Kindergarten Course Information
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Art
What children will study this year:
In Kindergarten, art is taught by an Art Specialist. It is the goal of the elementary art program to develop an understanding of art that will lead to a lifetime of art appreciation. Students will be introduced to learning about and creating visual art by:
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Encountering the elements of art: line, shape, color, texture, value, space and form. They will specifically learn more deeply about line, shape, and color in kindergarten.
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Experimenting with creating different types of lines.
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Learning about the warm and cool colors.
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Making different types of artwork.
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Using a variety of art materials and tools.
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Learning about artists and how they create artwork.
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Looking at a variety of artwork from around the world, including Ojibwe and Dakota art.
What you can do at home to help:
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Artists see lines all around them. Together with your child, find straight lines, curved lines, and zigzag lines. How many bumpy lines can you find in your home? How many wavy lines can you find on a nature walk?
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Notice different textures by collecting objects in nature such as stones, twigs, pine cones and leaves. Ask your child to describe how each object feels.
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Help your child find and name a variety of shapes such as circles, rectangles, triangles and squares.
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Talk about the colors of your clothes. How would you dress in warm colors (red, orange, yellow) one day, and cool colors (blue, green, purple) the next?
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Take your child to a local art museum. The Twin Cities and surrounding area has a wide variety of art to view in person. Visit the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Museum of Russian Art,
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Attend special art events at the North Suburban Center For The Arts, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Caponi Art Park, Franconia Sculpture Park, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Silverwood Park.
Art Units
This unit will span all 3 trimesters, students will explore the use of line, shape and color in art doing various activities. As this is an introductory year to art for K students, there will be a lot of exploring of art concepts, materials, tools, techniques, artists and artworks. Not all learning activities will be finished art projects. The following timeframe may be flexible, to be determined by the teacher based on student understanding. During trimester 1, students will be exploring and creating projects that center on line. During trimester 2, students will be exploring and creating projects that center around shape—specifically geometric shapes. During trimester 3, students will be continuing to explore and create projects using line and shape while also adding the concept of warm and cool colors. The unit will culminate with a summative assessment in which students will create a playground that will assess student understanding of line, geometric shapes and warm/cool colors. Free form shapes and primary/secondary colors may be introduced during the year, but will not be assessed at this time.
Line:
What families can do to help:
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Do leaf or other texture rubbings. Notice the shapes that you see. Talk about what they look like.
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Create different lines on the ground with chalk or tape: bumpy line, zig-zag line, a straight line, a curvy line, ect. Walk on the lines. Then, extend this, and place a small cotton ball or marshmallow on the line. Take a straw and blow the cotton ball or marshmallow on the line.
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Paint with water on the driveway. How many different lines can you create before the lines dry up and disappear.
Shape:
What families can do to help:
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Experiment with play dough or clay.
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Play with scissors, glue and paper. Practice cutting out different shapes with your paper.What kinds of things can you create with the different shapes.
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Look at different illustrations in children’s books. What shapes do you see in the images?
Color:
What families can do to help:
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Experiment with color using different art materials: crayon, marker, watercolor paints, craft paints.
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Identify different things in your home that are the warm colors (red, orange, yellow), and the cool colors (green, blue, purple).
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Find different children’s books about color, and read together
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Core Support
What children will study this year:
Technology skills are learned within the context of math, social studies, language, and science curriculum objectives. Students learn to use computers to help prepare them to live in the technology-rich society of the 21st century.- iPad Skills- ie swiping, taping, closing apps
- Click and drag
- Open and close apps
- Make shapes using drawing tools
- Explore drawing tools
- Coding on ScratchJr
- Access teacher-approved websites
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English Language Arts
READING
What children will learn this year:
The kindergarten English language arts program is designed to build on the language that children bring to school and to promote interest in books and learning to read. They participate in whole-class, small group and independent reading activities.Foundational:
- Demonstrates understanding of print features - Students demonstrate understanding of basic print features by tracking print from left to right, recognizing words are written by specific sequences of letters and by naming 50-52 alphabet letters fluently.
- Demonstrates understanding of spoken words and sounds - Students demonstrate understanding by producing rhyming words, blending and segmenting syllables, hearing beginning, middle, ending sounds in words, and making new words.
- Applies phonics and word reading skills - Students demonstrate one-to-one letter sound correspondence of consonants and long & short vowel sounds, read and write common sight words.
- Reads grade level text.
Literature:
- Asks and answers questions about the text - Students demonstrate reading comprehension strategies by asking and answering questions, and making connections between pictures and words during whole group, small group, and independent reading.Retells story including character, setting and events
- Students demonstrate reading comprehension strategies by retelling a story in sequence naming character, setting, major events, and key details during whole group, small group, and independent reading.
Informational:
- Asks and answers questions about key details in a text - Students demonstrate reading comprehension by asking and answering questions about key details in a text during whole group, small group, and independent reading.
- Identifies main topic and retells key details in a text - Students demonstrate reading comprehension by identifying the main topic, retelling key details, and describing connections between ideas, events, people or pictures within the text during whole group, small group, and independent reading.
What families can do at home to help:
- Talk with your child. Talking is one of the most important things you can do with your child. It helps your child connect the spoken with the written word.
- Point out the print around your child every day, i.e., street signs and signs advertising stores and products.
- Read to your child. Talk about what you are reading. Discuss the story, have your child predict what will happen next or how they think the story will end, and let your child tell you the story after reading it. Re-read stories.
- Read nursery rhymes (over and over and over), read poetry, and sing songs.
- Let your child see you and family or friends reading. Try to have both women and men model reading
- Encourage creativity in dramatic play
- Encourage your child to ask questions
- Read with your child everyday
- Stop what you are doing and look at the person who is speaking
- Don't talk or move when a person is speaking
- Think about what the person is saying
SPEAKING, LISTENING, VIEWING
What children will learn this year:
The kindergarten English language arts program is designed to build on the language that children bring to school and to promote interest in books and learning to read. They participate in whole-class, small group and independent reading activities.
- Effectively participates in discussions within a group - Students demonstrate understanding when they can follow rules for discussion, listen to others, follow basic directions and ask questions to confirm understanding.
- Presents information and ideas effectively - Students demonstrate effective skills for communication.
What families can do at home to help:
- Talk with your child. Talking is one of the most important things you can do with your child. It helps your child connect the spoken with the written word.
- Encourage creativity in dramatic play
- Encourage your child to ask questions
- Stop what you are doing and look at the person who is speaking
- Don't talk or move when a person is speaking
- Think about what the person is saying
WRITING
What children will study this year:
Kindergartners regularly engage in a mini-lesson (with explicit instruction focused on writing skills and strategies), write, confer with a teacher about their writing, and share their writing with others including peers, parents and teachers.
Writing:- Communicates ideas through pictures and words:
- Communicates ideas to the reader. Ideas are organized and word choice is effective. Simple stories are written using simple sentences.
- Responds to questions and suggestions to strengthen writing:
- Completes writing, staying on one topic. Adds important details to help reader understand.
What families can do at home to help:
- Have your child draw pictures about experiences they have at home.
- Assist your child in labeling their pictures using inventive spelling (write the sounds they hear).
- Have your child tell or share their writing with you and others.
- Read cookbooks and how-to directions with your child.
- Read texts about topics your child is interested in learning more about.
- Have your child begin to write sentences to match their pictures. Words do not need to be spelled correctly.
- Encourage your child to add detail in their writing to make it interesting to the reader.
- Display your child’s writing and praise their efforts to help build self-confidence.
LANGUAGE
- Uses language conventions when writing and/or speaking:
- The student demonstrates the ability to use words purposefully when writing or speaking.
- Acquires and uses appropriate vocabulary:
- The student demonstrates understanding when they use language acquired from books and classroom experiences.
- Learns handwriting skills.
What families can do at home to help:
- Scribbling is your child's experimentation with writing. It is important to encourage the scribbling and to give a lot of adult praise for the attempts at writing.
- Allow your child to "write" stories and read them back to you.
- Provide materials such as large crayons, chalk, markers, pencils, paints, and wide-lined paper.
- Provide a comfortable place for children to sit and write. Let the child determine how far to be from the paper.
- Let your child see you write. Explain to your child what your writing says and why you are writing. When you make shopping lists, leave phone messages, or write notes, provide paper and pencil for your child to write, too.
- Write messages. Help your child write reminders and calendar entries, such as "Library Day is Friday" or "Tomorrow we go to the dentist."
- Keep a home calendar. Record and anticipate important events with your child. A picture or sticker on a calendar can also be a form of writing your child could add to make a message, such as a drawing of a tooth for a reminder of a dental check-up.
- Narrate family happenings. Help your child write stories to go with drawings or photos of family events. Relatives might enjoy reading these!
- Display your child's drawings and writing where they can be seen.
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Health
What children will study this year:
- Bus Safety
- Dental health
- Staying healthy
What you can do at home to help:Discuss and set up healthy routines/habits with your child:
- Sleep schedule
- Brush and floss teeth
- Han washing
- Covering mouth when sneezing
- Help your child make healthy food choices
Review and discuss bus safety rules from Anoka-Hennepin Transportation Department
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Math
Bridges in Mathematics is a comprehensive math curriculum that addresses the Minnesota Standards for Mathematics in a manner that is rigorous, coherent, engaging, and accessible to all learners.
The curriculum focuses on developing children’s’ deep understandings of mathematical concepts, proficiency with key skills, and ability to solve complex and new problems. Bridges taps into the intelligence and strengths of all students by presenting material that is as linguistically, visually, and kinesthetically rich as it is mathematically powerful.
This year in Kindergarten math, your child will learn to:
- count forward to at least 31, backward from 20
- count objects and tell how many there are
- write numerals 0-31
- find a number that is 1 more or 1 less than a given number
- compare numbers or sets of objects to tell which has more or less
- add & subtract quickly and easily to 5
- add & subtract within 10 using objects, fingers, drawings, numbers, or equations
- solve addition and subtraction story problems
- understand that teen numbers are 10 and some more
- recognize, create, complete and extend patterns using shape, color, size, number, sounds and movements.
- identify, sort and describe shapes
- use shapes to model real-world objects
- compare and order objects according to length, size, weight and position
- understand length and weight as something that can be measured
Bridges in Mathematics Family Overview Letters:Family Welcome Letter: An introduction and overview of the year. Available in English or Spanish.
Unit 1: Numbers to Five & Ten: English or Spanish
Unit 2: Numbers to Ten: English or Spanish
Unit 3: Bikes & Bugs: Double, Add & Subtract: English or Spanish
Unit 4: Paths to Adding, Subtracting & Measuring: English or Spanish
Unit 5: Two-Dimensional Geometry: English or Spanish
Unit 6: Three-Dimensional Shapes & Numbers Beyond Ten: English or Spanish
Unit 7: Weight & Place Value: English or Spanish
Unit 8: Computing & Measuring with Frogs & Bugs: English or Spanish
Your best source to answer questions and get assistance is your student's teacher. The resources here provide additional guidance and suggestions for how you can participate in your child's learning.Click on this link to see the free apps that provide visual models featured in Bridges in Mathematics.
Games and activities to do at home:Bridges Math at Home Look for additional fun daily math activities, collections of practice pages, family games and online games from the Math Learning Center.
Bedtime Math The charitable mission of Bedtime Math is to help kids love numbers so they can handle the math in real life. Bedtime Math makes math part of the family routine. Every day, they serve up a quick bite of wacky math just for fun. Whether it’s flamingos, ninjas or pillow forts, children can see the math in their favorite topics.
Games for Young Minds Kent Haines, the developer of this website, has done a lot of legwork pulling together games and resources for families that are fun and mathematically power.
Which One Doesn’t Belong This website is dedicated to providing thought-provoking puzzles for adults and students alike. There are no answers provided as there are many different and correct ways of choosing which one doesn't belong. Enjoy!
Caregiver ResourcesDREME Family Connections DREME describes home-school connections to help young children see and understand that math is an important part of daily life.
Four Boosting Messages Everyone can learn math at high levels, according to recent research. This eight and a half minute video from Stanford University looks at evidence to support a growth mindset for all math learners.
Learning Progression Videos The Making Sense Progression videos describe the phases of strategies children progress through as they develop number sense and construct understandings of critical mathematical ideas.
Math Learning Center Apps Families can access these apps without a user name or password, and the apps can be used with iPads, Chrome or a computer's web browser. There’s a tutorial on the website for the apps, but most of the students will know what to do!
Supporting Your Child in Math This website offers a variety of resources to support families in understanding why we teach math differently today. These resources provide families with strategies for instilling positive beliefs about mathematics.
Talking Math With Kids Talking Math with Your Kids is about supporting children’s early mathematical development. Parents know that we need to read 20 minutes a day with our kids.But teaching math to your kids doesn’t have to be intimidating. It can be fun. Just as children say goodnight to the moon, they can say hello to numbers, shapes and measurement.
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Media
Students visit the library media center on a regular basis for book check out. Kindergartners are not provided instruction by the library media specialist.
Children who read achieve. The school library media center provides valuable resources and support for students. Kindergartners have opportunities to select books, explore their own interests, and check out books to take home.
What children will study this year:- Reading is an important part of becoming successful in school.
- Borrowing books requires responsible book care.
- Books are a shared resource and need to be returned when due.
Program and Grade Level Understandings articulate what students should understand and be able to do when they leave the K-12 program in Anoka-Hennepin. The grade level understandings demonstrate what students should understand and be able to do when they leave each grade level. The grade level understandings increase in complexity as students progress through the K-12 program. -
Music
What children will study this year:
- Songs: Acquiring songs to sing by memory is emphasized.
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Pitch: Singing is a learned skill that everyone can achieve. It is important to develop the skill of pitch matching. When playing instruments, the understanding of high sounds and low sounds is emphasized.
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Steady beat: Moving to a steady beat is emphasized. A steady beat is defined as playing percussion instruments with a steady beat.
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History and Culture: Students learn to recognize and describe various sounds of instruments, music from many cultures including Minnesota American Indian and various styles of music, both vocal and instrumental.
What families can do at home to help:
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Encourage family members to share music by singing, dancing, playing instruments, or listening to favorite recordings.
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Sing familiar childhood songs together. Have your child use a clear pleasant tone when speaking and singing to avoid harming the voice.
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Have your child experiment with everyday objects such as pots, boxes, jars, bottles, and other things around the house to find high and low pitches. Allow your child to be creative while using everyday objects to create music.
KINDERGARTEN MUSIC UNITS
Steady Beat
The overarching goal of this unit is to prepare students for later rhythmic skills. Be mindful of creating learning experiences that have embedded aspects of upcoming understandings.
Vocal Exploration
The overarching goal of this unit is to prepare students for later vocal skills. Be mindful of creating learning experiences that have embedded aspects of upcoming understandings.
Pitch - High/Low
This is a unit in which students learn the concept of high/low pitches. Through singing, reading, notating, creating, improvising, playing, moving, and listening, students will become familiar with high and low pitches (m3).
Comparatives
The overarching goal of this unit is that students will understand that there are foundational elements that lead to music literacy, that music is a form of communication, and there are meaningful connections between music and other aspects of life.
Critical Response
The overarching goal of this unit is that students will analyze, evaluate, respond and connect to music from many different cultures. Students will realize that music is a form of communication, and there are meaningful connections between music and other aspects of life.
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Physical Education
What children will study this year:
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Locomotor Movement Skills: running, jumping, hopping, galloping and skipping.
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Manipulative Skills: Underhand throwing and rolling, overhand throwing and catching, dribbling with both hands and feet, volleying and striking.
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Understand and demonstrate rules and procedures to help them play fair.
In order to participate safely and successfully, students should have tennis shoes for physical education activities and recess.
Adaptations and modifications will be made for students on an as needed basis.
What families can do at home to help:
It is important that youth of today develop regular exercise habits and activities that will be continued throughout life. In order for our children to become truly fit, these fitness activities must extend beyond the school day. Family and friends can have a major impact on a child's level of physical activity in many different ways.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION UNITS
Introduction to Physical Education
Students will be introduced to physical education. In this unit, students will begin to explore a variety of age appropriate movement activities to develop gross motor skills. Students will learn the importance of spatial awareness and moving safely among peers. Students will learn routines and rules that will allow for safe and successful participation in physical activities.
Muscular Fitness
Students will continue to develop movement skills, routines, rules and spatial awareness. In this unit students will be introduced to a variety of manipulative objects to help develop eye/hand and eye/foot coordination and the importance of their muscles. Students will demonstrate how to make responsible and safe choices while participating in physical education activities.
Nutrition and Track & Field
In this unit, students will begin to learn about nutrition and the importance of eating healthy. Students will continue building their skills learned throughout trimester 1 and 2. Students will learn about teamwork and interacting with others during physical education activities, and how to resolve conflict appropriately. The end result will culminate with a Track and Field event.
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Science
Kindergarten Science Units:
Unit: Life Science- Students will solve problems by using observations to identify plant parts and their functions.
- Students will create a model to validate their understanding of environmental impacts on plants and support their learning with accurate evidence.
Unit: Physical Science- Students will compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
- Students will construct an argument supported by evidence for whether a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or pull.
Unit: Earth Science- Students will make daily observations of local weather conditions to predict weather patterns over time.
- Students will ask questions to obtain information from weather forecasts to prepare for and respond to severe weather.
- Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area and communicate the design ideas.
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Social Studies
What children will study this year:
The Kindergarten social studies program is hands-on and content-rich. During the school year, children in kindergarten will develop an awareness of themselves as unique individuals and as members of social groups. They will learn about the past by reading stories set in different times and places.Kindergarten students will begin to learn and apply basic social studies skills, including understanding and using maps. They will also learn the difference between basic needs and wants.Program and Grade Level Understandings articulate what students should understand and be able to do when they leave the K-12 program in Anoka-Hennepin. The grade level understandings demonstrate what students should understand and be able to do when they leave each grade level. The grade level understandings increase in complexity as students progress through the K-12 program.
Kindergarten Social Studies Units:
Unit: Citizenship: Working Together: In this unit, students will begin the foundational process of creating a cooperative classroom environment. Students will learn about friendship within their classroom and their school. Students will set up classroom rules and routines that assist in creating a positive atmosphere for learning. Students will learn bus safety rules and playground rules.What families can do at home to help:
- Discuss why there are rules. What are rules at home? What are the rules at school? Compare them.
- Practice good manners at home including: please, thank-you and apologizing.
- Have your child be responsible for helping out at home. e.g. make bed, wash dishes
Unit Information for Families - Academic Standards, what students should know and be able to do, and vocabulary.
Unit: History: Families and Traditions: In this unit students will begin to explore ways we learn about the past, and develop language needed to learn about the past, present and future. Students will understand that they are a part of a family, and all families share customs and traditions that may be similar or different from other families. and there are many types of families.
What families can do at home to help:
- Talk to your child about how he/she is special or unique and how your family is special or unique.
- Share a family experience from the past. People learn from the past in a variety of ways (learning from elders, photos, artifacts, buildings, diaries, stories, videos, etc.). Use this opportunity to explore family life in the past.
- Talk about family traditions. Discuss how your family may have traditions that are the same or different from other families. How do families celebrate or commemorate personal milestones such as birthdays, family or community religious observances, national holidays such as Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve/Day.
Unit Information for Families - Academic Standards, what students should know and be able to do, and vocabulary.
Unit: Geography: The Space Around Us: In this unit, students will begin the foundational process of understanding the space around them, as they use language to describe location. (ex. next, between, near, far…) Students will begin to develop foundational understanding of maps and globes as representation of space in our environments. Students will also identify nature-made physical spaces, such as rivers or hills and human-made spaces, such as schools or parks.
What families can do at home to help:
- Have your child draw a map of a room in your home.
- Explore the neighborhood where you live and complete one of more of the following
- Clean-up litter
- Identify landmarks in your neighborhood. Landmarks may be parks, buildings, structures, etc. that are recognizable by people.
- Describe your environment by using words such as up, down, left, right, near, far, back, in front of.
Unit: Economics: Needs and Wants, Goods and Services: In this unit students will between individual needs (conditions necessary for survival) and wants (conditions desired to be happy). Students will also identify goods (objects that can be touched) and services (actions or activities) that can satisfy their needs and wants.
What families can do at home to help:
- When making purchases for your home, discuss the differences of what is a need and what is a want. For example: Needs – to be fed, to be free from thirst, to breathe, to survive; Wants – to have fun, to be famous, to be strong.
- Discuss a family trip (a day at the park, journey to a relative’s home, summer break plans, etc.). What are the needs for the trip? What are the possible wants for the trip?