Kindergarten
Endless discoveries
In Kindergarten, we pack an immense amount of learning, fun, adventure, and creative expression into each school day! We build critical foundational skills in social-emotional learning, art, math, literacy, science, and social/cultural studies.
Through engaging daily routines, playful inquiry, open-ended exploration, thematic study units, excursions in nature, and artistic endeavors, we make learning in Kindergarten a journey of wonder, discovery, and growth.
Literacy: Kindergarten
Kindergarten literacy is an adventure into the world of words! Our young learners dive into captivating books, learn to communicate their ideas and stories, and enjoy interactive activities that spark their imaginations. Through engaging read-alouds, playful storytelling, dramatic play, exciting thematic study units, art projects, and hands-on activities, they build a strong foundation in reading and writing.
Our goal is to plant seeds for creative, passionate, life-long literacy and meet each child at their developmental level. In Kindergarten, students work on foundational reading and writing skills like:
Phonemic Awareness (sounds in words)
Phonological awareness (rhyming, syllables, etc),
Phonics (knowledge of how letters or groups of letters represent sound in speech)
Building vocabulary skills
Storytelling
Oral language and presentation skills
Fine motor skills
Some examples of Literacy activities and thematic units in Kindergarten include:
A study unit for phonological awareness: We read a series of rhyming books. Then students create their own rhymes and we publish a picture book with a playful story.
Art projects in both the K classroom and dedicated time in the art room to build and assess the fine motor skills necessary for handwriting.
Receiving and sending letters to the class pet.
Dramatic play time to build storytelling skills and vocabulary.
Using pictures and words to tell stories, working on writing skills.
Becoming an expert on a topic and presenting “Great Brains” project to fellow K-2 students, building research skills, learning how to present and organize information, and practicing speaking skills.
Math: Kindergarten
Math is everywhere and our kindergarteners learn to discover its magic! Through integrated projects, hands-on activities, fun games, and playful exploration, they fall in love with math every day.
Kindergarteners practice math skills like number sense and fluency, grouping and sorting items and quantities, identifying and creating shapes, measuring length, spatial sense, and data collection, adding and subtracting, and money, calendar, and time skills.
Some examples of Math activities and thematic units in Kindergarten include:
Chestnut walk – counting, sorting, and creating with the horse chestnuts we collect
Students identify and describe shapes and compose their own shapes and designs - two-dimensionally and three-dimensionally
Math activities during Free Choice time (e.g., Math Bingo)
Daily calendar time reinforces early math concepts like 1:1 correspondence, skip counting, and days of the week.
Using math manipulatives and play items to count, add and subtract
Science: Kindergarten
Our kindergarteners embark on exciting scientific adventures through classroom activities, thematic study units, outdoor learning, hands-on experiments during K-2 Science Block, gardening, and exploring our neighborhood park. Kindergarten science in the classroom often emerges from children’s interests.
Some recent examples of science activities for Kindergarteners include:
Hibernation Study Unit: After an in-class read-aloud, K students had so many questions about hibernation! Teachers created an emergent study science and nature unit focused on hibernating animals.
Light in the Darkness – Moon Study Unit: Kindergarteners studied the moon during our Light in the Darkness winter unit and celebration. We learned about the moon's phases, read books about the moon, and created moon-themed art.
Salish Sea Study Unit: In this springtime thematic study unit, students learned about the environment, wildlife, and sea creatures of the Salish Sea. They studied important species for our local ecosystem and learned about the efforts to protect them, including the ways they can make an impact.
Social Studies: Kindergarten
In Kindergarten, we examine and understand ourselves and our families. We talk about our identities, backgrounds, and traditions at home and compare how we celebrate in ways that are similar and different. We explore fairness and share our points of view. We learn that kids can make an impact and learn how we can be helpers as we take part in service learning and community support projects.
Some examples of Social Studies activities and thematic units in Kindergarten might include:
Cookie’s Weekend: Students take turns bringing our class stuffed animal, Cookie, home. We share pictures and activities of what we did together, and in the process, we learn about each family and what activities they do together.
Maps/Geography: Important foundational geography skills are built when we walk through our neighborhood for traditions like our Chestnut Walk, draw maps, or just in our daily wanderings to, from, and within Cowen Park.
We visit the Burke Museum of Natural History and discuss events on our calendar to expand our understanding of time, history, and sequences of events.
Spanish and Cultural/Social Studies: Kindergarten
Kindergarten students have Spanish Cultural Studies as one of their “specials.” Students learn basic Spanish vocabulary through books, songs, and stories. They expand their knowledge of Latin American culture through traditions and celebrations shared by families and teachers.
Social-Emotional Learning: Kindergarten
Social-emotional learning happens both in the Kindergarten classroom and during time with our SEL specialist.
Students collaborate together, initiate imaginative play, and engage with open-ended materials in their environment. By the end of the year, kindergartens engage wholeheartedly with their environment, materials, and each other. They can integrate their friend groups and discover new connections within their class. They meet developmental milestones, including negotiating, empathy, planning, and compromise.
In Kindergarten, we explore ideas and feelings such as:
What does it mean to contribute to a classroom community?
What agreements can we make about how to take care of each other as a Kindergarten classroom?
What emotions am I feeling right now?
Can I identify how someone is feeling by their facial expression?