Kindergarten Knoll

Program Overview

The full-day kindergarten program designed for A Child's University utilizes a variety of top-rated, award-winning curricula that align with all of the CORE components of the Rhode Island Early Learning Standards. This ensures each child is learning in accordance with national and state developmental guidelines.

A few years ago, we partnered with Sadlier and implemented their Progress in Mathematics and Sadlier Phonics in our Kindergarten classrooms. Sadlier, a family-owned publishing company, is known for results-oriented curriculum with attention to student success. Might I add, they are family-owned and have been in business since 1832.

This year, we’ve made the choice to switch to two of Sadlier’s newest programs. Both programs offer a blend of print and rich digital content. Once you go through the program information below, you’ll see why we’ve made the change.

Program Highlights

• Full Day Kindergarten
• Open Year Round
• Low Teacher To Child Ratio
• Nationally Recognized and Award-Winning Curriculum
• Enrichment Programs That Supplement The Curriculum
• Small Class Size
• Electronic Daily Reports and Pictures Emailed Daily to Parents

The Curriculum

Powered by a nationally respected and award-winning early childhood curriculum, the Kindergarten Knoll at A Child's University provides each child with the essential foundation they need for the important school years ahead. The specific components of the curriculum include:

Phonics Program

Sadlier : from Phonics to Reading
Readiness Skills, Scope and Sequence, Blending, Dictation, Word Awareness, High-Frequency Words, Reading Connected Text

Current research in early readers’ successes point to the Science of Reading [ 1 ]. Internationally known Science of Reading advocate and From Phonics to Reading author, Wiley Blevins describes this program as “This is a compact, efficient student resource with lots of engaging, multisensory, modal activities that will get students to master those skills so they can transfer them to all reading and writing situations.”

We strongly believe that this new program supports early readers with all the right tools and will be incorporating the entire Wiley Blevins suite of four programs to support your child’s foundational skills. This means that, in addition to the print student text, we are adding a special Fluency Booster (that even includes handwriting skills) and dynamic online resources and assessment.

• Readiness Skills, begin with the two best predictors of early reading success — phonemic awareness and alphabet recognition.
• Blending Lines, the main strategy for teaching students how to sound out words must be frequently modeled and applied. (Also available as an Interactive Instructional Resource.)
• High-Frequency Words support orthographic mapping where students segment sounds of words, think about spelling patterns, and apply the brain-researched Read-Spell-Write routine.
• Decodable Texts and Passages offer students opportunities to apply newly taught skills to real reading.
• Comprehension and Vocabulary activities build word knowledge and text meaning.
• The Picture, Word, Letter, Spelling, and Syllable Cards are used for Word Building and Word Sorts activities that develop students’ encoding or spelling skills. (Also available online.)
• Dictation activities accelerate students’ spelling abilities and understanding of common English spelling patterns as well as assist them in transferring their phonics skills to writing.
• Word Building activities allow students to demonstrate knowledge of sophisticated phonemic awareness skills (orally segmenting, orally substituting, adding sounds) by building targeted words with letter cards, then writing those words.
• Fluency practice allows students to increase fluency with a partner or independently.
• Writing opportunities and a range of encoding activities encourage students to write a response to the texts that they have read.
• Built-in cumulative assessment acts as a tool to effectively monitor and identify students ho need differentiated support and/or intervention.,

Mathematics Programs

Sadlier : Math
Sorting, Geometry, Patterns, Positions, Tables/Graphs, Fractions, Addition, Subtraction, Money, Time, Measurement, Numbers to 100

Sadlier Math opens each chapter with a STEAM activity and applies real-life experiences throughout each lesson. Your child’s eyes will be open to math all around them. Learning will be fun and more meaningful because your child will better understand math’s purpose in their everyday life.

• Foster students' conceptual understanding and skill development using a cohesive grouping of lessons
• Offer explicit instruction with guided and independent practice to strengthen students' metacognitive development
• Provide essential tools to develop problem solving and critical thinking skills
• Promote learning with abundant real-world problem solving and incorporate applications related to STEAM
• Harness innovative support for teaching and learning with embedded professional development, robust digital tools, and a comprehensive assessment plan

Writing Program

Being A Writer - Developmental Studies Center

Science Program

Life Science, Earth and Space Science, Physical Science

Social Studies Program

Civics and Government, Geography, Historical Perspectives/Rhode Island History, Economics

Music, Art, Physical Education, Drama, Spanish, and Technology are also incorporated as an integral part of each week.