Kindergarten

Program Overview:

The kindergarten (5/6s) program encourages children to learn through experiences as they begin their journey in elementary school. Our child-centered curriculum introduces concepts in mathematics and literacy while focusing on core themes like community and culture.

The formative year of kindergarten offers children a strong foundation in how to relate to the people, materials, and environment within their private school community on New York City’s Upper West Side. In our full-day program, young learners begin to expand their worldview and discover how to interact with others in a shared space.

Social and emotional development is an important focus of our curriculum. Children are encouraged to think about concepts like fairness and equality through their interactions with one another. An appreciation of different cultures is woven into everyday learning, in music, stories, and class discussion.

Our curriculum encourages children to ask why, to form connections, and to pursue their interests. Teachers embrace each child’s unique way of thinking and recognize that children learn by both exploring and observing their environments. Instruction is tailored to individual interests and abilities, so children start their academic journey with confidence.

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Literacy:

Our curriculum begins to hone its focus on literacy skills beginning in the 5/6s program. Recognizing that there are many ways to support literacy development, each day includes language, reading, and writing activities. Children learn through classroom instruction and through real-time application.

Using Fundations, children are explicitly taught phonics skills in a systemic progression so they are learning the foundational skills to be strong readers and writers. Children enjoy books from various genres and formats and are prompted to make connections with the characters or subjects.

In the 5/6s, children are encouraged to begin handwriting, writing words as they sound. As they begin to learn to spell and write, the focus for this age group is for children to find motivation and feel encouraged to try.

Library:

Kindergartners build their verbal and visual literacy skills and library utilization skills during their scheduled visits to the library with their teachers.  During read-alouds with the librarian, 5/6s practice making meaning of a story by understanding the interplay of words and images–building a story arc, understanding character motivations, “filling in” words or concepts based on the pictures, etc.  They also practice responding to the story by making predictions, evaluating characters’ feelings, etc.  They build on similar skills learned in the 3/4s and 4/5, with progressively more complex words, sentences, and story structures.

Spanish:

Our main goal in the 5/6s Spanish program is to expose students to simple vocabulary and routine phrases. Our emphasis is placed on communication. We strive to develop our students’ receptive and expressive language. The teacher welcomes every effort made by the student to use and understand the language. We offer different strategies to help with understanding, such as gestures, prompts, and shorter sentences. We make sure to only use the target language around the students with minimal or no translation.

Math:

In mathematics, our goal is to build a community of flexible mathematical thinkers. Our 5/6s math curriculum is designed to support students in making sense of math concepts. Students engage in hands-on activities, whole-class discussions, and partner work to practice skills and concepts through games and independent tasks. As the year progresses, children are expected to continually improve their ability to communicate their steps and processes, both verbally and on paper. Areas of focus include:

• Counting to 100 by 1s and 10s; counting with one-to-one correspondence and cardinality within 20
• Reading and writing numbers to 20; representing sets with written numerals
• Comparing sets of up to 10 objects using the language of greater than, less than, and equal to
• Understanding teen numbers as 10 and some more
• Representing and solving join, separate, and part-part-whole situations within 10 using objects, fingers, words, actions, drawings, numbers, and equations
• Building fluency with addition and subtraction facts to 5, and developing strategies for solving combinations to 10
• Identifying measurable attributes of objects; comparing objects by length or by weight
• Identifying, describing, comparing, sorting, and patterning two- and three-dimensional shapes

Science:

We encourage the 5/6s to follow their questions about the world around them, using observation and curiosity as the foundation for deeper investigation. The year often begins outdoors, where children notice the changes that come with each season and begin to ask questions about the plants and animals they encounter. These early explorations lead to a study of plant life and how plants grow and change. Children consider how plant lifecycles relate to their own development and begin to see themselves as researchers—drawing, writing, and asking questions as they observe and care for their environment. Meeting with local park rangers and environmental educators helps them see how people can take care of plants, land, and community spaces.

As the study progresses, children explore the connections between plants and animals and how both are impacted by human behavior. They investigate how plants shape communities, how animals rely on plant life to survive, and what happens when ecosystems are disrupted. This leads to broader conversations about environmental and social justice. Through classroom visits from activists, scientists, and community members, children are introduced to changemakers who protect natural resources, advocate for animals, and fight for clean air and water. Trips to parks, botanical gardens, and urban farms help ground these ideas in real-world settings and give children a sense of their own potential to observe, question, and care for their world.

Technology:

Lower School learners use audio technology to share stories and songs. Images and videos are available to address students’ needs, such as showing information about a destination for a student’s family trip. Teachers and students work together to create printed materials for student and class projects.

Art:

Art in the 5/6s program is rooted in creative discovery and freedom of expression. Children grow and develop during weekly art instruction from our Art Specialist. Throughout the year, children are encouraged to explore different materials, including collage, paint, and clay.

In each lesson, the art teacher presents a “motivation”—a question designed to spark thinking about a certain material. For example, a teacher might ask “How can you combine these rectangles to make an animal?” as a motivation. Learning about how materials work together and seeking answers promotes children’s growing ability to form connections within their world.

Music:

Bank Street’s Lower School music program introduces musical concepts and skills in a fun, engaging environment. Children are frequently exposed to music—in the classroom, at special events, and in formal music group settings. Children learn through making music, rather than simply learning about music.

In the 5/6s classroom, children have access to a diverse assortment of drums and percussion instruments. We encourage group singing and rhythmic movement through activities like song-games and dance. Developmentally, many children in the 5/6s can create and imitate a steady beat. Classroom dance helps promote experimentation with rhythmic movements such as skipping, tiptoeing, galloping, leaping, and freezing.

Music is embedded into weekly lessons and integrated with celebrations and special events. Children learn essential cooperation skills by learning to dance and sing songs during seasonal festivities.

Movement:

The purpose of Movement classes in the 5/6’s is to facilitate creativity, imagination, risk-taking, and confidence through the exploration of movement concepts: space, time, and energy. Through movement, students integrate the brain and body, developing balance, coordination, and spatial awareness.

In addition to movement concepts and awareness of body in space, our movement classes allow children to experience themselves as individual dancers, as partners, and as members of a group. In all of these formats, dancers use their imagination to express themselves and their understanding of the world.

Physical Education:

Gym games and activities are often a highlight for our energetic 5/6s. An integral component of our focus on the whole child, our physical education program is designed to promote social and emotional skills, teamwork, and problem-solving.

Each season offers a new theme with new skills. The 5/6s participate in engaging games like “Wall Tag” or “Musical Hula Hoops.” Children practice and develop gross motor skills like running, skipping, and galloping through a variety of interactive activities and games. Our facilities include gym equipment like scooters, parachutes, tunnels, and balance beams and always offer children something new and engaging.

Class activities are constantly changing according to new skills of focus and, of course, New York City weather. Our gym educators provide opportunities for children to learn a variety of skills in conjunction with our overarching curriculum.