Kindergarten Program

Holy Name Kindergarten is a full-day program with a combination of academics and center-based learning experiences. Kindergarten students must be 5 years of age by Sept. 1.

Weekly specials: PE, library, art, computers, music, Spanish

Along with a full academic curriculum, a large part of the kindergarten experience is to learn basic school and social skills. Those skills include listening, raising your hand, walking in the halls, developing self-control, using an indoor voice, becoming independent learners and independent thinkers, being able to take care of yourself through dressing, taking care of personal school belongings, and cleaning up after yourself.

Our curriculum includes (but is not limited to):

Religion: In our kindergarten classrooms, religion is much more than a subject. Our faith is a way of life.  We are honored, on a daily basis, to share our faith with our students.  To help us support our faith and religion, we use the Faith First series as a resource. 
The series is divided into four units:
Unit 1 – The World is a Gift from God
Unit 2 – God Loves Us
Unit 3 – We are Friends of Jesus
Unit 4 – We Live as Friends of Jesus

At the kindergarten level, we model our philosophy of our faith as a way of life. We share our faith by reading Bible stories, praying, and sharing prayers as a group with and for the people we love. We attend weekly liturgy on Tuesday. We teach prayers and recite them daily: the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and meal prayers, and we also pray through song. We spend a lot of time discussing “doing the right thing” and examining the choices we make in our daily lives.

Mathematics: Our math series is Go Math! Our curriculum includes, but is not limited to:
Learning to represent, count and write numbers 0 to 31
Representing and comparing numbers to 10
Addition
Subtraction
Identifying and describing two- and three-dimensional shapes
Measurement
Patterning
Classifying and sorting data
Our daily math lessons combine both hands-on interaction and practice pages.

Science and Social Studies: Throughout the year, we teach science and social studies by incorporating these subjects into our daily centers, reading lessons, and religion lessons. A large part of our science program is focused around the seasons. In the fall we study apples, apple trees, leaves, pumpkins. In the winter we study the Antarctic and arctic regions, and the animals and climate there. In the spring we focus on plants, weather, and animals, and we always take a trip to the Detroit Zoo. In addition we use Scholastics, Let’s Find Out, and Science Spin magazines to aid us in our studies.

Reading and Language Arts: We use the McGraw-Hill Wonders Reading series.  The program includes:
Phonics — learning letters and letter sounds
40 high-frequency words
Weekly concepts that are grade-appropriate and include topics in science and social studies
Learning strategies for listening comprehension
Literature from different genres

Most of our students are reading the books that go with our series by the end of kindergarten. All concepts learned in our large-group reading instruction are then used in small-group center lessons.

A typical day at Holy Name : Our kindergarten students are energetic learners!  Each day begins with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a morning meeting.  During our morning meeting, a calendar routine is established early in the year, and learning is built upon this as the year develops. Many of our math, literacy, speaking, and listening skills are developed and nurtured during this time of the day. Large group instruction for reading and language arts is completed in the morning. The children then take what they have learned in large group and use it during their learning center time later in the day.  We recognize and respect the need for play and peer socialization, and this is nurtured through free choice centers. The children have lunch, followed by 20 minutes for recess. They have a short rest period after recess, followed by a read-aloud. The afternoon is focused on math, religion, and learning centers. The day concludes with a prayer, and we always make sure our little ones get to their parents safely at dismissal.