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Transitional Kindergarten

Transitional KIndergarten

Transitional Kindergarten: student should be four (4) years old on or before September 1 of that year.

Mission Statement

St. Raymond Transitional Kindergarten is a primary school readiness program dedicated to promoting social, emotional, spiritual and physical growth through the use of developmentally appropriate practices. The goal of the program is to prepare students for the rigors of the St. Raymond school kindergarten program and beyond by continually assessing each student’s abilities and moving students forward by introducing new concepts and challenges.

Philosophy Statement

Transitional Kindergarten uses a developmentally focused curriculum. St. Raymond children learn the foundations necessary for skills such as reading, writing, addition and subtraction. The learning environment considers all areas of development: intellectual, emotional, physical and social. Lessons are cross-integrated and multi-sensory. We tailor instruction to each child's individual needs as we understand the need to meet your child's emerging skills as they develop. Our low class size and student to teacher ratio allows us to meet your child wherever he or she is developmentally and build knowledge from that point. Small group time allows each student to be challenged academically, creatively and socially, making the environment perfect for any child at any level of development.

The Transitional Kindergarten uses a developmentally focused curriculum. We work on moving students from concrete to symbolic thinking, important for literacy and writing, and from egocentric speech to collaborative communication, important for success in classroom environment. Our goal is to make the transition to Kindergarten as seamless as possible.

Religion: Seeds

Students will:

  • learn to recall and repeat prayers, hymns and responses used in the mass
  • learn the story of the faith through scripture introduced mostly using the gospels and parables
  • participate fully in school prayer and all school mass
  • understand basic concepts of Catholic faith including unconditional love and morality
  • be introduced to the significance of major church holidays and feast days

Language and Literacy: Reading Street, Handwriting Without Tears

Students will:

  • learn to listen to and follow oral instructions
  • build vocabulary and participate actively in conversation
  • increase letter sound recognition
  • learn fine motor skills necessary for written language through a variety of instruments
  • develop increased control of hand and eye coordination
  • understand left to right progression
  • recognize and write letters and basic words
  • be read to and read independently on a daily basis

Math Readiness

Students will:

  • work on pattern recognition and categorization
  • sort by color, shape, size, and number
  • increase numeric recognition
  • begin to recognize and copy shapes
  • understand directionality, location and measurement
  • understand one to one correspondence
  • participate in keeping a simple calendar, including day of the week and month of the year

Science and Discovery

Students will:

  • predict results, test ideas and draw conclusions of a given experiment
  • learn cause and effect
  • explore the world around them
  • understand their role in the community as students, friends and members of a family
  • study simple geography and place their location on a map
  • learn about the weather and seasons of the year
  • explore all five senses
  • understand basic nutrition

Music and Rhythm

Students will:

  • learn timing and rhythm
  • be exposed to different types of music and musical instruments
  • sing songs collaboratively
  • participate in all school musical events such as the Christmas concert

Creative Arts

Students will:

  • be exposed to art around the world and various types of art mediums
  • participate in dramatic play to build creative thinking
  • express ideas and emotions both verbally and non-verbally
  • use scissors independently
  • explore making art with a variety of materials including, paint, chalk, crayons, glue, fabric and found materials

Social Skills

Students will:

  • learn to work cooperatively in small and large groups
  • recognize and respect the feelings of others
  • express their thoughts and feelings in an appropriate time and manner
  • take turns and interact with others without being overly submissive or directive

Life Skills

  • Students will work to develop:
  • problems solving
  • time management
  • conflict resolution

Gross Motor Development

Students will:

  • demonstrate basic locomotor movements
  • be able to move and stop with control
  • develop coordinating movements and balance
  • understand how to find and move their bodies in space