CURRICULUM

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

The children at King’s Gate learn through experimentation with a wide variety of materials and through direct instruction by the teacher. Each class has a new thematic unit each week and is designed to be a balance of teacher-directed and child-initiated learning. Concepts are taught through a developmental approach. Math, science, social studies, music, literature and art are all integrated into each unit. Language development is also an important area of our curriculum. A thematic unit schedule is sent home at the beginning of each year, and lesson plans are posted outside of each classroom. The classrooms are organized in such a way as to encourage independence, promote caring and to maximize learning.

CHRISTIAN EMPHASIS

We believe that the Bible is the true and inspired Word of God. Biblical teaching, values and principles are integrated into all subjects, daily school activities, and experiences. By their actions and words, our teachers show God’s love and encourage caring for others. They are allowed the freedom to incorporate God’s wisdom in their daily teaching, and a Bible center is available daily in the classroom. We open each day with Happy Happenings. As the children arrive, they go to the chapel for a short worship time of singing and prayer. In addition to this daily worship, the children start each week with chapel where they are introduced to the godly characteristic of the week.
MORNING MEETING (Circle Time)
To build a classroom community and to promote a “social curriculum”, the children participate in a morning meeting when they arrive in the classroom following Happy Happenings. The daily routine of the morning meeting creates a positive climate for learning and reinforces academic and social skills. This is the perfect time to help the children learn to take care of their school environment while introducing materials and asking open-ended questions that encourage inquiry and heighten interest. The circle time also provides the opportunity for the teachers to provide direction for the week’s learning centers, for shared reading, large group activities and teacher-directed skill focused experiences.

LEARNING CENTERS

In addition to large group time, learning centers are an important part of each day. Learning centers provide an opportunity to build knowledge through a wide variety of interactions with "hands-on" manipulatives as well as with peers. The learning centers are preplanned and prepared for active discovery, cooperative learning and independent inquiry. Each center promotes language development, encourages problem solving and stimulates social interaction. Learning centers allow children to experience, investigate, practice and reinforce concepts within a small-group setting. Each center is designed to challenge students to further extend the learning concepts and experiences introduced during large-group instruction. In addition, the learning center environment provides the setting for developing social skills including cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy and self-control. Some of the learning centers include: Bible, mathematics, art, music, computers, home, language arts, library, listening, science, cooking and writing.

MATHEMATICS

King's Gate has adopted Growing with Mathematics (GWM) for our primary math curriculum. We believe children are active learners and construct mathematical understanding through interacting with their environment and peers. This program is carefully sequenced and provides a literacy based, hands-on, developmentally-appropriate, fun and creative math curriculum. It fosters social interaction and uses the children's own experiences and interests while promoting problem solving and incorporating music, reading, science and social studies. The Growing with Mathematics program exceeds the PASS objectives for the State of Oklahoma.

LANGUAGE ARTS

King's Gate classes use a curriculum rich in literature to support children as they develop reading readiness/emerging literacy skills. In all of our classrooms, we provide an ongoing, daily program that involves language experience activities, large group reading, small group interaction, story dramatizations, modeling left to right and top-down progression, responsive classroom charts, journaling and developmentally appropriate letter/sound activities.

King's Gate Kindergarten and Pre-K uses the Letterland curriculum for phonics. This unique approach to phonics uses stories about delightful Letterland characters in order to teach the sounds that each letter represents. Letterland makes learning sounds and rules fun and easy!

We use the Wright Group Series GWM Big Books to build up our reading and writing opportunities in all of our classrooms. This reading series includes short, predictable, rhyming and counting books as well as wonderful read-aloud books. Students are introduced to literacy strategies, print concepts, vocabulary and sense of story through interactive activities. Children are encouraged to write using "inventive spelling" as well as proper spelling, capitalization and punctuation through activities such as interactive writing and daily oral language.

In addition, we have adopted Handwriting Without Tears® (HWT) to teach handwriting in our Kindergarten, Pre-K and PK4 (for children who come either 4 or 5 days per week.) The goal of HWT is to make legible and fluent handwriting an easy and automatic skill for all students. Through audio, visual, tactile and kinetic features, this unique curriculum design is helpful for every learning style. The instructional techniques and activities to help improve a child's self-confidence, pencil grip, body awareness, posture and so much more!

SCIENCE

All King’s Gate children attend weekly science classes with Ms. Laurie, as well as participating in hands-on experiments and discovery activities in their classroom centers. Through our unique science program, children learn not to be intimidated by problems but rather to walk through the scientific process of testing theories, collecting data and building on prior knowledge. The kindergarteners participate in our annual science fair and enjoy showing local scientists and their parents what they have learned during the school year. King’s Gate kids love to find answers and leave King’s Gate with a love for science.

MUSIC

Every morning begins with Happy Happenings in the chapel where Ms. Allison and the teachers lead the children as they sing their favorite songs. The King’s Gate children attend music class with Ms. Allison every week as well as participating in hands-on music activities in their classroom centers. Using an experiential approach, Ms. Allison will cover music theory, concepts and experiences. One of the highlights of the year is the annual Christmas Sing, a music program in which the children delight in expressing a warm Christmas story through music.

COMPUTERS

Computers are available in every classroom. Children learn to feel comfortable using a computer. We use early childhood educational software. Language arts concepts, phonics and math skills, sight vocabulary development, and decision-making opportunities are also reinforced on the computer.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Our school day and our classrooms are structured in such a way as to encourage appropriate behavior at all times and our teachers have age appropriate expectations of the children. The boundaries in the classroom are well defined and logical consequences help foster responsibility and self-control. The teachers will model conflict resolution techniques and alternatives while providing acceptable and appropriate choices for moving past a disappointment or struggle. Children learn the best lessons when they are given a task and allowed to make their own choices (and sometimes fail) when the cost of failure is still small. Children's failures are coupled with love and empathy from their teachers and logical consequences. The teacher/child relationship is built up using empathy and hope, emphasizing respect and dignity for both children and teachers, providing real limits in a loving way and teaching consequences and healthy decision-making (Love & Logic.) Teachers are expected to handle all behavior and guidance situations in a positive manner and in a way that honors the child. Under no circumstances will a child be spanked.