KINDERGARTEN

Kindergarten* (Children turning 5 by June 1st)
Monday through Friday
8:20– 3:00pm
Extended Hours available before 8:20, or as late as 5:30

Kindergarten at King’s Gate provides an enriched learning environment with countless opportunities for children to learn in a variety of ways. Through learning centers, children are provided with a wide range of activities designed for all learning styles. Children learn at their own pace while learning from each other. Centers provide an opportunity to learn new concepts, figure out how things work, test theories while building on prior knowledge, role play, solve problems and discover that there is not always just one right answer. Centers include reading and listening, writing, math, art, science, Bible, manipulative, home living, alphabet and computer.

In addition to learning centers, each day will begin with a morning meeting that includes prayer, math and calendar activities, as well as a language, reading and spelling chart. Each day includes a large group activity time and small group times with a teacher.

Kindergarten at King’s Gate is unique in many ways. The class size is small. In other school settings, the teacher will have up to 30 children by herself. We will add a teacher if the class size exceeds 15 students. When there is one teacher, the lesson planning will continue to be completed by several teachers, so that the children have the benefit of the experience of several staff. The resources available to the teacher are generous so she can provide amazing learning opportunities. The children participate in specials including music, science, physical education, and Spanish. The quality of the classroom is affirmed through accreditation by OPSAC, NAEYC, and ACSI.

Like in other King's Gate classrooms, the kindergarten will participate in daily small group time called Huddles. This offers the opportunity for the children to work in a small group setting with his/her teacher. Some activities may be handwriting, math, reading or Letterland activities. This special time also allows time for the King’s Gate teachers to assess and observe in a small group setting.

Growing with Mathematics is used for the kindergarten math curriculum. Growing with Mathematics uses a variety of materials and manipulatives in order for children to learn essential math concepts. Some of the math skills we focus on during Kindergarten are: days of the week, showing data, story problems, sorting, collecting, comparing, rote counting, counting groups, right/left, attribute sorting, positional language, 3-D shapes, place value, complex patterns, odd/even numbers, numeral writing, numeral identification, matching quantities and numerals, ordinal numbers, measurement (weight and length), ordering by size, time, representing information in a graph, identifying coins (names and value), teen numbers, ordering and sequence.

Letterland is used as the phonics and handwriting curriculum. Letterland uses a combination of characters and stories for each letter of the alphabet in order to teach children both the sound and formation of the letters. Children immediately learn each character as it is introduced, and as a result also remember each sound the letters represent. With this foundation, it is much easier for the children to segment and blend the letter sounds once we start putting the letters together to spell and read words.

Handwriting is taught using the Handwriting without Tears (HWT) program. The teachers use their small group time to teach correct letter/number formation in a fun, hands-on way! With the HWT curriculum children use Roll-A-Dough to form letters, as well as slates and chalk. Magnetic boards called Stamp and See Screens are also used to teach handwriting. King’s Gate has several teachers that have been trained in the HWT curriculum. One of our elementary teachers is a certified handwriting specialist.

The children start the week with chapel where they are introduced to a godly attribute that is reinforced throughout the week. They end their week with science, another unique quality of the King’s Gate Kindergarten. Besides the science centers and science opportunities throughout the week, the children participate in “Science Fridays”. This is an entire hour of science every week with Ms. Laurie Gillum our science teacher. She has hands-on, fun ways of teaching science to our kindergarteners! One special thing she does for kindergarten is the Science Fair. Each child creates, researches, and presents his/her own science fair project! Their projects are on display during our annual Open House family event in the spring. King’s Gate kindergarteners graduate from King’s Gate with a love for science and an appreciation for the wonders of God’s creation all around us.

The kindergarteners enjoy going to music each week with Ms. Leah. She will cover music theory concepts including rhythm, counting, pitch, tone, steady beat, melody, and duration. The children always have the opportunity to play instruments like the violin and enjoy the annual Christmas sing. During the spring semester, the kindergarteners go to music in small groups (huddles.) The music huddle provides the opportunity for Ms. Leah to work on more advanced music theory concepts.

Our learning is exciting and fun at King’s Gate! Kindergarten is the first formal year of learning and we want to provide every child with the best start possible. It is a joy to watch a kindergarten child learn and grow.

*Students who have completed a King's Gate pre-kindergarten program (PK4 or Pre-K) have priority during the enrollment process.