Creative Play
The American Kindergarten
Class of 2017- 2018
Program …………..……. 1
Philosophy and goals …..2
Interactive board…………….3
English…………….4
Math…………….5
Science……….5
Physical Education…………6
Arts ……………………6
Social studies……7
Greek…………….8
Trips…………….9
Tuition & bus ……………10
Program 8:30 – 2:00 pm
Curriculum
MATH
SCIENCE
ARTS
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
ENGLISH
GREEK
Mon / Wed. Tues. / Thurs. Friday
8:30 Free play Free play Free play
9 Circle time – theatre Circle time – theatre Cooking
9:30 Movement / sports Music Tennis
10 – 11:00 Writing skills / math
Writing skills / math
Writing skills / math
11:30 MAGIC suitcase Puzzles / boardgames Circle time – theatre
12:00 Lunch Lunch Lunch
12:30 Art RECESS Crafts
1:00 RECESS Movement / sports RECESS
1:30- 2:15 Greek Greek Greek
2:15- 2:30 Story time Story time Story time
THEMES :
Healthy me
Children around the
world
Airplanes
Ocean
Recycling
Jungle
Pets
Seasons
Community helpers
Vegetable farm
Dinosaurs
Space
Weather
Maps and globes
Our 5 senses
Philosophy and Goals
The arrangement and structure at Creative Play (small groups and rotation in 5 different classrooms),
encourages play and exploration and it meets the needs of each child on her own level and rate of
development.
We will continue to rotate but the kindergarten class will have their own classroom – in order to
increase work time and attention span. The groups will have a maximum number of 10 kids in order for
us to have 100 % insight of each child.
Kindergarten is focused on developing skills that
prepare students for later learning in all areas:
communication and language, physical development,
and social development. .
We feel that social development is the key to success
–Children are helped to develop a positive sense of
themselves, and others. They are encouraged to
develop social skills and learn how to manage their
feelings. They come to understand appropriate
behavior in groups and learn to have confidence in their own abilities. We strive to have polite and
respectful children in our classrooms in order to create a safe and caring environment where they will
be happy and excited to learn which will result in excellent academic progress and build their
confidence.
SMARTBOARDS in the Classroom …….
Our main goal is to continue to work
with each child individually – to give
them (&their parents) an understanding
in how they learn:
visual
auditory
reading/writing
kinesthetic
Why its important to learn through play
1. Teachers can observe the child (
and their weakness/ strengths) in
their natural environment - while
playing.
2. Children are not mature enough –
both physically and mentally to sit in a
desk.
3. its important to give the children a
chance to experiment & understand
a concept – not just to memorize and
repeat.
What is an Interactive White Board?
- Anything that can be done on a computer monitor, can be replicated on the
interactive white board.
- The teacher can create engaging lessons that focus on one task such as a
matching activity where students use either their fingers or a pen to match
items.
- Research has repeatedly demonstrated that students learn better when they are
fully engaged and that multisensory, hands-on learning is the best way to
engage them.
Multimedia lessons and presentations including audio and video
Collaborative problem solving
Showcasing student projects and presentations
Virtual field trips
Another way to reinforce the different types of learning is through the PROJECTS
Using the Project Method in the classroom :
We will present 3 projects during the school year
• Our World: Presenting a country
• Science : How do plants grow?
• Our Roots : Celebrating our Greek Heritage
English
Our main goal is to graduate kindergarten with fluency in the English Language
We will emphasize in description and reading comprehension – it’s the most important
criteria in advanced placement in schools.
Alphabet
- Letter Recognition by name and sound
- Phono visual method
- It’s critical to develop phonological awareness so they can move on to decoding words!
Reading
• Consonant and vowel sounds and spellings
• Rhyming
• Letter formation
• Reading and writing consonant-vowel-consonant words
• Digraphs: ch, sh, th, ph and wh
•High-frequency words / Sight words
PROJECT method : We make books for different
themes : Hibernation, Fruits and Vegetables
Interactive games:
- Show and tell : Book report
Library day: Every week each child will take a book
from the library, take it home, make a drawing and
narrate the story to the class!
- PROJECT method :
Secret suitcase
Each week one child will take “The Secret Suitcase”
home and follow the instructions about our next
theme.
Math
Counting and Cardinality
• Number recognition and the count sequence.
• Count to tell the number of objects.
• Comparing numbers.
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
• Understand addition as putting together and
adding to.
• understand subtraction as taking apart and taking
from.
Number and Operations in Base Ten
• Work with numbers 11–19 to gain foundations for
place value.
Measurement and Data
• Describe and compare measurable attributes.
• Classify objects and count the number of objects in
categories.
Geometry
• Identify and describe shapes.
Science
Kindergarten also prepares children for understanding scientific principles. Children are encouraged to develop their curiosity about the world around them
and to make observations.
Science
Plant a garden
Me & My Shadow
Matter
discovering water
5 Senses
Germs Make Me
Sick
Magnetic Motion
Mathematical Practices
1. Make sense of problems
and persevere in solving them.
2. Reason abstractly and
quantitatively.
3. Construct arguments
4. Model with mathematics.
5. Use appropriate tools
strategically.
6. Attend to precision.
7. Look for and make use of
structure.
8. Sequencing, patterns and
categorizing,
Tennis
Track & Field
Physical
Education
o Opportunities are provided for
young children to be active and
interactive. They develop their
coordination, control and
movement. Children are also
helped to understand the
importance of physical activity
o Proper posture
o Tennis lessons every week
o Understand why exercise is
essential for our health.
o Learn about our anatomy
Sports Day at the Field
THE ARTS
Music – art – theatre
Expressing ideas o The first stage of writing is illustrating their ideas as
someone describes a story.
Encourages Creativity
Focus on detail
Art appreciation
Reading music
Reenacting a book
Playing musical instruments
aAZAZA Social Studies
Going from me to .. WE !
o Friendship- Learning about respect and the rules that help people get along with each
other.
o Philanthropy – the importance of helping others
o Gratitude understanding the difference between wants vs needs.
o Empathy –to recognize and express empathy towards others.
o What it means to be a good citizen.
o Animal rights –learning to respect all creatures around us
o Diversity- Learn that the world is divided into countries and that there are similarities
and differences among cultures.
o Ecology – understanding the importance of taking care of our environment.
o Geography – children recognize locations.
o Community roles : Discuss the jobs and importance of community helpers
Visit the neighborhood, the orphanage, clean up the beach.
Christmas Caroling at Visiting our neighborhood Process of making wine
the Home for the Elderly
Greek
Greek Curriculum:
Expanding vocabulary
Recognizing letters
Tracing letters
Putting letters /sounds together to
make words
Number recognition 1-20
Reading comprehension
PROJECT method: Our roots:
Celebrating our Greek culture
o -Traditional dances /
songs
Photos from each child’s
village
o -Recipe book – family’s
favorite recipe
Interaction with parents
o Once a month one parent
will come and read their
child’s favorite book in the
classroom
Field Trip: Theatre &
Museum ( Μουσειο
Συναισθηματων)
Our Greek Program
15 min. books
20 min Alphabet (phonics, tracing and recognition)
10 min math (number recognition)
Every day for 45 min
Field Trips
& Events
Creative Play will take the children
in various field trips to give them a chance to
explore different themes.
Museum
Theatre
Perivoli -The farm
Planetarium
Paleontology museum
Track field – sports day
Our Neighborhood (police
station, post office, market)
Pool
The wall
The beach
Orphanage
Elderly home
Events:
Halloween party
Thanksgiving Lunch
Christmas Play
Pajama Day
Car wash Day
Art Show
Visit from our Dentist
Graduation Show
Perivoli Varis
Flying a kite
Graduation Ceremony
Thank you,
The Creative Play Staff