Kindergarten
Woodshop K
Writing Continuum
Literacy Statement
An effective literacy program offers a balance of challenge and support while building children’s confidence in their emerging abilities as readers and writers. Our goal is to develop fluent, capable readers who enjoy the process and learn from it, drawing from a diverse array of literature. Helping students become writers who can express their ideas cogently, clearly, and creatively is another important goal. We view reading and writing as a developmental process and understand that a child’s progress is seldom even or linear. It is common, for example, that a student’s leap ahead in learning is followed by a consolidating phase or an apparent plateau. We also find that students cannot be easily placed in a single category along the learning continuum. As such, our instruction is guided by regular formal and informal writing assessments.
While no two developmental journeys are identical, students often exhibit a range of skills and understandings. The following reading/writing continuum describes the basic path to literacy in the Beginning and Lower Schools.
Reading Continuum
Literacy Statement
An effective literacy program offers a balance of challenge and support while building children’s confidence in their emerging abilities as readers and writers. Our goal is to develop fluent, capable readers who enjoy the process and learn from it, drawing from a diverse array of literature. Helping students become writers who can express their ideas cogently, clearly, and creatively is another important goal. We view reading and writing as a developmental process and understand that a child’s progress is seldom even or linear. It is common, for example, that a student’s leap ahead in learning is followed by a consolidating phase or an apparent plateau. We also find that students cannot be easily placed in a single category along the learning continuum. As such, our instruction is guided by regular formal and informal reading assessments.
While no two developmental journeys are identical, students often exhibit a range of skills and understandings. The following reading/writing continuum describes the basic path to literacy in the Beginning and Lower Schools.
K Storycraft
The goal of Storycraft is to encourage inquisitive learners through the study of imaginative narrative, myths, legends, and oral traditions from many cultures. We learn how to build stories, the elements involved, where imagination comes in, and the fine art of telling and acting out our stories. Storycraft builds community by helping us to get to know one another, what we share, and the differences we also share.
Visual Arts K
Visual Arts in Kindergarten
Making art is fundamental to being human. Visual arts have always been a means of learning, reaching understanding, and communicating, of voicing, making connections, speaking to one another, and sharing-- in fact, the experience of what it means to be human. Because each material lends itself to a new interpretation of experience, the studio is a place where kindergarteners are introduced to a wide range of materials and then encouraged use them to bring experience to life, to understand their world in new ways. Through an exploration of both 2D and 3D materials, students’ natural curiosity is ignited, as lessons are framed to support children’s creativity and discovery. Through this engagement students begin to develop a broader range of skills and techniques, both for making art and “reading” art. Some projects are cross-curricular in content, while others are focused primarily on students’ expansion of material fluency.
Please note: Because teaching and learning in the studio is responsive to students and their interests, it is continually evolving, and the specific projects may change from year to year. The essential concepts and attainment of techniques through using materials, however, remains.
Writing Continuum
Literacy Statement
An effective literacy program offers a balance of challenge and support while building children’s confidence in their emerging abilities as readers and writers. Our goal is to develop fluent, capable readers who enjoy the process and learn from it, drawing from a diverse array of literature. Helping students become writers who can express their ideas cogently, clearly, and creatively is another important goal. We view reading and writing as a developmental process and understand that a child’s progress is seldom even or linear. It is common, for example, that a student’s leap ahead in learning is followed by a consolidating phase or an apparent plateau. We also find that students cannot be easily placed in a single category along the learning continuum. As such, our instruction is guided by regular formal and informal writing assessments.
While no two developmental journeys are identical, students often exhibit a range of skills and understandings. The following reading/writing continuum describes the basic path to literacy in the Beginning and Lower Schools.
Reading Continuum
Literacy Statement
An effective literacy program offers a balance of challenge and support while building children’s confidence in their emerging abilities as readers and writers. Our goal is to develop fluent, capable readers who enjoy the process and learn from it, drawing from a diverse array of literature. Helping students become writers who can express their ideas cogently, clearly, and creatively is another important goal. We view reading and writing as a developmental process and understand that a child’s progress is seldom even or linear. It is common, for example, that a student’s leap ahead in learning is followed by a consolidating phase or an apparent plateau. We also find that students cannot be easily placed in a single category along the learning continuum. As such, our instruction is guided by regular formal and informal reading assessments.
While no two developmental journeys are identical, students often exhibit a range of skills and understandings. The following reading/writing continuum describes the basic path to literacy in the Beginning and Lower Schools.