Kindergarten+Curriculum

Kindergarten Curriculum ** __ Religion __ ** We have combined the best activities from several different Religion Series to help our students appreciate and celebrate God’s love and goodness through scripture, music, and prayer. The program is designed to stimulate the faith development of our young children by providing them with opportunities to participate in Christian learning experiences and activities at their age level.

In addition to the units presented, each month the students will be introduced to several Saints. We will discuss how the Saints devoted their lives to God and what actions or good deeds they did.

The children will attend the Liturgy of the Word each week with the other school children during Mass. We will attend one Prayer Service a month with the other primary students. In addition, Father George will come to our classroom several times throughout the school year to talk to the children.


 * __ Phonemic Awareness __ **

Phonemic Awareness is the awareness that words are composed of sounds. Phonemic Awareness develops through a series of stages during which the children first become aware that language is made of individual words, words are made up of syllables, and that syllables are made up of sounds. Phonemic Awareness will be taught with rhyming books, poems, traditional songs, chants, stories, and small group activities. Each quarter the children will be tested on several stages of Phonemic Awareness.


 * __ Phonics __ **

The phonics program will be the main focus of kindergarten reading and writing. Students will be expected to identify and produce the correct sounds for each letter of the alphabet. Short vowel sounds will be emphasized. In addition to worksheets, Students will be challenged to phonetically sound out words in their writing journals, “kindergarten writing.”


 * __ Reading __ **

The kindergarten reading program includes a variety of big books, trade books, poetry and daily home reading. Reading activities focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, sequencing, comprehension, vocabulary, and reading strategies. I will spend a lot of time encouraging the children to listen for rhyming patterns in poems and stories. I will read to the children daily, and the children will read daily at school and at home. I will also teach the children three ways to read: 1) You can read by reading all the words. (Teachers, Parents, and some students can do this.)

2) You can “pretend read” by telling the story or memorizing a story. (Anyone can do this.)

3) You can “picture read” by looking at the pictures in a book and talking about the things you see. (Anyone can do this.)

(Reading Guidelines: The Teacher’s Guide to Building Blocks)

When the class is ready we will step into reading with our “Word Books”. Each week we will focus on five reading words and a word family. By the end of the school year all the children will be introduced to 100 sight words and 17 word families. Please refer to our class website for a complete list of the kindergarten sight words and word families.


 * __ Writing __ **

Writing is a time set aside throughout the week where the students will have the opportunity to write their own ideas in a journal. I will encourage the children to sound out words phonetically (kindergarten writing). A typical writing entry will include the date, a picture, and words that relate to the picture. As the year progresses students will be asked to write some simple pattern sentences and stories. Some of the stories will be made into books. The goal of the writing workshop is to encourage the students to think of themselves as writers.


 * __ Penmanship/Handwriting __ **

Students will learn to correctly print the capital and lowercase letters on lined, kindergarten paper. This can be difficult as many children have already formed some bad habits. I have included a copy of the correct and expected letter formations in this packet. Please practice and reinforce __correct__ technique at home.


 * __ Math __ **

Math units will be presented with a hands on approach in both large and small groups. Many of the math concepts are taught and reinforced during daily Calendar time. Examples of concepts presented throughout the year include: patterns, number awareness to 100, calendars and clocks, measurement and money, addition and subtraction concepts, shapes, greater/less than and problem solving.


 * __ Science __ **

The science units presented are based on literature and hands on activities. Kindergarten students will spend a lot of time exploring and making observations in class. The Kindergarten Units: Five Senses, Apples, Seasons, Penguins, Outer Space, Bears, and Under the Sea.


 * __ Social Studies __ **

The kindergarten Social Studies program is also based on literature. We read many books throughout the year focusing on events or famous people such as, Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, The Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving, Our Families, Community Helpers and other current events.


 * __ Encore Classes __ **

The children will attend a variety of specialty classes throughout the year (art, music, gym, computers, library). The amount of time at each special class varies. Please check our class website for the days and times of our specialty classes.

** To view the assessed skills/exit expectations for each subject area please click on the link below .**

[|K5 Curriculum]