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Junior Kindergarten
“My goal in JK is to take each student as far as they can go in my class. JKers are in a broad range of development, many need to focus on social emotional growth, and others are beginning their academic journey. Each child enters with different skills and gifts. I love to help them take a step forward in any area, math, reading, handwriting… I love to help build their self-esteem. I want to help them see themselves succeed. Mostly, I want to inculcate a LOVE OF LEARNING!”
– Jennifer Lien Gonzalez, JK Teacher
Energetic, Curious and on a new Adventure
Junior Kindergarten is a very exciting time for children developmentally!
4 and 5 year olds are full of energy and curiosity. They are full of imagination and eager to learn and know more. Their language may include attempts at rhymes, jokes and stories. They feel good about the things they can do, show self-confidence, and are willing to try new adventures. They can recognize familiar words in simple books, on signs, enjoy learning new songs, rhymes and chants. JK aged-children can dress themselves (most clothing items), and do some helping tasks around the house and classroom. They enjoy playing with other children, and are learning to take turns and share. They are able to understand and adhere to classroom agreements. They enjoy sharing time, and playing games.
Teaching the Way Children Learn
Mulberry’s Junior Kindergarten program embraces the fact that each child brings his/her own gifts and abilities, and each student learns at a different pace developmentally. The essence of the JK curriculum is a “softly structured”, play-based learning experience that joyfully meets the students where they are, paving the way for development and learning. One of the things that makes Mulberry so special is the ability for the Teacher to work individually with a student that may have a different learning style. All students learn at different paces, and our entire curriculum in JK can be learned at each child’s own pace.
JK focuses on literacy and exposure to reading in a fun, interactive way. We spend time daily honing our fine motor skills through play-based activities, paving the way to handwriting. We get to experience hands-on math and science activities, and have a realization of how much a part of our daily lives they are.
JK is all about learning about oneself, and about the world around us. Our most basic agreement in class is to “keep our hearts and bodies safe”. In practicing this agreement, we are learning to self–regulate and respect our bodies and those of our friends. This simple philosophy makes so many learning experiences possible.
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Zoo-phonics Reading
Children delight in learning Zoo-phonics, which combines run movement and sound with letter recognition. Students learn basic signals and sounds, practice them with music, and are soon decoding basic words.
Zaner-Bloser Handwriting
Daily projects in JK include drawing, coloring, cutting with scissors, beading and glue guns, all of which develop fine motor skills so important for handwriting. Zaner-Bloser handwriting teaches writing in a most gentle way. Students work with the teacher in small groups or individually, learning both upper and lower case letters.
Math, Science and Social Studies
Junior Kindergarteners count, count and count. We count beans, buttons, and everything in sight, learning how to count to 100. Every day we do Calendar Math, learning about days, dates, weeks, months and the year. And every Friday is Geometry Friday where we work with shapes and patterns.
Learning about our country, our state, and our families helps Junior Kindergarteners understand the world. Seasons, holidays, traditions and cultures of the world are celebrated, as every year we discuss the meaning of and honor Autumn, Harvest, Shab-e-Yalda, Hannukah, Chinese New Year, Narooz and other observances. Science projects include experiments in buoyancy and magnetism. Students investigate various species, from ants to snakes, geckos to honey bees, and learn about the five senses. Since is also integral to students’ weekly experiences with gardening and cooking.
Junior Kindergarteners enjoy fun, hands-on science projects including experiments in buoyancy, experiments with magnets, investigating an ant farm, understanding the 5 senses and exploring in the garden and observations during cooking.
Developing Children of Character
Early in the school year, the JK students create class agreements, the most important of which is “keep our hearts and bodies safe.” Daily group discussions focus on resolving conflict, being kind and courteous, and behaving in a respectful and safe fashion. Giving a compliment and being a good listener are important achievements for this age. Students learn how to be a good friend and citizen, one who is respectful of others. Character development is an integral part of the curriculum, woven into every facet of the students’ experience. By consistently encouraging good listening, helping and kindness, and remaining true to class agreements, we are creating the optimal learning environment. Voices are off when the teacher is speaking. Bodies are still when instructions are given. The way is paved for learning.
Circle and Group times are also a wonderful way for Junior Kindergarteners to learn about self-regulation, a skill necessary for Kindergarten. Being able to sit in a group during stories, songs, finger plays and “sharing” is a skill we work on, as well as waiting one’s turn and being patient.
Character development is an integral part of the social emotional piece of our curriculum. It is interwoven in our academics. By consistently encouraging good listening, helping, kindness, and remaining true to our class agreements we are creating the optimal learning environment. Voices are off when the teacher is speaking. Bodies are still when instructions are given. The way is paved for learning.
Leadership
We are careful to acknowledge when a student has helped a friend or taught a peer how to do something. By recognizing such acts, we foster and encourage leadership. Furthermore, students have opportunities to “be the teacher”, establishing “expert” status in certain areas, thus encouraging children to help each other, sharing their knowledge and skills.
Responsibility
One of the things JKers do in the classroom daily is to clean up the classroom daily. Clean up skills do not come easily to everyone, but “all hands” must clean up when the teacher sounds the chimes before lunch. Each child is given an area to be responsible for, and can line up for the next activity when that area is clean. Children are also encouraged to take responsibility for putting away their personal belongings in their cubbies, as well as hanging their coats up on the pegs. JKers are also encouraged to dress and undress themselves when needed (into extra clothes in the rainy weather).
Cooking, Gardening, 2nd Grade Reading Buddies & More
JKers love to cook. There are several cooking projects they are given the opportunity to participate in, from measuring and learning about ingredients while cooking, to hands-on gardening, glue gun projects and other exciting crafts, they discover they can do almost anything. This year we have a parent that brings his guitar and teaches the children songs and then they make up their own lyrics.
One of the things JKers love best in our class is when our Reading Buddies come from Second Grade. We share a story or poem and then do a craft or let the Second Graders share their work on a project. This kind of peer mentoring is exciting, inspiring and fun!
JKers also love Music with Teacher Maureen, PE with Chris, and their library time.
JK is fun! Everything we do has an essence of fun! Learning is fun. We live each day celebrating our friends and events and ideas. We are not bound by standards alone, and we can take any lesson to the next step! The sky is the limit for JK!
Visit JK at Mulberry and see for yourself!
