The Kindergarten Program

An effective kindergarten program is broad enough in scope to accommodate the varying ranges in rate, timing and learning development that exist in young children. These needs center upon the whole child-mentally, physically, emotionally and socially! The program for your child is planned by each teacher who knows about the ways young children learn best. These are natural ways for children to use their capacities, to grow and to learn many skills. The kindergarten program captures this natural process through planned opportunities in these areas:

Language and Literacy Development

Language development involves speaking, listening, writing and reading. Young children are excellent language learners. They have learned to communicate comfortably with others and are already very aware of written language.

During the kindergarten year, students need to experience the enjoyment of reading while they learn the foundational strategies and skills that will enable them to read independently. Students learn these enabling skills of phonemic awareness, letter names, sound-letter correspondences, decoding skills, high frequency vocabulary, and comprehension skills as they listen and respond to a variety of texts. They enjoy listening to stories, relating characters and events to their own life experiences, dramatizing stories, and responding to stories through art and writing activities. They can extend their oral language skills when given opportunities to express themselves, and they can learn how language is recorded to convey experiences and ideas as they observe their experiences and ideas being written. Kindergarten students will engage in word play, listen and respond to children's literature, and build reading and writing concepts, skills, and strategies. In our kindergarten program, children have the opportunity to:

• listen to and join in the reading of stories, songs, poems
• respond to stories through discussion, drama, art, music and movement
• develop and use lists, signs, messages
• work on projects collaboratively with other children
• dictate stories
• explore sounds, letters, words, etc.
• experiment with writing by drawing, copying, manipulating magnetic letters
• browse through self-selected books, magazines, newspapers

Mathematical and Scientific Development

The five-year old child acquires an understanding of mathematics and science through repeated experiences using concrete, manipulative material. The use of dittos and workbooks is strongly discouraged as these often result in only superficial gains which mask deficiencies of understanding. Scientific and mathematical development occurs when children have opportunities to:

• sort and classify
• count
• match
• measure
• solve problems of interest to the child
• recognize numerals
• become aware of time intervals and spatial relationships
• develop number concepts
• explore, question, observe, predict, discuss the world around him (living things, color, shape, size, texture, etc.)

Physical Development

The physical development and well-being of each child is very important to his overall growth and development. The kindergarten teacher recognizes that the young child is still developing his physical stature as well as attitudes toward good health. The program allows opportunities for each child to: develop muscular control and coordination