Center for Young Children - Kindergarten Curriculum

Kindergarten Curriculum

Click here to see the kindergarten daily schedule

The CYC Kindergarten carries on many of the qualities that make the younger classrooms so interesting and inviting. Children work in classroom centers for long blocks of time. They have many of the same materials and manipulatives available to explore. There are unit blocks for building and dramatic play for the children to represent their world. There are high quality math manipulatives and art materials. Children use collage, clay, painting and drawing. There is meeting time, songs, stories and fingerplays. The children play outside everyday. Lunch and nap routines are similar.

Kindergarten differs from the preschool classes in that the degree of symbolism used is higher and more sophisticated. In addition, the skills associated with reading, writing, mathematical thinking and the scientific process are taught more directly.

teacher and child writing

In language arts, for example, each kindergarten child keeps a writing journal. They move from pretend writing and one word labels to writing sentences. In reading, the children learn from shared reading experiences using big books and their small copies. Children begin to develop a sight word vocabulary by rereading and pointing to words. Teacher demonstration is an important method used to teach both reading and writing. The teacher leads group writing experiences and the children participate by volunteering their ideas as well as joining in on discussions about spelling, punctuation and other aspects of print. Teachers individualize instruction for each student, assisting them through the steps of the writing process until they are ready to “publish” their work. Both invented spelling and conventional spelling are taught through demonstration and direct instruction as needed for the children’s individual writing projects. Children learn the consonant sounds through lessons integrated into authentic reading and writing activities. These skills are taught during scheduled times described as Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop (Lucy McCormick Calkins, Teachers College, Columbia University).

Symbolism in terms of mathematics involves representing ideas through situation-based word problems (cognitively guided instruction). For example, language used to explain a mathematical equation would involve real-life circumstances and familiar people to make the problem more meaningful to the students. Also incorporated are activities that require higher-order thinking skills such as creating complex surveys, charts and graphs that allow students to collect tally and then visually document their data. Mathematics is integrated with science instruction that connect the classroom’s topic of study. Children also work with new and familiar board games along with teacher-designed games to help teach a specific skill or concept. Understanding the rules and social cues of playing a group game are important team-building and sportsmanship skills to achieve.

Children who have been at The CYC for preschool are familiar with the methods of studying a topic. These methods are continued into the kindergarten year. Many of our kindergarten students are experts at developing a list of questions about a topic and researching through experiments, interviewing, taking field trips and reading books.

children observing caterpillars

The children are very familiar with ways of recording data on trip sheets, graphs and diagrams. Similar to the topics studied in preschool, kindergarten topics are in the here and now. Topics are relevant to the children’s lives and are available for first hand study. For example, recently the kindergarten has studied snails, tadpoles, airplanes, restaurants, clothing and photography. By the Kindergarten year, these students have acquired the skills to allow for longer and more in-depth research to occur within a chosen study topic.

At The CYC, we believe children can be taught how to be proactive learners even from a young age. With teachers as facilitators, the students are the agents of their own education. Through appropriate classroom environments, teacher demonstration and questioning, the kindergarten children learn how to think about their world in an inquisitive manner. The children consider what they know and what they want to know about a topic and develop a plan to gather and reflect on information. As children work on a study they gain the necessary skills associated with reading, writing and mathematics in a manner that is relevant to their lives and their needs. We believe our kindergarten program prepares children not only for first grade but for a lifetime of learning.