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Junior Kindergarten
Junior Kindergarten (JK) is a bridge between preschool and kindergarten. The focus is on social and emotional development, fostering self-esteem as well as communication, self-help, and classroom skills. A team environment is emphasized for JK students, developing cooperation and friendship as core values. Throughout the year, children acquire skills to problem-solve with less adult assistance than the preschool years. They also become more self-sufficient in meeting personal needs and more confident in their interaction with peers and adults.
Each day, JK begins with one hour of free outdoor play, which promotes large motor coordination. This includes running, jumping, riding tricycles, bikes, and scooters along with sand, swings and lots of imagination. From this, the tone of the day is established and the children are ready to transition indoors. Inside activities include class meetings, stories nad music and often focus on fine motor development and bilateral integration, including beading, sorting , counting, patterning, sequencing. The JK program also introduces the mechanics of letter formation, pencil grip and symmetry. The drawing/writing center, yearbook production, block center and the "beading buddies" table are frequent class time favorites.
Highlights Include:
- 2nd grade Reading Buddies
- "You Can't Say You Can't Play" story series
- Sign Language
- Personal Yearbook Portfolios
- Peter Rabbit's Garden
- Music and Movement
- Tea Party Celebration
- Pirate visit at Halloween
- Trips to theatre performances
- Handwriting without Tears
- Recycle Art
- Visits from Mother Earth & Queen of Hearts
- JK Graduation
Kindergarten
Mulberry's Kindergarten sets the foundation for the elementary experience at Mulberry by ensuring a social-readiness for school and a love of learning. The Kindergarten focuses on self-awareness, empathy, respect and a genuine sense of community within the classroom environment. Using a hands-on approach, students acquire an understanding of letters and sounds, word families, rhyming, concepts of print, and a love of books. The class also explores numbers 1-30, concepts of time such as days/months/years, patterning, sequencing and the word of science from simple machines to the life cycle. Multi-cultural awareness is a large component of the Kindergarten curriculum and is integrated into many of their activities.
Highlights Include:
- 5th Grade Reading Buddies
- Student Book Bags
- Sticker Store
- Sign Language
- Trips to the Planetarium, local theatres, farms
- Carpentry, Embroidery
- Weather & Seasons
- Five Senses
- Featured Artist of the Month
- Multi-Cultural Celebrations
- Handwriting Without Tears
- Spanish Language Lessons
First Grade
Mulberry's First Grade curriculum builds on the sense of community and respect introduced in Kindergarten. First Graders develop a deeper sense of personal responsibility as it affects their success and the success of the community. They acquire confidence in taking responsibility for their own learning. First Graders strengthen their skills in all components of language arts and students of all levels see themselves as readers and writers. They continue Handwriting Without Tears and begin Writer's Workshop. They use numbers 1-100 and begin to understand larger concepts between numbers, viewing math as a language that is beginning to move from the concrete to the abstract as they apply their mathematical knowledge to word problems and real life situations. In science, First Graders explore the four elements (fire, air, water, earth) and begin their ongoing study of the human body.
Highlights include:
- Theme centers with 2nd Grade: rainforest, geography and global mapping, ocean studies, human body, four seasons
- Gardening, cooking, sewing with 2nd grade
- Reading buddies with 3rd Grade
- 4 Elements Science Unit
- Ocean Studies
- Field Trips to tide pool, local theatres, zoo, ice skating
- Fairy Tales
- Beginning glass-fusing
- Elements of art/color study
- Pinch pot, coil pots & printing with clay
- Directed & free drawing
- Student-led parent teacher conference
Second Grade
The Mulberry Second Grade enforces and expands the personal responsibility that has been established thus far. Class meetings challenge the students to work as a group to directly resolve issues so that children can succeed as individuals as well as support each other as a community of learners. Second Graders become fluent readers as they embrace the pleasure of reading at a level appropriate for each child. Reading comprehension advances through more complex story structure, character development and setting. Likewise, writing is developed as the Second Graders expand to more sophisticated sentences with descriptive word and mechanics that enable students to convey more complex thoughts in writing. In mathematics, the students learn to compute by using pictures, numbers and words, and learn a variety of approaches to mathematical computation. Physical and life sciences are a large component of the Second Grade curriculum. Students also strengthen and enhance their understanding of the Four Elements and the human body through further study of the concepts introduced in First Grade.
Highlights Include:
- Reader's Theatre and Writer's Workshop with 3rd Grade
- Theme Centers with 1st Grade: rainforest, geography and global mapping, ocean studies, human body, four seasons
- Jr. Kindergarten Reading Buddies
- Overnight field trip to Hidden Villa
- Theatre performances
- Intertwining music & art at the San Francisco Ballet
- Composers & Artists
- Ceramics
- Glass fusing and slumping
- The moon
- E.B. White's Trumpet of the Swan
- Student-led parent teacher conference
Third Grade
Third Grade is the transition between lower and upper elementary. Children continue to refine the skills that have been presented in previous years and are able to integrate, organize and express these skills so that they may be used as effective learning tools. Third Graders explore the process of thinking and individual learning strategies so the notion of taking responsibility for their own learning is firmly established. Third Graders read for information and content often presenting their findings in research projects. They practice reading with expression in small groups and explore genre, point of view, and poetry in depth. Third Grade handwriting progresses from D'nealian to cursive. In math, Third Graders master numbers 1-1000 or higher, place value, multiplication, numerical equations, pictorial math and symbolic understanding. The science program includes the natural sciences of snails, snakes, silkworms as well as motion, inertia and force. A variety of art techniques are introduced. Above all, Third Graders are given the opportunity to introduce particular subjects of interest to the group and to thoroughly examine their interest throughout all curricular areas.
Highlights include:
- Writer's Workshop
- AIMS Math & Science
- Lifelab
- Overnight trip to Hidden Villa
- Artist and Author Studies
- Mythology, Dragons & Medusa
- Silk Painting
- Ceramics
- Tall Ships/Voyage of Discovery with 4th Grade
- Wizard's Spelling
- Student-led parent teacher conference
Fourth Grade
Fourth Grade at Mulberry is a time when the students are challenged to stretch themselves as individuals and to accept their mistakes as a valuable part of learning. Fourth Graders are proficient in basic arithmetic functions such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and now extend their mathematical skills to their farthest ability. Fourth Graders become comfortable with positive and negative numbers, algebraic thinking and geometry and enjoy a fun introduction to physics. In language arts, students continue to enjoy reading for pleasure and as a tool in learning. A firm grasp of grammar and parts of speech is established. California history is a large component of the Fourth Grade curriculum and is incorporated into much of the year's program. Additionally, there is emphasis on organizational skills ("being on your own side") along with time and space management. Through it all, Fourth Graders learn the importance of not taking oneself too seriously, and that learning is not a spectator sport.
Highlights include:
- Trip to Gold Country
- California Native American Tribes
- California Birds and Birding field trip to Lake Almaden
- Missions
- Reports: Oral & Written
- Birthday Pillows
- Weekly Homework Packets
- Mixed Media: pastels, watercolors, acrylics
- Basket weaving, beading, stone carving
- Geology/rock cycle
- Plants and Geography of California
- Tall Ships/Voyage of Discovery with 4th Grade
- Newton's Laws of Motion: "Pinewood Derby"
- Preschool buddies
- Student-led parent teacher conference
- Presentations
Fifth Grade
Fifth Grade is the culmination of Mulberry School's effort to promote independent, creative and critical thinkers. In language arts, the students examine great works of literature, both current and classic. The students explore inference and master the ability to critically analyze, concisely summarize, and effectively present their findings in formal book reports. Book reports explore plot, setting and character analysis from a variety of genres. In math, students review in-depth all math concepts taught thus far, and then symbolically and abstractly apply their knowledge in new areas. The class focuses on problem solving and algebraic thinking and the students acquire competence in algorithms, fractions, decimals, ratios and percentages. In social studies and science, students learn how to merge information from multiple sources in order to acquire a complete understanding of a particular topic. Social studies focus on geography, European explorers, Colonization of the New World, US Government and states and capitols. Individual and class science projects are a large part of the curriculum and emphasize scientific method. Fifth Grade incorporates a "Test Taking" unit so the students learn the fundamental skills of test taking as well as the underlying emotional responses that occur in standardized testing. Because Fifth Grade is the transition from elementary school to middle school, there is a continued emphasis on personal responsibility, organization and autonomy. Students set personal goals for themselves so that they are aware of and working toward becoming the type of student and person they envision themselves to be.
Highlights include:
- Week of Science Camp at Headlands Institute
- NASA Jason Project
- Kindergarten and Preschool Reading Buddies
- Math Madness!
- Chemistry
- Solar System
- Physics of roller coasters
- The human body in puberty
- Kinetic sculpture
- Book reports
- Student-led parent teacher conference
- Autobiography & Self Portrait
- Trip to Pajaro Dunes
- Speech Writing/Graduation