The Kinstar Kindergarten Curriculum

The goal of our program is to provide a bilingual and multicultural education for children from the age of 18 months to 6 years. We want to individually follow up on the children's curiosity, support their desire to discover, help them gain deeper insight into things and phenomena and to put their ideas into practice. In our school the children can discover their strengths and talents and further develop them. It is important to us that the children learn to question the world around them, discover and explore. The children are taught primarily by two teachers – one English mother-tongue and one Chinese mother-tongue with the support of two assistants. We provide the children with two distinctively different learning environments, the English classroom and the Chinese classroom.

The eight areas of education that our curriculum emphasizes are:

1) Body movement and health

The child discovers the world through movement. Through targeted movement classes the children learn about their bodies and their environments and develop a good body feeling. This is the prerequisite to good self-esteem. A healthy and varied diet supports the health education.

2) Social and cultural environment

To develop and support social interactions as well as the aim to instill certain values and virtues play an important role in our daily structure. Cross age projects help that the children support and help the younger ones and experience unity.

3) Communication: Languages, early literacy and media

The usage of language is an important part in human identity. Therefore the development of language plays an important role in our daily activities: through reading out loud, rhymes, poems and plays.We want to, very early on, instill phonetic awareness in children. Therefore providing the children with the tool to read and write.

4) Bilingual Education

In this global world it becomes increasingly important that children are fluent in more than one language. Research has shown that children are able at a very young age to learn more than one language. By providing native speakers and different language environments we aim to provide a truly bilingual education.

5) Artistic activities

Children are given the possibility to experiment with different materials and techniques. The children express themselves and develop their imagination and creativity. Furthermore creative activities give the children an opportunity to process their personal daily experiences.

6) Music

Music is an important medium to express emotion and a source of great pleasure. We want to give the children basic knowledge of melody and rhythm with the use of Orff instruments. In this area movement plays also an important role.

7) Basic mathematical activities

It is important that children have early experiences with space, time, measures, estimates, sorting and patterns. Through these processes they develop the foundation for numbers and amounts. In our learning stations we provide the children with many different opportunities to experience basic math.

8) Basic scientific and technical activities

Experiments provide the children with the tools to follow their basic instincts of exploration and discovery. The children are encouraged to have a hypothesis and try to prove it. The experiments are documented and form an integral part of the curriculum.

In our kindergarten, each student will ultimately learn . . .

Communication: Languages, early literacyand media Reading and Writing Skills

show interest in and enjoy books
actively participate in shared reading activities
build awareness that meaning comes from print
know that books and printed material are read top to bottom, and left to right
read pictures in books
retell familiar stories
demonstrate phonetic awareness
know all letter names and sounds
begin to write to communicate
use phonetic spelling
write name correctly
form letters of the alphabet with some accuracy
use correct pencil grip

Speaking and Listening Skills

build active and responsive listening skills through experiences with conversation, stories, songs, and poems
share and take part in class discussions
participate in singing, storytelling, drama, and poetry activities
share information and ideas
speaking audibly in complete sentences
follow two-step directions

Basic mathematical activities and Number Sense and Operations

count out loud from 1 - 30
arranges numbers in order from 1-20 and recognizes when they are out of order
recognizes numbers 1 - 20
understands the numerals 1-9 and number 10, and the quantities they represent
uses concrete objects to determine the answers to addition and subtraction problems (for number combinations up to 10)

Patterns

recognizes and describes simple patterns creates and extends simple patterns

Measurement and Geometry

makes direct comparisons of length, weight, and volume of objects (e.g., note which object is shorter, longer, taller, lighter, heavier, or holds more) identifies and describes basic 2D and 3D geometric objects

Data Analysis and Probability

interprets a group-created graph using terms such as more than, less than, the same as, and altogether identifies, sorts and classifies objects by one attribute and identifies objects that do not belong to a particular group.

Basic scientific and technical activities

make observations using one or more of the five senses use scientific tools such as the hand lens sort objects based on their attributes
determine that all living things need water know that plants and animals have specific structures and survival needs
name parts of a plant (e.g., stem, leaf, flower)
observe similarities and differences between living and non-living things

Social and cultural environment

understand differences and similarities in oneself and others
understand how to take turns and cooperate with group rules and responsibilities as they carry out short tasks and classroom jobs

Artistic activities

use a variety of different materials and techniques
paint pictures expressing ideas and/or feelings
create individual pieces of art

Music

sing songs with accuracy and use hand percussion instruments to play rhythmic and melodic sing and play songs from diverse culture

Body

movement and health
improve in balance
locomotors skills, hand-eye coordination, ball skills
increase body strength through physical activities
develop body awareness in spatial relationships
become aware of fair play practices and abide by group game rules
demonstrate good health practices (e.g., nutrition, rest, health care)

Virtues

An important part of educating an international child is the development of positive attitudes towards people, the environment, and learning. We believe it is important to foster virtues consciously within our curriculum. Every classroom has the positive virtues we aim for displayed. Teachers recognize and acknowledge these virtues as they occur in daily routines by children and thus reinforce them. Some class lessons and activities are planned based on these virtues.