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In kindergarten we learn about God and His people. The heart of the lesson is a Bible story told by the teacher. Our stories contain an overview of the Old Testament as well as some of Jesus' miracles and parables. Singing and prayer also contribute to nurturing the faith of the children. The Christian holidays are studied, and activities related to these holidays coincide with the church calendar. The text used is God's Wonders (CSI). The children commit to memory weekly Scripture ABC Bible verses, the Lord's Prayer, Luke 2:7-8, Matt. 28:5-6, and Psalm 23.

Language art involves listening, speaking, and writing. The children learn to recognize and print the entire alphabet, upper and lower case. Many activities are focused around the letter we are learning. We use the Open Court curriculum as our guide, supplemented by Zoophonics. The writing formation of the letters will be practiced using the Zaner Bloser style of handwriting. There will be many experiences for the children to hear and make distinctions in beginning sounds and rhymes. Comprehension skills such as sequence, vocabulary, recognizing relationships, identifying problems, and predicting outcomes will be taught by discussion and activities following teacher-read literature. The children learn sight words and begin to learn the fundamentals of writing sentences. Through a variety of methods, it is our goal to expand a child's interest and love for literature and writing.

Kindergarten Everyday Math supports about 100 hours of mathematic activities. The program emphasizes playful, verbal interactions and manipulative activities while laying the groundwork for symbolic understanding. The activities encompass a variety of mathematic strands, including simple and complex counting, numeration, operations, measure, geometry, clock and calendar use, graphs, patterns, attributes, and function ideas. Common life applications are a feature of each strand.

In keeping with our school's philosophy for music education, your kindergarten child will be taught that music is a gift from God. This gift will be discovered and developed through listening, singing, creating, reacting and moving to and with music. The artistic elements of melody, harmony, form, rhythm, tone color and expressive qualities of music will be introduced as a foundation to be built upon through the grades.

Science and social study themes are integrated with other areas of the curriculum to help expand the children's knowledge and love for God's world. In these areas the children are given experiences involving observing, use of simple manipulatives, describing, and classifying. Themes such as the weather, seasons, plants, farm animals, safety, the family, fire safety, the farm, and national holidays are introduced. Our goal is to help the children respond with a sense of awe and thankfulness to God for His wonderful creation and encourage a responsibility in caring for His world.

In kindergarten P.E. the emphasis is on the movement patterns of running, hopping, skipping, jumping and galloping. The children practice directionality (especially right and left). They are introduced to ball skills (catching and throwing). They also learn the importance of moving safely, and being willing to try new things. As God's children, they learn to exercise and play, using the body God has given them.

During a child's first year of art, much emphasis is placed on creativity, exploration, and development. Young children tend to be extremely creative, and that creativity should be both encouraged and directed. A variety of materials are used in kindergarten art and the students explore and use these materials as they develop motor skills and coordination. As often as possible, the art lesson is based on other parts of the kindergarten curriculum for example, the Bible story of Samson provides and excellent opportunity to discuss and draw the human body with the wonderful parts and muscles God has created.

Appreciation of literature is taught through storytelling and reading books aloud by the librarian. Kindergarteners learn that the library materials are shelved in a particular order. They learn how to select a book and how to care for books.

1. Enjoy your child. Take time to listen and talk with your child about the activities of the day.
2. Establish healthy routines, such as, getting up at a certain time, eating breakfast, going to bed at a good time.
3. Read to your child; whet the appetite to learn to read!
4. Work habits (study skills) begin at home. Have your child organize the backpack (show and tell, library book) the night before.
5. Pray with your child about Hudsonville Christian, the class and teacher.