Schofield School Kindergarten Learning Goals Summary For Parents
Young children develop at different rates. Children will meet these learning goals at various points in their development. We work with each child where he/she is in the continuum of social, emotional and cognitive development. Kindergarten learning goals in the Wellesley Public Schools include Common Core State Standards imbedded in a framework of social, emotional and academic goals.
Social/Emotional
In Kindergarten, we aim to foster the development of students who are able to express their feelings in appropriate ways, solve problems, participate in group activities effectively, form positive relationships with others, overcome obstacles by being persistent and resilient, and in the end, feel content and confident. We know that the social skills that children learn are skills that they will use throughout their lives and will impact their level of success and happiness in life. Therefore, we place a great deal of emphasis on this area.
Literacy
In Kindergarten, students will develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through a variety of literacy experiences. Children will be exposed to rich literature and different genres. Students will participate in whole-group, small group and partner discussions as they develop communication skills. Students will develop language skills such as being able to identify and produce rhyming words and engage in word play with letters and sounds to develop phonemic awareness that will transfer to reading and writing. Students will apply what they learn about letters, letter sounds and spelling patterns to reading and writing. Through carefully planned literacy experiences, we hope to foster competent communicators who love to read, write and learn.
Pre-Reading/Reading
Students will:
Answer questions about stories and be able to retell stories with key details.
Use illustrations to gain understanding.
Explain the terms author, illustrator and characters.
Begin to make connections between texts and other texts they know or personal experiences.
Begin to learn and understand new words through exposure to different texts.
Begin to understand how books are organized and terms that are used to describe a book’s parts (title, title page, table of contents, index, captions).
Begin to know the difference between common types of texts and their features (poetry, fiction, informational texts).
Know letter names for all uppercase and lowercase letters.
Be able to read short cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) words by blending the sounds together.
Learn to read high-frequency words.
Learn strategies to read unknown words.
Be able to follow words from left-to-right, top-to-bottom and page-to-page.
Writing
Students will:
Create pictures to share ideas or experiences.
Be able to orally share a personal experience with appropriate sequencing of events and eventually transfer that information to writing.
Be able to print many uppercase and lowercase letters.
Begin to use letters and letter sounds to write words using developmental/phonetic spelling.
Be able to write short cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) words by segmenting/”stretching out” the sounds and writing letters to represent the sounds.
Begin to write simple sentences.
Begin to use some standard spelling of high-frequency words.
Be able to name and use basic punctuation.
Begin to demonstrate an understanding of capitalization (the pronoun I and the beginning of a sentence).
Experiment with a variety of writing, including poetry, personal narratives, “how-to” (step-by-step), letters, lists, posters and opinion pieces.
Know letter sounds for all letters and apply letter sounds to writing words and sentences using developmental/phonetic spelling.
Understand that words are separated by spaces in print and begin to demonstrate that understanding.
Math
In Kindergarten, students explore a variety of math topics including counting and comparing, operations (addition and subtraction), place value, measurement, patterns, geometry and collecting and analyzing data. An important goal is to develop mathematical thinkers who are able to communicate their ideas orally, and eventually, in writing. Emphasis is placed on developing math language. Students will use many materials to experiment with and understand math concepts, while developing math skills that will enable students to calculate, compare and eventually, apply to more abstract thinking. Through carefully planned math experiences and dialogue, we hope that students will see how math connects to the real world and be effective mathematical thinkers and communicators.
Students will:
Be able to name and write numbers from 1 to 20.
Be able to count by tens and ones to 100, including counting by ones from a given number, instead of beginning at 1.
Be able to systematically count objects (by organizing them in a row or by moving them) when counting a large group of objects.
Demonstrate an understanding that a number represents a quantity by saying only one number when counting each object in a group and being able to tell how many or the total number after counting a group of objects.
Be able to compare two numbers between 1 and 10 when presented as numerals
Represent addition and subtraction with objects, finger, mental images, drawings and sounds.
Be able to solve addition and subtraction words problems within 10, by using objects or drawing and represent the problem with an equation.
Fluently add and subtract within 5.
Begin to explore place value by breaking apart numbers from 11-19 into a group of ten and ones.
Use non-standard units to measure the length and weight of objects.
Use math vocabulary to make comparisons (longer, shorter, heavier, lighter, bigger, smaller, etc.).
Be able to name and describe features of shapes (squares, circles, triangle, rectangles, hexagons, cubes, cones, cylinders and spheres).
Be able to describe relative positions using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, next to.
Science
In Kindergarten, students will explore topics from life, physical and earth sciences. They will actively engage in science experiences in which they will make and communicate observations, formulate questions and discover through experimenting. Students will make connections between what they learn and the world in which they live. Through carefully planned science experiences, we hope to foster a love and genuine interest in science.
Students will:
Use their senses to make observations.
Use descriptive language to communicate their observations and ideas to others.
Begin to communicate their observations in writing through pictures and words.
Begin to construct an argument with evidence to support a claim.
Begin to understand that things people do to live comfortably can affect the world around them. But, they can make choice that reduce their impacts on the land, water, air and other living things, for example, by reducing trash through reuse and recycling.
With guidance, conduct experiments with peers.
Begin to explore designing experiments to test an idea.
Begin to learn the value of collecting data.
(Begin to learn that different variables, impact results).
Explore the characteristics and needs of living things. (Life Science)
Explore how weather is a combination of sunlight, wind, snow or rain, and temperature in a particular region at a particular time and how people measure and describe these conditions, while looking for patterns over time. (Earth and Space Science)
Explore different types of matter and how temperature can impact matter (solids/liquids). (Physical Science)
Explore how different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls can effect the motion of an object. (Physical Science)
Use materials to design and build structures and devices. (Engineering)
Social Studies
In Kindergarten, students explore how cross-culturally and within cultures, families’ lives and homes exhibit similarities and differences due in part to the climate and geography of a place. Through literature, discussions and carefully planned activities, we hope students will gain a deeper appreciation and respect for human differences. We hope that students learn that all over the world, people possess similarities and differences with others, and understand that one of the most significant similarities is that everyone wants to be treated with kindness.
Students will:
Explore the idea that all families are unique in that they have traditions that are their own.
Explore a variety of cultural traditions related to types of food, clothing and celebrations that may be common in a particular culture.
Use maps and globes to learn about geography and be able to identify land and water on maps and globes.
Explore how in different regions, homes are built based on the available materials and the environmental challenges from which they protect people.
This document was created by Kindergarten teachers at the Schofield Elementary School. The document is meant to provide parents with an overview of Kindergarten learning goals in the Wellesley Public Schools. More information about each curriculum area and additional learning goals can be found on the Wellesley Public Schools website.