Kindergartners learn their letters and their sounds, as well as basic math skills like counting and comparing numbers and shapes. They also learn to work with other kids in a group setting.
Kindergarten is an important bridge between preschool and formal education. It offers a variety of learning opportunities to help kids develop physically, socially and emotionally.
Science
In kindergarten, students learn about science through hands-on experiences. They might experiment with how magnets attract or repel each other, explore their neighborhood’s weather patterns and talk about what plants and animals need to survive.
They may also watch a caterpillar transform into a pupa and emerge as a butterfly, or observe the changes in a seed sprouting from a plant’s roots. These types of activities allow children to feel like scientists themselves—a feeling that can promote a lifelong love for science and encourage future career choices in a science field.
The bundled science standards created for kindergarten include Earth sciences (such as geology, soil and water), physical science (such as chemistry, matter and forces) and life sciences. In addition to their science learning, kindergartners develop and use their imaginations as they play with toys like pipe cleaners that can be bent into letters or numbers, make crystals from salt water, draw mazes for a marble to roll through, and measure objects by size and weight.
Social Studies
It’s vital for kids to learn about the world around them. Social studies teaches them how to identify and solve problems through essential questions, discussions, persuasive essays and more. It also helps them develop skills that are necessary for 21st century life, such as understanding the importance of diversity and empathy.
Early social studies includes learning about self, family, classroom, school and community and identifying how people are alike and different. It also explores basic geography concepts, including the differences between continents and oceans. And it introduces children to their national culture, focusing on values and symbols that make America unique, while promoting respect for other cultures.
Moreover, it’s important for children to understand civics and government, which helps them become informed citizens by engaging in democratic practices and processes and developing a sense of responsibility to their communities. These lessons help them understand how laws are made and why certain behaviors are considered appropriate in society.
Language Arts
Language Arts develop children’s communication skills, critical thinking and connection with the world. Through reading, writing, speaking and listening exercises, kids learn to express their ideas loudly and clearly, build upon existing knowledge and acquire new information, fostering cognitive development.
They practice alphabetic awareness, phonics and beginning sight words to build a solid foundation for reading. They read and listen to books, identifying characters, plots, and themes, while developing comprehension skills. They begin to understand the meaning of literature, focusing on author’s purpose, themes and symbolism.
Logic of English Foundations is a complete kindergarten language arts curriculum that covers reading, grammar, writing and vocabulary instruction. Students use Small Letter Cards and Chaining Folders to practice spelling words with the sound spellings they have been taught. They also print names, the alphabet and a few basic vocabulary words using left to right handwriting. These lessons introduce a variety of punctuation and capital letters, forming a foundation for writing.
Math
In kindergarten, children start to build a foundation of math skills that will help them learn in future years. Yet math often takes a backseat to reading, teachers are unprepared to teach it and appropriate curricula, if available, can be scattershot or overly repetitive.
In the classroom, kindergarten students typically work on one-to-one correspondence with numbers up to 10, learning how to compare sets and use academic vocabulary to determine whether a number is greater than, less than or equal to another. They also begin to understand and count by tens, as well as learn to recognize two-dimensional shapes, such as circles, squares and rectangles.
In addition, kindergarten students will use a variety of manipulatives, such as blocks, beads and counters, to learn about geometry and other aspects of math, including data collection, graphing and patterning. This hands-on approach helps kids better represent, explain and connect abstract ideas in a real-world context. It is also a critical component to develop problem-solving and reasoning skills.