Curriculum Highlights: Kindergarten

• Letter recognition (lower & upper case)
• Consonant sounds (digraphs and blends)
• Vowel sounds (short and long)
• Word analysis skills
• Nouns, verbs, pronouns
• Scrambled sentences
• Logical reasoning
• Listening skills
• Dictation
• Pre-decodable and decodable books
• Handwriting
• Junior Great Books

• Numbers, counting and classifying
• Basic geometry
• Measurement
• Estimating and comparing
• Operations
• Patterns
• Functions
• Addition/subtraction facts to 24
• Coins; adding coins
• Clocks; telling time to the hour and half-hour
• Calendars; days, weeks, months, year
• Logic/problem solving

• Self and others
• Family/extended families
• Community helpers
• Pilgrims and Native Americans
• Holidays in our country and other lands
• Rules, laws, introduction to government
• Appreciating others; tolerance of differences
• Developing a sense of culture and differences among people
• Learning to celebrate contributions made by individuals

• Safety
• The five senses
• Living and non-living
• Plants (variety, parts, life cycle)
• Animals (variety, needs, adaptations, habitats, life cycle)
• Food chains
• Water and air
• Magnets
• Rocks
• Frequent hands-on activities/labs

• Basic map skills and directions
• Location concepts
• Routes and addresses
• Map symbols, keys
• The globe
• Land forms/bodies of water
• Cardinal directions
• Introduction to the United States

• Daily P.E. class
• Fitness and conditioning
• Body control:  agility, flexibility, endurance, balance,  gross motor coordination, hand-eye coordination, spatial skills
• Movement skills, including dance
• Manipulative activities
• Game skills
• Good health habits:  hygiene, diet, safety
• Respect, cooperation, confidence

• Art class twice weekly
• Exploration of various media, materials, and techniques
• Lines, colors (primary, secondary), patterns
• Drawing and coloring: pencil, eraser, markers, oils, pastels, crayons
• Painting: tempura, watercolors
• Sculpture: playdoh, plasticene, air-drying clay
• Collage: paper, glue, scissors
• Self expression, respect, confidence
• Annual, school-wide art contest

• Listening to music, differentiating musical sounds
• Rhythm
• Choral speech
• Choral singing
• Foundations of musical literacy
• Basic interpretation
• Instruments:  tambourines, triangles, drums, etc.
•  Performance: music program twice each year

• Attendance at dramatic productions
• Speaking role in class play
• Develop acting skills
• Use of costumes and props
• Ensemble/solo singing, choreography
• Public speaking, confidence

• Listening/comprehension skills
• Pronunciation skills
• Greetings, simple expressions, simple directions
• Alphabet
• Numbers 1 – 30
• Colors
• Animals
• Family members
• Body parts
• Weather/seasons
• Holidays
• Clothing
• French culture

• Respect for and care of books
• Library organization
• Story time/read-alouds
• Fiction and non-fiction
• Genres
• Role of illustrator/author
• Oral book reporting
• Selecting/checking out books
• Book fair

• Web-connected Star Boards in each classroom
• Rolling laptop cart for classroom computer use
• Basic familiarity with computers

Several field trips per year; recent examples include:

• Petco
• The Puppet Company Playhouse
• Lisner Auditorium
• Hirshorn Sculpture Museum
• National Building Museum
• Natural History Museum
• Burke Lake Park