St.Joseph Kindergarten uses Heggerty's Phonemic Awareness Program and the University of Florida's Foundations; a phonics and phonemic awareness approach to reading. We emphasize learning to read and pronouncing words by learning the spoken value of letters from speech to print, letter combinations and syllables in a variety of settings like small and large group instruction.
Writing our Catholic Faith teaches proper letter formation with a focus on faith and the community that surrounds our wonderful school.
Sadlier by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is the core math program. Number Sense is the basis of early mathematical understanding, and is explored through hands on activities, concrete manipulatives, and math talks. Technology is integrated into the units of study.
The Eight Mathematical Principles are strongly encouraged. These include:
make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
model with mathematics.
use appropriate tools.
attend to precision.
The children participate in prayer daily during morning assembly, as well as daily prayer in the classroom. In kindergarten we teach children that Jesus is the basis for everything we do, and He loves them unconditionally. The children become aware of Jesus’ love for us, respect for all people and individual differences, and Christian values. The Christian calendar, as well as special church events, are celebrated in fun and age appropriate ways! We will begin attending mass weekly in October.
Social Studies themes make up the framework of the kindergarten program. We use themes that are relevant to the life experiences of the young child, which in turn makes learning useful and meaningful.
The natural world, the environment, plants, animals, weather and the seasons are studied through hands on discovery, observation, and experimentation.