When it comes to our Pre-K and Kindergarten department, we value an educational system catered towards allowing our students to responsibly think and take initiative independently starting from a young age. Our role is to help support our early learners by keeping consistent communication with our students’ families and facilitating a safe, nondiscriminatory learning environment open to all backgrounds and personalities.

A child’s early years can play a key role in language acquisition intertwined with logical-thinking skills. Starting off early learners in an immersive environment which reinforces language comprehension skills is an ideal opportunity as they will need much more time to cultivate the same abilities later in life. Because of our advocacy in this firm belief, our program includes English and mathematics lessons multiple times a week. During their English classes, students have plenty of practice to hone their listening and speaking skills which builds stronger foundations in phonics and produces natural literacy with reading and writing. All of the subjects, with the exception of Japanese language classes, are taught in English.

In addition to English and mathematics, we give focus on the children’s physical and creative progression. Special subjects such as physical education, music and Japanese are integrated in our curriculum and taught by specialist teachers with the support of class teachers.

We believe in the power of movement, music and art to express feelings which can be harder to convey with words; especially during this phase of childhood. We hope our children will lead positive lives, surrounded by many friends and with the strength to overcome difficulties. We hope that sports, art and music will bring them fulfillment and enrich them as individuals.

We want our kindergarten to be a place where children are eager to come every day to play with friends and have fun learning. Our main goal is to have children enjoy every moment at school and while they are having fun, equip them with all of the tools and knowledge that will make them shine. We are committed to the continuous improvement of our facilities and educational environment to maintain the highest quality in early childhood education.

Our curriculum focuses on English and mathematics, as well as physical education, music and Japanese. Physical education (PE), music and Japanese classes are taught by early childhood education specialists in their respective fields. Classroom or assistant teachers also support them during these lessons.

We have outside play time in our playground and sandpit area as well as physical education lessons in our indoor gym with special activities designed to nurture the gross motor skills of young children.

 

Language Arts

For English reading-and-writing-instruction, we are using Jolly Phonics. Jolly Phonics is a synthetic phonics method of teaching phonetics in a way that is fun and multi-sensory, enabling early literacy.

Mathematics

In math, students learn about counting and cardinality to 100, graphing, classifying and grouping objects, bi-dimensional and tri-dimensional shapes, patterning, nonstandard measurement, ordinal numbers, addition and subtraction with numbers up to 20, story problems, and time-and-calendar concepts. Students use hands-on manipulatives, play games, and engage in multi-sensory activities to develop number sense and link mathematical concepts to their daily lives and experiences.

Science and Social Studies

We adopt a theme-based approach for our science and social studies curriculum. The themes will be the same for all grade levels, although lessons will be differentiated in difficulty depending on the children’s age-group. The whole kindergarten will have an event for each theme.

 

 

Art

In art, we offer a well-balanced variety of lessons covering both painting and crafts. We give focus on the children’s enjoyment of expressing themselves creatively through art and value the individuality of each child’s creations. Arts and crafts will also follow the monthly themes, taking inspiration from what the children are learning in science and social studies as well as through nature observation.

 

Music

During music classes, students learn many different skills such as sound reproduction, harmonization, developing rhythmic awareness and expression through dance. Music presentations generally take place during school events and on special occasions.

Physical Education

In physical education (PE) students learn gymnastics and ball sports all-year round. We have an outdoor, sheltered gymnasium specifically made for our kindergarteners to safely move freely and enjoy exercise.

Japanese

In Japanese, students learn how to write in both hiragana and katakana in addition to understanding cultural and seasonal traditions. Our Japanese teachers teach by reading Japanese books and singing songs with students. Students also make crafts related to cultural lessons and special events. When reading books, our teachers provide bilingual instruction in order to enhance and accommodate the learning experience for all learners.

 

Park Time

Preschool and kindergarten classes go to the park with their homeroom and support teachers for one hour of outdoor playtime once a week.

Field Trips

For each theme, kindergarten will go on a corresponding field trip to enrich their learning. We are planning to go on four field trips over the school year.

 

Birthday Parties

Each class has a monthly birthday party for anyone born during the celebrated month.

End of Theme Celebration

We close each theme with a celebration where children can dress-up, eat snacks and have fun doing activities appropriate to the corresponding theme.