Religion:
Silver Burdett Ginn
This is Our Faith includes 6 units all pertaining to God’s Love.
Unit 1: God’s Love Creates the Universe
Unit 2: God’s Love Makes Me Who I Am
Unit 3: God’s Love Gives Me People to Love
Unit 4: God’s Love Gives Me Jesus
Unit 5: God’s Love Teaches Me to Love
Unit 6: We Celebrate This unit is split up and goes with the holidays throughout the year.
The Kindergarten also attends Mass weekly. We have prayer in the morning and before we dismiss. Monthly prayers and songs are sent home to work on.
Math:
Saxon Math uses a variety of techniques to place math skills into every day use. Our program uses many different manipulatives and has a repetitive format. The use of a daily calendar is also incorporated. It goes over a variety of areas from calendar to money, patterning, counting, number identification, graphing, and much more.
Phonics:
K-Wac
This stands for Kindergarten Word Attack Course
This program takes us through the letters in an unusual order so that we may begin spelling and sounding out words the second week. The first letter is Aa and the second letter is Tt. This leads us to the word at and continues to build from there.
Reading:
Houghton Mifflin
Wonder of Words uses Big Books to promote literacy. In our room we try to read one big book a week and do the fun activities that go with it.
Science:
We have a fun Science curriculum from Scott Foresman. In Kindergarten it is set up into four units, A through D. Unit A consists of Life Science: Living and Nonliving things, Animals, and Plants. Unit B is Physical Science: Matter, Sound, Heat, and Light, and Movement. Unit C has Earth Science: Earth and Sky, Weather, and Caring for Earth. Unit four has the Human Body: You Senses, Growing and Changing, and Being Healthy. We do still incorporate the letter of the week so lessons are not taught in order and more is added when the opportunity is there.
Social Studies:
Macmillan⁄McGraw-Hill
This is a new series for us. The theme is Preparing Tomorrow’s Citizens Today. The units include: Friends and Family (cultures), Where We Live (geography), Working Together (government), I Am a Citizen (citizenship), People Work (economics), and Things Change (history).
Art:
We do a lot of fun projects that usually deal with the season, holiday, or letter of the week. Kindergartners love to create!
Snack & Story:
We have snack and I read a story every day!
Music:
We have a music teacher⁄room that the children go to twice a week to sing, play instruments, and learn about music.
Library:
We are blessed with a wonderful library full of books. The Kindergarten goes to the library once a week to work with Mrs. Greff and to check out books.
Phy Ed:
Kindergartners do go to phy ed with Mr. Brekke twice a week for a fun exercise program!
Computer lab:
St. Joseph is lucky to have a computer lab full of iMacs. We go once a week there to explore books, games, and whatever we might find interesting.
Recess:
We couldn’t have school without recess! We do go out three mornings a week for 15 minutes.
Fun! Fun! Fun!
That is what I strive for. A fun atmosphere for 5 and 6 year olds is also a learning one! I am amazed at what our children can learn in a year!
See the Kindergarten Web Page for pictures and activities!