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Kindergarten
Curriculum
The
BNS Kindergarten Program offers a variety of avenues for
students to reach the 5 major academic goals listed below.
Additionally, the Program is focused upon creating a learning
environment in the classroom that is reflective of a cooperative
community. The children work together to share resources,
resolve conflicts, build trust, and articulate joy. This
aids in the creation of a classroom climate that encourages
children to take responsible academic and social risks without
fear of failure.
The 5
major academic goals of the BNS Kindergarten Program are
to have all students:
- beginning to read and write on
their own by the end of the school year.
- demonstrating a comfortable familiarity
with the elements of math including addition and subtraction.
- understanding how to systematically
pursue an idea or question.
- telling sequential stories of
past and present events.
- developing a positive and enthusiastic
attitude toward school and learning.
Please
keep in mind that the skills listed throughout the curriculum
span the course of the school year and that different students
will begin the development of particular skills at different
times. Also, for students that are ready, further-reaching
goals will be developed as soon as appropriate.
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Circle Time
The
Red Room students begin their day on the carpet together.
Circle time provides the opportunity to become reacquainted
with each other and oriented to the day in relation to the
calendar. It also allows students the opportunity to share
information with the class, to practice the sign-language
alphabet and ASL word signs, to enjoy different letter sounds
and rhymes, to review the day's schedule, and to hear directions
about the next activities. The following skills are developed
and reinforced during circle time:
• reviewing
days of the week
• identifying numbers on the calendar
• counting the days in school
• relating counting to place value
• listening to peers
• waiting and being patient
• speaking to the class with increasing confidence
• speaking in complete thoughts and sentences with
descriptive vocabulary
• learning the sign-language alphabet, as well as
many ASL word signs
• sorting words orally according to beginning and
ending consonant sounds
• sorting words orally according to long and short
vowel sounds
• identifying and demonstrating rhyming words and
patterns
• following oral directions
• asking questions
• focusing attention
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Reading
During reading
time students rotate among the following learning centers
(a.k.a. “Station Rotations”): Small Group Instruction with
T.J., Loft Reading (enjoying books quietly up in the loft
as a "reading workship" time), Fine Motor and Writing
Station (including cutting, writing practice, creative writing,
illustrating), and Reading “Games” (including puzzles, sound
boxes, and appropriate board games).
Each student
will read in a small group (of 3 to 4) with T.J. twice per
week. They are grouped according to similarity in reading/pre-reading
style and experience. Materials for this instruction include
letter strips; cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant; e.g. “cat”)
word cards; Bob Books and other phonetically based early readers;
easy readers of all kinds; toy-letter matching games, sight
word cards; and class- or teacher-made books, stories, and
poems. The following skills are developed and reinforced during
reading activities: |
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• recognizing and matching
capital and lower case
letters
• associating pictures with written words
• practicing left to right orientation
• understanding the concept of sequence
• identifying letter sounds
• isolating and identifying the initial and final
consonant sounds of words
• blending individual letter sounds into word sounds
• learning basic sight words
• recognizing basic punctuation
• for some: more fluent reading and comprehension
activities
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The
class will also engage in “Group Lesson” and story activities
in which the students read “big books” or other stories together,
play a group game, enjoy a "draw and write" activity,
sing songs that stress phonemic awareness, or discuss a particular
reading strategy. When listening to stories, students will
often be asked to identify characters and setting and to retell
the story with attention to the sequence of beginning, middle,
and end. They will also consider responses to questions of
Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
The Montgomery
County Bookmobile comes to BNS twice each month. The kindergarten
students may check out two books at each visit.
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Writing
Students
engage in writing activities on a daily basis. As the become
ready, students will be guided to write words related to
their illustrations. Some students will be ready to begin
using basic (noun, verb) sentence structure. In all writing
activities, students will be encouraged to “listen” for
the sounds of words and write the corresponding consonant
and vowel sounds. Such “inventive” spelling (or "temporary
spelling") is phonetic in nature and allows students
to freely express themselves through writing. In later years
at BNS they will refine spelling both naturally—as they
become fluent readers—and systematically—through direct
spelling instruction. Late in the fall, the students will
receive direction with regard to proper letter formation
through handwriting workbook activities. The following skills
are developed and reinforced during writing activities:
• recognizing
letters and letter sounds
• recognizing beginning, middle, and ending sounds
in words
• writing and sounding out basic cvc words
• identifying short and long vowel sounds in words
• using basic sight words in writing
• including the use of nouns and verbs
• placing a space between words
• placing a period at the end of a sentence
• utilizing sound combinations such as ch, sh, th,
y, silent e, vowel combinations
• writing the letters in both upper and lower case
(when ready)
• producing a book for the spring Authors’ Tea
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Math
Math
is incorporated into many subject areas throughout the day
and is given a concentrated focus during “math time.” BNS
utilizes the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project
curriculum, Everyday Mathematics, for grades K-5,
in addition to other math resources. Students receive direct
group instruction on sequential mathematical concepts (listed
below). They will have an opportunity to explore these concepts
through conversation, literature, manipulatives, and practice
pages. These concepts are further reinforced with particular
math games, puzzles, and other manipulatives. During math
“drills,” students experience fun ways to put certain “math
facts” to memory (e.g. number recognition, counting by 5’s,
some basic addition facts, etc.). The following skills are
developed and reinforced during math activities:
• recognizing
and producing patterns and classifications (sorting, collecting)
• identifying basic shapes
• developing familiarity with daily calendar concepts
(day of week, month, year)
• understanding numbers 1 to 20, and later 1 to 100
(counting, matching, graphing)
• writing numbers 1 to 100
• utilizing 1:1 correspondence
• learning to count up and down for “one more”
and “one less”
• counting by 10’s and by 5’s
• adding and subtracting with manipulatives
• computing addition and subtraction problems with
numbers 1 to 20
• measuring using standard and non-standard units
of measurement
• graphing information
• memorizing telephone numbers
• identifying missing addends
• telling time to the hour and half-hour
• identifying coins and learning to add some coin
combinations
• understanding fraction concepts of whole, half,
and quarter
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Science, Social Studies, and Theme Activities
Many of
the weeklong learning themes will be enhanced by science and
social studies activities. Occasional field trips, educational
videos, and guest speaker presentations further extend these
subject areas.
Key
concepts for the science program include:
•
Who, What, Where, When, Why, How questions
• predictions, observations, conclusions
• change
• color creation
• five senses
• human body
• nutrition
• seasons
• patterns of weather
• plant growth
• animal growth
• prehistoric animals
• shadows
• magnets
• rocks
• relative size and weight
• position and speed
• water forms of solid, liquid, and gas
• float/sink
• ecology and “reduce, reuse, recycle”
• the earth in space
Key
concepts for the social studies program include:
•
self
• memorization of full name, parents’ names,
address, and phone number
• families
• social responsibilities (taking turns, sharing,
listening, communicating)
• community service providers
• ecology and environment
• history and geography
• U.S. government
• money and economics
• important people of the past
• important groups of people in history (e.g. Native
American cultures)
• maps
• the 7 continents
• transportation
• inventors and inventions
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Additional
Subjects
Kindergarten
students at BNS also receive regular instruction in Art,
Spanish,
Physical Education,
and Music. Please
click on a link to visit the Red Room curricula for these
subjects, or click here to learn
about our faculty. |
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Outdoor Play
When
weather permits, the kindergartners receive a 30-minute recess
following snack time and a 45- minute recess following lunch
time every day.
Rest and Reading
Students
are read to on a regular basis. Every day, after lunchtime
recess, the Red Roomers rest on mats while listening to “chapter
book” literature. Occasionally, this is followed by a related
activity - such as watching the video of Charlotte’s Web
after completing the novel. “Rest and Reading” is often a
favorite time of day for the children as they enjoy resting
and creating images evoked by significant works in children’s
literature. |
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