Kindergarten Curriculum Information:At St. Paul’s Lutheran School we offer an all day, every day Kindergarten program in which young children learn, discover, and grow through a variety of enrichment activities.
RELIGION
Students regularly attend school chapels and hear of God’s love through Old and New Testament Bible stories. The Kindergarten religion program uses the CPH Faith Alive curriculum which centers around three major themes: God and Me; God, Me, and Others; God, Me, and My World. Each week’s lesson has a Bible verse that the students learn in the classroom. The students worship God through praying and singing.
LANGUAGE ARTS
In the Kindergarten classroom, children are exposed to a language rich environment through stories, songs, and items labeled in the classroom. They express themselves through journal writing and daily oral language experiences.
Students study and learn a letter of the week in our Saxon Phonics and Spelling program. They become familiar with capital and lowercase letters, their sounds, and how they are written. Students participate in such activities as daily review of letters and sounds, phonemic games, practice sheets and singing.
Through the Open Court Reading program children are exposed to a variety of children’s literature such as short stories and poems. Using rhymes, songs, and games students learn to listen for and become aware that words are composed of separate sounds.
MATH
The Saxon Math program includes a daily calendar, counting, patterning, number recognition, time, money and estimation. Children are given many opportunities for hands on use of math manipulatives to practice such skills as sorting , graphing, measuring and spatial concepts.
SCIENCE
Students learn through real experiences, such as mixing colors, what sinks or floats, the study of a caterpillar life cycle, and magnets. Opportunities are given for observation, measuring, classifying, predicting, and comparing. Life, earth and physical science are studied.
SOCIAL STUDIES
The children learn about themselves, their families, and the world around them. Various themes are studied throughout the year.
ART
Children are encouraged to explore and create. They are exposed to a variety of different art mediums, such as paints, tools, brushes, paper types and textures, scissors, glue, markers, crayons, etc. They work with designs, patterns, textures and shapes. The focus of art is on the process rather than the product.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
The students practice large motor skills such as skipping, galloping, jumping, and hopping. They are introduced to a variety of manipulatives, such as scooters, hula-hoops, jump ropes, and different sizes and types of balls. They work with partners and do small and large group activities. Games are taught that encourage teamwork and cooperation. A roller skating unit is taught in the winter and skills are practiced for a Field Day in the spring.
MUSIC
Kindergarteners participate in various musical experiences, such as rhyming, instruments, movement activities, listening and group singing. Music is used throughout the day across each area of our curriculum.
SPANISH
The children are exposed to Spanish words and songs. They learn words related to such basic concepts as colors, numbers, shapes and sizes. They are taught through games, rhymes, and video instruction.
SPECIAL INTERESTS
The classroom is set up with a variety of learning centers such as computers, dramatic play, listening, science, math, puppets, art my way, light table, play dough, blocks, and discovery box. The children learn through hands on play at these activity times. The Kindergarten curriculum also includes a daily snack, weekly food fun and guest reader, field trips, show and tell, and kids newspaper.
The Kindergarten curriculum is incorporating components of the SMART/Boostup program.
