the form of games and team building exercises.
