kindergarten - foreign language

Foreign Language

The Greene School Foreign Language program is intended to develop listening comprehension and verbal skills in young children with classes three times a week. Skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing are developed in this course. Students acquire language proficiency with visual and interactive support using grade level vocabulary and techniques such as Total Physical Response (TPR) and Natural Approach. The goal of both of these strategies is to allow students to learn a second language in the same way they learned their first language – through their senses, encouraging long-term retention of the language.

Kindergarten students use the ¡Qué chévere! and Realidades curriculum textbook which integrate development of language proficiency into cultural understanding using project-based learning activities, multimedia resources, role-play skits, songs, games, and stories.

  • Students will learn basic topics and frequently used expressions.

  • Students will learn subject pronouns, verb agreement, people, verbs, objects, places, foods, and prepositions.

  • Students will learn to provide basic information about themselves using words, phrases, and memorized expressions.

  • Students will learn to ask basic questions of daily life using complete sentences.

  • Students will be able to express likes and dislikes.

  • Students will learn to communicate with a partner in directed or free-response dialogues, practice structure, and games.

  • Students will learn to pre-write by drawing pictures to support ideas related to a task.

  • Students will learn basic practices and perspectives of cultures where the target language is spoken (such as greetings, holiday celebrations, etc.)

  • Students will learn to compare words in the target language to those in his/her own language.

  • Students will learn to recite the numbers from 1-20 in the target language.

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KindergartenSamantha PennForeign Language
kindergarten - science

Science

Kindergarten scientists learn through questioning, exploring, doing, and utilizing their natural curiosity.

  • Students will actively conduct investigations, share ideas with peers, and record data in their science journals.

  • Students will learn about science tools and the science journal.

  • Students will learn to accurately record their assignments and findings in the journal.

  • Students will explore daily with science tools and materials (such as magnifying lenses, construction materials, and magnets).

Units covered in science include:

  • Life Cycles

  • Plants and Animals

  • Weather

  • Engineering and Design

  • Magnetism

  • Forces and Motion

  • Properties of Matter

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KindergartenSamantha PennScience
kindergarten - social science

Social Science

Kindergarten Social Studies curriculum is integrated into other subjects, especially Computer Science and Language Arts. The focus of kindergarten Social Studies is communities and community helpers.

  • Students will design and represent their own community using objects in our classroom and “buildings in the community,” created by them. Students learn to code roads for the Ozobots to drive around in, representing cars in their community.

  • Students will learn the difference between the past, present, and future.

  • Students will learn about the First Thanksgiving and the life of pilgrim children.

  • Students will compare and contrast their day to a typical day in the life of pilgrim children.

  • Students will learn how to set a resolution for themselves.

  • Students will learn about important people in history such as Martin Luther King Jr., Ruby Bridges, and Betsy Ross.

  • Students will learn about maps and locations, gaining perspective on distance and location while learning about cities, states, countries, and continents in our “Me on the Map” unit.

  • Students will communicate with their digital penpals in Dubai using the Flipgrid app, and will share the state and country they are from.

  • Students will learn vocabulary related to past, present, and future, collaboratively creating a timeline of their year in kindergarten, as well as a timeline of their lives.

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KindergartenSamantha PennSocial Science
kindergarten - mathematics

Mathematics

Our kindergarten mathematics curriculum exposes students to a wide range of skills with a heavy focus on numeracy and understanding the meaning and relationship between numbers. Daily manipulatives are used for concrete practice.

  • Students will learn to count to 100 by ones, twos, fives, and tens.

  • Students will learn to compare and order numbers within 100.

  • Students will learn to compose and decompose teen numbers.

  • Students will learn to add and subtract fluently within 10.

  • Students will apply knowledge of addition and subtraction to complete word problems within 20.

  • Students will understand the relationship between numbers and quantities, and will connect counting to cardinality.

  • Students will learn to attend to precision when counting sets and recording answers.

  • Students will learn to use the ten frame to visualize numbers in preparation for working with larger numbers.

  • Students will learn that numbers are composed of “tens”and “ones” as we build a foundation for place value knowledge.

  • Students will learn measurement, coin identification, and value.

  • Students will practice skills that they are learning by playing cooperative games such as Roll and Record, Shake and Spill, and Candy Land Tens & Ones.

  • Students will develop an imaginary farm as an introduction to Project Based Learning (PBL).

  • Students will work weekly with a teacher and peers to respond to story problems which will result in the creation of a foldable farm. This project extends learning of counting, base ten, adding/subtracting, measurement, and shapes.

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KindergartenSamantha PennMathematics
kindergarten - language arts

Language Arts

Reading

Our kindergarten language arts curriculum develops students as readers through:

  • High frequency word recognition practice

  • Phonics skills

  • Comprehension skills

  • Fluency

Reading and spelling inventories are administered three times per year to determine each student’s needs and to assess their progress.

Students rotate through reading centers 4 days per week including:

  • The Listening Center – students scan a QR code to listen to a story on their iPad, after which they complete a comprehension assignment

  • Read To Self Center – independent reading

  • Word Work Center – students meet with a teacher weekly to practice the phonics and spelling skill of the week.

  • Writing Center – students have the choice of writing lists, cards, and working on narrative stories.

Phonics skills include:

  • Short vowels

  • Long vowels

  • Vowel teams

  • Digraphs

  • Diphthongs

  • R controlled vowels

Writing

In our Writer’s Workshop:

  • Students will learn beginning phases of the writing process through development of their personal narratives.

  • Students will plan, sketch, write, edit, and add details to their work.

  • Students will learn to write stories using phonetic spelling, with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

  • Students will learn “How To” writing during where students teach readers how to do something through their writing using “first, next, then, and last.”

  • Students will learn Persuasive Writing where they will write their opinions and provide support for their opinions.

  • Teachers confer with students one on one to establish and work on writing goals.

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KindergartenSamantha PennLanguage Arts
early childhood - foreign language

Foreign Language

The Greene School early childhood foreign language program actively uses play and activities such as songs, hands-on projects, games, and stories to expose students to the language with classes four times each week. Students are exposed to sounds and words which develop attention and auditory perception of the new language. The new language is integrated as much as possible to provide opportunities for students to develop comprehension and respond as they build confidence. Students acquire language proficiency through songs and visual and interactive support using age-appropriate vocabulary and techniques such as Total Physical Response (TPR) and Natural Approach. The goal of both of these strategies is to allow students to learn a second language in the same way they learned their first language – through their senses, encouraging long-term retention of the language.

  • Students will be introduced to and become familiar with colors, shapes, numbers, transportation, seasons, weather, farm animals, oceans, rainforest, insects, family members, greetings, days of the week, five senses, foods, and feelings.

  • Students will be introduced and become familiar with topics presented through songs and stories.

The primary purpose of early childhood foreign language curriculum is to create a positive attitude toward language learning and to develop communication competence.

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Early ChildhoodSamantha PennForeign Language
early childhood - science

Science

Early childhood science includes experiments, discussion, crafts, and exploration. Our students take part in hands-on activities for each concept that is introduced.

Units include:

  • Trees

  • Science Tools

  • The Plant Cycle

  • Seasons and Weather

  • The Five Senses

  • Animals and Their Habitats

  • Nutrition

  • Our Environment

Within each unit, students brainstorm things they already know and things they want to know. Lessons stimulate interests, and activities are planned around student curiosities.

  • Students will learn to answer questions through thoughtful and meaningful exploration.

  • Students will participate in planting and maintaining a garden.

  • Students will learn to recognize and use their senses.

  • Students will learn to research animals around the world.

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Early ChildhoodSamantha PennScience
early childhood - social science

Social Science

Social science in early childhood includes a wide variety of topics and exploration through cross-curricular activities. Students participate in large group, student-led small group, and one on one teacher-guided activities.

Our units for the academic year include:

  • All About Me

  • Community Helpers

  • Transportation

  • Holidays Around the World

  • Presidents

  • Maps

  • Activism

  • Geography

Each unit includes a discussion and writing element, as well as a hands-on interactive activity or craft. Students use in-class iPads to research new inventions and people throughout history, and have the opportunity to be curious and find answers to their questions during student-led projects. Students learn about the world around them and begin to make connections between people, places, and concepts around the globe.

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Early ChildhoodSamantha PennSocial Science
early childhood - mathematics

Mathematics

Math in early childhood encompasses many of the foundational skills that will be necessary throughout our students’ educational journey. Our fun and engaging math activities are conducted during scheduled math time, as well as teachable moments throughout the day, to make math learning meaningful and connected to various other life skills. Units include: patterns, geometry, measurement, addition/subtraction, graphing, time, money, number writing, and more.

  • Students will learn number sense and number relationships.

  • Students will learn how to read a calendar, and how to use it as a helpful tool as we discuss important events in chronological order noting months, days, dates, and the year.

  • Students will learn to write numbers.

  • Students will learn one-to-one correspondence.

  • Students will learn skip counting by fives and tens.

  • Students will learn to collect and document data using bar graphs.

  • Students will determine when and how to use graphs, and read the data to answer questions pertaining to the information given.

  • Students will learn about positional words that will help them understand object relationships.

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Early ChildhoodSamantha PennMathematics
early childhood - language arts

Language Arts

Language arts is a main focus in our early childhood curriculum. Throughout the year we focus on phonological awareness through interactive activities. Students are constantly engaged in projects that interest them, as they build upon their prior knowledge. We base our lessons on the children’s needs and abilities when it comes to letter identification and sounds, building words, letter formation, handwriting, literacy and comprehension. Students participate in Orton-Gillingham based lessons that teach letter sounds in fun ways that have the students moving, speaking, practicing sounds, manipulating, and understanding consonant-vowel-consonant words. We incorporate phoneme review and phonological awareness into all of our activities. Topics covered include writing about small moments, informational writing, fiction vs. nonfiction, poetry, research, character study, and more. Students are assessed individually by teachers to ensure individualized and differentiated instruction.

  • Students will learn to analyze each part of a story as we explore story elements.

  • Students will learn to identify characters in each story, as well as the setting, problem, solution, character feelings, and events during whole-group discussions and shared reading.

  • Students will learn to read new sight words each week and identify these sight words in environmental print, as well as during independent and shared reading time.

  • Students will practice making sentences using sight words.

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Early ChildhoodSamantha PennLanguage Arts