kindergarten

Kindergarten 

At St. David’s Episcopal Day School we believe in fostering a lifelong love of learning supported through individualized and developmentally appropriate teaching practices. Our kindergarten offers a challenging, nurturing, and motivating environment where students can grow and mature intellectually, emotionally, socially, physically and spiritually. Extracurricular classes including: Spanish, music, art, nature center, library, chapel, and physical education provide a meaningful complement to our curriculum. Kindergarten is a year of remarkable growth, and educating the whole child is our main focus. Unique to our school is our Christian values curriculum which strengthens emotional intelligence and fosters character development through developmentally appropriate lessons on topics such as empathy, respect, sharing, friendship, and honesty.

 

Language Arts:

At the core of our language arts curriculum is the goal to foster important skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Listening/Speaking Skills

Through circle time sharing and conversations, role-play, listening to audio books during learning centers, and participating in shared reading experiences, our students develop skills in listening and speaking. In addition, our multi-sensory language arts lessons teach and solidify phonological and phonemic awareness skills such as recognizing and producing rhymes, blending individual sounds in words, segmenting (pulling apart) sounds in words, identifying beginning and ending sounds, and manipulating sounds; all of which are the essential building blocks of reading.

Reading/Writing Skills

St. David’s Episcopal Day School’s Kindergarten strongly supports a Balanced Literacy Approach in order to meet the needs of students with all different learning styles. Through books and poetry of different genres, teachers lead students in the main components of a balanced literacy program: read alouds, guided and shared reading, interactive writing, and shared writing. In addition, uppercase and lowercase letter recognition and letter/sound correspondence are also taught and reinforced through daily engaging centers.

Kindergarten teachers incorporate supplemental programs as well to further enrich concepts. Some of these include:

  • Wilson Fundations  – a multisensory and structured  program that addresses:
    • Foundational Skills – print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word study, fluency
    • Spelling
    • Handwriting
    • Vocabulary and Comprehension
  • Leveled Readers
  • Writing Workshop

Mathematics:

The goal for our mathematics curriculum is to help children to develop a genuine excitement for math, build confidence, and see the relevance of math in everyday life. Math provides experiences to explore, learn and practice mathematics in a variety of settings including whole class, small groups, partners, and independently. Our mathematics program places a strong emphasis on problem solving and mathematical thinking. It follows a spiral structure which allows children to have multiple exposures to math concepts before mastery is expected.

Social Studies:

Our social studies curriculum helps children gain an understanding and appreciation for the world around them. In addition to learning about culture, geography, and community through literature, our students are encouraged to share their own family traditions and participate in “real world” lesson extensions. Kindergarten students partake in service learning projects throughout the year, learn about the Spanish culture through our Spanish extracurricular, and learn about Guatemala through our parish’s outreach efforts.

Science:

Science curricula at St. David’s Episcopal Day School helps children gain essential data analysis, observation, problem solving and critical analysis skills. Our students learn about physical science including anatomy and basic biological processes as well as natural science including life cycles, climate, and animals. Our hands-on science program also utilizes St. David’s Church’s historical grounds and its outdoor nature center which provides children with authentic learning experiences.

Technology Integration: Our kindergarten program also has the goal of helping children to learn technology skills through the use of ipads, computers, Smart Boards, and digital cameras as a means to enhance our core curricular subject areas and thematic units.  Children learn important common vocabulary related to technology, how to navigate a screen, keyboard and mouse, and learn subject-specific skills (e.g., coding, handwriting, literacy and mathematics) through interactive computer apps.

Assessment Process: At St. David’s Episcopal Day School we believe that on-going assessment and documentation are the key to fostering a positive learning environment. In addition to formal assessments and screenings, student portfolios help to track student progress throughout the year. Parent-teacher conferences occur twice per school year, and parents are also invited to an open house evening in October to learn more about our curriculum, view student work, and speak with teachers.

“Kindergarten Plus” Extensions

Lunch Bunch: Students can stay for lunch (brought from home), play time, and stories until 1:00.

Lunch Bunch + Enrichment Club: 12:00 through 3:00, daily

(“Kindergarten Plus” provides a full-day option from 9:00 to 3:00 for 5 days, discounted tuition applies)

Early Care: Our early care program runs from 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

After-School Activities: Our after-school program runs from 3:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m.