Kindergarten

Our Philosophy

Our St. Francis School kindergarten program nurtures the Catholic values instilled at home. Students learn about God’s love through daily religion lessons and classroom experiences. Parents and teachers work collaboratively to build a partnership between home and school. Kindergarten students increase their knowledge of the world through a balance of academic and social programs. We help each child grow by teaching listening skills, self-control, and cooperation with others.

Kindergarten Curriculum

St. Francis offers a strong and varied academic curriculum for kindergarten students.

Religion: Our Catholic faith is taught through the Faith First kindergarten religion program. It is reinforced through everyday activities within the classroom and school environment.

Reading: A formal phonics and writing program gives a variety of oral language and literature experiences. The teacher works with guided reading groups based on students’ abilities, interests, and needs.

Math: Our formal math text is the Silver Burdett Ginn series, which is supplemented with the “Math Their Way” program. A wide variety of skills are reinforced and extended using centers, games, scales, calculators, and manipulatives.

Science: Life science, physical science, earth science, and the human body are studied. Students also conduct simple experiments in the classroom.

Social Studies: Ecology, history, geography, civics, community helpers, Native American culture, presidents and events like Michigan week are studied.

Spanish: Beginning this year, Spanish is being taught to all students. Kindergarten will become acquainted with the Spanish language through fun and entertaining activities with puppets, music, picture cards, stories, skits, projects, and vocabulary games. Learning about countries and cultures of Latin America and Spain will also be part of the Spanish program.

Learning Centers: Centers have open-ended activities selected by the teacher. They encourage students to verbalize and interact with one another as well as internalize what they have learned.

Specials: Classes in music, gym, art, library, and computer science are included each week. Play is an important part of the day. Centers encourage creativity, self-expression, and role play.  Enrichment Specials and enrichment opportunities enhance the kindergarten core curriculum.

Enrichment

Kindergarten offers exciting activities that support kindergartners academic development. These activities are structured in a way to meet individual needs and support the curriculum offered in the academic kindergarten program. Activities include, but are not limited to the following:

·  Bible and saint stories, teaching values, and holiday celebrations reinforce the Catholic values taught at St. Francis.

·  Flannel board letter stories, word games, alphabet activities, sequencing games, writing centers, and easy reader books allow children to build on academic skills.

·  Sequencing puzzles, counting games, pattern blocks, and other manipulative toys increase math learning.

·  Magnet play, sensory activities, and science experiments make learning fun!

·  Dramatic play equipment allows children to experience a variety of topics.

·  Daily gym and outdoor time, cooking, computers, craft activities, and “center time” add to your child’s total learning experience.