Kindergarten Curriculum

Overview

For many of our Kindergarten students, this year is the first time they will be spending a full day at school. As such, teachers are intentional about designing the daily schedule to include not only the academic areas described below, but also to allow for breaks and quiet rest times, snacks, and outdoor play. Five-year-olds need time to explore the “real world” in the classroom and love to role-play, dress-up and play with puppets. The dramatic play centers in our Kindergarten classroom are transformed throughout the school year to reinforce learning.

Language Arts

The themes covered in Language Arts are culturally diverse selections which keep children’s interest, as well as incorporate other disciplines including science, math and social studies. Specific phonemic awareness concepts covered in Kindergarten include: beginning sounds, rhyming, blending and segmenting onset and rime, blending and segmenting phonemes, and initial and final phoneme substitution.

Mathematics

In Kindergarten, teachers use the EnVision Mathematics textbook to support the classroom curriculum, which gives students an early foundation for beginning math skills. The clear step-by-step instruction supports student comprehension and skill development.

Each lesson is customized to match student abilities. In this program, students build on their foundational number sense and math skills by using manipulatives and exploring a variety of mathematical concepts and activities.

Science

Students in Kindergarten are natural observers of the world around them. The Kindergarten science curriculum is designed to help students understand that when they observe, they are acting as scientists. We lay a foundation for the study of science by introducing the basic scientific processes: observing, comparing, classifying, measuring, and communicating. Students become observers and record keepers, and are given the opportunity to look at the world around them through this new lens. Through the hands-on curriculum, students engage in the five E’s science instructional model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, and Evaluate.)

Social Studies

Students in Kindergarten begin the year learning about themselves and their families to lay the foundation for exploring the world around them. This class also represents a time for students to think about their place within the classroom and school community, and to learn about the needs and desires of others. Branching out from the classroom community, students expand their focus and begin to discover the school community, as well as the larger Hoboken community.

Co-curricular

Kindergarten Students partake in several co-curricular activities such as music, dance, and world language. Please see our Beyond Core Academics page.

Milestone Projects

Kindergarten ~ Farm Day

While in Kindergarten, students have the opportunity to transform from urbanites to farmers! Throughout the year, the students study a variety of farm animals as well as the importance of farms in society.