YOUNG 5 & KINDERGARTEN

Daycroft’s sensorial curriculum allows the Young 5 & Kindergarten child the ability to develop and explore their senses and improve their sensory discrimination. Using scientifically designed sensorial materials, we refine skills in observing, thinking, judging, associating, comparing, contrasting and discriminating using visual, auditory, tactile and baric materials. Our Young 5s’ & Kindergarteners’ sensorial explorations build a foundation for speech, writing, and math.

“Nothing comes to the intellect that is not first in the senses”
The Secret of Childhood, Maria Montessori

Daycroft’s Young 5 & Kindergarten students experience mathematics in the beautiful, concrete way designed by Dr. Maria Montessori. Lessons in the decimal system, linear counting and the four operations are presented concretely with the golden bead and colorful bead materials. When children begin moving toward abstraction and memorization, they are able to explore advanced mathematical materials such as the Stamp Game, the Dot Board and the Strip Boards.

Our Young 5s & Kindergarteners also explore additional mathematical concepts: fractions, telling time, and money. Daycroft’s math instruction is individualized to each student, with new concepts and materials being presented when the child is ready for them.

“The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence,” and the Daycroft Young 5 & Kindergarten student develops and strengthens their hands through practical life work in the classroom. Young 5s & Kindergarteners care for their classroom, their friends, and their teachers with lessons that have real-world practical application. The children learn to dust, sweep, wash windows, scrub tables, and water and care for plants. They develop their fine motor skills while painting, tracing, tonging, tweezing and stringing. The children further refine fine motor skills with handwork lessons: pre-sewing and sewing jobs such as snipping, stringing, tying knots, making bracelets and necklaces, lacing and stitching.

Daycroft’s Language Arts curriculum starts the moment the Young 5 & Kindergarten student enters the environment. Oral language development involves rhyme and poetry, structured conversations, and sound games. Writing is taught before reading, and is a direct preparation for reading. Children work with the sandpaper letters to gain mastery of consonant sounds and short vowel sounds, and then begin building short vowel words with the moveable alphabet material. As soon as the Young 5 & Kindergarten child begins to blend sounds together, they begin reading phonetic readers with a teacher. The moveable alphabet is used concurrently with the short vowel readers to integrate what the child is reading, then the child builds more complex words, sentences, and stories. Language development is encouraged throughout the classroom in each curriculum area and brought alive through stories, songs, and group activities.

Our handwriting curriculum first utilizes the metal inset material to help develop the proper pincer grasp and small muscle control. We teach d'Nealian letter formation on a whiteboard with small groupings of children, and then introduce a daily journaling practice that increases in length and complexity as the child progresses.

Daycroft Young 5 & Kindergarten students learn about the continents and countries on our globe beginning with Montessori puzzle maps and individual deep continent dives. Children explore the cultures of our world one continent at a time, supplemented by presentations from special guests, Daycroft “Culture Day”, and beautifully written and illustrated books.

Our Young 5 and Kindergarten students are immersed in the nomenclature of the parts of plants and animals, plant and animal life cycles, our solar system, and the human body. We study weather, the water cycle, the composition of the earth and its landforms, recycling, the composition of life, invertebrates, and the five classes of vertebrates. The rich and exciting science curriculum at Daycroft incorporates regular STEAM engineering projects and seasonal explorations, such as studying the decomposition of a pumpkin.