Kindergarten

Children's fascination with the world around them provides the basis for the Kindergarten science program. Students explore the classroom and outdoors through field trips, visits from members of the New Haven community, building, planting and experimenting. They consult books and use scientific tools to enhance their explorations. A highlight of the Kindergarten year occurs in the early spring when children tap the sugar maple trees around our campus. From the watery sap that drips into buckets to the rich syrup that emerges from the final boil, the sugaring experience provides one of many opportunities for our students to engage authentically with the world around them. This annual tradition culminates in a delicious pancake breakfast where we come together as a community to celebrate the harvest.

In Kindergarten, language arts experiences take place throughout the day and throughout the curriculum. Daily read-alouds in a warm and nurturing setting encourage everyone to share observations, make predictions and identify elements of a story. Favorite authors, illustrators and award-winning books are showcased frequently, encouraging a joy of reading and writing and an appreciation of literature. Children practice analyzing the sound structure of words and are introduced to letter recognition, letter writing and letter-sound correspondence in an explicit and systematic way. Individual and small-group reading activities support children's growing knowledge. In their writing, Kindergartners employ dictation and phonetic spelling to encode their own ideas and to reinforce their knowledge of sound-symbol relationships. The children are exposed to the editing process as they prepare their pieces for an authentic audience.

Familiarity and comfort with numbers are principal goals of mathematics in Kindergarten. Concepts are presented through concrete, hands-on activities and progress toward more abstract and complex approaches to problem solving. Children engage in mathematical conversations and activities as they gain proficiency in counting, recognizing patterns and geometric shapes, and grouping items based on attributes. The concept of quantity is a significant focus in Kindergarten, as children begin to understand the processes of addition and subtraction.

Young children have a natural ability to perceive, create and appreciate the visual arts. Colors, shapes and forms come alive in Kindergarten art classes, as students explore and become familiar with a wide variety of media: paint, clay, fabric, wood, wire and natural materials. We teach basic techniques and encourage a positive attitude, fine motor skills, patience, concentration and, perhaps, a lifelong interest in art. Lessons are often motivated by the reading of stories or poetry. Owls, faces, book characters and familiar places all become the subjects of exciting projects.

Music instruction in Kindergarten fosters a love of music in each student by participating in active music-making experiences. Lower School music is based on the Kodaly Concept, a comprehensive, sequential, experience-based program used to develop basic musical skills and teach the reading and writing of music. Students learn to recognize and demonstrate their singing voice; gain awareness of personal space through movement; demonstrate cooperation and listening skills; and become confident performers as they sing at assemblies and dance for our May Day celebration. From lullabies and folk songs to dances and works of master composers, children acquire a broad-based musical repertoire and learn to distinguish between beat and rhythm, high and low, loud and soft, fast and slow and same and different. By the end of the year, the students are able to perform and read simple rhythms with ta and ti-ti (quarter notes and beamed eighth notes) and two note songs with so and mi.

Kindergarten drama focuses on the idea that drama is about the use of the imagination and pretending. Through games, participatory stories and pantomime, children use their observational and listening skills and sensory recall to enact small moments and scenes. Creativity, collaboration and cooperation are incorporated into activities, as children discover the ways that movement and gesture can convey an idea or a concept.

In Kindergarten, emphasis is on the development of gross and fine motor skills, spatial awareness, the concept of following directions and learning how to use good sportsmanship in individual and group games. Classes always begin with a warm-up activity that covers a variety of skills and addresses all fitness levels. Locomotive movements such as hopping, galloping, leaping, jumping, skipping, running and walking are practiced daily. Using various pieces of equipment (yarn balls, scarves, bean bags, beach balls, balloons, soft rubber balls, scoops, foam paddles, wiffle-balls and bats), the children begin to develop throwing, catching and striking skills. Kindergartners work on hand-eye and eye-foot coordination on both their dominant and non-dominant sides.