Our play-based, interdisciplinary curriculum is designed to nurture the whole child, supporting social, emotional, and academic growth in developmentally appropriate ways.
Three big ideas guide the learning in KG2 throughout the year:
Interactions and Relationships
Observation and Investigation
Symbolic Representation
Through these overarching concepts, students begin to explore how the world works, how they relate to others, and how they can express their ideas through symbols, stories, and numbers.
Building relationships and navigating social dynamics through morning meetings, collaborative play, and guided conversations
Exploring the natural world through observation, inquiry, and hands-on science investigations aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards
Representing thinking through drawing, building, storytelling, early writing, and mathematical models
Investigating rich literature and informational texts to develop vocabulary, comprehension, and a love for reading
Developing early literacy skills through phonological awareness, letter-sound connections, and playful exposure to print
Discovering mathematical thinking by comparing, classifying, measuring, and exploring number relationships in real-life contexts
Literacy learning in KG2 is grounded in the science of reading and designed to support students as they build strong foundations in both word recognition and language comprehension. Through a carefully structured, yet playful approach, children develop the skills and confidence they need to become joyful, capable readers and writers.
Students receive explicit, systematic phonics instruction through daily lessons that help them connect sounds to letters, decode words, and build fluency. Instruction is intentionally differentiated to meet each child where they are, recognizing that children progress at different paces.
At the same time, students are immersed in a language-rich environment filled with stories, conversations, songs, and shared texts. They build vocabulary, comprehension, and oral language skills through meaningful engagement with high-quality literature and provocations.
Writing in KG2 begins with oral storytelling and drawing, helping children represent their thinking and experiences. As the year progresses, students expand their stories with words and sentences, learning that their voices and ideas matter. Across all experiences, the goal is to nurture a love of language and to help every child see themselves as a reader and a writer.
Mathematics in KG2 is taught through playful, hands-on experiences that help children build strong number sense and reasoning skills. They are encouraged to communicate their mathematical thinking, ask questions, and solve problems collaboratively, developing the habits of flexible, confident mathematicians. Key content includes:
Counting and Cardinality
Know number names and the count sequence.
Count to tell the number of objects.
Compare numbers.
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from.
Number and Operations in Base Ten
Work with numbers 11-19 to gain foundations for place value.
Measurement and Data
Describe and compare measurable attributes.
Classify objects and count the number of objects in each category
Geometry
Identify and describe shapes.
Analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes.
Science and social studies content is deeply integrated and guided by inquiry. Students explore life cycles, weather, motion, and the needs of living things while also developing understanding of time, place, family, and community. Investigative provocations and open-ended materials encourage wonder, experimentation, and dialogue. Children begin to see themselves as capable researchers and empathetic community members.