Kindergarten

“Our Kindergarten students come to school with varied levels of abilities. However, through literature based activities, math, science, social studies, writing, learning games and all important "play" for socialization, our students move on to first grade as well-rounded, happy and knowledgeable students with a love of learning.” ~~ Bev Cella, Culbertson Elementary School.

Language Arts

Themes: All About Me/Watch Me Grow, Animals I Like/Animal Families, Around the Table, Family and Friends, Around the Town, Animal Adventures/Silly Business, Growing Things/Bug Surprises, Under the Ocean

• Learning to read independently
• Identify story types (fantasy or realism)
• Use illustrations as picture clues
• Apply phonemic awareness
• Use letter and sound correlations while reading
• Retell stories by speaking, writing, or drawing
• Use new vocabulary
• Reading Critically
• Use meaning, structure and visual cues
• Make predictions and draw conclusions based on text
• Relate text to similar experiences
• Analyzing & Interpreting Literature
• Identify different types of literature (i.e., poetry, nursery rhymes, folktales)
• Identify literary elements (events, characters, setting, problem, solution)
• Identify literary devices (repetition, rhyme, etc.)
• Read and respond to fiction, nonfiction and poetry
• Identify the structure of drama by acting out.
• Types and Quality of Writing
• Form letters properly
• Use sound/letter correlation to write phonetically
• Dictate a complete sentence
• Write to express a personal idea, to inform, or to express an opinion
• Write and illustrate with focus and for a purpose
• Write several sentences with one central idea
• Write in sequence with a beginning, middle and end
• Write using descriptive words, action verbs, questions and statements

Social Studies

“Through the Seasons” The Social Studies curriculum in Kindergarten is part of what teachers do every day in helping their young students adjust to school and become part of the classroom and school communities. In addition, the more formal teaching of Social Studies concepts and the Pennsylvania Academic Standards in Civics and Government, Economics, Geography and History, is accomplished through lessons integrated into the Language Arts program. Teachers may use the “Greet The World” series of Big Books to reinforce the teaching of Social Studies concepts.

The following units include a Social Studies focus:

• Fall
• Winter
• Spring
• Summer

Science

“Weather” In this unit, the students’ observations and activities expand their awareness of weather, its features, and its effects on their daily lives. Their experiences introduce them to the following concepts:

• Weather changes from day to day and week to week.

• Features of weather include cloud cover, precipitation, wind, and temperature.
• Tools used to measure different features of weather include wind scales, thermometers, and rain gauges.
• Meteorologists are scientists who study, observe, and record information about the weather and who use that information to forecast the weather.
• Weather affects the decisions people make about the clothing they will wear and about their outside activities.

Mathematics

The focus of Level K Mathematics is the development of an understanding of numbers and the ability to use numbers up to twenty. Other important topics studied are

• Classification
• Sorting
• Patterns
• Money
• Time
• Geometry
• Measurement
• Addition and subtraction concepts and facts to the number ten