Kindergarten is an exciting time for both children and parents. The School of Saint Mary offers a full day of kindergarten with a focus on learning the school routine, organization and fun. The morning begins with calendar time where students will learn the seasons, patterns, counting, weather, place value, and money. Following calendar time, the morning will consist of snack, unstructured play and center rotations. Center rotations cover language, math, listening, writing, art, computer, pretend and critical thinking and library/computer. Afternoons include religion, nap/quiet reading, art, music and physical education.
Curriculum
Language Arts Summary
- Kindergarten introduces children to reading and writing. Therefore, it is critical that students experience the enjoyment of reading while they learn the strategies and skills that will enable them to read independently.
- During the kindergarten year, students will learn the enabling skills of phonemic awareness, letter names, sound-letter correspondences, decoding skills, high frequency vocabulary and comprehension skills as they listen and respond to a variety of texts. Students will enjoy listening to stories, relating to characters and events to their own life experiences, dramatizing stories and responding to stories through art and writing activities.
- Students will extend their speaking and listening skills when they are given opportunities to express themselves. They will learn how oral language is recorded to convey experiences and ideas as they observe their experiences and ideas being written. The kindergarten student should be immersed in a language-rich environment to develop communication skills and an appreciation for language arts.
Mathematics
- The kindergarten mathematics program emphasizes counting, comparing, sorting and ordering objects. Students learn about numbers, quantities and shapes. They examine patterns and explore measurement. As they work and play, kindergarten students experience a variety of ways to solve simple problems.
Science
- The kindergarten science program begins with the lesson that the world is an amazing place, worthy of intense exploration. Students will be given many opportunities to experience and manipulate common objects and materials in their environment.
- Students will practice basic science skills by observing, describing and collecting objects. Students will interpret their observations through the five senses.
Social Studies
- Kindergarten social studies begins with an introduction to the lives of interesting people in history. Basic concepts involving historical events, geographic direction and economic choices are integrated into the program of study. Kindergarten students will use maps and globes to locate some of the places and geographic features discussed in the class. Citizenship education will include the importance of following rules and respecting the rights of others. Students will have opportunities to learn about national symbols.
Religion
- God is our loving Creator and created each person. He loves each person in a special way and our world is filled with signs of God’s love.
Click here for the complete Diocesan Curriculum.
Enrichment
- Art
- Music
- P.E.
- Library
- Computer
- Spanish
Special activities and celebrations
- One Hundredth Day of School
- Show and Tell
- Grandmother Spider comes to tell stories
- Special time with 6th grade buddies (6th graders act as mentors to the kindergarten and sit with them during the Friday all school Mass)
- Adoration