Kindergarten Curriculum Overview (click to view)

 

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In Writing your child will…

This year your child will continue to grow their writing skills through explicit standards-aligned instruction that focuses on why writers write and how writers effectively communicate ideas and information. Students will experience a predictable classroom routine where they take ownership of their writing, share work with peers, and learn to plan, revise, and edit their writing. Students will engage in the writing process as a means to contemplate and develop their ideas, apply powerful revision and editing techniques, and effectively compose their ideas into clear, well thought pieces that demonstrate an awareness of purpose, style, and audience. 

 

Learn more about the writing units for this grade level.

How Writers Work

Text Type: Launching

This unit was created to introduce students to writing workshop, to the writing process, and to getting to know why writers write in the ways they do. The mentor texts in this unit of study will help students think about what authors and illustrators are thinking and feeling when they write and draw. They will also encourage young students to notice how authors incorporate personal experiences, emotions, and details to enhance readers’ experiences. In order for a writing workshop to run smoothly, students will need to know what is expected of them. Procedural conversations such as how writing workshop will function, what writing tools are and how they will be used, where these tools will be stored, and how students will discuss and share ideas are also presented in this unit.

List and Label

Text Type: Informational/Explanatory

Students are drawn to list and label books because of their accessibility to beginning readers and writers. These books show the youngest writers that there are published books that look similar to what they can write. List and label books contain simple structures that the youngest writers can model with confidence. The texts are usually short and have strong support from the illustrations. Students have success reading simple list and label books, and therefore they have a natural curiosity about how to compose them. Writing in this genre and then reading what they produce provides a venue for students to practice the feel and sound of list and label books from the inside out. The notion that most any topic can be written about in a list or label structure provides a powerful scaffold for young writers. Students will go beyond deciding what they will write about and realize the need to plan how they will write it. “How will this topic or idea look on the page?” becomes an important question for young writers to consider. This unit provides a powerful study for writing the types of books that emergent readers and writers enjoy.

How To

Text Type: Informational/Explanatory

Because so much of early reading and writing at home and in school involves learning how-to processes, grade K students are already familiar with the structure and purpose of such writing. Therefore, it is an excellent genre for students to immerse themselves in and attempt to emulate. While all the books chosen for this How-To writing unit are instructional and informational by nature, they interpret the genre in creative ways that delight and stimulate students’ imaginations. Several of the unit books are particularly well suited to emergent writers and readers who are just learning about words and structures because they have large, vibrant illustrations with only a few bold words to provide a visual bridge to writing concepts.

FUNctional Writing

Text Type: Opinion/Argument

Functional writing is real-world writing. It is practical or persuasive in purpose and intended for a specific audience. Therefore, it is an excellent genre for students to immerse themselves in because they are already involved with and surrounded by functional writing in their homes, at school, and everywhere they go. Functional writing is particularly engaging for emergent writers and readers who are learning about words and reading familiar text in their environments. Schoolwide’s FUNctional Writing unit celebrates many of the different types of functional writing from our daily lives, such as letters and cards, lists and recipes, maps and signs, schedules and invitations, and condolence and thank you notes. The mentor texts are comprised of charming stories with endearing characters, and each book helps teachers emphasize the “fun” in functional.

Personal Narrative

Text Type: Narrative

Personal narratives tell the big and small stories of our lives. Personal narratives are typically the easiest, most natural form of writing for children because the stories are already complete inside their minds, which enables the words to flow more easily onto the paper. It is this easy flow of words that supports students’ efforts to produce a complete piece of writing. This allows teachers more opportunities to help students refine their writing because they better understand the heart of their pieces. As teachers surround their students with this natural, life-enriching genre, wonderful opportunities will be presented for students to make connections with themselves and others. Constructing meaningful personal narratives helps students discover important things about who they are and what they hope to be like in the future. This type of writing also helps students make sense of their life experiences and discover that others may share similar experiences, even when they may have little else in common.

 

How can I support my child at home?

To build confidence in writing at home, parents play a crucial role in supporting and celebrating their child's journey as an author and illustrator. Reading together is a fundamental practice, intertwined with developing writing skills. Spend quality time exploring books, discussing characters, plotlines, and various writing styles. Acknowledge and celebrate your child's writing accomplishments, both big and small, providing positive reinforcement to boost their confidence and motivation.

In the process of supporting your child's writing at home, resist the urge to correct the writing. Instead, encourage them to share their message using some of the questions below. Over the course of the year, students will be focusing on revision and editing for grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Building their grade level knowledge of grammar, sound patterns, and conventions will be taught in tandem with applying it in their writing. You will notice progress over the year in the clarity of their pieces. 

If they ask for help spelling a word, guide them to isolate the sounds and explore the spelling together. For instance, ask, "What sound are you trying to spell?" and then provide guidance based on the identified sound. Remember, it's okay if they start by representing a word with only the beginning sound —skills will naturally develop over time. By creating a supportive and encouraging writing environment at home, parents contribute significantly to their child's growth as a confident and capable writer.

Praise your child for their writing achievements, reinforcing the idea that writing is a valuable and enjoyable skill. Respect and celebrate their unique writing voice by avoiding excessive corrections and instead appreciating the knowledge and ideas they express.

Questions to Ask about Their Writing Pieces

• What Inspired You to Write This?
  • Encourage your child to share the inspiration behind their writing. Understanding their motivations can provide insights into their interests and thought processes.
• Can You Tell Me More About [Specific Part of Their Writing]?
  • Ask specific questions about elements in their writing, such as characters, plot points, or details. This helps them elaborate on specific aspects of their work.
• What Part of the Writing Did You Enjoy the Most?
  • Focus on the positive aspects. Identifying the enjoyable parts reinforces a sense of accomplishment and helps them recognize their strengths.
• Is There Anything You Would Like to Add or Change?
  • Encourage reflection by asking if there's anything they would like to add or modify. This empowers them to take ownership of their writing and make improvements.

Compliments to Give

• I'm Impressed by Your Creativity:
  • Praise their imaginative thinking. Recognizing creativity encourages them to continue exploring and pushing boundaries in their writing.
• Your Writing Shows Growth and Improvement:
  • Recognize progress over time. Complimenting improvement emphasizes the value of continuous learning and effort.

Additional Ways to Support Writing at Home

• Reading is closely linked to writing skills. Spend time reading with your child, discussing the content, characters, and plot. This exposure to different writing styles will enhance their own writing abilities.
• Acknowledge and celebrate your child's writing achievements, whether big or small. Positive reinforcement can boost their confidence and motivation to continue improving.
• Celebrate inventive spelling! When your child attempts to sound out words, celebrate where they are in their knowledge of sounds rather than immediately correcting. This helps them build confidence and a love for expressing themselves through writing.
• Embrace and celebrate the power of lists! Encourage your child to make grocery lists, to-do lists, or lists of their favorite things. These real-life writing opportunities enhance practical writing skills.
• Start a family journal where everyone contributes short notes, thoughts, or drawings. This shared journal is a wonderful way to celebrate the uniqueness of each family member's writing style.

 

Additional Information about our core resource:

• Introduction to Writing Fundamentals and the Writing Process (Video 2:30)

In kindergarten math, your child will:

• Count objects and tell how many there are
• Write numerals 0-20
• Compare numbers or sets of objects to tell which has more or less
• Add & subtract quickly and easily to 5
• Add & subtract within 10 using objects, fingers, drawings, numbers, or equations
• Solve addition and subtraction story problems
• Understand that teen numbers are 10 and some more
• Identify and describe shapes
• Understand length and weight as something that can be measured

How can I support my child at home?

• Check out a parent guide for each unit of instruction: Kindergarten Family Support Page

 

• Math at Home is an additional resource by The Math Learning Center that includes thought-provoking, Bridges-aligned math activities and games that can be used at home or at school throughout the year for students from kindergarten through fifth grade.  

 

Is there an online platform or app available?

• Yes! Dreambox is a personalized math program that builds students' confidence and competence.  Learn more about how to support the program at home.

 

Additional Information about our core resource:

• Bridges in Mathematics Overview English / Spanish

 

• Video: Introduction to Bridges in Mathematics
• Video: Grade K-2 Bridges in Mathematics: Mathematical Models & Strategies
• Video: Grade 3-5 Bridges in Mathematics: Mathematical Models & Strategies

 

District 58 incorporates an inquiry-based approach. Students engage in inquiry through rich discussion, questioning, research using various resources, and summarizing their understanding with a project for an audience. DG58 started inquiry with social studies and embeds it throughout other content areas. Ultimately, District 58 staff light the way for students to engage in a path of exploration and discovery.

 

The gradual release process of inquiry.

 

In kindergarten Social Studies your child will…

• Explore disciplinary concepts throughout the year within the Communities Near and Far theme.
• Engage individually and collaboratively in inquiry within four disciplinary concepts; civics, economics, history, and geography.
• Throughout each chapter, explore essential and supporting questions through the SAVVAS Quest Connections 
• Gather and evaluate sources
• Develop claims and use evidence
• Communicate conclusions
• Take informed action to demonstrate understanding

 

Additional Information about our core resource:

Savvas immerses students in history through a perspective-rich environment that grows as the student moves through elementary school. Learn more about the Savvas social studies program by clicking this link.

 

What is inquiry?

Simply put, inquiry-based learning is founded on a "big question". In our K-5 social studies resource, the big question is researched through what we call, Quest. Each lesson begins with a big question. Then, reading and activities guide students through investigation to answer the big question. In the end, students complete a quest project to demonstrate learning and understanding.  

The inquiry process, according to C3, includes 4 stages:  

• Developing Questions and planning inquiries
• Applying the disciplines (civics, economics, geography, history)
• Evaluating resources
• Communicating conclusions and taking informed action

To learn more, watch this quick and helpful video.

 

How can I support my child at home?

As parents, it can be hard to see our children struggle. However, by not giving the answer, through "failure" (F-first, A-attempt, I-in, L-learning), children learn and build self-efficacy. 

 

Below are helpful ideas to easily incorporate inquiry into your home.

• Learn along with children through books, TV programs, and learning hobbies, such rock collecting.
• Visit museums, zoos, aquariums, and historical sites with children. The Downers Grove Public Library has museum passes available. Downers Grove also has a rich history. To learn more, visit the Downers Grove Historical Museum.
• Explore quality television programs like PBS, the Discovery Channel, and the History Channel.
• Subscribe children to magazines.

 

1. Bring Inquiry into Your Home

Meet a question with a question. Our first instinct when a child asks a question is to provide an answer. This can prevent a golden opportunity to learn about how to learn. So, next time your child asks you a question (“How do you spell ….?” “What are the types of energy?”), instead of supplying the answer, try responding like this:

Great question! How could you find that out? What resource could you use to discover that? 

 

Be prepared to inquire together. Sometimes, when you meet a question with a question, you get an “I don’t know”. That is an invitation to a great teachable moment! If your child doesn’t know how to find out on their own or what resource to use, you can respond with:

Let’s figure it out together. Maybe we can try this….Let’s see if this resource has the answer…

 

Ask the magic question – “What do you notice?”. No matter what subject – the secret ingredient to inquiry is asking learners to think about what they notice. That one question works every time, and can be followed up with “what else do you notice?”.

You don’t have to be an expert, just be a learner. It is okay to not know. That presents an opportunity to model your own approaches to learning. Confidently to say, “I don’t know”.  Follow it up with, “But now I want to know, so here is how I am going to find out!” or, “Let’s figure this out together!”

 

2. Encourage Reflection

Get them thinking about their thinking. There are two magic questions you can ask your child to help them think deeper – any subject:

 

How do you know?

What makes you say that?

 

3. Support your child’s agency 

Invite their voice. Give space for children to articulate what they like and don’t like about learning. Listen to what they care about and what matters to them and try to understand and find ways to support it.

Respect and support their choices. Be aware of choices you make for your child that they could make themselves. Choices may include when, where, and how they learn. Teach  the decision-making process (What choice are you making for yourself?). Then follow up with a reflection (How did that choice work out for you? How do you know? What will you choose differently next time?).

Emphasize ownership. Sometimes learning can get misrepresented as something done to learners. These phrases build that sense of ownership over their learning:

 

It’s your learning.

You’re in the driver’s seat.

Your learning, your choice. 

*Credit: makinggoodhumans.wordpress.com

In kindergarten Science your child will...

• Plants and Animals: Students are introduced to the unit’s anchoring phenomenon of how beavers change land and water. Students find out that sometimes animals have nowhere to go. Students create a space for animals to live at a fictional park where they discover what animals need to live and thrive. Students investigate how people can take care of Earth as they find out how the choices people make can reduce their impacts on the land, water, air, and other living things. Using what they know about what plants, animals, and people need to live and grow, can students identify the many ways beavers change land and water to meet their needs?

 

•  Pushes and Pulls: Students are introduced to the unit’s anchoring phenomenon of how they move in different ways on the playground. Performing investigations and simple tests, students explore the relationship between forces and motion and discover how things move through pushes and pulls, and what happens when objects bump. Students also explore how people design things that move. Can students use what they know to build a marble playground?

 

•  Weather: Students are introduced to the unit’s anchoring phenomenon of weather not being the same everywhere. This unit is grouped into two main concepts. In the first half of the unit, students explore how to identify different types of weather and the factors that contribute to weather.  In the second half of the unit, students take a look at severe weather and understand how to plan for it. Students discover how weather forecasts let us know what kind of weather is coming. Students also examine what weather is like where they live. Using what they know about weather, how should students plan, prepare, and keep safe in the event of a storm.

 

District 58 utilizes the Second Step program to support students’ social emotional learning through a holistic approach to building our school communities. Children benefit from social-emotional learning (SEL) at any time, but today it’s especially important to help them develop the skills they need to connect and thrive. Second Step® Elementary is a leading research-based SEL curriculum

 

In Second Step your child will… 

•  Practice skills for learning
•  Practice skill for empathy and our feelings
•  Learn and practice strategies for emotional management and calming down
•  Learn and practice skills for interacting with friends during play

 

How can I support my child at home?

If you are interested in learning more about the Second Step curriculum and approach, please visit their website at SecondStep.org.

Art

In Art your child will…

• Explore and experiment with various forms of art
• Learn about the form and functions of art
• Learn about art in our environment
• Learn about primary colors
• Explore imagination in art
• Learn to create a self-portrait

How can I support my child at home?

To inspire your child, visit museums, art shows, and the Downers Grove Public LIbrary where there is exposure to a variety of artwork. The library offers museums free passes that you can check out. Build inspiration for art, by learning about local and historical artists. As you drive around town, see if you can identify various forms of art, whether sculptural or other modes. Finally, have a variety of art materials available at home, such as clay, playdough, paint, colored pencils, fun paper, and more. Many stores have small and large art kits available to encourage children tap into their creativity.

Is there an online platform or app available?

Seesaw is a resource our art teachers rely on the most. Through Seesaw, we connect with parents and share a window into your child’s creative side. At the beginning of each year, your child’s teacher will send you an invitation to their Seesaw class, which will automatically connect you to their art class. Once there, families can see updates, helpful videos, assignments and more.

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Music

In music your child will...

• Be introduced to basic musical concepts through song, movement, and use of classroom instruments.

• Develop familiarity with their singing voice through singing age appropriate songs.

How can I support my child at home?

• Attend various styles of musical performances, play music at home, encourage your child to demonstrate what they are learning about in music, or encourage a variety of musical experiences.

Is there an online platform or app available?

• Kindergarten does not regularly use their iPads in music. 

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Physical Education (PE)

In physical education my child  will engage in the following activities throughout the school year:

• Introduction to rules, expectations, and routines
• Learn locomotor movements
• Play chasing games
• Practice throwing and catching skills
• Participating in team building activities
• Learn basic fitness concepts

How can I support my child at home?

• Encourage active play: Encourage your child to be physically active every day. Activities such as running, jumping, climbing and playing outdoor games are great for students this age. 
• Make physical activity a family event. Engage in physical activities as a family. Plan trips to the park, nature trails, or the park distinct where everyone can participate in activities like hiking, booking, swimming, or playing sports together. 
• Limit screen time: Set limits on screen time. Excessive screen time can negatively affect a child’s physical activity levels. Encourage your child to engage in more hands-on activities instead. 
• Create a supportive environment: Create an environment that supports physical activity in your child’s daily routine. Provide your child with access to sport equipment, bikes, and other active equipment.  

 

Is there an online platform or app available?

Shape America. Their website offers resources and ideas for parents to support physical education at home and in the community. Website: https://www.shapeamerica.org/MemberPortal/events/parents.aspx

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Library

In Library your child will…

Build an appreciation of literature through a variety of genres that represent neurodiversity and cultures. In Library, students explore the Illinois State Award books, engage in research, and learn how to navigate the library to access books and information online. The library curriculum follows the Association of Illinois School Library Educators standards to engage students in an exploration of genres and modes of media.

 

How can I support my child at home?

Reading and discussing books with children of any age has the most impact on a child’s motivation and ability to read. You can even read the same book that your child is reading. Visit the Downers Grove Public Library to expose your child to a variety of genres and reading materials and even establish a relationship with the local librarian. The library also has free museum passes. The night before your child’s school checkout, brainstorm books or topics they might explore.

 

Is there an online platform or app available? 

Common Sense Media offers helpful resources, articles, videos and digital citizenship parent tips: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/articles

Visit Destiny to explore books available at your child’s school.