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KINDERGARTEN CURRICULUM

Philosophy: 
Our kindergarten program at Lansing Christian School is based on a Reformed Christian perspective on the nature of the young child.  We are to educate the whole child – physical, intellectual, spiritual, social, and emotional.  Therefore, we present material in a holistic and integrated way and use curriculum that is developmentally and age appropriate.  Our kindergarten curriculum offers a wide variety of activities and experiences in many areas.

General Goals: 
-  To honor God
-  To appreciate his/her uniqueness as God's child
-  To experience the wonder of God's world
-  To develop self-esteem
-  To develop his/her God-given potential
-  To express his/her creativity
-  To respect authority
-  To respect classmates
-  To respect school property
-  To exercise self-control
-  To cooperate with others
-  To develop independence
-  To develop good work habits
-  To learn to listen
-  To follow directions
-  To develop readiness skills for reading and math
-  To develop large and small motor skills

Curriculum:

Bible:
We teach stories from both the Old Testament (Genesis thru Esther) and the New Testament (the life of Jesus Christ – His birth, miracles, parables, death, and resurrection). 
Our Bible goals are:

  1. The children will have a knowledge of God and the Bible.
  2. The children will learn to love God and His Word.
  3. The children will have a loving concern for others.
  4. The children will have a desire to belong to God and joyfully serve Him. 
  5. The children will develop an understanding of how God deals with His people and what he expects from them in faith and obedience.
  6. The children will deepen and broaden the students' response to God's Revelation.
All of our memory work is taken from the New International Version of the Bible.  Our major Memory Work consists of:

  1. The Lord's Prayer
  2. Psalm 100 (at Thanksgiving)
  3. Luke 2:11-12 (at Christmas, covering Jesus' birth)
  4. Psalm 23 – The Lord Is My Shepherd
  5. Matthew 28:5-6 (at Easter, covering Jesus' resurrection)
  6. Song of Solomon 2:11-12 (at springtime)
  7. Several other short memory verses

Reading/Language Arts:

In Reading/Language Arts, we use a whole language approach using speaking, listening, writing, dictated stories, shared reading, choral reading, and echo reading. 
We base our whole language activities on real life experiences, stories, poems, and songs.  We also integrate art, math, science, and social studies into our Reading/Language Arts program. 
Through the whole language approach the children develop print literacy.  They learn what words and sentences are and how to move from left to right and top to bottom.  They begin to use phonetic and context clues and to understand sentence structure.  Emerging readers begin to develop a sight vocabulary. 
We use the Letter People Cards to assist the children in learning the letters/sounds of the alphabet.  The children learn to recognize, print, and give the sound of the uppercase and the lowercase letters of the alphabet.  As soon as we learn our first vowel letter (short a), the children begin to sound out three letter words.  Then the children are reading!  Our whole language activities give purpose to the phonetic instruction.
Our Reading/Language Arts goals are:

  1. Discrimination of letters and sounds
  2. Left to right progression as well as top to bottom
  3. Comprehension skills
  4. Phonetic skills
  5. Sequencing
  6. Rhyming
  7. Following directions
  8. Dramatization
  9. Reading simple sight words
  10. Vocabulary
  11. Comprehension
  12. Oral expression
  13. Perception Skills

Math:

            In Math, we give the children many concrete manipulative experiences.Young children see relationships and understand patterns of mathematics through the use of concrete materials (unifix cubes, pattern blocks, geo-boards, etc.).  A page of abstract symbols cannot involve the child's senses the way real materials can.  Their real understanding comes from the manipulation of these materials.  The emphasis on our math program is on making math concepts meaningful to the young child. 
Most importantly, the children are taught that all things are of God, including our world of mathematics.  Everywhere there are evidences of God in mathematical relationships:  in numbers, in patterns, in symmetry, etc.
Our Math goals are:

  1. Counts to 100 by 1's, 5's, 10's
  2. Exhibits one to one correspondence skills
  3. Counts to 20 by 2's
  4. Writes/identifies numerals 0-20
  5. Understands number combinations thru five
  6. Understands patterns (aab, abb, abc)
  7. Place value introduction (ones/tens/hundreds)
  8. Sorts and Classifies (shapes/colors/sizes)
  9. Graphing (more/less/equal)
  10. School Days tally
  11. Estimates (predicting outcomes, how many, how long)
  12. Compares (numerals/groups of things)
  13. Tells time by hour
  14. Understands money (recognition/value of penny, nickel, dime)
  15. Introduction of addition and subtraction
  16. Measurement (tall/short, light/heavy, too much/too little, length)

Science:

            In Science, the children will become aware of God's world and how to conserve its resources.  They will observe likenesses and differences and learn to classify.  They will understand the needs of living things and they will observe cause and effect.  The children will appreciate the wonder of God's creation.
Our major Science Units are:

  1. Animals – Letter A Week/thru the school year
  2. Weather – Letter W Week
  3. Day/Night – Letter N Week
  4. Seasons – Letter S Week
  5. Plants – Letter P Week = pumpkins/ Springtime = bean plant, flowers
  6. Colors – one color per month
  7. Magnets – Letter M Week
  8. Eggs – Letter E Week
  9. The life cycle of the butterfly and frog – Springtime

Our Science Units are integrated into our reading program, as we learn new letters. 

Social Studies/Health:

            In Social Studies, the children will develop the knowledge that God created all things and all people and that He cares for His world and His people.  The children will develop a knowledge, an awareness, an appreciation, and a responsibility for themselves, their families, their community, the world, and its people.  Some of our Social Studies lessons also tie in with Health. 
Our major Social Studies/Health Units are:

  1. ME -  The children will explore how God has created us all unique and in His own image; the children will explore the four feelings:  happy, angry, afraid, and sad; and the children will learn about self-esteem.
  2. FAMILY – The children will explore how families are alike/different; the children will look at their family relationships between their own parents and siblings; and the children will learn how our families are also part of the larger family of God.
  3. COMMUNITY – The children will learn about community workers and the jobs that they perform.
  4. SAFETY – The children will practice bus, playground, and fire safety.
  5. HOLIDAYS – The children will learn about Christopher Columbus, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Presidents' Day (George Washington and Abraham Lincoln) and Easter.
  6. COUNTRY AND FLAG – The children will learn the name of our country and identify its shape.  They will also learn to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag as well as the Christian flag Pledge.
  7. OTHER CULTURES – The children will learn that we are part of a bigger world, God's world.  They will explore some Native American tribes.  They will also learn about Black History – Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, etc. 
  8. CURRENT EVENTS – The children will become familiar with current events.

Art:
In Art the children will have an opportunity to explore the imagination that God has given them.  The children also have an opportunity to further develop some fine motor skills.  Our kindergarten art projects tend to relate to the specific letter of the week or to the season that we are currently in.
Our Art goals are:

  1. Color with control
  2. Glue economically
  3. Cut on the line
  4. Grip pencil with proper grip and control
  5. Print on the line
  6. Color within lines

Physical Education:
In P.E. our children will learn basic developmental movement skills, such as
skipping, running, stopping, jumping, dodging, throwing, catching, kicking, etc.    
Our P.E. goals are:

  1. Tie own shoes
  2. Able to fasten clothing
  3. Large muscle development
  4. Body awareness activities
  5. Low organization games
  6. Fitness testing
  7. Personal exercise awareness
  8. Basic Movement Activities