Kindergarten provides children with the fundamental academic skills they need to build a solid foundation for future learning. Kindergarten also helps develop children’s thinking (cognitive) skills through fun, interactive activities.
Many schools expect kindergartners to know their letters and sounds, recognize basic shapes and numbers, write their name and be able to ask to use the bathroom on their own.
Language
Oral language — the way we communicate with one another — is at the heart of kindergarten. Kindergartners build their comprehension skills through the lively back-and-forth of every day conversations, pretend play and active read alouds with parents.
They learn to recognize uppercase and lowercase letters, match them to their sounds, and blend those sounds together into simple words. They also begin to write their own names and draw pictures.
In most schools, children attend kindergarten for one full school year — five years old. Kindergarten is often the first formal classroom experience for kids. It’s also known as preschool in the UK, reception in England and Wales and primary one in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Canada, kindergarten is known as junior kindergarten (JK) and senior kindergarten (SK). It’s called maternelle and jardin d’enfants in France. In Germany, it’s called Kindegarten. This early educational approach is based on the teachings of Friedrich Froebel and Maria Montessori.
Math
Kindergarten math is where children take their first steps in arithmetic adventures. It begins with Counting & Cardinality standards, which establish a significant foundation for almost all of the work that occurs within the Operations & Algebraic Thinking (OA) and Number & Operations in Base Ten (NBT) domains.
Understanding of shape and form is another essential kindergarten math skill. Students should be able to recognize basic shapes such as circles, squares, and triangles as well as interpret graphs.
Building a strong foundation in mathematics will set students up for success in later years. However, gaining an appropriate grasp on key concepts is not always easy. Many students struggle with counting, recognizing and writing numbers, and comparing numbers and their corresponding cardinality. Developing these skills is an important part of kindergarten math and should happen daily. It also includes knowing the corresponding number names and their count sequence, including numbers that are one higher or lower than a given number.
Science
In kindergarten, children learn about the natural world through observations and experiences. Children are curious by nature and want to explore their surroundings. Teachers support this exploration with materials that encourage children to build and take apart objects, examine what is around them and ask questions about their environment.
They also learn about the five senses and how to make observations based on them. They are introduced to a variety of tools to help them collect data and measure, like magnifying glasses, water bottles and balance scales.
Kindergartners are encouraged to act like scientists, conducting experiments and recording their findings. They learn about the importance of sharing their results with others. For example, when experimenting with how water moves up a plant’s stem, kids might put a celery stalk or carnation stem in water that has food coloring in it and observe how the colored water travels to the top of the stem, thanks to xylem, the plant’s transportation system.
Social Studies
In kindergarten, social studies are centered around learning about oneself, family, community and the world. Teachers serve a direct role in how young children are exposed to social systems (the abstract societal norms and values that affect relationships and interactions) and can help cultivate students’ curiosity about these concepts as well as their desire to become active citizens who care for their communities now and in the future.
Social studies is a domain that encompasses a variety of disciplines, including geography, history, science, economics and citizenship. In the early years, many of these concepts are cultivated through play and through interactions between peers.
These 35-minute scripted lessons include a lesson opener, whole group skill lesson, and student follow-up sheets that are differentiated! All of the practice sheets can be shrunk and placed into a student journal to help your learners stay engaged! All lessons are teacher-friendly with directions written in Kinder-friendly language. This unit is a great addition to any classroom!