A Typical Day in Kindergarten

At The Islamic School of Hamilton

Good Morning!The children arrive at school by car and get themselves ready for

the day.

Allowing the children to do things by themselves encourages their independence and gives them a

sense of pride.

Reciting duas and the Quran together with the

other children early in the day helps to foster a Muslim identity and create a sense

of community.

Morning RoutineHaving a consistent arrival-time

routine helps the children transition from home to classroom.

Morning meeting provides practice of the calendar, letters, sight words,

numbers, patterns, weather and phonemic awareness.

Morning MeetingWe start each day with the

weather, a morning message and calendar activities.

The Kindergarten Literacy Block

Oral Language

Before reading and writing about the world, children need to be able to talk fluently about it. Songs, poems, discussions and

dramatic play all strengthen these oral language skills.

Shared Reading

During shared reading, children read from big books, chart paper, the overhead or sentence strips.

During guided reading, teachers work with students to guide them in using their

emerging reading strategies. By using books that gradually increase in difficulty, students work at their own levels and

feel very successful! The end goal is for students to

become confident, proficient readers who LOVE to read!

Guided Reading

Readers’ WorkshopThe Kindergarten Readers’ Workshop builds a community of

readers as students receive direct instruction, support from their peers and interact with each other to develop good literacy skills.

During the workshop, a mini-lesson is presented to help the entire group learn somethingabout a specific strategy. Students then apply the strategy during independent reading or

partner work. The workshop session ends with a sharing time to celebrate ideas.

Literacy StationsLiteracy stations provide meaningful reading and writing experiences as students work to

apply skills and strategies learned during shared and guided reading lessons.

Typical literacy stations may be a big books station, a listening station where children can follow along as books are

read on CD, or a magnetic letter station.

Multi-sensory activities promote phonics, phonemic awareness

and handwriting skills.

Word WorkStudents experience the joy in being

able to manipulate sounds and letters to create and read words.

Writers’ WorkshopChildren have a lot to say about the world and they can express themselves on paper through inventive spelling and drawing.

Writers’ Workshop builds on the children’s strengths, provides meaningful, structured

opportunities to write, exposes them to beautiful literature and actively teaches the skills and

strategies that writers need.

Lunchtime

Kindergartners eat lunch in the cafeteria. Some students buy lunch, while others bring it from home. Lunchtime is a great opportunity for students to talk and build social skills.

Recess

Children learn important social skills on the playground. Recess helps to develop skills such as cooperating, helping, sharing, and problem solving.

MathKindergartners participate in the Everyday Mathematics program.

The children do many hands-on activities involving counting, numeration, measurement,

geometry, patterns, sorting, data collecting and calculator use.

Science and Social StudiesKindergartners explore and discover the things and people

around them and make connections between their own personal lives and the larger world around them.

Thanksgiving The 100th Day Dr. Seuss’ Birthday

Special DaysSpecial events help the kindergartners appreciate

and celebrate different people and cultures.

Special ClassesEach week the kindergartners go to Art, Gym, Music and Media.

CentersDuring free play the kindergartners have a chance to

develop social skills. They practice teamwork, taking turns and problem solving.

We’re looking forward to a great year!