Kindergarten at Great Hearts Arlington

Kindergarten Curriculum Outline

Language Arts – In Kindergarten, Language Arts encompasses the foundations of reading, writing, spelling, poetry, and literature. Students begin by reviewing the letters of the alphabet and listening to literature read aloud in class. Students focus on the correct formation of letters and phonograms using the Spalding Method. The Spalding Method provides explicit, interactive, diagnostic, sequential, multisensory, and integrated instruction in spelling, writing, listening, and reading comprehension. Literary appreciation is cultivated through monthly sayings, poetry recitation, and stories such as Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, King Midas and the Golden Touch, and Aesop’s Fables.

Math – Using the pedagogical principles of the Singapore Math approach to help students build a strong foundation. Kindergarteners will first encounter math through concrete activities, then progress to pictorial representations, and then finally learn to employ abstract algorithms. Throughout the year students will study shapes, sorting and matching, classification, patterns, and numbers up to 100. They will learn counting, weight, length, comparing and ordering numbers, time, addition, subtraction, money, and capacity.

History – Students will explore such topics as how maps and globes are used, the city, state, and country where they live, what type of people make up a community, the early history of the United States, and famous symbols of the United States such as the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.

Science – During Science, students will explore such topics as classifying objects according to various categories, the difference between living and nonliving things, life cycle of a plant, using the five senses to explore light, heat, and sound, changes in weather, changes in seasons, famous scientists, and an introduction to the human body.

Specials – All Kindergarten students will participate in PE and Latin, Art and Music.