Kindergarten Curriculum Overview

Language Arts:

· Letter Sounds/Sight Words/ Leveled Reading

· LA Units of Study: writing workshop introduction, narratives, informative and opinion writing

o Beginning/ending sounds, beginning/ending blends, vowels (short & long), word families/ sequencing/ opposites/rhyming

• Beginning spelling- phonetic/inventive moving towards accuracy when student is ready

• Flexible Reading Groups

• Reading Buddies

• Writing

o Writing workshop and informal journaling

o Word Books/ Halloween Books/ Sentence Books/Story Books/Research Report

o At-Home Reading Program

Math: Please see "Resources" tab for Bridges Curriculum.

Science Approach: Kindergarten ”Environment.” Through the study of an "Environment,” or place in our world, we study reptiles, insects, arachnids, mammals, plants, families, birds, amphibians, fish and more. Students build a classroom display to celebrate and study their unique Environment. Each year, the kindergarten Environment changes.

• During our study of the animal kingdom, our curriculum addresses the following: What makes a __________, a ___________? Ex./ What makes a bird, a bird?

Adaptions: Eating habits, instincts, hunting, & characteristics of each creature.

Habitat: We look at general habitats for animal’s adaptation, but we use our environment to deeply study a place in our world and the life there.

Science and Social Studies Units by month:

• All About Me (September)

• Reptiles (October)

• Mammals (November)

• Birds (December-January)

• Holidays Around the World (December)

• Fish (February)

• My Family (March)

• Amphibians (April)

• Insects/Arachnids (May)

Social Emotional:

• Time for children to explore/discover who they really are.

• Balance of rigorous academic study and developmentally appropriate play times.

• Focus on problem solution, not problem removal; work things out!

The Keys: BE A TCPS T-I-G-E-R!

• T- THINK (Before you speak, before you act)

• I- INTEGRITY

• G- GROWTH MINDSET

• E- EMPATHY

• R- RESPONSIBILITY

• S- STAY PRESENT

Artist Studies: (subject to change) Frida Khalo (self-portraits), Renior (impressionism), Eric Carle (painting & collage) Picasso (cubism), Dr. Suess (illustrations), O’ Keeffe (inspiration) Jan Brett (performance).

Technology: Students use Amazon tablets to practice basic keyboarding skills such as using the space bar (use your thumb!) upper lower case letters (shift key) and accuracy. These also are used during Coding class and occasionally for documenting student learning.

Cross-Age Groups: (slightly different due to COVID protocols) Cross age learning groups are an opportunity for students to have individualized, differentiated learning experiences as well as rich social interactions with their upper grade peers.