English Language Arts:
Kindergarten students are focused on developing the foundational skills of literacy. This includes learning the alphabet sounds and letters and how they relate to reading and writing. Students will practice rhyming, beginning sounds, and blending sounds into words. Students will also begin to learn how to read and comprehend simple texts over the course of the year while being encouraged to write in various ways. They will practice drawing and writing letters in order to share ideas and information. Students will be developing vocabulary through exposure to books, stories, and speaking. They will also begin to practice their listening and speaking skills while being introduced to various strategies.
Art:
The Kindergarten curriculum will focus on the following themes:
Quarter 1 – Artist as Explorer Quarter 2 – Artist as Collaborator Quarter 3 – Artist as Storyteller Quarter 4 – Artist as Observer
Social Studies:
The focus of kindergarten social studies is the individual so students will be asked to relate information to their lives. Social studies content and concepts are integrated into lessons throughout the day. Benchmarks from each of the six social studies standards will be addressed throughout the year via different lessons and activities.
Music:
Students receive a minimum of 60 minutes of instruction weekly in Music provided by a Specialist certified in Music Education. The focus is on exploration, movement, listening skills, music creation and immersion. During a typical lesson the child will engage in Singing, Dancing, Active Listening, Rhythmic Movement and Steady Beat activities.
Science:
Kindergartners will be able to answer questions such as:
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What happens if you push or pull an object harder?
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Where do animals live and why do they live there?
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What is the weather like today and how is different from yesterday?
Kindergartners will also develop an understanding of patterns and variations in local weather, the importance of weather forecasting, and how to prepare for and respond to severe weather. Students will apply their understanding of the effects of different strengths and directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object in order to design a solution to a simple problem. Lastly, they will understand what plants, animals, and humans need to survive and how where they live affects some of their needs.
Physical Education:
The Kindergarten Physical Education programs consist of basic movement skills, essential knowledge and understanding of physical activity and fitness, as well as personal and social behavior are introduced at the kindergarten-second grade span. Students can learn in a developmentally appropriate program, are provided meaningful content and instruction in a variety of motor skills, rhythms activities, and fitness education. Appropriate instruction with maximum practice opportunities and full inclusion is also provided. Student assessment is ongoing, and assessments are aligned with the Wyoming Physical Education Content and Performance Standards.
Math:
During the course of the Kindergarten math curriculum in LCSD#1, students will learn the following skills:
- Know number names and the count sequence
- Count to tell the number of objects
- Write numbers 0 to 20, and represent objects with a written number
- Compare numbers between 1 and 10 when written
- Understand addition as putting together, and understand subtraction as taking away
- Fluently add with sums equal to 5 or less
- Fluently subtract with differences equal to 5 or less
- Work with numbers 11 - 19 to begin learning place value
- Describe and compare measurable attributes of objects
- Classify objects and count the number of objects in a category
- Identify and describe shapes • Analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes
- Adapted from CCSS Mathematics Standards
Health Education:
The purpose of Health Education is to motivate students to maintain and improve their health, prevent disease, avoid and reduce health – related risk behaviors and provide students with knowledge and skills to lead a healthy lifestyle. More than ever before, it is vital that schools provide students with experiences that enable them to develop the capacity to obtain, interpret, and understand basic health information and services and the competence to use such information and services in ways that enhance their health and reduce their health risks. In other words, schools should help students become health literate. The Wyoming Content and Performance Standards are based on the premise that health literacy is the key outcome of school health education. Health literacy is an asset to be achieved and students must be empowered to apply their knowledge and skills in ways that enable them to exert greater control over their health and health-related decisions.