Here you will find some great information on what Kindergarten is all about!
Enrolling your child in Kindergarten is a great way to help your child build essential early childhood skills. Kindergarten classes are made up of a mix of both Year 1 (JK) and Year 2 (SK) students. By having mixed classes, Year 1 students are given the opportunity to learn from their older classmates, and the Year 2 students have the opportunity to be great helpers to their younger peers in a play-based setting. For a more detailed look into your child's day at school, visit the "Overview of the School Day" page.
Is your child about to enter Kindergarten? This link provides parents with valuable information about what your child will be learning in the two-year Kindergarten program at Knoxdale. Please see the link below for the Ministry of Education's Kindergarten Program Manual: https://www.ontario.ca/document/kindergarten-program-2016
“Play is the highest form of research”. -Albert Einstein
Play-based learning provides opportunities for children to develop a sense of the world around them through inquiry, exploration, interaction, and problem-solving.
Educators are there to foster and create opportunities for child-led, inquiry-based learning experiences. The children will find opportunities for such learning while exploring learning centres. The staff will accommodate the changing needs and interests of the students during their play. The educators will continue to provide open-ended opportunities to build on their interests and strengths.
If you would like to read more about play-based/inquiry-based learning in Kindergarten please see link attached below:
https://www.ontario.ca/document/kindergarten-program-2016/play-based-learning-culture-inquiry
In the Kindergarten program, the four frames (or broad areas of learning) are used to structure thinking about learning and assessment. They are designed to support the way children’s learning naturally occurs during play and inquiry, and they focus on aspects of learning that are critical to development.
The four frames are:
Belonging and Contributing
Self-Regulation and Well-Being
Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours
Problem Solving and Innovating
Students who engage in hands-on, play-based learning will experience growth in their academic outcomes, self-control, and self-regulation. Social-emotional development plays an important role in Kindergarten. This area of development involves making and sustaining new friendships, managing and expressing emotions, and exploring and engaging with the environment. Social-emotional learning can be integrated into the child's curricula and day-to-day activities. A balance between academics and social-emotional skills are critical to a child’s overall development. These skills are connected to their successes in adulthood.
Each Kindergarten class at Knoxdale has at least four educators involved. There is an English teacher, a French teacher and two Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) on each team. The teams offer a seamless day of learning, which includes the school day with the whole team, as well as the before and after school Extended Day Program run by Knoxdale ECE staff members. In order to accommodate breaks and prep time, your child will also be in contact with other Knoxdale employees, such as Lunch Monitors and Prep Teachers. Each team will work collaboratively together to plan for and implement learning opportunities (circle times, small group work, activities, etc.) for the children and to create a healthy, inviting and safe learning environment.
For more information on our Kindergarten program Click Here
At Knoxdale, students will have 50/50 exposure to both English and French languages in our Full Day Kindergarten Program. This means that they will have a French teacher teaching them half of the time and an English teacher teaching them the other half. The Early Childhood Educators help to foster the children's learning in both languages in partnership with the teachers. The same ECEs stay with the children every day, and are with the class full time. For example, the children will be taught math skills in both English and in French. Once they complete the Kindergarten program, they will move on to Early French Immersion in Grade one.
For more information on the Early French Immersion program, please Click Here