PreK & Kindergarten | All Saints Day School

Pre-K & Kindergarten

The Pre-K and Kindergarten program is designed to meet a wider range of learning styles, abilities, preferred methods of self-expression, and attitudes than is typically found in a single-grade classroom. Age grouping beyond the traditional one-year range found in most programs provides children with better opportunities to become social and to learn from others, at their own pace.

This philosophy proceeds as, when they are ready, children in the Pre-K and K levels of the Early Childhood Center gain many opportunities to interact with older students throughout the grades of All Saints School, and with their future teachers. This designed, child-centered flexibility in education also makes new children feel welcome no matter when they join because as "EC-ers" meet and socialize with older graders it follows that it is easy to be open to other new faces along the way.

Throughout small and large group learning activities students receive individual attention, which helps ensure each child is acquiring a love of learning and the academic skills needed to advance. Content-rich, multifaceted experiences allow students to pursue their own interests and represent their ideas through a variety of means. It is a classroom community where everyone is engaged in meaningful learning.

Pre-K & Kindergarten Curriculum

List of 4 items.

Language Arts

Reading
Reading groups in the Early Childhood Center cover a range of skills. Instruction begins with letter recognition, sound-symbol relationship, long and short vowels, consonant blends, and the introduction of common sight words. Pre-primers reinforce the students growing sight word vocabulary and accompanying activities allow opportunities for summarizing stories, demonstrating comprehension, and predicting what might come next. Guided reading provides the children an opportunity to explore a wide variety of literature experiences. All activities are designed to stimulate independent thinking and writing.

Writing
Handwriting lessons using Handwriting Without Tears make handwriting easy to learn and serve as a link to handwriting instruction in first grade. Opportunities to write occur throughout the curriculum and include Writer’s Workshop, which provides exposure to a variety of children’s literature and creates time for response through discussion, reflection, writing and illustration and journal writing in reading, math, and science; and research projects.
Mathematics

Math groups in ECC begin the study of the relationship between numbers and quantities, simple addition and subtraction, estimation in computation and problem solving, sorting and classifying of objects, the concept of time and units of measure, geometric shapes, graphing and mathematical reasoning. Basic addition and subtraction skills are designed to lead to mastery and automatic recall of the basic addition and subtraction facts. Thinking story problems involve the children in carefully crafted stories which involve multiple operations, cumulative content and the use of reasoning and critical thinking skills. All of these activities are designed to develop an understanding of math language, which students will use throughout their school years.
Science

As a way to provide children with a good foundation for a later understanding of more abstract scientific concepts, ECC provides many first-hand concrete activities such as water play, sand play and garden exploration, and science kits provide opportunities for scientific exploration and inquiry. All these activities help the children make the connection between everyday experiences and scientific concepts. ECC's science curriculum is designed to provide children with exciting science experiences that extend their natural fascination with the world and help them learn the science skills and concepts they will need in later schooling and in life.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education is an important part of the All Saints curriculum. Of the twenty fastest-growing career fields in the United States, fifteen of them require a STEM education. It is widely recognized that the United States needs to do a better job of preparing its students to be able to integrate skills and knowledge in these four fields, not only to prepare those who will end up working in a STEM-related career, but to prepare all of its students to grow into informed citizens, able to make wise decisions on the many public issues involving science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

All Saints' math, science and technology teachers work together to ensure that, at all grade levels, All Saints’ students “do STEM.” Presented with a problem to solve, students brainstorm in small groups, using their science, math, and technology skills, to design and engineer a solution to the problem. They test their design, and, if necessary, re-engineer it before presenting their solution to their classmates. Among the many STEM design challenges, students undertake are roller coasters, spirometers to measure lung capacity, cardboard furniture to hold classmates, rain gauges, bird feeders, electrical circuits, bridges, and oil spill cleanup systems. In addition to the design challenges, students routinely integrate their math and technology skills into their regular science lessons.

STEM education is not only fun for students, but it also teaches them the importance and value of creativity, collaboration, flexibility, and communication, important traits for 21st-century citizens.
Social Studies

Recognizing the importance for each child to develop a sense of his or her place within both the local and global community, units centering on school/community, people/occupations and global awareness form the basis of the social science curriculum. These often involve dramatic play centers, language experience booklets, and related literature, and draw upon the children's prior experience and knowledge. Seasonal celebrations carry cultural messages as well as information about physical changes around us: many holidays, including Valentine's Day, Easter, and International Day are celebrated and these integrate literature, art, physical science, and music. The All Saints character education curriculum is used throughout the year to teach the loving values and skills that children need in order to develop into happy, productive, and caring individuals.

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