Common Essential Teachings

The Kindergarten program offers many opportunities to incorporate the Common Essential Teachings. The decision to focus on one or more of these Common Essential Teachings is guided by the needs and abilities of individual students and by the particular topic or activities. Throughout a theme, it is intended that each Common Essential Teaching will have been developed to the extent possible.

Since the Common Essential Teachings are not necessarily separate and discrete categories, it is anticipated that working toward the development of one Common Essential Learning may contribute to the development of others. For example, many of the processes, skills, understanding and abilities required for the Common Essential Teachings of Communication, Numeracy, and Critical and Creative Thinking are also needed for the development of Technological Literacy.

Activities and experiences which work toward the development of the Common Essential Teachings include:

· working with concrete materials

· real-life experiences

· observing

· questioning

· sharing

· using all five senses

· learning to make choices

· focusing on alternatives

· becoming data collectors

· drawing, mapping, graphing, charting, labeling and displaying

· developing categories, sorting, ordering and classifying

· observing good role models

· having responsibilities in the classroom

Language Arts

Speaking and Listening

Oral language skills are best learned by using language in rich, meaningful and engaging ways. Kindergartners share ideas, ask questions, tell events, and make up stories. They chant rhymes and take on voices of other characters as they play make-believe. Kindergartners also learn that they are only one of many other children in the classroom. Waiting to share and taking turns speaking are important skills to learn early in the school career.

The ability to communicate ideas and basic needs effectively helps strengthen a five-year-old’s self esteem. Children need to be encouraged to explain their thinking in their own words. As this skill is nurtured and developed, the children’s thinking processes become more logical and sophisticated.

Listening is one of the most critical ways kindergartners learn. At school, they listen to stories, songs, and rhymes the teacher reads or sings. They listen to stories that are shared in class. Listening courteously and attentively to the thoughts and ideas of others is an important skill for young children to develop. Listening also involves following directions that are given in class, both to the large group and individually.

Learning to ignore distractions and concentrate on what is being said is a skill that the very young need to develop. Like so many of the other academic areas, the ability to listen attentively helps a child to be successful later in the elementary grades. Parents can reinforce this and help their child acquire strong listening skills.

Writing and Spelling

Kindergartners are taught how to write both uppercase and lowercase letters. This is a skill that takes much practice. Many children are just developing the eye-hand coordination needed to copy letters.

Children apply what they know about letters and sounds to write their ideas, thoughts, questions, and desires. Initially this writing may consist of letters and/or shapes on the page representing writing. As the children’s phonics skills improve, their writing abilities generally follow.

In kindergarten, children are encouraged to use invented spelling (spelling phonetically,) which means they write the letters they hear in the words. As their knowledge of letters and sounds increases, their spelling approximations will get closer to the correct spelling. In my class, I model the correct spelling and provide a “print-rich” environment with words and signs for the children to use and copy.

Grammar

Grammar instruction in kindergarten is usually taught through modeling the correct language. Stories, music, poetry, and tapes help children begin to develop a good sense of grammar.

The Kindergarten program works toward the development of the Emerging Phase foundational objectives of the English Language Arts Curriculum. Kindergarten students will demonstrate emerging:

· use of oral language to bring meaning to what they observe, feel, hear or read

· ability to listen to the ideas of others in small and large group situations

· recognition that what is said can be written and read

· interest in participating in the exploration of the patterns, sounds and rhymes of the English language during listening, speaking, and shared reading and writing activities

· desire to participate in the discussion of the ideas and illustrations in a variety of resources

· awareness that various cultures, lifestyles and experiences are portrayed in literature

· awareness that print and symbols in their environments convey meaning.

Math

In kindergarten children begin to use numbers meaningfully. They have probably recited numbers and practiced counting, but in kindergarten the associate these numbers to a collection of objects. Beginning number concepts are important and children are generally asked to count and make sets of objects up to 30. They also learn to write each numeral.

Later in the school year, kindergartners use the collections to explore simple addition and subtractions. Much time is given to developing the problem solving skills of the children; this is achieved by offering many informal opportunities to help the teacher solve issues that may arise during each school day.

The kindergarten day begins with a variety of calendar activities. In kindergarten we count the days in school and note today’s date on the calendar. Because of this, kindergartners usually recognize the numbers up to 31 and can read and write these numbers comfortably.

Kindergartners learn the basic shapes of circle, square, triangle, rectangle, and oval and look for these shapes all around. They sort and classify objects by shape, size, and color. The children are often asked to explain their reasoning for grouping a number of objects together. This helps them develop sophisticated logic and reasoning as well as beginning language skills. They compare groups of objects using words like more, less, few, and many.

Kindergartners are introduces to several measuring concepts. They may be asked to predict which container will hold more or less. They learn to estimate and measure length. The children work with clocks and begin to understand how to tell the time to the hour. Coins and their values is another fun topic kindergartners explore. Children recognize and learn the value of a penny, nickel, and dime. The also learn to recognize a quarter as the next coin.

The goal of the kindergarten math program is to help the children feel comfortable and familiar with beginning math language and not to drill facts. Through a variety of fun activities they explore, experience and learn math. Some of the topics covered in our math program include but are not limited to counting fun, writing numbers, reading numbers, pattern fun, looking at coins, measurement, and time.

The Kindergarten program can work toward the development of the following objectives which are foundational to mathematics. Mathematical activities and experiences should contribute to the development of each child's:

· confidence, desire and ability to solve a variety of mathematically related problems

· knowledge and understanding of how to collect, organize and interpret numerical data

· understanding of numbers, number patterns, counting and estimation

· sense of spatial awareness through active involvement in working with two-and three-dimensional shapes

· understanding of the basic concepts of measurement.

Religion

The kindergarten classroom is its own mini-community. The religious education program is integrated into every aspect of our curriculum and school life at St. Clare School.

The scope and sequence of Blest Are We, Kindergarten has been developed to provide kindergarten children with a readiness for future catechesis. The Blest Are We, Kindergarten child's book is divided into four units and contains twenty-four chapters. Nineteen chapters focus on core teachings of the Catholic Church that are foundational to Catholic life. Five chapters are devoted entirely to presenting five Bible stories. Finally there are ten lessons that engage the children in the celebration of the seasons and special days of the Church year. Blest Are We, Kindergarten is based upon the four parts of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The key teachings of the Catechism have been appropriately woven into the four units of Blest Are We, Kindergarten to meet the unique learning and faith development needs of kindergarten children.

Science

Young children have a natural curiosity about the world around them. Their curiosity and bubbling enthusiasm are nurtured when they are encouraged to observe, explore, organize, predict, and problem solve in a variety of ways that are meaningful to them.

Kindergartners learn concrete science concepts by doing and discussing, not by being told. Growing plants from seeds, making and playing with simple models, researching self directed studies and experimenting with common household materials all help children to begin to develop these early science concepts.

Kindergartners talk with a partner, a group, the class, or the teacher about what they are seeing and doing. I will sometimes record the children’s observation and ideas on a class chart. Many times this data is organized and presented on a graph. Children also record their observations and prediction on papers, whiteboards, or in the discovery journals. Their data may be in the form of pictures, words, or sentences depending on the time of year and the child’s development.

Science instruction in kindergarten is generally organized around a theme, or big idea, that the children consider in a variety of ways. The factors of scientific literacy can be developed through materials and activities at the block building center, sand and water center, imaginative play center, exploration center, quiet-time relaxation center, or through other centers, experiences or projects. Centers, activities or projects devoted to science are not a critical component of a Kindergarten classroom. The learning that students acquire through various concrete experiences is what is important.

The guidelines that outline an appropriate Kindergarten curriculum also apply to an appropriate science curriculum. The foundation for acquiring an understanding of science concepts is established through hands-on, experiential play with concrete materials. Children will gain a basis for constructing an understanding of their surroundings through discussion of their observations and reflection upon the meanings of their experiences. Such an understanding is the essence of science, and the ability to see how science is intertwined in all aspects of life is the basis of scientific literacy. Science activities are supported in the classroom by asking `why', `what', and `how' questions such as:

· "Why do you think that...?"

· "What do you mean by...?"

· "How could you test that idea?"

· "What might be another way to...?"

· "Can you show me how?"

· "What do you notice when...?"

Activities that may be thought of as science activities can prove to be sources and stimuli for activities in other areas of study. For example, children get a chance to practice their speaking and listening abilities when they discuss their observations with both peers and adults, and create predictions and hypotheses to test.

Social Studies

The kindergarten classroom is its own mini-community. “Citizens” must learn to share and take turns. The children discuss problems that arise in the classroom and begin to consider a variety of possible solutions. They develop strategies other than tears or hitting to solve problems. Much of what happens in kindergarten is related to social studies because it helps young children learn to understand and function in their personal world, as well as in the greater world. Many of these teachings will be visited again and again in a variety of ways, not only at school but also at home, as well as in the world at large.

Kindergartners begin to expand their world beyond their own families as they learn about their school and neighborhood community. The look for buildings found in the community and learn about the different jobs people do. The children begin to identify the tools used by different community workers. They also talk about how communities change over time.

As the children learn about how people live together, they discover the diversity of the world. Kindergartners are encouraged to recognize and appreciate the gifts and talents that make people unique. They enjoy learning about major holidays and the different ways people celebrate them.

Introductory history lessons help the children reach out to times past. Kindergartners learn history concepts by doing things, not by memorizing dates. They may sing a song from colonial times or cook a dish that the pioneers or pilgrims might have eaten.

Beginning geography lessons help kindergartners broaden and extend their world as well as learn where on Earth they live. Children create maps of their classroom, school and neighborhood.