Language Arts occurs across the Kindergarten curriculum in many different areas.  Literacy development encompasses letter and sound recognition, sound spelling, writing, and handwriting. Students have opportunities to develop their sound spelling skills during writers' workshop through guided instruction and application.  Students develop their awareness of writing through the intentional environmental print around the classroom and taught sight words. Kindergarteners are encouraged to use the resources around them as models for writing. In order to build their awareness of story elements and conventions of print, students practice oral storytelling, and teachers create opportunities for children to create stories with a beginning, middle, and end, adding picture and word details. We encourage a love of literacy so Kindergarteners become lifelong readers and writers who engage with a story in various ways. In handwriting, children practice correct letter formation using Handwriting Without Tears, a multi-sensory handwriting curriculum. 

Math occurs naturally throughout the day and across the curriculum.  It is balanced with hands-on activities, group and individual work, and concept-building activities. Specific concepts that are consistently discussed include: reasons when and why people count, strategy development for counting and keeping track of quantities, creating sets of given values, recognizing numerals and number names, pairing number names with numerals, pairing sets of objects with equivalent sets up to 20, representing quantities with pictures, numerals, or words, problem-solving, counting (one-to-one correspondence), patterning, basic geometry, data collection, and sequencing. 

Our social studies curriculum is multi-faceted with an overall goal of allowing children to build and express their understanding of the world around them, and the interdependence of people in their communities/societies.  Kindergarteners participate in walking routines to make observations and discover new wonders to explore. While conducting various studies, Kindergarteners practice skills such as: gathering, interpreting and using evidence, comparing and contextualizing, basic geographic reasoning, planning, organizing, developing flexibility, and cooperation. 

Kindergarteners act as detectives to observe the world around them, ask questions, collect information, hunt for clues, and practice other science skills, such as making predictions, connections, and recording their findings in pictures, words or graphs. 

Students develop skills in empathy, problem solving, recognizing and managing emotions, developing positive/healthy relationships and responsible decision-making. There is growing evidence that social and emotional learning is directly correlated to interpersonal relationships, academic achievement, and future success when working with others. Our curriculum is responsive to the needs of our students.

In the youngest grades, assessment of young children's progress and achievements is ongoing, purposeful, strategic and reflective. Observation, documentation of learning moments and conferencing with children individually offers them opportunities to engage in meaningful experiences where they are able to apply their knowledge and skills and share their thinking.