Kindergarten

Learning new language skills is a hallmark of kindergarten. Your child will learn about the alphabet and its role in reading, learning to identify, match, and print upper- and lower-case letters. Your child will practice rhyming, matching words with beginning sounds, and blending sounds into words. The size of your child’s vocabulary is another key factor in his or her ability to read and comprehend books and stories. Students will learn how to problem-solve for unfamiliar words. Students will build a passion for reading by learning to choose interesting books, pay attention to what they read, and build stamina to remain engaged. They will begin to learn the basics of how to make connections, inferences, and predictions, ask questions, and summarize what they read. Your child will come to understand the text features of fiction and nonfiction works and respond to the thoughts and feelings of characters in these stories. Your child also will begin to experiment with writing and will be encouraged to use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to share information, ideas, and feelings.

The Social Studies curriculum for Kindergarten introduces students to the concepts of identity, culture, community, and civic ideals. It also develops their skills in gathering and interpreting evidence from various sources, such as art, maps, and oral histories. The curriculum is aligned with the New York State Learning Standards for Social Studies and prepares students for further inquiry in grades 1-12.

Young children arrive in kindergarten with widely varying knowledge in math. One of the most important skills your child should develop is the ability to add and subtract small numbers and use addition and subtraction to solve word problems. Students will begin by learning to represent, count, and write numbers from 1-20. They will learn to compare two groups of objects to tell which group, if either, has more. They will also learn to act out addition and subtraction word problems and draw diagrams to represent them. As the year progresses, students will learn to solve basic addition and subtraction problems using very small numbers quickly and accurately. They will be able to count to 100 by ones and tens. Students will also work to identify, describe, compare, and sort two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes, regardless of orientation and size.

The Science curriculum for Kindergarten is based on the New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards, which align with the Next Generation Science Standards. The curriculum aims to develop students' scientific practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas through inquiry-based learning experiences.

The Technology curriculum for kindergarten students, including technology skills. The NYSED provides resource guides and curriculum guidance for teachers and administrators to design effective programs. The technology curriculum for kindergarten covers topics such as digital citizenship, communication, problem-solving, and creativity.