News for Collegiate School Families and Friends
Spring 2016
Junior Kindergarten Experience is About Hands-on Learning and Community
O
n any morning at the Lower School you can find our youngest students busily playing in their three warm and colorful Junior Kindergarten classrooms. They’re building ramps with cardboard tubes (and discovering how gravity works) and making maps (and thinking about spatial correlation). In fact, what looks like play is actually part of a plan thoughtfully designed to inspire curiosity, creativity and critical thinking. Those are essential components of a strong educational foundation that will serve JK students as they advance to Kindergarten and beyond. “Students entering the school years are learning how to live together, listen to one another, and learn from and build on what peers say,” says Lower School Head Debbie Miller. “Their learning is like a spider web; when you begin to pull on the literacy and language strand of learning to examine it more carefully, you notice that their social growth is connected. Learning at this age is interdependent.” A combination of routine and open options provide students with both predictable and independent moments throughout a typical day. Mornings start with a song and a group meeting once everyone has arrived. From 9-10:15 a.m., the students have “choice,” a time where they can select to participate in dramatic play, arts and science play or big blocks. Each of the three options is located in a different JK classroom so the children board a “train” led by a teacher to travel
Junior Kindergarten teacher Ann Woods Cutchins leads a group activity in her classroom.
to their desired destinations. The rest of the day is comprised of group activities, special subjects like art, music, library, movement and Spanish, and, appropriate for 4- and 5-year-olds, rest and book time. The JK day did not come together by happenstance. It was very carefully crafted last spring by a special design team of teachers whose work resulted in a blueprint followed by the JK faculty this year. The JK teachers have brought the structure to life with frequent curriculum meetings to discuss adjustments and new ideas. With assistance from consultant Cheryl Gahagan, who has extensive experience teaching this age level, they are
evaluating each lesson and continuously improving on the learning experience. A passion for learning, developing learning habits and an understanding of living in a community are desired outcomes. “In all curriculum areas, we talk a lot about ‘see, think, wonder’ as we go through the day,” says Mrs. Miller. Learning about one alphabet letter each week, taking nature walks at Robins Campus, pondering a question each day as a group, graphing the number of friends who like candy corn, constructing a “Collegiate town” with paper — these are just some of the activities engaging JK students. Project-based learning and continued on back cover