Kindergarten

Kindergarten is a pivotal year for boys to develop both socially and emotionally. The boys spend the beginning of the year learning the core virtues of the Haverford community. They participate in the Kimochi program, which teaches the boys how to identify and appropriately express their feelings. Through role play, pictures books, and class discussions, developing respect and empathy takes center stage in the classroom.
 
As the year progresses, the boys participate in an Earth Day design thinking project aimed to build personal responsibility for both maintaining and improving the world around them. During the holiday season, the boys write cards to staff members who work hard to support them throughout the school year.

Favorite characters come to life in the Lower School library, where our boys develop a love of reading. While listening and responding to stories, the boys practice a number of important skills, including:

• How to ask a question
• How to think about their reading preferences
• How to locate books within the library

The kindergarten program places a strong emphasis on building boys’ language skills and foundational literacy skills (reading and writing). Boys continue to develop and attune their listening skills through following multistep and complex oral directions. They also broaden their vocabulary and background knowledge through a language-rich classroom environment. Using a comprehensive, structured literacy program, boys develop early reading and writing skills through engaging daily lessons that emphasize phonemic awareness and phonics, vocabulary, grammar, reading fluency, language comprehension, handwriting, sentence writing, and writing mechanics.

Over the course of the kindergarten year, boys begin to learn how to decipher written words, as well as how to string letters together to express themselves in writing. Reading and writing instruction is differentiated to meet each boy where he is and to assist him in continuing along his developmental trajectory.

Math is explored on a daily basis. Using a hands-on approach, the boys begin to experience mathematical concepts as they appear in the surrounding world. Similar to our guided reading approach, small group work allows teachers to vary math instruction, targeting the needs of each boy. Boys make connections between different mathematical theories, explain their reasoning, and stretch their thinking to develop strategies that solve a range of concepts.

In kindergarten music, boys learn the fundamentals of musicianship:

• Understanding a steady beat
• Playing and reading rhythm patterns
• Developing a clear pitch and proper singing voice

Each student is given the opportunity to learn the basics playing the violin, helping to stimulate parts of the brain responsible for reading and writing. Boys are actively engaged throughout the music lessons through singing, listening, moving creatively, and playing musical instruments.

Physical education arms the boys with healthy lifestyle habits and develops a positive attitude toward being active. The kindergarten physical education class reinforces:

• Spatial awareness
• Hand and body coordination
• Healthy sportsmanship
• Cooperation and a sense of fair play

In kindergarten science, boys learn how to:

• Be curious and explore
• Organize their thoughts to ask a questions
• Investigate topics in ways to learn more about it
• Follow lab procedures
• Have fun while pursuing inquiry
• Cooperate and collaborate with their peers

The five senses are a successful conduit for delivering information to boys. Our sensory-based lessons give boys experience with using lab equipment to measure and perform experiments. Boys study models and the scientific method, making discoveries in lessons that include the five senses; animals; the human body; matter; energy; the sun, Earth, and moon; seeds and plants; and weather.

Knowing most boys enter kindergarten still finding their sense of independence, it is our mission to teach life skills that will cultivate confidence and self-advocacy within each boy. Through our Social Studies curriculum, global awareness is taught starting with the classroom in accordance with our Character and Citizenship model, moving next to the Haverford School community, our local community, our country, and our world. By exploring these communities and examining similarities and differences, the boys are able to see the world from different perspectives.

Technology is used to enhance our academic curriculum. Games are played through the use of technology, such as iPads and interactive Smartboards. Through avenues such as Google Maps and Nearpod, boys are able to take a virtual “tour” of the White House and explore Mount Rushmore. 

Performing arts is an integral part of the Lower School experience, beginning in kindergarten with the rehearsal and performance of a show illustrating American symbols. As students progress through Lower School, they engage in signature programs like the second grade African drumming and dance. Each boy receives instruction in music, dance, and performance art as part of The Haverford School curriculum, preparing him for the burgeoning Middle and Upper School theater programs.

In pre-kindergarten and kindergarten the boys are focused on nourishing a love for creating while zeroing in on the fine motor skills used in tasks such as cutting, gluing, and gripping. Projects are woven in with their classroom studies so that there is a cross-curricular element that promotes a consistency throughout their monthly themes. Our lessons include elements of art such as basic color theory, shape recognition, texture and size relationship.

The boys paint, sculpt, collage and construct creations that reflect classroom studies such as Russia, the rain forest and the Polar Express. The boys are also inspired by the work of various artists like Faith Ringold, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky. There is always a conscious balance between following directions and nurturing individual expression within each project.

In kindergarten art, boys learn how to construct creations that reflect classroom studies through:

• Drawing
• Painting
• Sculpting
• Collaging

Our program focuses on nourishing a love for creating while focusing on fine motor skills used in tasks such as cutting, gluing, and gripping. Perhaps the highlight of the year is slathering paste on colored paper to coat a life-sized monster, a Haverford tradition that involves the entire Lower School. Art lessons include basic color theory, shape recognition, and texture and size relationship. The boys are inspired by the work of various artists like Faith Ringold, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky. There is a conscious balance between following directions and nurturing individual expression.