Pre-School

History and Geography

By working with maps and globes students learn to identify and locate the seven continents, the oceans, the poles, the city, state, and country in which they live. Their knowledge of the continents is reinforced with familiar landmarks and plant and animal life on each continent. They learn about Native Americans, early exploration and settlement of this country, stories about some American presidents, and national symbols.

Children learn more about maps and globes. They review the seven continents and major oceans, learn about the major directions, geographic terms, and places relevant to what they are studying. Students begin their study of ancient civilizations and are introduced to ancient Egypt. Since religion is so important in the story of civilization, children are introduced to the history of major religions. Kindergarteners study about very early hunters and nomads who crossed from Asia to North America. They are instructed in the topics of American colonization, the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase, and more national symbols.

Language Arts

Children are taught to recognize, name, and write the letters of the alphabet, to decode letter-sound relationships, read simple phonetic stories, engage in oral language activities, and to express themselves in print. They are introduced through reading aloud to a varied selection of poetry, literature, and children’s classics.

Children continue systematic instruction and practice in decoding letter-sound relationships, working toward the goal of more independent reading and writing. They master common sight words, read phonetic stories, and with assistance, they read “beginning reader” books. They are offered many opportunities to express themselves in print. They practice handwriting, dictation, and learn some conventions of written language, including apitalization, end punctuation, making words plural by adding s, and writing common contractions. They practice going over what they have written and correcting their mistakes. The children are introduced to a varied selection of poetry, literature, and classic selections. They take part in a drama and learn about some terms and conventions of drama.

Mathematics

Children work with patterns and classification, both with concrete objects and pictorial representations. They learn the concepts of more than, less than, equal to, most, and least. They count to 50 by ones, twos, fives, and tens. They learn to identify one-half of a set. They identify and work with money, add and subtract to ten, identify familiar tools of measurement and their function, and begin to measure length in nonstandard units and then inches. They compare the weight of objects, the capacity of containers, and temperatures. They learn to read a clock face to the hour, learn the days of the week, and the months of the year. They identify basic plane figures and learn terms of relative orientation and position.

Children define sets, count and write numbers to 100, count by twos, fives, and tens. They identify ordinal position, a dozen and half-dozen, and pairs. They are introduced to the concept of place value, recognize one-half, one-third, one-fourth, and interpret simple graphs. They show how different combinations of coins equal the same amounts of money. Children learn their addition and subtraction facts up to 12 and practice them until mastered. They learn about zeros and two-digit addition and subtraction without regrouping. They learn to solve basic one step story and picture problems. Students learn more about measurement and geometrical skills.

Music

Students learn to recognize and move to a steady beat; recognize long and short sounds; discriminate between loud and quiet, fast and slow, short and long sounds; and sing unaccompanied and in unison. They learn to recognize by sight and sound instruments such as the piano, guitar, trumpet, flute, violin, and drums.

Children learn to echo short rhythms and melodic patterns; play simple rhythms and melodies; and recognize like and unlike phrases. Students are introduced to the concept of musical notation. They learn about the families of instruments of the orchestra, and the role of the conductor. They are introduced to classical music and composers, and to music that tells a story. Children are introduced to ballet and other types of dance, as well as to opera and jazz.

Science

Children learn about plant growth, basic parts of plants, and how people use plants for food and other purposes. They learn about animals and their needs and how to care for pets. They study the human body, in particular the five senses, and taking care of their bodies. Children learn about the four seasons and the weather, why we need to take care of the earth, recycling, and magnetism. Children are introduced to the lives and achievements of scientists.

Children explore the interdependence of living things and their environment. Students get an overview of the major systems of the human body, the idea that everything is made of matter, different measuring tools and measurement. They observe and experiment with electricity and explore the solar system. They continue to be introduced to the lives and achievements of scientists.

Visual Arts

Children are introduced to a variety of art activities and materials, artists and works of art in many media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and collage. Children learn about color and talk about the ways different colors can produce different effects and feelings both in their own creations and those of the painters being studied. Children learn to identify and use different kinds of lines and how different artists use lines. Children begin to look closely at pictures through being asked what the pictures make them feel and think, what details they notice, what questions the pictures make them ask, and why they think that artist chose to depict things in a certain way. Besides making their own sculptures, children learn about such sculptures as the Statue of Liberty, totem poles, and mobiles.

Children learn more about the elements of art, including color, line, shape, and texture. They look at the use of color in many works and they continue to identify and use different kinds of lines. Children identify and use basic geometric shapes and note how artists in the works being studied use these shapes. They learn to describe qualities of texture in natural objects and works of art. Children discuss examples of different kinds of paintings, create their own, and study about murals. In connection with their learning about ancient civilizations, children learn about the art of those civilizations.