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 This
overview gives highlights of our kindergarten program at The Weekday
School. We're enthusiastic about providing a quality, individualized,
developmentally appropriate education for five and six year-olds. For more
detailed information visit our classrooms, look at the materials we use and
talk to the teachers about one of our favorite topics - Kindergarten!
Philosophy
We strive for our kindergarten environment to be a place where
children feel valued, respected and safe - safe to share thoughts and
ideas, to explore, create and take risks. Each kindergartner comes to us
with a unique personality, learning style and special gifts to contribute
to the class. The role of the teacher is to find the ways for each child to
be successful, to be challenged but not overwhelmed, and to grow socially,
emotionally and intellectually. Our goal is that each child develops a
comfortable sense of belonging, feeling a confidence that he or she is an
important, contributing member of the group. When our kindergartners
"graduate" we hope they go with a sense that learning is fun,
that learning is important and that school is a good place to be.
Center Time
Center time occupies a large portion of our school day. During this
time the children have the opportunity to work and play independently, with
small groups of other children and individually and collectively with the
teacher. The teacher plans and implements meaningful activities and
materials of varying levels of difficulty in the centers which provide each
child with appropriate, "hands-on" learning choices. Every day
during center time, the teacher works with individuals and small groups of
children at the "Teacher Table" on a specific language or math
skill. Our "core" centers are Computer, Art, Books, Listening,
Writing, Blocks, Math, Science, Manipulatives, and Table Games. Other
special centers are added during the year to provide opportunities for
dramatic play, holiday themes, woodworking and sand and water play.
Math
Many minutes of math happen all day long, every day, beginning with
our morning calendar time and continuing through Math center time, during
our daily routines (e.g., lining up, passing plates at lunch time) and
formal math lessons in small and large groups. Our main math curriculum is
a program from the University of Chicago, Kindergarten Everyday
Mathematics. This program emphasizes manipulative activities and lots
of verbal interaction - the way young children learn best. The following
program activities "strands" are interwoven throughout the school
year to provide a well-rounded math experience: numeration, counting,
measurement, time, geometry, functions, relations, attributes, patterns,
money, graphing, operations, calculator and problem solving.
Language Arts
 Our
Language Arts curriculum provides opportunities for children to be actively
involved in speaking, listening, reading and writing. It recognizes that
because these four vital learning areas intertwine, development in one
enhances development in another. We implement SRA Open Court's Phonemic
Awareness & Phonics series. "Phonemic awareness is the first piece
of the foundation children need in order to go on to the next step -
assigning written symbols to these sounds."
We utilize an instructional reading program from the Wright Group,
called the Sunshine Series. This is a comprehensive program using
high quality literature, both fiction and nonfiction, teaching all three
reading cue systems - meaning (does it all make sense?), structure
(does it sound right?), and visual (does it look right?). The series
provides explicit instruction in the skill and strategies necessary in
learning to read and write. Just as children learn to talk by talking, they
also read by reading and write by writing. A balanced reading program
includes a reading to children reading with children and
progresses to reading by children. Likewise, a balanced writing
program includes writing for children, with children, and by
children.
Science
Experiments and wondering "why", "what if" and
"let's find out" activities are an important part of the school
day at LLUMC Kindergarten. Specific science units vary slightly from year
to year, depending on the current interests and enthusiasms of class
members, but always focus on the following three areas: Life Science
- examples include growing seeds, examining leaves, studying insects,
learning healthy habits and nutrition, Earth Science - units might
include weather study, experiments with water or ecology discussions, or Physical
Science - topics often include studies of color and lights, properties
of heat magnets or simple machines.
Social Studies
Like science, our social studies units vary somewhat from year to
year but always focus on the kindergartner's feelings about themselves and
relationships with others - family, friends, schoolmates, and others in
their environment.
 Spanish, P.E., Library, & Music
The children have a class in conversational Spanish twice a week.
There are daily opportunities for large muscle development outside on the
playground, plus a physical education class two times per week. The
children also visit the school library once a week to learn library skills
and check out books. Music is a part of the classroom everyday, and the
children attend a thirty minute music class twice a week.
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