Elementary School Curriculum: Kindergarten
Fine Arts
The Kindergarten art class is an introduction to making art. Students
are given a theme in the form of a short story and create original work
based on that theme. They are encouraged to experiment with new media,
techniques and tools.
- Crayon - line and shape
- Paint - primary and secondary colors
- Collage - basic two dimensional shapes
- Ethnic Art - cultural diversity
Language Arts
In kindergarten our students begin to read and write. They develop
a basic understanding of sounds associated with both vowels and consonants,
and blend phonemes into words, which they use in creating stories about
people, experiences, and events. They continue to expand their vocabulary,
and use speaking and listening skills to communicate effectively. Our
language arts program is supported by the Houghton Mifflin curriculum,
which includes three basal reading books and a spelling program. Kindergarteners
are exposed to a wide variety of quality children's literature. Teachers
read to the children daily, and a storyteller comes in each week. Classroom
libraries, as well as our school library program, provide additional experiences
with books and print. In language arts our kindergarteners:
- Develop decoding skills based on phonetic patterns
- Develop sight-word vocabulary of fifty to sixty words
- Listen to, read, and comprehend age-appropriate books and stories
- Learn to spell a core of words based on phonetic patterns
- Engage in developmentally appropriate experiences in language development
- Organize thoughts for writing, and create and illustrate stories
- Listen respectfully and take turns when speaking and listening
- Participate in age-appropriate computer activities
Math
As we begin to lay a solid foundation for math skills and concepts, our
kindergarteners engage in a formal course of mathematical study. We work
in small groups, using the Harcourt curriculum. Through hands-on activities
and a wide variety of manipulatives, kindergarteners start to make the
transition from concrete to abstract concepts in mathematics by solving
age-appropriate problems. Through activities, games, and pencil and paper
exercises, kindergarteners explore graphing, addition and subtraction
to 12, place value with tens and ones, simple concepts of telling time
and recognizing coins. These are some of the concepts and skills that
our kindergarteners work on in math:
- Recognize, recite, and write numbers to one hundred
- Skip count by 5s and 10s
- Identify penny, nickel, and dime by name and value
- Solve addition and subtraction problems with sums up to 12
- Understand place value using tens and ones
- Tell time to the half hour
- Identify plane shapes and build sequences and patterns
- Measure, estimate, and compare objects by size and number
- Analyze simple data to create bar graph
Music
The Kindermusik Music Box Curriculum is taught at this age level. The
program focuses on discovery and exploration. Play activities are integrated
with music, vocal development, storytelling, and movement to capture each
child's potential to learn and to encourage his/her cognitive and literacy
skills, creativity and individuality.
- Moving with a partner in Duple and Triple Meter
- Experience with Folk Lore music
- Exploring Music of Another culture
Physical Education
This course introduces students to basic movement skills (locomotive and
non-locomotive). They have an opportunity to explore general movement
concepts, numbers, shapes, colors, and rhythmic activities.
- Jump ropes, hoops
- Bean bags, balls and shapes
- Running, jumping, hopping, skipping, sliding, galloping, and leaping
- Working with partners
- Sharing equipment and play space with fellow students
Science
A large part of our kindergarten science program involves using the five
senses to explore our surroundings. We also spend much of the year learning
about animals, and have three field trips to give real life experiences
with them: Green Meadows Farm in the fall, the Los Angeles Zoo in the
early spring, and a year-end on-campus visit from the Blue Submarine,
which is a hands-on presentation with live tidepool animals. Every other
year we enjoy the surroundings of a forest environment on a family experiential-learning
trip to our Cedar Lake site in the San Bernardino Mountains. In science,
kindergarteners:
- Name, describe and classify familiar farm, zoo, and ocean animals
- Plant seeds and help maintain plants in the classroom and in our school garden.
- Describe the properties of common objects with vocabulary of five senses ("it smells like, it sounds like")
- Learn simple steps in maintaining a healthy body, including cleanliness and nutrition
- Observe and discover interesting facts about animals, including
identifying body structure of insects (wings, antennae, number of legs)
Social Studies
Kindergartners gain an awareness of themselves, their family members,
and their classroom environment. They develop respect for people at school,
including teachers and their classmates, and learn that rules such as
listening respectfully to others and waiting one's turn help people work
in a group. Our students develop historical empathy for how people lived
and worked long ago, and enthusiastically celebrate holidays, both traditional
ones and those reflecting cultures represented in our diverse community.
Thanksgiving, for example, is a time at Pilgrim where our younger students
begin to learn about events in America's past, and enjoy making costumes
for a feast with their classmates and parents. Our Chapel program supports
and encourages values of good citizenship and helps develop character
in our students. These are a few of the things that kindergarteners do
in the area of social studies:
- Develop friendships and relationships with others.
- Learn about and celebrate traditional holidays and special days in other cultures
- Learn about jobs that people do in the community
- Show characteristics of good citizenship and character
- Learn how people lived in earlier times
- Participate in community service and recycling projects
Spanish
Our kindergarten Spanish program is based on an oral language approach.
Students begin by learning the Spanish vowels sounds, numbers one through
ten and the eight basic colors. By the end of the school year, students
are able to tell their name, gender and age. We use puppets when speaking
with the students and use many visual aids for colors and numbers.
- Vowels
- Numbers 1-10
- Colors
- Basic Greetings
- Speaking
- Name
- Age
- Gender
Storytelling
Kindergarten students have weekly sessions with the storyteller. Students
progress from passive listening to active reading. Stories selected promote
a common cultural literacy, enrich the imagination, and reflect the ethnic
diversity of our student body. Stories focus on traditional fairy tales,
seasonal topics and holidays, and a thematic unit on bears.
