Elementary School (K-4) » Kindergarten

Kindergarten

Welcome to Kindergarten at Green Woods Charter School!

Our kindergarten team works hard to provide all students with an opportunity to learn and practice  the essential social, emotional, problem-solving, and study skills. Students learn the foundational English language arts skills that set them on the path to become lifelong readers, writers, and effective communicators.  Our math curriculum encourages students to grow in their mathematical thinking and practice. We strive to foster a positive social and emotional environment that is built on caring and responsive relationships.

 

 

Literacy

Green Woods uses American Reading Company (ARC) Core as our ELA curriculum resource. ARC Core is a framework that provides teachers with a structure to promote inquiry through apprenticeship. The resource provides a scope and sequence aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), high interest text for teacher modeling, and varying levels of text for student independent work. Along with the framework, ARC provides an Independent Reading Level Assessment that guides teachers through setting individual reading goals for students. Literacy
 
The ARC resources support students as developing readers by providing them with strategies they need to be able to read complex text on their own. Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, and Language skills are embedded throughout each unit as students study themes connected to Science, Social Studies, and Literature.
There are 4 units of study throughout the school year.  In Kindergarten these units consist of Literacy Lab, Zoology, Ecology, and Entomology.
 
In conjunction with ARC, Green Woods also uses the Collins Writingk Program. Collins Writing program is a 5 step approach to writing. Students will focus on different skills through each stage of writing, from your typical “rough draft” (Stage 1) all the way through editing and publishing (Stage 5). The framework used in Collins Writing gives clear expectations for students throughout the entire writing process. It incorporates specific focus areas that are mastered before moving forward. Since the method is used in all grades at GWCS, it allows for common language and skills to be developed from kindergarten through eighth grade.
Math
 
Green Woods uses the Into Math curriculum built for instruction on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This curriculum is an intentional and comprehensive mathematics program that centers on student growth. Growth is maximized when instruction, assessment, and mindset are coordinated and aligned. Throughout the year, students build their conceptual understandings, improve their procedural fluency, and apply their knowledge in meaningful contexts and real-world applications. With more focused learning, every student can achieve at their highest levels.
In Kindergarten the Into Math Program focuses on representing and counting numbers up to 10, geometry, numbers and operations in base tens, and measurement.
 

Science

Students in kindergarten will use Bring Science Alive! Exploring Science Practices, to figure out the needs of plants, animals and humans and how they change the Earth; how to make objects move in different directions by pushes and pulls and the different types of weather and how to prepare for storms. They will use a variety of science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts during their active investigations and discussions.

 

 

Trimester #1

Trimester #2

Trimester #3

Unit Title

Weather

Pushes and Pulls

Plants and Animals

Lesson Essential Questions

  1. What is weather?
  2. When does the weather change?
  3. What keeps Earth warm?
  4. How can people stay cool in hot weather?
  5. What makes storms on Earth?
  6. How can people prepare for storms?
  1. How do things move?
  2. What do pushes and pulls do?
  3. How do pushes and pulls move things?
  4. What happens when objects bump?
  5. How do people design things that move?
  1. What do plants need?
  2. What do animals need?
  3. What do people need?
  4. Where are plants and animals found?
  5. How do plants and animals change Earth?
  6. How do people change Earth?
  7. How can people take care of Earth?