Kindergarten Curriculum

Kindergarten Curriculum - Key Learning Areas (KLAs)

The school curriculum is split into stages; Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten), Stage 1 (Year 1 and Year 2), Stage 2 (Year 3 and Year 4) and Stage 3 (Year 5 and Year 6). The curriculum gradually increases in complexity and builds on the knowledge gained from previous stage content.

During Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten), students will be exposed to the following content:

English

By the end of Early Stage 1 students respond to a range of spoken, written and multi-modal texts from familiar contexts. They demonstrate active listening behaviours to follow simple instructions and ask relevant questions. Students mix and communicate informally with peers, teachers and known adults in informal and structured classroom settings. They communicate clearly and purposefully when engaging in pair, group and class discussions. Students demonstrate an emerging awareness of how people use spoken language for different purposes. They deliver short presentations using familiar and learned vocabulary. Students explore the way familiar spoken texts are constructed and the features of these texts.

Students develop reading, viewing and comprehension skills and strategies using context, grammar, word usage and phonics to make meaning from short, predictable printed texts on familiar topics. They interpret and provide relevant explanations of characters and main events in imaginative texts, and key ideas and visual features in short informative texts, making connections to personal experience. Students recognise, discuss and respond to the different kinds and purposes of various written, visual and digital texts from a variety of cultures. They read with some fluency and accuracy, drawing support from concepts of print and their developing sound and letter knowledge. Students explore and identify some features of texts, including the use of rhyme, letter patterns and sounds in words in written and spoken texts.

Students engage in writing with an increasing awareness of the nature, purpose and conventions of written language. They create simple texts and recreate familiar imaginative texts by drawing on personal experience and through performance, drawing and images. Students retell events and experiences for known audiences that demonstrate an awareness of the text structure, basic grammar and punctuation needed. Students begin to apply simple editing techniques to their written work. They know and use letters and sounds of the alphabet to attempt to spell known words. Students write most lower and upper case letters appropriately, using the NSW Foundation Style as appropriate. They explore the use of digital technologies to construct a variety of multimodal texts. Students become aware of how to reflect on and assess their own and others’ learning.

Mathematics

By the end of Early Stage 1, students ask questions and use known facts to explore mathematical problems and develop fluency with mathematical ideas. They use everyday language, concrete materials and informal recordings to demonstrate understanding and link mathematical ideas.

Students count to 30 and represent numbers to 20 with objects, pictures, numerals and words. They read and use ordinal numbers to at least ‘tenth’. Students use concrete materials to model addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They use the language of money and recognise the coins and notes of the Australian monetary system. Students divide objects into two equal parts and describe them as halves. They recognise, describe and continue repeating patterns of objects and drawings.

Students identify length, area, volume, capacity and mass, and compare and arrange objects according to these attributes. They manipulate, sort and represent three-dimensional objects and describe them using everyday language. Students manipulate, sort and describe representations of two-dimensional shapes, identifying circles, squares, triangles and rectangles. They connect events and the days of the week and explain the order and duration of events, telling the time on the hour. Students give and follow simple directions and describe position using appropriate language.

Students answer simple questions to collect information. They use objects to create a data display and interpret data.

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education

By the end of Early Stage 1, students identify personal characteristics and strengths, recognise how they are growing and changing and identify different parts of the body. They describe the different emotions people experience. Students practise interpersonal skills to interact positively with others. They identify people who can assist and recognise actions that help them to be resilient, healthy, safe and active. Students explore contextual factors that influence an individual’s health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity. They identify skills and strategies to stay safe and be supported. With developing self-control, students explore emotional responses and cooperate positively with others in a variety of play and group situations.

Students explore how their body responds to movement. They practise body movement and control, demonstrating different ways the body can move in relation to space, time, objects, effort and people. Students compose and sequence simple movements. They show awareness and consideration of others during play situations. Students perform fundamental movement skills and explore possible solutions to movement challenges through participation in a range of activities.

Creative Arts

Students make pictures and other artworks using the media and materials given, representing both real and imagined situations. They appreciate that artists make artworks and they begin to describe some aspects of artworks.

Students sing, play and move to a range of music. They experiment with sounds and begin to organise them into basic structures. Students listen and respond to a variety of music.

Students engage in roles through imaginative play and dramatic situations. They use movement, spaces and objects to dramatise personal experiences. They respond to different forms of dramatic experiences.

Students perform dances with some control over body movement and expression. They respond to a range of stimuli, drawing from experience and imagination, exploring the notion that dance is about moving the body to express ideas. Students watch dance performances and begin to recognise some basic components of dance.

Science

By the end of Early Stage 1, students engage in the processes of Working Scientifically, and Design and Production to make sense of the world around them. They explore their immediate surroundings and ask questions about their observations and experiences. They collect data and communicate their ideas and observations in a variety of ways. Students investigate possibilities and solutions, individually and in collaboration with others, and use the design process to develop solutions. They effectively use a range of classroom equipment and learn to work safely when using resources and materials.

Students recognise that living things have different features and basic needs which can be met. They recognise that plants and animals can be used for food, clothing and shelter. Students identify that objects are made from materials that have observable properties, and that these properties influence their design and use. They describe how objects move and observe the effects of push and pull forces. Students identify daily and seasonal changes in the environment. Students also identify familiar digital systems and follow a simple set of instructions.

History

By the end of Early Stage 1, students communicate stories of their own family heritage and the heritage of others. They identify similarities and differences between families and recognise how important family events are commemorated.

Students sequence familiar events in order and pose questions about their own and their family’s past. They identify and compare the features of objects from the past and the present. Students acquire information by direct observation, talking to others and by viewing, reading and/or listening to texts. Students relate a story about their past using a range of texts and language associated with time and change.