Preschool Curriculum Guide

Mission Statement

Mustard Seed School teaches each child to know and care for their community and world.

Together we inspire minds, cultivate hearts, and remove barriers.

A Community of Welcome

Mustard Seed continually works to be a community of welcome. We have in our midst families of different configurations, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and religions. About two-thirds of our families identify as Christian and regularly attend religious services. About one-third of our families are active in a different faith tradition or do not actively practice any religion.

We’re a Christian school with a daily worship time and Christ is at the center of school life. Because we are a school, not a church, we do not have expectations for families about their religious faith, doctrine, expression, or practice. All of our students, faculty, and staff participate in daily worship, and we are very aware that every individual experiences and expresses faith and spirituality differently. There is always room for wondering and questioning. We often say that Christians who are serious about their faith do not always agree, and our hope is that we can be a safe place for students to discuss those differences with each other in class. When students have specific questions about how their own faith addresses different topics, we refer students to their religious leaders and families.

Teachers are aware that there are varying beliefs and understandings which may affect our learning community. Teachers allow for respectful discussion among students when there are different points of view. It’s in this work that we fulfill our Core Commitments to “embrace diversity” by “engaging with our differences,” as we desire for “our students to genuinely know themselves, their neighbors, and the world.”

When children see themselves in the curriculum, they experience belonging. We promote the visibility and inclusion of students in all of their identities. Our curriculum and materials should act as mirrors and windows, allowing students to see themselves and those who differ from them through positive representations. In our program, students learn to identify and challenge stereotypes in a way that supports the development of inclusivity in our community. This is a way we remove barriers.

Early Childhood Design

We are a progressive school. This means that we take play seriously. We build a learning environment that is responsive to children’s innate curiosity.

As we design learning experiences for young children, we build in opportunities for hands-on exploration. We guide their play experiences so that they are learning through discovery, research, and collaboration.

By designing curriculum that honors student needs, we see a culture of rigorous learning fueled by authentic curiosity and wonder. Students express their learning using a wide variety of materials that provide new ways of seeing, representing, and creating beauty. We design instruction that is arts-infused.

We are a Christian school. We have worship each day and we want each young child to know that they are loved all the time, no matter what. We want them to know that they fit into a story that connects people to each other and to God’s world. We hope they will engage with empathy, forgiveness, joy, and love in a way that helps them to know themselves, care for others, and imagine a hopeful future for the world around them.

Inspiring Minds

A Reggio-Inspired School

Our curriculum is deeply influenced by the Reggio Emilia Approach from the schools of the Reggio Emilia region of Italy. What does this look like? We honor the questions of our students. We teach them to be researchers and to develop intellectual curiosity. Often working collaboratively in partners and small groups, children use art languages to explore the answers and respond to what they are learning.

Below are the fundamentals of the approach. You’ll see these in action throughout the program.

THE CHILD AS PROTAGONIST

Children are strong, capable, and ready to learn. All children have potential, curiosity, and interest in constructing their learning. They can negotiate everything their environment brings to them. Children, teachers, and parents are considered the three central participants in the educational process, with the child leading the way.

THE CHILD AS COLLABORATOR

Education occurs in relationships with other children, family, teachers, and community. That is why we emphasize partner and small group work. This practice is based on the social constructivist model that supports the idea that we form our ideas and understanding through our interaction with peers, adults, things in the world, and symbols.

THE CHILD AS COMMUNICATOR

Children require hundreds of languages with which to explore and convey learning: speaking. Writing. Movement. Drawing. Painting. Building. Sculpture. Shadow play. Collage. Drama. Music. Math. We give students access to materials and the knowledge of how to use them. We want them to express their ideas as they discover, wonder, question, feel, and imagine.

THE ENVIRONMENT AS THIRD TEACHER

The design and use of space matters. Well designed space encourages encounters, communication, and relationships. Every corner of every space has an identity and purpose. It is valued and cared for by children and adults.

THE TEACHER AS A PARTNER, NURTURER, AND GUIDE

Teachers facilitate children’s exploration of themes and work on short-term and long-term projects. They guide experiences of collaborative, open-ended discovery and problem-solving. They listen and observe children closely. Ask questions. Discover children’s ideas, hypotheses, and theories. They provide provocations that challenge students’ misconceptions and extend their thinking.

THE TEACHER AS A RESEARCHER

Teachers work in pairs or triads and maintain strong, collegial relationships. They engage in continuous discussion and interpretation of their work and the work of the children. These exchanges provide ongoing training and theoretical enrichment. Teachers see themselves as researchers who document their work with children, whom they also consider researchers.

THE DOCUMENTATION AS COMMUNICATION

Documentation is a spectrum of tools used to record and convey the work of the children. It comes in the form of blog posts, pictures and quotes from a child’s day at school, newsletters, and student work posted in the classroom. Documentation serves many purposes. It makes parents aware of their children’s experience and encourages reflection. It allows teachers to better understand children, to evaluate their own work, and to exchange ideas with other educators. Documentation also shows the children that their work is valued.

FAMILIES AS PARTNERS

We believe that family participation is essential. Families play an active part in their children’s learning experiences and help ensure the welfare of all the children in the school. The ideas and skills that families bring to the school and, even more importantly, the exchange of ideas between families and teachers, favor the development of a progressive way of educating.

Literacy in Preschool

How will preschool students learn?

Preschool students come to school with a natural love of story and song. Our expert teachers weave these language experiences throughout the day and curriculum as literacy skills begin to emerge. Teachers share stories with increasing complexity and celebrate big words connected with each thematic unit. Children act out stories in drama activities. They learn to sign their names and form letters on their papers and in the messages they write to friends and family.

Discovering the name of letters can be as exciting and curiosity-inspiring as discovering the names of birds and vehicles and insects. Sorting, classifying,and grouping is the work of the detective preschooler. and they research these graphic representations. We invite them into this investigation by making the patterns and conventions of language explicit through direct whole group and small group instruction.

Additionally, we believe in the power of conversation for both language and overall cognitive development. Teachers design the classroom environment to encourage conversation with peers and adults over the daily learning activities. This stretches the children’s use of language and deepens their learning.

What will students learn?

Our preschool uses the Creative Curriculum for Preschool as well as the approach from Teachers College Reading and Writing Project’s Pre-K Institute in literacy instruction. The following core concepts and abilities are the outcome of this work in a language-rich environment.

• Rhyme

Phonological awareness, phonics skills, letter knowledge

• Syllables

• Letter sound association

• Alliteration

• Recognizing and naming letter

• Book features and use

Print awareness and knowledge

• Print concepts such as where to start and which direction to follow text

• Awareness of letters, words, spaces, punctuation

• Ask and answer questions about a text

• Use of pictures as cues for meaning

Text comprehension

• Identify the story’s problem, events, and resolution

• Retell stories

• Recount details from text

Emergent reading skills

• Recite language from familiar stories

• Match oral language to words on page

• Write name

• Developing letter formation for many letters

Emerging writing skills

• Use drawing, dictation, and invented spelling to convey a message

Language comprehension

• Comprehend increasingly complex statements, questions, vocabulary, and stories

• Follow multi-step directions

• Use expanding vocabulary

• Describe and tell about familiar items and events

Language use

• Tell elaborate stories that refer to other times and places

• Begin to use technical words and correctly use new words

• Increasingly use conventional grammar to express thoughts and needs

Literacy in Kindergarten

Kindergarten is a year of metamorphosis as children become autonomous in their use of written language. Our skilled kindergarten teachers provide instruction in all of the facets that support their literacy development. Teachers design a language-rich environment. They instill a love of story. Work to increase vocabulary. And create a culture of collaboration where students use both oral and written language to communicate.

How will kindergarten students learn?

Most literacy instruction happens in small groups or in a workshop model. Teachers meet daily with small groups of kindergarten students for explicit instruction in foundational reading skills as well as handwriting. As students become fluent in handwriting, they begin to participate in a writing workshop where they learn the conventions of writing while expressing their ideas through varied writing projects. In the writing workshop model, students receive whole group and individual instruction from the teachers, as well as feedback from peers as students share their work with each other.

What will students learn?

The balanced literacy program used in kindergarten is composed of units of study from Fountas and Pinnell’s Phonics and Guided Reading program, as well as elements of the writing workshop from Lucy Calkins at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. Another important component is the multisensory approach to learning letter formation from Handwriting Without Tears.

READING

Reading: Literature

• Retell stories with key ideas and details and answer questions about details in a text

• Identify characters, settings, and events in the story

• Investigate unknown words in a text

• Recognize common types of texts (storybooks, poems)

• Understand role of author and illustrator

• Describe the relationship between illustrations and the story

• Compare and contrast familiar stories

• Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding

• Ask and answer questions about key details in a text

• Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text

Reading: Informational Text

• Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text

• Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book

• Identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text

• Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures)

• Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding

• Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page

Print Concepts

• Understand that words are separated by spaces in print

• Name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet

• Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes)

• Recognize and produce rhyming words

Phonological Awareness

• Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words

• Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words

• Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words

• Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words

Phonics and Word Recognition

• Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant

• Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels

• Read common high-frequency words by sight

• Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ

WRITING

Text Types and Purposes

• Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is...)

• Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic

• Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened

Production and Distribution of Writing

• Respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed

• Explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers

• Participate in shared research and writing projects

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Handwriting

• Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

• Print all upper- and lower-case letters with proper formation

SPEAKING AND LISTENING

• Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups

Comprehension and Collaboration

• Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion)

• Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges

• Confirm understanding by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood

• Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

LANGUAGE

Conventions of Standard English

• Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and provide additional detail

• Add drawings or other visual displays to provide additional detail

• Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly

Vocabulary

Acquisition and Use

• Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs.

• Form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/ (e.g., dog, dogs; wish, wishes)

• Understand and use question words (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how)

• Use frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, for, of, by, with)

• Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities

• Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I

• Recognize and name end punctuation

• Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes)

• Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships

• Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases

• Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately

• Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes (e.g., -ed, -s, re-, un-, pre-, -ful, -less) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word

• Explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings

• Sort common objects into categories

• Demonstrate understanding of frequently occurring verbs and adjectives by relating them to their opposites (antonyms)

• Identify real-life connections between words and their use

• Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (e.g., walk, march, strut, prance)

Math

We want young children to be excited by math and have a strong foundation of understanding as they explore numeracy and spatial concepts. As children explore and work to make sense of the world, their brains are designed to sort, classify, describe, compare, and search for patterns. Our classrooms are math-rich environments that develop these innate competencies. Developmentally appropriate curriculum provides the vocabulary and coherence for guided practice that supports mastery of skills and a deep understanding of the way that numbers work.

Math in Preschool

How will preschool students learn?

Students work in small groups with teachers. They play games with partners, Middle School interns, or parent volunteers. They manipulate blocks and learn songs and nursery rhymes that illustrate number concepts. Math instruction is both direct and discovery-based.

What will preschool students learn?

Our preschool uses the Creative Curriculum for Preschool in math instruction. The following core concepts are the outcomes of a playful and hands-on exploration of numbers.

Counting and Cardinality

• Counting

• Understanding and representing quantities

• Comparing quantities

• Recognizing numerals

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

• Exploring addition and subtraction through manipulatives

• Creating number stories to represent simple operations

• Knowledge of patterns

Measurement and Data

• Sorting, ordering, and classifying objects by measurable and nonmeasurable attributes

• Comparing objects according to measurable attributes

• Exploring measurable aspects of objects through the development of vocabulary surrounding length, area, weight, and capacity of everyday objects

Geometry

• Understanding spatial relationships

• Using positional vocabulary

• Exploring and describing shapes

• Manipulating and comparing 2-D and 3-D shapes

Math in Kindergarten

How will kindergarten students learn?

Mustard Seed uses the TERC Investigations curriculum for mathematics. The following elements compose a balanced, engaging experience of mathematical study. Developing solid mathematical practices from the beginning is at the heart of our teaching.

MATH WORKSHOP

During math, students cycle through math activities that give students a hands-on exploration of math concepts. In the workshop model, students practice skills and extend understanding in small groups and partner work. They have conversations with other students to develop their mathematical reasoning. Predictable routines increase student autonomy and confidence as mathematicians.

GAMES

The Investigations curriculum uses math games for skill practice and application. Daily interactions with math games in workshop time increase the discovery and retention of new mathematical strategies.

MINI-LESSONS

The workshop model allows for direct instruction of new math concepts to happen in a small group context. This makes space for maximum teacher attention and individualization for students who need extra help or who are ready for a challenge. The lead teacher introduces new concepts through daily mini-lessons.

TECHNOLOGY

Teachers utilize technology as a supplemental tool for student learning in mathematics. Kindergarten students use iPads purposefully in math practice or extension.

MATH ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

Math is everywhere. Our interdisciplinary approach allows students to make connections between their math learning and other domains. Math is an integral part of a service project where students learn to count to 100 and then 1000 by tracking the baby food they collect for a local food pantry. Geometry and spatial understanding are strengthened during collaborative work in the blocks area. Research in science and social studies requires measurement and data skills.

What will kindergarten students learn?

The following concepts comprise curriculum of the TERC Investigations units of study in Kindergarten:

Counting and Cardinality

• Counting and representing quantities

• Comparing and ordering quantities

• Understanding place value

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

• Understanding, representing, and solving addition and subtraction problems

Geometry

• Describing, identifying, and comparing 2-D shapes

• Composing and decomposing 2-D shapes

• Describing, identifying, and comparing 3-D shapes

• Composing and decomposing 3-D shapes

Measurement and Data

• Understanding length

• Understanding weight

• Sorting and classifying data

• Collecting, representing, describing, and interpreting data

Mathematical Practices

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others

• Model with mathematics

• Use appropriate tools strategically

• Attend to precision

• Look for and make use of structure

• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

Homework

Homework assignments begin in first grade. However, we ask parents of students in preschool and kindergarten to read aloud to their children for at least 30 minutes a day. Within weekly communication from teachers, parents will often find suggestions for home activities to practice skills or extend a study or theme at home.

Field Trips

Field trips provide students with a shared social experience, as well as opportunities to observe authentic, real-world applications of their classroom learning. Preschool students take walking-trips within Hoboken. Kindergarten students explore nature at a state park and take advantage of sites in New York City.

PRESCHOOL WALKING TRIPS

These vary by class and according to the emergent curriculum studies. Past trips have included:

• Observing the Hudson River and New York City at Frank Sinatra Park

• Architecture walks to support blocks play

• Neighborhood walks to consider who our neighbors are

• Class community-building picnics

• Interviewing local experts at a restaurant, bicycle shop, doctor’s office, veterinarian’s office

• Observing trees in local parks

• Counting birds in local parks in data collection

KINDERGARTEN FIELD TRIPS

• Ice cream shop to celebrate the last day of summer

• Hudson Hike (Palisades Interstate Park)

• Local fruit merchant during seeds unit

• Natural History Museum

• Mile Square Theatre

• A community garden or local home garden

• The Highline gardens

Thematic Studies: An Integrated Approach to Science and Social Studies

The Studio

The Studio is a maker space for Early Childhood students and it serves two functions. First, it is a place where students can encounter a variety of materials and artistic techniques that have expressive properties. These are the art languages. Paint, clay, collage, drama, blocks, and more. A Reggio Emilia approach allows for these expressive languages to weave together cognitive skills and imagination in a way that leads to a richer understanding of the world. Work in the Studio supports the development of 21st Century Skills like creativity, communication, and critical thinking. It’s a place where arts and sciences meet.

The second function in the Studio is to provide opportunities for both autonomy and cooperation in a way that supports the development of executive function skills in the brain. Self-regulation develops through pretend play. Collaboration builds language skills that support planning and reflection. Parents often ask how our students achieve such beautiful artistic results. Our answer is that teachers carefully teach procedures and routines so that the art languages are tools for children to express their ideas clearly through the arts. Learning these procedures, however, also primes the brain to build procedural thinking so that learning the processes of grammar, math, inquiry, and problem-solving come more naturally. Working in the arts helps young children learn how to learn.

In the Studio, students engage with large, ongoing projects as well as smaller, independent activities. Much of the integrated curriculum of science and social studies is embodied in the Studio work.

Studies and Projects in Preschool

Our preschool curriculum is emergent. This means that teachers set a course for learning and make a plan to teach the foundational skills on which a strong academic foundation will be built. And then the context for those learning experiences is determined by the questions and interests of the children.

Teachers provide provocations to inspire inquiry. An unusual shell. A book about robots. A walk to see a construction site in the neighborhood. The skills underlying the work do not change, but the content they are tied to is formed by emerging interests expressed by the students. At the construction site, the children may become interested in the vehicles more than the building, for instance, and the project may become to research and develop stories about vehicles.

Science and social studies remain at the center of integrated, project-based learning. Exploring essential questions leads students into research. This uses the skills of reading, writing, math and artistic expression as they investigate to discover answers. Everything is woven together through the work in science and social studies.

NATURAL LEARNING CYCLE

Reflecting on experiences Generating ideas and goals

It is up to the children, the course of events, and the teachers to determine whether the building turns out to be a hut on stilts or an apartment house or whatever. The teachers follow the children, not plans.

-Lois Malaguzzi, Reggio educator

Actively exploring, experimenting, problem-solving

FALL THEME: IDENTITY & RELATIONSHIP

Who am I? Who are we? This theme explores the identity of the child as an individual with unique talents and potential. We develop the idea of being part of a learning community as children learn about their classmates and teachers. While thinking about being created in the image of God and being placed in God’s creation, they begin to learn about the world outside of their family.

Studies and Projects: self-portraits, the human body, emotions, our five senses, properties of water, nature study and exploration

WINTER TERM: BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION

Children begin to build on the introductions of the first term. They now have a sense of belonging and know various ways to work and play in school. Teachers build upon and expand these initial understandings and skills, giving students a framework to develop strength and flexibility in their learning. A study of buildings and structures leads to questions about what it means to be strong, as well as an exploration of how humans interact with spaces and places.

Studies and Projects: cities (buildings, bridges, vehicles, neighborhoods), medieval times (castles, kings and queens, knights and dragons), Black History Month, properties of sand

SPRING TERM: GROWTH & TRANSFORMATION

By spring, preschool students are fully adapted to school and their work and play. During the spring term, new life emerges. We encourage children to look for new life in the changes around them. Through careful observation of nature, teachers invite children into a habit of looking for beauty and goodness as they observe the world. Especially as they see it in themselves and their community.

Studies and Projects: signs of spring, insects, birds, a culminating, student-lead, emergent project (varies each year)

Science and Social Studies in Kindergarten

We continue to integrate science and social studies through thematic units and studies in the kindergarten. They are both taught with a handson and experiential pedagogy.

Students engage in an inquiry cycle, sharing their current knowledge of a topic and working together to develop questions to guide their research. They explore concepts in the sensory discovery table and through play. Interview experts and learn how to record and chart new information and data. Participate in experiments and discuss their observations together.

Over the course of the year, students study life science, physical science, and earth science. They engage in social studies units that prompt them to consider themselves and their community before looking outward to compare their experiences with people in other times and places.

SCIENCE UNITS OF STUDY

FallClassifying Seeds, Properties and Movement of Water, Bubbles

WinterLight and Shadow, Properties of Sand

SpringGardens: Life Cycle of a Plant, States of Matter (Oobleck), Properties of Soil

SOCIAL STUDIES UNITS OF STUDY

FallStudy of Self and Community (Who Am I? Who Are We?)

WinterMap Skills, South Africa

SpringMexico

Visual Arts

Literacy and math are symbolic languages. Learning about other symbolic languages deepens understanding and development in academic areas. Learning to represent in drawing, clay, blocks, numbers supports skills in decoding and codifying ideas in written and spoken language.

As a school inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, Mustard Seed School provides multiple art languages as media students may use to explore and deepen their understanding. Below are a few examples of media students may use in our early childhood program.

“...when you draw you can support not only your graphic language, but also your verbal language. Because you make the concept deeper. And when the concept becomes deeper, the languages are enriched…”

-Carla Rinaldi, Reggio educator, 2006

As a school inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, Mustard Seed School provides multiple art languages as media students may use to explore and deepen their understanding. Below are a few examples of media students may use in our early childhood program.

How will students learn?

Clay

Using real clay, not playdough, students develop hand strength as they learn to roll the basic forms of clay sculpture: the ball, slab, and coil. Students might sculpt vehicles connected to a study of city communities. They may work with a mirror to construct a self-portrait in clay, showing details that they can see on their face.

Paint

There are so many forms of paint that our students explore: tempera, watercolor, ink (in printmaking, oil pastels). Students can show what they have learned about the body parts of a ladybug using watercolor paint in the spring. They can paint the planets they have become interested in after reading about Dr. Mae Jeminson, the first black woman in space, during Black History Month.

Drawing

Drawing happens almost every day in our early childhood program. Observational, narrative, and imaginary drawing are all important communication tools for young children. Children might carefully look at and then draw the pet turtle a classmate brought to share. In the spring, they chart the growth of the seedlings they are tending, drawing the changes they notice each day. Frequently, they illustrate a story they have imagined or draw pictures as messages to put in friends’ mailboxes.

Collage

Developing the same fine muscles used in fluent handwriting, students learn to cut in straight and curved lines. They learn to design with color and shape as they cut and glue. Students work to show a striped zebra or impressive elephant during a study of South African animals and their habitats. They might work collaboratively to translate Van Gogh’s Starry Night into a paper creation during a study of light and dark.

What will students learn?

In the visual arts, our teachers look to the National Core Arts Standards to design instruction and assess student learning. In this way we affirm that creativity is an essential life skill that can be developed. Students in our full-day preschool and kindergarten participate in formal art class once or twice a week. Daily classroom art experiences extend the learning in this area.

Plan and Make

• Engage in self-directed play, exploration and creative making with art materials.

• Engage collaboratively in art-making in response to an artistic problem.

Investigate

Creating

• Use a variety of art-making tools and build skills in various media and approaches to artmaking.

• Demonstrate safe use of art materials, tools, and equipment.

• Create and tell about art that communicates a story.

• Create art that represents natural and constructed environments.

Reflect, Refine, Continue

• Share and talk about personal artwork.

• Explain the process of making art while creating.

Select

• Identify reasons for saving and displaying objects, artifacts, and artwork.

• Select art objects for personal portfolio and display, explaining why they were chosen.

Presenting

Analyze

• Identify places where art may be displayed or saved.

Share

• Identify where art is displayed both inside and outside of school.

• Explain what an art museum is and distinguish how an art museum is different from other buildings.

What will students learn? (cont.)

Perceive

• Recognize art in one’s environment and identify its uses.

• Distinguish between images and real objects.

• Describe what an image represents.

Analyze

Responding

• Interpret art by identifying and describing subject matter.

• Explain the purpose of a portfolio or collection.

• Interpret art by identifying subject matter and describing relevant details.

Interpret

• Select a preferred artwork.

• Explain reasons for selecting a preferred artwork.

Synthesize

• Explore the world using descriptive and expressive words and art-making.

• Create art that tells a story about a life experience.

Connecting

Relate

• Recognize that people make art.

• Identify the purpose of an artwork.

Blocks

Children learn best through play and experimentation. Blocks provide an especially rich and effective tool for both of these areas. Our classrooms protect space and time for regular block play. Blocks is an area where creativity and visual arts intersect with problem-solving, math, and science. Not to mention the social learning that happens as imaginative play and collaboration occur! Blocks play is complex and challenging. Blocks are taught carefully at Mustard Seed School so that children can grow in sophistication in their ability to use blocks effectively as a tool for learning and expression.

What do children learn in blocks?

Science

Cause and effect

Balance, weight, height, stability

Gravity

Inductive thinking

Experimentation (process of hypothesis and trial and analysis)

Technology

Using tools and materials in new ways

Addressing a problem

Encouraging curiosity about functions of materials

Simple machines

Engineering

Develop problem-solving skills

Architectural terminology and functions (bridge, enclosure, foundation)

Develop design process

Reflection and revision

STEM

DEVELOPMENTAL SKILLS

Take turns

Social/ Emotional

Share materials

Develop new friendships

Cooperate with others

Develop self-esteem and risk-taking

Perseverance, patience, concentration

Fine and Gross Motor

Understanding of continuity and permanence continue to develop

Hand-eye coordination

Hand and upper body strength

Verbal expression to communicate ideas to peers

Language

Listening for information

Following directions

Vocabulary

Storytelling through drama

Following or expressing a sequence

Description

CREATIVITY AND ARTS

Imagination and innovation

Together or alone, students can make visible what they may have envisioned in their minds.

Creative and dramatic play often happens after a structure is created

New ideas with purpose

Creativity

Loose parts can be combined and recombined with infinite possibility

Cognitive flexibility

Divergent thinking

Representation Design

Arts

Considering beauty

Creating and re-creating

Dramatic storytelling

Music

Mustard Seed School has an arts-centered curriculum where music is a daily activity. Our program is based on the Kodály philosophy. It focuses on the goals of musical literacy, as well as singing a wide variety of authentic music. The music program is a vibrant and ever-evolving entity. Students in kindergarten perform every year in the Lower School Spring Concert.

In music class, teachers use the guidelines and benchmarks published by the Organization of American Kodály Educators. (Outlined below.) These guidelines meet the National Standards for Music Education.

In music class, students learn musical concepts and skills by:

DOING

Singing and performing on instruments a varied repertoire of music, alone and with others;

Singing is integral to the Kodály approach. Students sing in every music lesson from preschool on. They sing for the joy of singing. They sing to develop a healthy, expressive voice, the one musical instrument everyone owns. Teachers choose songs from the many cultures represented in the United States, as well as from different eras of history. Singing informs each of the other areas of musical development.

Instruments are used throughout Kodály training to extend students’ practice and performance of music. In early training, students use rhythm instruments to develop beat and rhythm awareness. In the beginning stages, instrumental repertoire is intertwined with vocal repertoire.

KNOWING

Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.

Students sing to express and learn about elements of music: melody and rhythm, harmony and form. They also sing to improvise and compose. They learn hundreds of songs and this body of song provides opportunities for improvisation. Teachers invite young children to take a turn changing the songs they sing or to add their own parts.

LISTENING

Learning to, analyzing, and describing music.

Kodály students sing as part of listening activities. In listening, they apply their growing understanding of musical language within different styles and genres of music. In a Kodály classroom, teachers choose music that contains elements with which students are familiar. Singing and reading activities often come before the listening to prepare students to understand what they will hear.

Students learn to analyze and describe a piece of music. To distinguish its formal characteristics and explain how the parts are related. Sometimes, teachers share different recordings of the same piece so that the students can compare and contrast performances. This builds greater focus and discrimination, which helps them analyze their own performances as well as those to which they listen.

UNDERSTANDING

Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts; Understanding music in relation to history and culture.

Students sing songs from many cultures and eras. Song, which combines music, language, and culture, is an excellent tool for exploring relationships among the arts. In early learning, the relationship between music and culture often occurs when the text of a song leads to exploration of the history and culture from which it came.

Every game or song leads students to become a true musician who can read, write, and enjoy music in every way!

Students in our early childhood program participate in formal music classes every week and have informal music experiences every day. Through singing, playing games, listening to folk songs, and using other materials students will develop skills through the following:

• Talking, whispering and singing voice

• Call and response

• Melody and harmony

• Beat and rhythm

• Listening

• Loud and soft voice

• Group and solo singing

• Fast and slow rhythm

• High and low pitch

• Tuneful singing

• Inner Hearing

• Patterns

• Improvisation

• Body percussion

• Creative movements

• Folk and choreographed dance

• Introduction to classroom instruments

Physical and Health Education

At Mustard Seed School, classroom teachers and our PE teacher work together to provide opportunities for students to develop their physical skills. We attend to gross motor skills and fine motor skills. We layer in learning about keeping our bodies healthy into daily life together, encouraging children in nutrition, self-care, and enjoying physical activity.

PE AND HEALTH EDUCATION BENCHMARKS

Coordinates movement in increasingly difficult ways

• Running smoothly and changing direction easily, stopping and starting easily

Traveling skills

• Marching, skipping and galloping

• Spinning and jumping

• Alternating feet on stairs

• Climbing up and down on park equipment

Sustains balance during increasingly complex activities

Balancing skills

• Walks forward and backwards on balance beam or ledge

• Jumps over objects and down from a step up

• Hops on either foot for a distance

• Balances on either foot

Kicking

• Kicks ball forward

Gross motor manipulative skills

• Kicks moving ball while traveling

• Kicks toward a target

Throwing and catching

• Steps forward to throw a ball and follows through

• Catches a large ball with two hands

Striking with paddles and rackets

• Strikes a stationary ball

Fine motor strength and coordination

Uses refined wrist, hand, and finger movements

• Uses correct scissors grip

• Cuts along various lines and cuts out simple shapes

• Pushes specific keys on a keyboard

• Builds structures with small plastic building bricks

• Pinches, pulls, squeezes and rolls clay

• Buttons and zips

Uses writing and drawing tools

• Uses a three-finger grip and efficient hand placement

Independence toward a healthy, active lifestyle

• Develops independence in self-help and personal hygiene skills

• Develops the knowledge and skills necessary to make nutritious food choices

• Develops an awareness of potential hazards in their environment and makes safe choices

Healthy relationships and personal safety

Health

• Learns proper names for body parts

• Demonstrates respect for different family structures

• Identifies healthy ways for friends to express feelings to one another

• Explains why bullying and teasing are wrong and how to respond if someone bullies or teases

• Identifies trusted adults they can tell if they are feeling uncomfortable or being touched or hurt

• Determine how personal feelings affect one’s wellness

Outdoor Play

Young children need the outdoors. Our students play outside every possible day. We ask families to provide appropriate clothing so that the children are warm and dry in all kinds of weather. Unless it is pouring or freezing, classes venture out to play and explore our neighboring park. In the fresh air outside, they climb and play on structures and equipment. They run and chase each other in the grassy areas, play Duck, Duck, Goose, or observe ants on a blade of grass. They enjoy the trees for hide and seek, observing a changing nest, or leaning against it during a friendly chat. We’re committed to providing children with time to play outside as many days as the weather allows.

“Time in nature is not leisure time; it’s an essential investment in our children’s health.”

-Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods

Cultivating Hearts

Faith and Spirituality

We weave faith into the school day through scripture readings, songs, and stories of the Christian faith. Students learn themes of forgiveness, peace-making, and joy. They learn they are loved by God. As an interdenominational school, we welcome students and families from all faith backgrounds and denominations. We also welcome students and families with no faith background. This is a place where we engage our differences, allowing an openness for curiosity seeking connection about the values we hold in common.

Whole child education means attending to the cognitive, social/emotional, physical, and academic growth of the child. It also means attending to spiritual growth. Spirituality is part of a flourishing human experience and the faith experiences offer an foundation for developing competencies such as:

• Sense of strength in difficult times

• Sense of connectedness to something larger than oneself

• Sense of meaning and purpose

• Ability to cultivate inner peacefulness

• Care and empathy for others

• Gratitude

• Desire to serve those in need

• Responding to nature with wonder and awe

WORSHIP

The heart of our spiritual life together is our daily time of worship. Worship is a time to connect with God, others, and yourself. We invite students to enter into the time of worship in whatever way supports their growth. For students whose family actively practices a Christian faith, it is a place and time to deepen that practice. For students for whom Christianity is not part of their home experience, there are touchpoints for learning as well. About how to relate to the world and develop habits of the heart. In this way, we explore the things we hold in common while leaving room for the differences in our values to live as well.

“Children with a positive, active relationship to spirituality are less likely to engage in risk-taking behavior in their adolescence and are less likely to experience depression. In studies, children who have been encouraged to attend to their innate spirituality have higher positive markers of thriving, such as an increased sense of meaning and purpose, more optimism, and higher academic success.”

-Lisa Miller, author of Spiritual Child

Service

We believe service is integral to a well-rounded, holistic education. That’s why we incorporate service opportunities into our classes for students to learn to care for others and the world.

Service is layered into daily life together as students learn to hold the door for each other. Tidy the room together. Help water plants and pass out materials. Service also extends to the community and world beyond the classroom as young children participate in particular service projects. Children are invited to help collect baby food for our neighborhood food pantry as they consider that we have enough resources to share. Young children join with the larger school community each year to collect funds during the late-winter season of Lent. Older students in the school identify a need in the world and invite everyone to engage with learning about this need and responding with generosity from that which we have been given. Through serving, students learn about compassion and feel empowered to help. They learn that they can make a difference.

Twenty Habits of Heart and Mind, Learning and Work

Some call them “21st Century Skills.” Others call them “Global Competencies.” All are trying to get at the same thing. There are certain habits of thought and of work that are centrally important to learning, spiritual growth, working, and living. When we deeply internalize certain essential habits, we’re prepared to enjoy and navigate our lives. As a part of our whole-child approach, Mustard Seed School teachers use the habits of heart, mind, learning, and work as a lens to know and challenge students.

HABITS OF HEART

being hospitable; caring for others, for ideas, and for self

• listening with empathy and understanding, respects, forgives

• responding with wonder and awe, recognizes and appreciates beauty

• celebrating and having joy, a sense of humor, affirmation

• responding with gratitude, humility, openness

• expressing kindness: serving, welcoming, encouraging

HABITS OF MIND

constructing and reconstructing ideas and knowledge

• connecting and synthesizing: applying prior knowledge, connecting thoughts into a whole

• creating: imagining, innovating, modeling

• thinking flexibly: adapting and changing with purpose

• questioning and pursuing inquiry with curiosity

• reflecting: metacognition

HABITS OF LEARNING

processing, active and continuous pursuit that builds expertise

• persisting: learning and practicing with perseverance, tenacity, grit

• self-regulating: using self control, managing impulsivity

• exploring: taking risks with boldness, willing to fail and make mistakes

• striving for accuracy, clarity, excellence, elegance

• using all senses and modes to gather information, communicate, represent

HABITS OF WORK

self-directed, effective, productive

• managing time - independently pacing actions in view of time

• managing space and materials - independently and with purpose ordering materials, media, tools

• organizing thoughts: plans, strategies, ideas

• attending with focus and stamina

• engaging fully in tasks, participating with motivation and personal investment, collaborating

Responsive Classroom

We believe that how students learn is as important as what students learn. Mustard Seed School teachers utilize the guiding principles of the Responsive Classroom approach. Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social and emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline that supports academic learning. It is comprised of a set of research, and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities for both students and teachers. We know that learning is social. Teaching explicit routines to support social interaction in the classroom allows children to have more success and less conflict. It helps them develop self-control, responsibility, cooperation, perseverance, and a growth mindset.

During the first six weeks of school, teachers use a guided inquiry process to explore the environment of the classroom. They ask the children to notice how the routines of the day will go and challenge the students to reflect on the expectations that will keep everyone safe physically and emotionally. These expectations become a classroom covenant, or promises, that the students make together. To try hard. To be kind. To take care of materials.

In this way children develop independence through clear expectations. They also begin to understand their responsibility to a larger community. How their decisions and actions affect others. They take pride in the ways they can contribute positively to the community both socially and academically.

Removing Barriers

Anti-racism and Social Justice

Because children’s awareness of race begins when they are quite young, Mustard Seed School seeks actively to disrupt the development of negative racial attitudes and bias. We work with families to foster positive racial identities, as well as a culture of loving respect. Teachers choose curricular resources that portray people of all races in a positive light. They seize the teachable moments to counter a stereotype or misconception and to consider how to best love our neighbors and act when there is unfairness.

We are a Christian school that believes that God sees and loves all people. God cares deeply about shalom…God’s word for peace, justice and salvation. In shalom, things are as they “ought to be.” They are made right. We teach hospitality for the stranger, empathy for those who differ from any one of us, and love for our neighbors. Mustard Seed School staff, students, and families work together to create a safe, joyful, inclusive classroom environment for every student. We also challenge them to think creatively about how they can extend God’s love to others.

In our community, we teach young children to:

• develop positive social identities based on their membership in multiple groups in society

• express comfort with people who are both similar to and different from them and engage respectfully with all people

• respectfully express curiosity about the history and lived experiences of others

• recognize stereotypes and relate to people as individuals

• recognize unfairness

• identify figures who worked for social justice

• express empathy when people are excluded or mistreated

• speak up with courage and respect when they or someone else has been hurt or wronged

Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Mustard Seed School sits on the Leadership Team. They oversee the work that Mustard Seed School has committed to in the areas of self-reflection and institutional examination as it pertains to white supremacy, bias, and institutional racism.

Family Involvement

We foster meaningful connections as a community of people surrounding the children as they grow. This is another way in which we remove barriers. We desire to know and care for each other.

STARS

Our parent support network, called STARS (Share. Talk. Advocate. Represent.), supports the school by collaborating with internal and external communities. The goals of the STARS network include:

• Building relationships among MSS families in an intentional and inclusive manner

• Supporting students, teachers, and staff by volunteering and organizing volunteers for celebrations and events

• Representing MSS at community events, fundraisers, and fairs

• Spreading the good news about Mustard Seed School!

• Serving as parent ambassadors at admissions events

• Coordinating events in conjunction with the Director of Admissions, the Advancement Team, and the Head of School

LISTENING CONFERENCES

As the summer comes to an end and teachers prepare to welcome students into their classrooms, every family is invited for an individual listening conference. Families are offered this opportunity to meet with their child’s teachers every year. As a school, we know that families are the experts on each child. We value the insights families share as we begin and return to our partnership with you each year.

Teachers typically ask families to speak about their child’s strengths and gifts. They also ask about anything that is harder for the child and any concerns the families have. They ask about the hopes a family has for the child’s school year. They want to know about the changes families notice as the child grows.

PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES

Later in the school year, teachers and families meet together to review a student’s progress. Teachers share observations and data they’ve gathered about each child as a learner. This is one element of reporting progress. Teachers share about a student’s strengths and areas of challenges in a variety of domains. They also discuss the goals that they have set for each student and the goals students have chosen for themselves. Working together in this way helps families know how to support the students’ learning at home. In older grades, students may participate in these conferences along with their families and teachers.

PROGRESS REPORTS

Beginning in kindergarten, families receive a progress report three times a year. Teachers prepare information based on on-going formative assessments gathered through daily work as well as the summative assessments students complete in the curriculum. Teachers comment on student progress toward benchmarks as well as their growth and needs in all developmental domains. Teachers also share observations about each child’s participation in the classroom community.

VOLUNTEERING

There are no formal requirements for volunteering at Mustard Seed School. However, we welcome parent involvement as an important part of our community. At some point during the year, we hope that each family, especially in the preschool, will take time to volunteer and spend a morning with the class. Sometimes teachers will ask if any family members are experts in an area that is connected to the current study or project. Family members may offer to be interviewed or to share artifacts for the students to learn about. As classroom volunteers or experts, families are able to participate in the learning with the children in a meaningful way.

Beyond the classroom volunteering, the STARS network hosts opportunities for parents to volunteer at events. During summer Community Work Days, parents join us to clean, paint, make minor repairs, etc.. Sometimes parents provide snacks and meals for the Community Work Day volunteers. Other parents garden outside or organize our school library. We gratefully welcome your partnership in many ways.

Support for Learner Variability

UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING

Research in neuroscience, psychology, and education agree: there is no “typical” learner. Our brains, environments, and experiences all vary, so we enter into learning as unique individuals. All learners are diverse. Given this understanding, Mustard Seed School uses practices from Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which prioritizes removing barriers to learning and optimizing student access and engagement. Teachers represent information in a variety of ways and provide options for students to share their learning. Since there is no “typical” learner, teachers design equitable learning environments to amplify all student strengths and support their areas for growth.

Working in this way helps students individually learn more about what strategies are most effective for themselves. They become learning experts, ready to take on the task of acquiring and applying knowledge in any context.

LEARNING SPECIALISTS

Mustard Seed School has two learning specialists, one for the lower grades and one for middle school. They work to ensure that each student is supported and challenged across academic, physical, social, and emotional developmental areas. Learning specialists collaborate with classroom teachers and families to find helpful school and home interventions, when needed, to support the student’s individual needs. They design and implement focused small group activities in the classroom to provide time for students to learn, practice, and master a skill or concept. Examples of small group work include:

• Handwriting practice for students developing graphomotor skills

• A conversation group for students developing friendships and problem solving strategies

• Personalized, structured reading instruction for students developing decoding, fluency, and comprehension skills

• A skill-building math group in preparation for algebra

SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES

Learning Specialists also coordinate Special Education services through the Hoboken Board of Education. Hoboken Board of Education provides Special Education Services for Mustard Seed Students who qualify to receive such support. A Child Study Team provides a comprehensive evaluation to determine a student’s individual needs. Through a third party provider, Mustard Seed School students can receive supplemental instruction or compensatory education in math and language arts, as well as paraprofessional support, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, or school counselling.

SCHOOL COUNSELOR

In addition to counseling services for students qualifying through a Child Study team, our school staffs a part-time school counselor who is able to provide mental health support for our students in one-one-one sessions or small group settings. Our school counselor can observe students in the classroom setting and advise teachers in their work with students. The counselor is able to consult with teachers, administrators, and families in times of crisis and provide on-going support of mental health and social/emotional development.