THE KINDERGARTEN STUDENT

Kindergartners are curious and eager to learn. Each specific task that absorbs them is part of a larger need to make sense of the world around them. They learn through acquiring information from adults and from observing what is happening around them, through observing and practicing skills of various kinds, through feelings and certain habits of mind (cooperation, curiosity, trust, etc.), and from being with others who exhibit these dispositions.

The kindergarten classroom offers children an environment that nurtures their natural curiosity and love of learning, and that expands their perceptions of the world. It provides meaningful, concrete experiences, which are fundamental to the way young children learn. Learning is encouraged through active involvement: observing, comparing, investigating, manipulating, and problem solving. The kindergarten classroom provides experiences that allow children to make choices and decisions, to question, to take risks, to make mistakes and try again (it is often as a result of mistakes that learning takes place), and to enjoy many successes.

Each child is unique, an individual with his or her own learning style and learning timetable. To accommodate individual differences, the kindergarten classroom makes a wide variety of materials and activities available. Teachers understand each child as an individual, and support and encourage each child in work and play.

Parents/guardians are encouraged to be partners in their child’s educational process. They can provide information about their child, supplement the teaching and learning experiences at home, and provide assistance in the classroom as volunteers and resource people.

GOALS OF THE KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM

One of the main goals of the kindergarten program is to encourage the growth of positive and socially responsible attitudes in children. The kindergarten program strives to help young children experience satisfying interpersonal relationships with their peers as well as with adults.

The following are other important goals of the kindergarten program:

 Children will grow in their self-esteem, cooperative skills, independence, and individual strengths.  Children will begin to develop a life-long love of learning.  Children will develop control of their own behavior with adult guidance.  Children will become increasingly self-motivated and able to resolve problems among themselves with a minimum of adult direction.  Children will gain increasing control of their large and small muscles.  Children will engage in interesting, appropriate experiences that integrate their social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development.

THE KINDERGARTEN DAY

Each kindergarten teacher strives to create a classroom environment that is stimulating as well as comfortable. The underlying structure is designed to allow flexibility and responsiveness to children’s needs and interests.

The school day is divided into several sections. On any given day, the activities in a kindergarten classroom may include the following:

MORNING MEETING signals the start of the kindergarten day and informs the children of the day’s activities.

CENTER TIME is teacher directed small group time, this includes interdisciplinary language arts and math activities which include some of the following: exploring art projects, role playing, using blocks and construction toys, solving math problems, experimenting with the computer, or engaging in experiences such as independent reading, small motor activities, science experiments, and social studies activities.

STORY TIME helps develop listening and higher-order thinking skills.

FREE PLAY allows children to socialize with teachers and each other, browse through books, or work with manipulative activities.

SNACK TIME provides opportunities for social interaction, language development, and self- expression.

LANGUAGE ARTS encourages whole class participation with songs, chants, poems, charts, lists, stories, etc.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS provides 15-20 minutes of daily teaching of rhyming, segmenting, consonant sounds, and listening skills. Later in the year the focus is on sound manipulation and phonics.

HANDWRITING allows children to develop fine motor skills while learning correct handwriting techniques (grip, posture, letter formations, etc.).

SHOW AND TELL gives children a comfortable environment for developing public speaking skills, including how to ask probing questions and make appropriate positive comments.

LUNCHTIME is a time where social skills, language development and self-expression are practiced. Children eat in the school dining room and learn the rules and routines of doing so. Children bring their lunch from home and have the opportunity to purchase milk.

RECESS encourages free choice of physical and social activities, as well as interaction among peers.

FIELD TRIPS give children hands-on, real-world experiences that cannot be duplicated in the classroom.

ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES may be school-wide and/or in class, and embellish the thematic approach to learning that is utilized in the kindergarten program. Enrichment activities may include storytellers, author visits, theatrical and musical presentations, and special artist-in- residence programs.

COMMUNICATION WITH PARENTS/GUARDIANS

Teachers communicate regularly via classroom newsletters. In addition, reports cards are sent home three times a year. Conferences will be scheduled twice during the year. Teachers are also available whenever clarification is needed about an issue involving a child’s education. While phone calls and email messages will be returned as soon as possible, parents/guardians are reminded that teaching duties and other responsibilities make instantaneous communication impossible.

SOCIAL COMPETENCY CURRICULUM: OPEN CIRCLE PROGRAM

As one component of developing a supportive and nurturing classroom environment, Pine Hill School teachers present “Open Circle” lessons twice a week for fifteen minutes throughout the school year. The Social Competency Curriculum, which was created by staff at The Stone Center, Wellesley College, is designed to develop and improve the interpersonal skills of children in order to further their social and academic growth. Research has shown that when children have strong social skills, they are able to develop better relationships and their learning is enhanced. The curriculum features three sections of lessons designed to:

 Create a cooperative classroom environment  Build self-esteem and positive relationships  Solve people problems

Our students are asked to apply the lessons they are learning, then reflect upon and share the effects of their new skills in subsequent Open Circle meetings.

PORTFOLIOS

All Pine Hill children understand and use a portfolio system in which a variety of their papers are saved and sorted through regularly. As children look back through their own work they are encouraged to reflect on their progress, to articulate what makes one paper “better” than another, and to set goals for themselves for the future. Through this model, children begin to experience ownership and take responsibility for the quality of their work. Kindergarten children are introduced to the collecting and sorting process; in subsequent grades children are asked to discriminate, reflect about, and discuss their own products.

ACADEMIC PROGRAM

LANGUAGE ARTS An important emphasis in kindergarten is on listening to acquire language comprehension and on speaking to improve expressive language. Appropriate reading activities provide an opportunities for students to observe how written language works. Teachers act as model readers, demonstrating by pointing to enlarged print material. The enlarged text allows children to look and listen for words with the same initial or ending consonants, to match like words or phrases, and to observe words that rhyme. Comprehension strategies of prediction, re-phrasing, and questioning are modeled. Children take part in group meetings, in large and small group instruction/discussion, read aloud, share news, and take part in creative dramatics and choral reading. Children are taught to listen carefully to each other and to make responses that are brief, to the point, and interesting.

Phonemic awareness is a vital skill for successful reading. Through daily phonemic awareness lessons, kindergarten students learn to listen attentively, actively, and analytically, to sounds and sequences of sounds; to discriminate and respond appropriately to sounds and sequences of sounds; to identify and predict rhyming patterns, to recognize words as a separate set of packages containing meaning; to recognize sentences as groups of words containing meaning; to recognize the order of syllables; to hear initial and final sounds; to orally segment and blend multi-syllable words; to count syllables; and to demonstrate sound/symbol relationships by generating letters for corresponding sounds in left/right sequence. Our phonemic awareness and phonics programs are based on a variety of sources including Phonemic Awareness in Young Children by Marilyn Jager Adams, et al; Sounds Abound developed at the Stern Center for Language and Learning by Orna Lenchner and Blanche Podhajski; Road to the Code by Benita A. Blachman, et al; Lively Letters Multisensory Mnemonic Letter Card Program by Nancy Alemian Telian.

In the second half of the year, kindergarten students will begin guided reading in a reading workshop model. Guided reading, which is based on the work of Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, involves small group instruction for students who read the same text. The group is often homogeneous: students read at about the same level, demonstrate similar reading skills, and share similar instructional needs. In the small group, the teacher introduces a selected text. Explicit strategies are taught for processing a variety of fiction and nonfiction text. Teachers work individually with students using benchmark books to determine and organize appropriate instructional levels for small group teaching. Students who are developmentally ready will acquire an increasing sight vocabulary of familiar words and will develop important decoding skills.

Within the reading workshop model, the students also participate in a variety of language arts activities including listening to books on tape, independent reading, and handwriting. The students listen to a large variety of fiction and nonfiction books at the classroom listening center. Early readers need practice their reading skills by rereading familiar texts independently or with partners. Students have the opportunity to choose books for independent reading from the classroom library of leveled books. Each kindergarten classroom also has a “reading buddy” relationship with an upper grade classroom which offers another opportunity for kindergartners to listen to fluent readers or practice their own reading. The basis of our handwriting program is Handwriting Without Tears.

The writing program integrates the John Collins Writing Program and the writing workshop model advocated by Lucy Calkins and her colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Program. Writing at the kindergarten level may entail drawing or dictation for some students.

In the John Collins Writing Program, there are five types of writing that serve a variety of purposes. Although each type of writing is different, they all provide the students with opportunities to “think on paper” and establish clear criteria for students so they know exactly what is expected of them. At the kindergarten level we focus on the first three types.

A Type I piece of writing involves capturing the ideas and engaging students prior to an experience. It may include recalling prior knowledge, brainstorming, predicting, making connections and thinking about learning.

A Type II piece of writing usually occurs after a learning experience. It allows a teacher to check each student’s understanding in a quick and informal manner.

A Type III piece of writing is more formal and substantial than a Type I or II. It enables students to refine the ways they present their thoughts and ideas in writing. Students are exposed to specific criteria to help them develop a successful composition. Students are asked to read all Type III pieces out loud to themselves in order to improve them.

Students will experience all of these types of writing within the writing workshop. Writing units of study will focus on different genres, including personal narrative, nonfiction, and poetry. Students will learn about the characteristics of each genre by reading and studying mentor texts. Through whole class minilessons, small group instruction, and individual conferences, students will receive explicit instruction on essential writing strategies and skills.

Kindergarten writers are encouraged to use inventive spelling (temporary non-standard spelling), to increase writing fluency, to become comfortable in sharing their writing with others, and to gain increasing confidence and pride in their own ideas and writing abilities. A common list of core words has been designated for each grade level. At the kindergarten level we call these “No-Excuse Words.” These words represent high-frequency words based upon reading and writing. The kindergartners will focus on being able to read and spell correctly this list of core words.

MATHEMATICS

Young children learn best when they are engaged in hands-on experiences with a variety of materials. They experience multiple opportunities to investigate math in a wide variety of contexts in order to construct their knowledge. Counting is an invaluable tool in unlocking math understanding. The Everyday Math Program used in kindergarten helps children to acquire the skills needed to see patterns, relationships, and connections in mathematics.

In activity centers children engage in a variety of mathematical activities as they explore common objects such as leaves and pumpkins, experiment with sand and water play, or construct with blocks. In daily experiences with the calendar, and in small group direct instruction, kindergartners will solve problems dealing with sorting, classification, numbers, patterns, measurement, ordering, estimation, graphing and numeral writing. Seeing mathematics as part of everyday life helps kindergartners become confident in their abilities to deal with concepts involving numbers and patterns.

Throughout the year students will be exposed to units about numbers and operations, patterns and functions, geometry, and measurement. Among the many mathematical skills they will acquire by the end of the year, most students will be able to orally count to 115, write numbers to 100, match items to written numbers up to 20, add and subtract up to 10 using manipulatives, and count by twos, fives, and tens.

SOCIAL STUDIES

An important goal in social studies is to help each kindergartner better understand and appreciate his or her uniqueness as well as the uniqueness of each member of the classroom. At the same time that our differences define us, our diversity enriches us all.

Another goal of the Social Studies program is to help kindergartners acquire skills that will guide them into effective decision-making and problem solving. Through an examination of the many social interactions available to us in and outside the classroom, children have the opportunity to learn cooperation and practice problem solving. (These skills are explicitly taught during the Social Competency lessons described earlier.)

Locating themselves in space, whether it is in the classroom, the school, the play areas or the community, and learning the vocabulary of location is another focus of our Social Studies. We do simple mapping and demonstrate that the globe is a representation of the planet Earth.

Other themes focus our Social Studies curriculum: Recognizing we are all special through our “All About Me” unit; American holidays; a beginning understanding of economic ideas such as the difference between needs and wants taught through our “Community Stores” unit; and learning about the culture of another country. Kenya is the country studied, and social studies concepts and skills are woven into our thematic approach to learning. This unit includes art, music, drama, literature, writing, and math.

SCIENCE

The kindergarten science program includes units in earth science, physical science, life science, an engineering/technology. Throughout the year, students develop a sense of how attributes can be used to sort and classify objects and how patterns in Science can be recognized and organized. With the help of Broadmoor Sanctuary staff and parent/guardian volunteers, the Pine Hill campus is used as a living laboratory. As with social studies, science experiences are highly integrated with the arts, with math and measurement, engineering and technology, literature and writing, and with kinesthetic activities.

Major topics taught during the year in life science include the study of leaves, in order to develop the skills of observing and recording as a scientist using the five senses; the life cycle of pumpkins, including the investigation of seeds as an introduction to heredity; and the life cycle of insects. The physical science unit includes a study of the properties of paper. In earth science, water is investigated as evidenced in the weather around us. In conjunction with their study of Kenya, students are introduced to the engineering design process and will create their own toy, game, or instrument from natural or recycled materials.

By the end of the year, students are expected to use and understand simple scientific terms and vocabulary including the following: absorb, evaporate, camouflage, symmetry, life cycle, decompose, compost, alive, not alive, once living, engineer, design, recycled and natural materials. In addition students will become familiar with the use of certain tools such as rulers, pan balances, and magnifying glasses.

SPECIALIST PROGRAMS

HEALTH

Students participate in a health class two times a month. A health tutor who is funded by the Community School Association teaches the classes. The health program is a comprehensive Health and Substance Abuse Prevention Program using The Great Body Shop curriculum from the Children's Health Market.

The overall goals of the health program are to facilitate understanding of fundamental health concepts and disease prevention. The program encourages students to build respect for and promote the health and well-being of one's self and others. The program also promotes the acceptance of personal responsibility for health enhancing behaviors and the reduction of health risks.

The topics covered in The Great Body Shop for kindergarten include: Safety, the Five Senses, Nutrition, Families, My Body, Visiting the Doctor and Dentist, Drugs and Medicines, Getting Sick, Keeping Clean, and Every Day Play.

Each topic includes a “Student Issue” from the Great Body Shop to be used as family health resource material. A monthly Parent Bulletin suggests family reading materials, helpful family websites, and additional information directed to the parents.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM

In the kindergarten physical education program, children primarily learn and practice the movement concepts of space awareness (directionality, levels, pathways), effort (speed, force), and relationships (to objects, others, and partners). Locomotor (skipping, running, etc.), non- locomotor, (twisting, balancing), and basic manipulative (tossing a ball and catching it before it bounces twice) skills are also a focus at this grade level.

Fitness and wellness concepts are also introduced to the kindergartners. Students are engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity and are introduced to activities that will help develop positive attitudes toward participation in physical activity, as they learn to recognize that physical activity is good for personal well being.

The students demonstrate responsible personal and social behavior in physical activity settings by applying, with teacher reinforcement, classroom rules and procedures and safe practices. Students know the rules for participating in the gymnasium and on the playground.

Kindergarten Physical Education Performance Standards:

 Travels in different ways (walk, skip, jog) in a large group without bumping into others or falling.  Demonstrates clear contrasts to slow and fast speeds while performing various locomotor skills.  Distinguishes between straight, curved, and zigzag pathways while traveling in various ways.  Kicks a stationary ball using a running approach without hesitating or stopping.  Sustains moderate physical activity—walk briskly for 10-15 minutes.  Identifies the physiological signs of moderate physical activity (e.g., fast heart rate, heavy breathing).  Works in a group setting without interfering with others.  Responds to teacher signals for attention.  Follows directions given to the class.  Handles equipment safely and puts it away when not in use.  Takes turns using a piece of equipment.  Transfers rules of the gym to rules of the playground.  Interacts positively with students in class regardless of differences.

COMPUTER CURRICULUM

Students are able to use technology in the classroom and in the computer lab to enhance their learning. All kindergarten classes are scheduled to visit the computer lab on a weekly basis. Computers also are an integral part of the classroom, often utilized as another component of the centers approach used in the kindergarten.

Some examples of kindergarten software used at Pine Hill include:

Type to Learn, Jr. Thinking Things Collection Kidspiration Kid Works Deluxe Bailey’s Book House Millie’s Math House Sammy’s Science House A to Zap Intellipics

Kindergarten students work on the following technology skills during the year:

1. Responsible use of technology 2. Basic skills for using hardware and software applications 3. Practice using two hands on the keyboard 4. Use of an application for basic drawing with technology 5. World Wide Web using teacher selected sites and under the direct supervision of a teacher 6. Use of the computer as a learning tool

ART CURRICULUM

The kindergarten art program is designed to provide a variety of positive artistic experiences. Students are given experiences in the exploration and use of color and with the recognition and use of lines and shapes. Students learn control of basic tools and materials. In the process they develop spatial organization and motor skills. The themes that are used in art for kindergarten generally follow the development of self and family and the recognition of seasonal changes and celebrations. Students use watercolors, tempera paints, markers, chalk, paper, yarn, “found objects,” and clay to create a variety of two and three-dimensional projects.

In support of the visual arts curriculum, parent volunteers periodically present “ArtWorks at Pine Hill”, an art appreciation lesson and hands-on activity for each class of students.

MUSIC CURRICULUM

The Philosophy of Orff Schulwerk, which is used at Pine Hill, states the following: music education shall be made available and appealing to every child. The student shall experience successful musical activities that demand total involvement, artistic discipline, creativity, sensitivity, and active listening. These activities will lead to development of skills with each of the elements of music - rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and timbre. In this approach, the development from play through the exploration of musical elements, and finally, to musical understanding, is carefully sequenced. The emphasis is on process rather than performance; on participation by all, each at his/her own level; on development of musical ideas rather than reproducing set forms. The characteristics of this approach are: laying a foundation for speech play, developing listening skills and connecting the skills to accurate pitch production, using a special group of pitched percussion instruments, and using movement to enhance concepts of rhythm.

Skills: Since each child comes to school with different experiences, the development of skills in the primary years varies widely. Children who listen to music at home and have parents/guardians who sing and play musical games with them tend to progress more rapidly than those who have no outside musical activities at all.

By the end of Kindergarten, children will have mastered the following basic skills:  Rhythm: the ability to maintain steady pulse (beat), and imitate and improvise simple rhythmic patterns.  Melody: the ability to discriminate high and low pitches, recognize melodic contour and match singing tones within the pentatonic scale.  Form: have an awareness of motive (question and answer), phrase, and two-part (AB) form.

In addition, the songs and activities for the music program are selected to correlate, as much as possible, with the themes being explored in the Kindergarten classroom. In this way, the children will begin to understand the relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts, and music in relation to history and culture. They will learn that music can be both an individual and a community experience, each with its own skills and rewards

LIBRARY CURRICULUM

The Pine Hill Library, also known as the Media Center, is designed to support all areas of the classroom curriculum. Children and faculty are encouraged to use the media center often. The library curriculum is designed to give students the skills necessary to facilitate use of the materials contained in the media center. The overall goal of the program for all Pine Hill children is to cultivate a love for books and reading. In kindergarten students learn about proper library behavior and the care of books. They are introduced to fiction and non-fiction books. Stories, finger play, bookmarks, puppets, and games are some of the activities used to help kindergarten students achieve the goals of the library program.