The kindergarten program is academically-based and includes opportunities for play. The academics, physical education classes, and sessions of music, drama, dance, computer, art, and time in the library combine for a full week of activities.
The young child’s excitement about “real school” is channeled in group activities in the fall and more independent work by spring. The children are encouraged to explore, investigate, and discover.
Religion
The Sadlier program, We Believe, helps the kindergarten child begin to build an understanding of God. Through a variety of activities such as Bible stories, prayer, song, and ritual, they learn of God’s supreme love for them.
Reading/Language Arts
Literacy abilities develop as the children experience an appropriately challenging program, which emphasizes reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The phrase “emergent reader” is used to describe the developmental stage of the kindergarten child. A variety of strategies are employed to help the child become comfortable with the printed word and gain skills in sight word recognition as well as phonetic decoding. A love of literature is stimulated by the use of stories, poems, and picture books. Big books are used for shared reading, discussion, and activities. Children experience both individual and group reading opportunities. We encourage writing from the first day of school. Children are introduced to the writing process, and there are many opportunities throughout the curriculum for the children to put their thoughts into writing. Listening skills are developed through group interaction. Children are encouraged to articulate their thoughts to their peers. Technology is incorporated through the use of computers, software, and SMART boards.
Mathematics
The kindergartners begin the formal study of mathematics by learning to read and write numerals and to count objects accurately. They also spend much time recognizing, duplicating, and creating patterns of all kinds. Children are introduced to counting, graphing, geometry, computation, and measurement. Manipulatives, such as pattern blocks, unifix cubes and geoboards transform the classroom into a math lab where children problem solve through hands-on experiences. As the children master counting and the use of the number line, they begin to compute basic addition and subtraction facts.
Science
Children begin to use the scientific method of observing, recording, and predicting. Using their five senses they experience physical, earth, and life sciences through experiments and cooperative learning projects.
Social Studies
In social studies, a child gains a sense of self, school, community, safety, and good citizenship. The natural flow of the school year offers the opportunity to incorporate holidays and seasonal events in the curriculum while nourishing a multicultural awareness.
Physical Education
In kindergarten, physical education focuses on movement exploration experiences and health-related fitness activities. Movement challenges are success-oriented and encourage students to think critically, cooperate with others, and enjoy using their bodies in a variety of experiences. The program includes age-appropriate fitness activities, fine and gross motor skills, and games of low organization that are consistent with the National Physical Education Standards.
Art
In the visual arts, the children are given a variety of experiences in many different media to strengthen their skills and abilities. As the child’s confidence and skills grow, new materials and challenges are introduced. The curriculum goes from a formalist approach in the lower primaries to cross-discipline integration in the intermediate grades. Aesthetics and art appreciation are also extremely important in the total development of the student’s creative process.
Music
Lower School students participate in a general music class of active music making, and in an age-appropriate chorus. Classroom music uses the Orff Schulwerk approach, in which children sing, move, play pitched and unpitched percussion instruments, and recorders, as well as listen, analyze, improvise, and compose. Aspects of theory and music literacy are part of the instruction.
Drama
In creative drama classes, the children explore, enjoy, and share new ways of self-expression through movement, pantomime, storytelling, puppetry, improvisation, and small and large group performances. The folklore of many countries provides the core curriculum for the kindergarten program.All grades participate in creative dramatics throughout the year and are involved in the creation of their own videotaped commercial which is self-developed, written, directed, and produced! In the winter and spring, the students celebrate their talents in both our Christmas and spring concerts.
Dance
In dance, the children are encouraged to develop basic movement skills and body awareness through artistic expression. Introducing the children to ballet, modern, jazz, and choreography techniques, they appreciate different forms of dance and music. Students are shown how dance can also be a sport. Developing theatre skills and etiquette, social skills, good health, cultural awareness, and a sense of history complete the dance experience. Through in-class exercises and performance opportunities, the children develop a positive sense of self and interest in the field of dance beyond the dancers on stage.
World Language
Taking advantage of the enthusiasm and intellectual curiosity of young learners, kindergarten students will be introduced to the French or Spanish language through simple activities, songs, and games. French or Spanish are offered alternating years. Students entering kindergarten will study one language and stay with that language through subsequent years. Kindergartners will participate in language class for 30 minutes, three times in a six-day cycle.
Computer
To meet the wants of the age, Oak Knoll introduces its students to instructional technology in the computer lab beginning in kindergarten. Kindergarten students begin using applications aimed at developing hand-eye coordination and motor skills to master the use of the mouse and basic keyboarding operations while practicing memory, reading, and math skills. Kindergarten students begin the use of Kid Pix Deluxe, with a main focus on the drawing tools and Kidspiration software, a graphical organizer tool.
Library
The Bonaventura Library program focuses on two main objectives: the development of information literacy skills necessary for learning in the 21st century and a lifelong love of reading. Children in kindergarten to grade 6 attend regularly-scheduled library classes and visit the library for class projects, for group or independent research, or to check out books at any time during the school day.
Responsibility and independence at the library start in kindergarten. Children are introduced to the concept of library arrangement (“where books live”), the proper care of books, and library checkout and return procedures. They begin to view the library as a resource center and often pop in to check the spelling of a word or to get a needed book or picture for a class activity.