Kindergarten Curriculum

Mrs. Flahaut

 

Language Arts:

 

Reading readiness will be taught using

The Letter People, Success, Alphatales, Raz-Kids

website, Dolch Dogs videos, Sing & Spell videos, and

Building Blocks. Each week we will focus on one letter

of the alphabet. We will learn nursery rhymes, poems,

and songs that go along with the alphabet. These

programs allow the child to develop his/her highest

potential without feeling pushed or forced to learn.

Students will be encouraged to express their ideas

verbally, through written or picture forms, listening,

sharing, lots of stories, poetry, and dramatic play.

Students will:

*Distinguish Beginning Sounds

*Recall Initial Sounds

*Recognize Final Consonant Sounds

*Identify Vowels and Consonants

*Match Letter to Sound

*Phonemic Awareness - recognize rhymes, count syllables, and

  blend onsets and rimes

*Isolate Sounds in Words

*Read and Write Basic Sight Words and Color Words

*Follow Multi-Step Directions

*Read at some level

 

Literacy Centers:

During literacy centers, students will practice reading

and writing skills while the teacher works with

individual students or small guided reading groups.

 

Raz-Kids:

Raz-kids.com, allows your child to access an online

library of reading materials from any computer

connected to the Internet.  Raz-kids helps students

improve their reading skills as they listen to a book

read for modeled fluency. 

 

Shared Reading:

Shared Reading is an interactive process used with the

whole class. As the teacher reads the story, children

join in on phrases or words that they know. During

subsequent re-readings, children read more and more

of the text, until they are able to read the story

independently. Shared reading is an opportunity for the

teacher to model conventions of print and the use of

the reading strategies.

 

Take-Home Reading (Bag Books)

Beginning in January, the students will begin taking

home one book a week to read at home. This is

wonderful practice to build reading fluency and to

reinforce vocabulary words they have learned. When

they return the book to school, they will read it to me,

and I will send another book home. This is your child's

chance to "show-off" their developing reading skills.

 

Reading Strategies to use when reading:

• Look at the picture.
• Stretch it out.
• Get your mouth ready.
• Take a guess, and "moove" on.
• Hop over it!
• Look for chunks.
• Does it sound right?

 

Math:

Math: We work on many math skills during the

calendar time each morning. The math program

focuses on hands on activities through the use of

manipulatives. Math skills are acquired during the

group work, direct instruction, and games. Our math

texts are: Math P.A.L.S., Box It or Bag It, and

Math Their Way. Students will explore rote counting up

to 100, skip counting, recognizing numerals up to 30,

addition & subtraction, comparing numbers, time,

money, shapes, measurement, problem-solving, and

one-to-one correspondence

 

Religion:

Religion is a part of each day. Students will pray, listen

to bible stories, model the behavior of Jesus, and learn

about their uniqueness. We use the Blest Are We

textbook and Promise which teaches the students

about the reading in the weekly masses. Students will

attend mass on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays each

month and a few other times throughout the year.

 

Fine Motor:

Fine motor skills refer to coordinating small body parts.

(Hands & Fingers) They include reaching, grasping,

manipulating objects, drawing, coloring, cutting,

tracing, gluing, and writing using different tools like

crayons & scissors.   Working in a vertical position

helps strengthen the wrist but also provides stability

for the hand to work.  Games such as Lite Brite and

Operation also encourage this position of the hand and

wrist.

 

Additional activities to aid in proper hand development

are playing with putty or play-doh, doing lacing cards,

manipulating tweezers to pick up small objects like

erasers, pom poms, and cotton balls, and snapping

fingers.   

     

Handwriting is integrated into the entire curriculum.

Students will write in journals, work at the writing

center, and use other materials such as: play-doh, clay,

paint, whiteboards, stencils, and so much more.

 

We teach the traditional block printing, the Zaner-Bloser

method with emphasis on holding the pencil correctly,

correct size, spacing, and letter formation.  We will

work on developing the correct tripod pencil grip, the

Tripod Fingers (thumb, middle and index fingers)

working well together to control the pencil.

 

Students should be able to:  form letters correctly, use

left-to-right directionality, and capitalize first letters of

own first and last names.

 

Homework:      

Homework is to help you see what we are doing at

school, a way for you to see what your child can do,

and to get them in the habit of bringing back

homework on a specified day. It will be due on the last

day of the week. It may be turned in early. Homework

will be posted on the Immacolata website.  Students

will receive a grade for homework.

 

Writer's Workshop:

Students will participate in Writer's Workshop each day.

This is the time where they will learn what good

writers do! Students will generate a story using

pictures and words, publish, and share stories.  We will

begin with personal narratives.  The stories will include

semi-phonetic spelling and proper sentence structure.

Journals:

Students will write in a journal each morning. As

students are exposed to a variety of phonics and

reading experiences, journal entries will move from

drawings and "inventive" spelling towards more

conventional writing.

 

 

Science:            

MySci will be coming to spend a week at our school in

March. Kindergarten will be studying animals during

this time. The focus of the kindergarten science

curriculum is on developing an awareness of the world

in which we live. Through scientific inquiry, concepts

will be presented in the life and earth sciences,

including the study of plants and animals, the five

senses, general health, and the four seasons. These

will be explored utilizing an inquiry-based, hands-on

approach.

 

Social Studies: 

Kindergarten students learn to adjust and modify their

behavior in a larger group. Using Discipline with a

Purpose, students will learn five of the 15 self-discipline

skills. We will also learn about people, school, our

community, geography, American symbols, and

holidays. We will use "Let's Find Out", a periodical from

Scholastic.

 

The Fifteen Self-Discipline Skills

 

Basic Skills
Prompted Birth-K 
Internalized Grs. K-3rd
1. Listening 
2. Following Instructions
3. Questioning
4. Sharing: Time, Space, People and Things
5. Exhibiting Social skills
Constructive Skills
 
Prompted Grs. K-3rd 
Internalized Grs. 3-7
6. Cooperating with Others 
7. Understanding the Reason for Rules
8. Independently Completing a Task
9. Exhibiting Leadership
10. Communicating Effectively
Generative Skills 
Prompted Grs. K-7th
Internalized Grs. 7-12
11. Organizing: Time, Space, People, Things 
12. Resolving Mutual Problems
13. Taking the Initiative in Problem Solving
14. Distinguishing Fact From Feeling
15. Sacrificing/Serving Others

 

 

Specials:

Art is taught by Mrs. Welsh on Tuesdays.

 

Computer lab is taught by Mrs. Pardo on Mondays.

 

We visit the library on Fridays. Our librarian is

Mrs. Gallagher.

*Remember to send library books back.

 

Music is taught by Mr. Moramarco on Fridays.

 

P.E. is taught by Mr. Menke on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

*Please make sure that your child wears sneakers on

these days.  Girls will want to wear shorts under their

jumpers.  

 

Spanish is taught by Mrs. Torres on Wednesdays and

Fridays.