Kindergarten Curriculum

Kindergarten is where an education foundation is laid — not only for the Spring Hill experience, but also for a lifetime of learning. Developing social skills, sparking curiosity, and enhancing creativity while fostering positive self-esteem are our goals.

Each day begins with "calendar time" when teachers and students share information about the day, the month, the season, the weather, birthdays, and assemblies or special events scheduled for that day. It is a time where children share stories and develop respect and curiosity for those around them. Throughout the year, students enjoy monthly themes, group sharing, cooking, geography, Spanish, field trips, multicultural celebrations, quiet free time, gardening, art, music, drama, community guest speakers, and lots of time to play and learn from each other. Every day is filled with exploration, creativity and discovery in this nurturing, engaging and cooperative environment.

MATH

Math periods begin with a group lesson when concepts are taught and reviewed. Students are then given the opportunity to work at their own speed. Teachers make learning fun by incorporating hands-on manipulatives and games to allow for individual learning styles.

READING  LANGUAGE ARTS

The curriculum is designed to enhance handwriting, reading, speaking abilities and creative thinking skills. Comprehension skills and vocabulary are developed when exploring new territories in geography, science and literature. Working individually or in groups, children read, listen to, and share stories and books. Students particularly enjoy the "big books" that the class reads together. They learn sight words and study word families. Phonetic awareness is developed by studying beginning sounds, ending sounds, consonant blends and vowel blends. Students have a chance to learn simple sentence structure and grammar. At the end of the year, our students write and illustrate a book for the county-wide Author's Fair.

LIFE LAB & SCIENCE

The Life Lab is a place of wonder for students of all ages at Spring Hill. Kindergarten students study the life cycle of plants and animals and the solar system. They have the unique opportunity to experience the complete process of planting, nurturing, waiting, predicting, and harvesting. Students do hands-on science projects, read books and learn about science in the world around them. The Kindergarten class prepares a group project for the annual school Science Fair.


FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Students are introduced to the Spanish language and culture through stories, songs, and art projects. Spanish continues through 6th grade.

SOCIAL STUDIES
Social Studies begin with the exploration of the immediate environment of the children. Children are encouraged to share stories about their family life with the class. Students are also introduced to a variety of different cultures through celebrations, ethnic foods, songs, activities, games, crafts and presentations by parents. Students benefit from the national and cultural diversity at the school and learn first-hand about their world.

CREATIVE EXPRESSION - MUSIC, ART, DRAMA, PHYSICAL EDUCATION, AND PLAY TIME
Creative exploration is a vital part of the classroom. Children experience the world through their own senses; it is important that they are exposed to many different stimuli. Children are offered many opportunities for play in the classroom and on the playground. In music, students use a variety of instruments to understand rhythm and beat. They sing, dance, clap, improvise and have lots of fun. In P.E. they learn game skills and enjoy running, jumping, stretching, and laughing. Art is a time to experiment with colors and shapes, using a variety of different mediums. We encourage students to express themselves in drama class and to perform in the annual drama production.


Kindergarten Weekly Class Schedule

Time

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

8:45

9:40

Art & Calendar

Greg, Sandy & Patty

Calendar & Social Studies

Sandy & Patty

Calendar & Georgaphy

Sandy & Patty

Calendar & Journal Writing

Sandy & Patty

Science
Greg, Sandy & Patty

9:40

10:00

Recess

Recess

Recess

Recess

Recess

10:00

10:55

Reading Groups

Sandy & Patty

Reading Groups/Library

Sandy & Patty

Reading Groups/Printing

Sandy & Patty

Reading Groups/Printing

Sandy & Patty

Sharing

Sandy & Patty

10:55

11:15

Recess

Recess

Recess

Recess

Recess

11:15

12:10

Math

Sandy & Patty

Music

Eliot

Math

Sandy & Patty

Math

Sandy & Patty

Kinder-cooking & Calendar

Sandy & Patty

12:10

1:05

Lunch

Lunch

Lunch

Lunch

Lunch

1:05

2:00

Spanish/P.E.

Liz

Life Lab

Laura & Greg

Social Skills

Sandy & Patty

Spanish/P.E.

Liz

Drama

Angelic, Sandy, Patty & Kim

 

S. Metaxas & P. Schork

Sandy Metaxas and Patty Schork are the full-time co-teachers of our Kindergarten class. They have been teaching together for over 20 years.

Sandy has a BA in History from the University of Maryland.

Patty has a degree in Liberal Arts from Santa Barbara City College and an Instructional Aide Certificate from the State of California.