Kindergarten Curriculum

Religion:
*Participate in discussions and work out of the consumable Stories of God’s Love text (RCL Benziger).
*Kindergarten’s major themes are Creation, Jesus, and God’s Family.
*make the Sign of the Cross correctly.
*recite both formal and informal prayers during our daily prayer time. By the end of the year, kindergarteners will master a few prayers (included in packet). Please help your child to practice these at home.
*celebrate the life of Jesus through Bible stories and songs.
*share a little about different liturgical seasons.
*share with others how much we are loved by God.
*share with others their love of God through song and good deeds.
*Attend and participate in weekly school Masses and prayer services. Kindergarten is in charge of the liturgy for two school Masses this year.
*participate in the VIRTUS program mandated by the Archdiocese of Seattle.
*participate in a variety of Service Learning Projects like the school-wide Cambodia project as well as attending the Bellingham Senior Center four times throughout the year.
Reading:
*Kindergarten is incorporating the ELA Common Core standards as a minimum.
*read leveled books with the interactive, online reading program RAZ-kids both at school and at home.
*recognize both capital and lower case letters out of alphabetical order.
*read through/complete the activities in the weekly Scholastic ‘Let’s Find Out’ magazine.
*identify sounds of letters and letter combinations.
*distinguish rhyming sounds and words.
*identify environmental words (brands, store names, etc.).
*identify high-frequency words (e.g. the, I, in, he)
*sound out phonetic words like /dog/, /cat/, /fan/
*strengthen phonics skills with a variety of programs and activities.
*read from left to right.
*read both leveled readers and age-appropriate books chosen independently.
*participate in small-group reading centers.
*read and be read to at home and school (ideas for reading at home are included).
*identify sounds by sight of phonemes
Spelling/Grammar/Writing:
*express ideas in sentences.
*express ideas and experiences in the correct sequence.
*answer questions clearly and concisely.
*write their first and last name in the correct cases.
*copy words using lower case manuscript.
*correctly form capital and lower case letters and numbers with few reversals.
*understand that spaces occur between words.
*use ‘story starters’ to create and write their own stories.
*understand basic phonics decoding strategies.
*respond to various prompts for journal writing (second semester).
*students will be introduced to the ‘letter of the week’ and these letters will be based on themes throughout the school year. We will practice writing these letters and will brainstorm words that start with them as well.
Handwriting:
*recognize and practice printing.
*practice starting and stopping letters at the correct points (will be modeled and reinforced daily).
*practice holding pencils correctly.
Science: NGSS STEAM
*Students will learn and use the STEAM design process
*we will cover units on whole and parts, animal and plant adaptations and classifications, force and motion, solids and liquids, the earth, insects and habitats.
*once a month, we collaborate with the middle school science specialist for laboratory exploration.
*name the four different seasons
*recognize the changes in seasons and how living things must change, prepare, and adapt.
*distinguish between living things and non-living things.
*understand that living and nonliving things are made of parts and these parts have names.
*understand introduction to plants and their life cycle.
*understand that some objects can be taken apart and put back together again while some objects cannot.
*understand that scientists ask and answer questions based on observations.
*understand the observations involve questioning, investigating, modeling, explaining, inferring, and communicating.
*understand object’s relation to other objects or surroundings.
*explore the five senses and how they help us to learn.
*explore liquids and solids.
*understand the properties of objects.
*explore magnets.
*understand estimating, comparing, weighing, and measuring.
*work in the school garden with a garden educator to experience hands-on learning related to these concepts.
*Engineering and Design: building bridges, chairs, and other objects, animal habitats *Newton’s
Laws of Motion
Math:
*meet all of the Common Core Math Standards as a minimum.
*we will implement parts of the Catholic Identity for Math document as it applies to number sense and basic addition and subtraction.
*Kindergarten will be using the interactive, online math program IXL both at school and at home. *use the McGraw-Hill, My Math program *count consecutively to 100.
*compose and decompose numbers to 19 (tens and ones).
*recognize numbers 1-50 when presented out of numerical order.
*form numbers correctly
*strengthen number sense with numbers to 100.
*understand comparative vocabulary (less than, more than, the same, etc.).
*count by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s.
*identify and extend a given pattern.
*recognize coins and their values.
*count with tallies.
*understand operations of beginning addition and subtraction (to 20).
*identify shapes; combine small shapes to make bigger shapes.
*understand and appropriately use manipulatives when problem-solving.
Social Studies:
*Kindergarten’s overall theme is: All About Me
*understand and participate in daily Pledge of Allegiance.
*understand where we live in relation to the state, country, and world.
*understand and participate in activities for various holidays that we celebrate.
*understand that all humans have basic needs no matter where we live.
*understand the basic introduction of maps and globes.
*practice sharing and interacting with all peers (developing social skills).
*know the difference between needs and wants.
*use the Harcourt Social Studies text for kindergarten as well as the Talking About Touching program.
*integrate the seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching.