Kindergarten
Noah's Ark Extended Day Kindergarten
Welcome to Kindergarten! This is an exciting time for both children and parents and we at Noah's Ark want to do everything we can to make this transition from preschool to kindergarten as smooth as possible. Through our partnership with you we hope to enhance your child's learning. We feel a strong parent/child/school connection will lead to a successful experience — not only in kindergarten but throughout your child's academic career.
Why an Extended Day?
Extended day programs provide a relaxed, unhurried school day with more time for a variety of experiences. Studies have shown that students taking part in extended day programs demonstrate strong academic advantages. In every study they found that students performed as well or better than half-day students. One recent study found fourth graders maintained the academic advantage gained during extended day kindergarten.
Requirements for entrance to Kindergarten:
- All medical forms must be completed and all immunizations must be up to date. Children cannot start school until the required forms have been turned in.
- The school must have a copy of the child's birth certificate on file.
Preparing Your Child for Kindergarten
There are many basic skills you can help your child with at home before he or she starts kindergarten. Please help your child learn to:
- Use the bathroom without assistance.
- Select and put on (buttons and zippers) clothing appropriate for the weather.
- Tie shoes.
- Have healthy habits, such as covering their nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing. Encourage regular hand washing.
It is helpful if your child knows the following:
- His or her full name, address and phone number.
- His or her parents' names.
- Can recognize his or her name in print.
- Knows what number to call in an emergency (911).
The social development of a child has been shown to be the most important factor in determining a child's future success in school. Children need to learn such things as how to listen, follow directions, play appropriately, negotiate conflict, use good manners, have respect for others and when to ask for help from an adult. To help make your child's transition to kindergarten successful, continue to offer opportunities for your child to practice his or her social skills.
- Provide opportunities to play with other children.
- Take your child to a variety of places such as the library, the park, the grocery store, etc.
- Teach socially acceptable ways to disagree.
- Encourage social values such as helpfulness, cooperation, sharing, and concern for others.
- Demonstrate good manners and praise your child for using them.
- Encourage work values such as effort, persistence and initiative.
Read to your child every day...it does make a difference!
Curriculum
An effective kindergarten program understands children develop at different rates and that each area of development, physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual, needs to be recognized. Your child's teacher understands how young children learn best and will provide opportunities to foster this development. The following are some of the areas that will be covered.
Language and Literacy Development
Students will have opportunities to experience the enjoyment of reading while they learn the foundational strategies and skills that will enable them to read independently. Students will be exposed to phonemic awareness, letter names, decoding skills, high frequency vocabulary, and comprehension skills as they listen and respond to a variety of texts. In our kindergarten program, children have the opportunity to:
- Listen to and join in the reading of stories, songs and poems.
- Respond to stories through discussion, drama, art, music and movement.
- Develop and use lists, signs, messages.
- Work on projects collaboratively with other children.
- Dictate stories.
- Explore sounds, letters and words.
- Experiment with writing by drawing, copying, manipulating magnetic letters, etc.
Math and Science
One way the five-year-old child acquires an understanding of math and science is through repeated experiences using concrete, manipulative material. Through various methods the children will have opportunities to:
- Sort and classify.
- Count.
- Match.
- Measure.
- Recognize, name and write numerals.
- Develop number concepts.
- Learn to recognize patterns.
- Learn to count and use counting patterns.
- Become aware of math concepts, including time, money, graphing and simple addition and subtraction.
- Learn to make observations and draw conclusions.
- Explore, question, observe, predict and discuss the world around him.
Social and Emotional Development
Since no learning occurs that doesn't involve feelings, it is the role of the teacher to provide an environment in which democratic living is practiced, and one that is happy, interesting and friendly. In this environment each child can:
- Share and take turns.
- Learn to be a part of a group.
- Practice being polite and thoughtful.
- Feel a sense of belonging.
- Accept guidance and authority.
- Obtain a sense of approval, independence and self-respect.
Spiritual Development
One of the things we think sets our school apart from others is our attention to the spiritual growth of your child. We have a Christian Education teacher on staff that has developed a religious curriculum appropriate for young children. She tells Bible stories to the children each week and uses songs, flannel boards and finger plays to help engage the children and increase their understanding of the stories. Pastor Wilson also visits weekly and tells age appropriate Bible stories. The children begin each day with a prayer and learn different snack prayers throughout the year.
Physical Development
The physical development of each child is very important to his overall well being. The teacher understands that young children develop physically at different rates and that good health habits, if started at a young age, have a better chance of continuing as the child gets older. In our kindergarten each child has an opportunity to:
- Develop muscular control and coordination.
- Develop a sense of rhythm.
- Learn to care for his body and value physical health.
- Learn and practice safety rules.
- Develop gross motor skills, such as skipping, jumping and balancing.
General Information
School Hours: 9:00am–1:00pm
Calendar: The school will follow the District 220 schedule with the following exceptions:
- The first day of school is the Tuesday after Labor Day.
- The school is closed the week of Thanksgiving.
- The school is closed the Monday after Easter.
- The school closes the Friday before Memorial Day.
Snack and Lunch: Each child will provide a healthy snack and lunch. Snacks and lunches should be non-perishable as they will be kept in your child's cubbie.
Additional policies and procedures can be found in the Noah's Ark Parent Handbook.