Mathematics Curriculum Parent Overview (Kindergarten)

Unit #1: Counting People, Sorting Buttons

Content Focus

Students are introduced to Attendance and Calendar, two of the ongoing classroom routines that support the development of counting. They explore some of the math materials they will use all year long, including pattern blocks, Geoblocks, connecting cubes, color tiles, and buttons. Counting Jar is another yearlong activity that supports students in developing strategies for counting and representing quantities.

Students describe attributes of objects, focusing on color, size, and shape, and play games in which they match objects that have at least one attribute in common. Students are also introduced to a classroom routine called Today’s Question, which focuses on collecting, organizing, representing, and describing data and provides practice with counting and comparing quantities.

Unit Focus

Counting and representing quantities: Number concepts are central to each of the yearlong activities introduced in this unit. Each involves counting and provides opportunities to compare quantities using terms such as more, less, and the same (equal). Students count themselves, their classmates, the days on the calendar, a set of objects in a jar, and names on a chart.

In addition to counting a given set, students are asked to make a set of a given size and eventually represent a quantity on paper. Although some students can recite part of the counting sequence, many have limited experience with the counting process. Because young children learn to count through repeated opportunities to count and to hear others count, much of the counting in this unit happens in whole-group settings.

Many activities focus on relatively large numbers, such as the number of students in the class. Attendance provides a meaningful context for counting and comparing quantities and introduces part-whole relationships, such as the relationship between the number present, the number absent, and the total number of students. When students count smaller sets independently, they can focus on important aspects of counting, such as one-to-one correspondence, counting each object once, keeping track of what has been counted, and understanding that the last number said represents the total.

Students also gain experience representing quantities using manipulatives and, later, paper representations through the Attendance and Counting Jar routines.

Sorting and classifying: Students explore a variety of manipulatives, including pattern blocks, Geoblocks, connecting cubes, color tiles, buttons, and attribute blocks. These explorations introduce vocabulary related to position, such as above, on top of, below, under, in front of, behind, beside, and next to.

Students identify attributes such as color, shape, size, material, thickness, number of holes, and function. They explore relationships within materials and use attributes to match, sort, and classify objects. Through these activities, students learn that objects can be alike in some ways and different in others. After sorting, students count the number of objects or people in each group and compare quantities.

Collecting, representing, describing, and interpreting data: Students are introduced to the Today’s Question routine, which involves responding to a survey question. This routine supports data collection, representation, and interpretation while also helping to build classroom community.

Students analyze results by asking questions such as how many people responded in a certain way. Attendance routines also provide opportunities to collect and analyze meaningful data as students count and compare how many students are present or absent and explore which groups have more or less.

Mathematical Practices

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• Use appropriate tools strategically.

Connections to Previous Content

Students entering kindergarten bring informal experiences with counting, numbers, shapes, geometry, patterns, and data. Many can count small quantities, compare more and less, sort and classify objects, and recognize shapes in their environment. This unit is designed to meet the needs of the full range of students entering kindergarten.

Connections to Future Content

The work in this unit lays the foundation for later units in kindergarten. Classroom routines continue throughout the year as students’ mathematical understanding deepens. Students use the manipulatives explored in this unit in more focused and structured ways as they solve problems and represent solutions.

Math at Home

• Play games on the Savvas Realize site after they are introduced in the classroom, including Attribute Block Match-Up, Button Match-Up, and Sorting Attribute Blocks.
• Explore the calendar with your child to help keep track of time and events.
• Encourage your child to describe physical features of objects and how objects are alike or different.
• Encourage the use of position words such as next to, near, under, over, below, and above.
• Take advantage of everyday opportunities to count together.
• Have your child sort household objects such as laundry or silverware.
• Review the Math Words and Ideas videos for this unit on the Savvas Realize site.

Mathematics Curriculum Parent Overview (Kindergarten)

Unit #2: Counting Quantities, Comparing Lengths

Content Focus

Students count and represent quantities. The focus is on developing strategies for accurately counting quantities to 10 and on connecting those quantities to the counting words and the written numbers that represent them. Students compare the length of objects and the quantities of different sets.

Unit Focus

Counting and representing quantities: Counting is the basis for understanding the number system and for much of the number work in the primary grades. Kindergartners vary widely in their previous experience with numbers and counting, so there is a wide range of understandings. Many students may know the oral counting sequence, but they differ in their ability to accurately count a set of objects and understand the size of quantities.

This unit provides introduction and practice with important aspects of counting. Students hear and use the counting sequence in a variety of contexts and connect number names with written numbers and the quantities they represent. They count sets of objects and make sets of a given size, which helps them understand the importance of counting each object once and keeping track of what has been counted.

Students also develop an understanding of number relationships, recognizing that each number in the counting sequence is one more or one less than another. They build visual images of quantities using dot images and Ten Frames. A yearlong conversation about equivalence begins, focusing on whether organization and order matter when counting. When representing their thinking on paper, students are encouraged to use pictures, words, numbers, or combinations that make sense to them.

Comparing and ordering quantities: Understanding more, less, and equal is foundational to number relationships. Students compare quantities using number cards, handfuls, inventory bags, or names with different numbers of letters. Through these activities, they develop language for describing comparisons, such as bigger, more, smaller, fewer, less, same, and equal.

Students also compare and order more than two quantities, gaining experience with terms such as biggest, greatest, most, smallest, fewest, and least.

Understanding length: Students explore length and linear measurement through direct comparison. They compare objects to determine which is longer, taller, or shorter and learn important aspects of accurate measurement, such as choosing the correct dimension and lining objects up properly.

Students use and become comfortable with language that describes length, including long, short, wide, tall, and high, as well as comparative forms such as longer and wider. These qualitative comparisons lay the foundation for later work with linear measurement.

Mathematical Practices

• Model with mathematics.
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Connections to Previous Content

This unit builds on Unit 1, Counting People, Sorting Buttons. Classroom routines such as Attendance, Calendar, and Today’s Question are now used regularly and provide ongoing practice with counting and comparing. Students continue to use the Counting Jar and begin to use math materials for specific mathematical purposes.

Connections to Future Content

In Unit 4, Count, Collect, and Measure, students move from direct comparison to measuring with multiple units. They count and represent quantities to 15 and begin to explore combining and separating situations. Students act out stories, play games involving adding to and taking away from sets, and decompose numbers in a variety of ways. They continue to use tools and representations to model, solve, and communicate mathematical thinking.

Math at Home

• Play games on the Savvas Realize site after they are introduced in the classroom, including Build It, Compare, Grab and Count, Grab and Count: Compare, Grab and Count: Ordering, and Roll and Record 1, 2, and 3.
• Encourage your child to explain their math thinking.
• Find opportunities to count in different ways and make groups of a given size.
• Have your child grab two handfuls of items and compare which has more.
• Ask your child about the length of different objects.
• Use a deck of cards to compare numbers, such as playing the game War.
• Review the Math Words and Ideas videos for this unit on the Savvas Realize site.

Mathematics Curriculum Parent Overview (Kindergarten)

Unit #3: Make a Shape, Fill a Hexagon

Content Focus

Students look for two-dimensional shapes in their environment. They explore materials such as pattern blocks, geoboards, and clay and use them to make a variety of two-dimensional shapes. The focus is on describing and comparing two-dimensional shapes.

Students work together to create a shape mural using paper shapes. They also combine two-dimensional shapes to fill a given region or to make another shape. Using pattern blocks, students fill puzzle outlines and find and discuss different ways to make a hexagon.

Unit Focus

Describing, identifying, and comparing two-dimensional shapes: A main focus of this unit is observing and describing shapes. Students use their own words to describe two-dimensional shapes, including descriptions of size, overall shape, function, and attributes such as the number of sides and corners and whether the shape has straight or curved sides.

Students compare shapes to refine their understanding of defining attributes. They are shown many examples of each shape so they understand that size and orientation do not define a shape. Students look for shapes in their classroom, neighborhood, and home and compare shapes made on geoboards and with clay and pattern blocks.

Through these activities, students learn to see, describe, name, and compare shapes and begin to understand which attributes are relevant when defining shapes.

Composing and decomposing two-dimensional shapes: Students build understanding by constructing shapes using materials such as clay, pattern blocks, and geoboards. Constructing shapes requires students to think carefully about attributes such as sides, corners, and angles.

Working with clay encourages students to explore shapes through touch as well as sight. Using pattern blocks, students combine shapes to make new shapes, decompose shapes into parts, fill puzzle outlines, and find different ways to create a hexagon. These activities encourage careful analysis and comparison of shapes.

Counting and representing quantities: The Counting Jar routine continues to support students in developing strategies for counting and representing quantities. Students count sets of 12 objects of different sizes, compare how much space they fill, and discuss how the sets are equivalent even though the objects differ in size.

Mathematical Practices

• Attend to precision.
• Look for and make use of structure.

Connections to Previous Content

This unit builds on students’ informal experiences with geometry and their earlier work identifying attributes of objects and shapes in Unit 1. Students continue to develop spatial sense and deepen their understanding of the geometric world.

Connections to Future Content

The work in this unit prepares students for future exploration of three-dimensional shapes in Unit 5. Students will describe, compare, construct, and identify three-dimensional shapes and connect their understanding of two-dimensional shapes to the faces of three-dimensional shapes. In Grade 1, students continue to observe, describe, compare, compose, and decompose two-dimensional shapes with a focus on defining attributes and relationships.

Math at Home

• Play the Fill the Hexagon game on the Savvas Realize site after it has been introduced in the classroom.
• Explore the calendar with your child to help keep track of time and events.
• Encourage your child to describe and compare physical features of shapes.
• Encourage the use of position words such as next to, near, under, over, below, and above.
• Construct two-dimensional shapes and combine shapes to make new shapes.
• Encourage your child to explain their math thinking.
• Review the Math Words and Ideas videos for this unit on the Savvas Realize site.

Mathematics Curriculum Parent Overview (Kindergarten)

Unit #4: Collect, Count, and Measure

Content Focus

Students measure and compare the lengths of shoes, tape strips, and other objects. In this context, and through the Counting Jar routine, they continue to practice counting and representing quantities.

Students develop strategies for finding the total when a small amount is added to a set. They act out story problems and play games that involve counting, comparing, and finding totals when small amounts are added or taken away. Students investigate combinations of numbers as they arrange tiles and explore different ways a set of two-color counters can land. They also consider how notation can represent these situations.

Unit Focus

Understanding length: Students approach measurement through direct comparison, such as determining whether one object is longer or shorter than another. They measure length using multiple nonstandard units, including craft sticks and cubes, and count how many units fit along an object.

These activities help students apply counting skills in real-world contexts and develop an understanding of important measurement concepts, such as lining up units correctly and avoiding gaps or overlaps. Students need many opportunities over time to understand that a single unit can be repeated to describe length accurately.

Counting and representing quantities: Measurement activities provide meaningful contexts for counting and keeping track of amounts. Students count how many units fit along an object and engage in activities such as Grab and Count: Two Handfuls, Collect 15 Together, and the Counting Jar, which involve counting quantities up to about 15.

As quantities increase, students refine counting strategies, learn number names and sequences, and recognize written numerals. The unit builds a foundation for addition by asking students to count a set, add a small amount, and determine the new total. Students are encouraged to combine small amounts rather than always starting from one. They use pictures, numbers, words, and tools such as Ten Frames to represent quantities and record measurements and results.

Understanding, representing, and solving problems involving addition and subtraction: Students are introduced to addition and subtraction through story problems that involve combining and separating. They retell stories, act them out, and model situations to make sense of what is happening and determine whether the result will be more or less.

Students explore combinations of numbers by arranging tiles and tossing two-color counters, discovering that numbers can be made in different ways. They see addition notation used to represent these combinations. Through repeated experiences, students develop understanding of addition and subtraction situations and begin to use more efficient strategies.

Comparing and ordering quantities: Students continue to develop understanding of more and less as they count, compare quantities, and think about the results of adding or taking away one. Games involving one more and one less help students connect counting sequences with quantity relationships.

Mathematical Practices

• Attend to precision.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

Connections to Previous Content

This unit builds primarily on Unit 2, where students developed number sense, connected number names, numerals, and quantities, counted and compared amounts, and compared lengths directly. At the start of this unit, students are expected to fluently count sets of up to 12 objects.

Connections to Future Content

Students continue to encounter situations involving counting, combining, and comparing quantities up to 20 and practice the counting sequence to 50, including counting on from numbers other than one. They revisit story problems, model and record solutions, and further explore combinations of numbers using numbers and notation.

Math at Home

• Play games on the Savvas Realize site after they are introduced in the classroom, including Build It, Grab and Count: Two Handfuls, Collect 15 Together, Build On, Roll and Record 1, 2, and 3, Double Compare, Racing Bears, One More and One Less, Build It and Change It, and Toss the Chips.
• Trace shoe outlines on paper and use paper clips or other same-sized items to measure their length.
• Continue to focus on strategies for counting accurately.
• Ask your child about one more and one less.
• Review the Math Words and Ideas videos for this unit on the Savvas Realize site.

Mathematics Curriculum Parent Overview (Kindergarten)

Unit #5: Build a Block, Build a Wall

Content Focus

Students look for three-dimensional shapes in their environment and describe and compare the shapes they find. They make three-dimensional shapes using connecting cubes, clay, and GeoBlocks. Students also focus on the two-dimensional faces of three-dimensional shapes and combine three-dimensional shapes to make other shapes.

Unit Focus

Describing, identifying, and comparing three-dimensional shapes: A main focus of this unit is observing and describing a variety of three-dimensional shapes. Students describe shapes using features such as size, overall shape, function, attributes, and relative position.

Students compare shapes, such as cylinders and cones, to refine their understanding of defining attributes. Games such as Matching Faces, GeoBlock Match-Up, and Matching Faces Go Fish help students look more closely at the two-dimensional faces of three-dimensional shapes.

Students explore many examples of shapes so they understand that size and orientation do not define a shape. They look for shapes in their classroom, neighborhood, and home and construct shapes using clay, interlocking cubes, and GeoBlocks. Through these activities, students learn to see, construct, describe, name, and compare a wide variety of shapes and begin to develop geometric vocabulary.

Composing and decomposing three-dimensional shapes: Students deepen their understanding of shapes by constructing them. They build three-dimensional shapes with materials such as clay, interlocking cubes, and GeoBlocks and think carefully about attributes such as faces, edges, curves, and vertices.

Working with clay allows students to explore shapes through touch as well as sight. Students combine smaller shapes to make larger shapes and decompose shapes into parts. For example, they build larger blocks from smaller ones and compare faces to determine how shapes can be combined. These activities help students analyze and compare the characteristics of three-dimensional shapes.

Counting and representing quantities: Although number work is not the main focus of this unit, the Counting Jar continues to support counting and representing quantities. Students count sets of objects that can be organized into smaller groups, practice counting on, assemble a given quantity, and represent that quantity on paper. Students are also introduced to counting back as a way to check their work.

Mathematical Practices

• Model with mathematics.
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

Connections to Previous Content

This unit builds on students’ informal experiences with geometry and parallels their work with two-dimensional shapes in Unit 3. Students draw on their understanding of two-dimensional shapes as they examine the faces of three-dimensional shapes.

Connections to Future Content

This unit lays the foundation for geometry work in Grade 1. Students will continue to observe, describe, compare, and build three-dimensional shapes; develop vocabulary for describing shapes; and compose and decompose larger shapes from smaller shapes.

Math at Home

• Play games on the Savvas Realize site after they are introduced in the classroom, including Matching Faces, GeoBlock Match-Up, Matching Faces Go Fish, and Build a Block.
• Talk about the shapes you see every day.
• Make shapes using materials such as clay, building blocks, drinking straws, or other household materials.
• Review the Math Words and Ideas videos for this unit on the Savvas Realize site.

Mathematics Curriculum Parent Overview (Kindergarten)

Unit #6: How Many Now?

Content Focus

Using a variety of contexts, including Inventory Bags, measuring activities, games, and the Counting Jar, students develop accurate counting strategies as they count, compare, and represent quantities up to 20.

Students revisit addition and subtraction situations, including story problems, which they model, solve, and represent on paper.

Unit Focus

Counting and representing quantities: Students count larger amounts in a variety of contexts. Working with larger numbers requires students to learn new number names and numerals and to refine strategies for organizing and keeping track of objects they are counting.

Many activities ask students to add a small amount to a set and determine “how many now.” Students begin to combine amounts instead of counting entire collections from one each time. They continue to use pictures, numbers, words, and tools such as Ten Frames to represent quantities.

Understanding, representing, and solving addition and subtraction problems: Students continue to develop their understanding of addition and subtraction by retelling, modeling, and solving story problems involving combining and separating.

The focus remains on making sense of what is happening in each situation. Students visualize the actions of joining and separating and play games that model addition and subtraction. They also continue to think about the different ways numbers can be composed and decomposed.

Mathematical Practices

• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
• Use appropriate tools strategically.

Connections to Previous Content

This unit builds on the work in Unit 4, where students counted and compared quantities and measured objects through direct comparison and the use of multiple units. Students also began to make sense of addition and subtraction by acting out stories and playing games involving combining and separating small amounts.

Connections to Future Content

In Unit 8, students extend their counting to 100 by starting from numbers other than one and learn to count by tens. They continue to solve story problems with a focus on subtraction and create situations to match addition and subtraction expressions. Students also develop foundational ideas of place value as they explore teen numbers as one group of ten and some number of ones.

Math at Home

• Play games on the Savvas Realize site after they are introduced in the classroom, including Collect 20 Together, Double Compare, Build and Remove, Racing Bears, Roll and Record 1, 2, and 3, Toss the Chips, and Total of Six.
• Practice counting sets of up to 20 objects.
• Solve problems that involve combining and separating small amounts and encourage your child to explain how they solved them.
• Review the Math Words and Ideas videos for this unit on the Savvas Realize site.

Mathematics Curriculum Parent Overview (Kindergarten)

Unit #7: How Many Noses? How Many Eyes?

Content Focus

Students identify attributes and sort people and objects according to specific attributes, counting and comparing the number of objects in different groups. Students develop their own survey questions, record responses, and share their data.

Unit Focus

Sorting and classifying: Identifying and describing attributes are important ideas across all areas of mathematics. By examining how objects and people are the same and different, students sort them into groups and classify them based on shared attributes.

For example, students think about the attributes of shapes and how one shape is the same as or different from another. Sorting and classifying support students in organizing information and interpreting data.

Collecting, representing, describing, and interpreting data: Students engage in all phases of working with data, including collecting, recording, organizing, representing, describing, and interpreting information. Throughout the year, students have collected data through the classroom routine Today’s Question.

In this unit, students analyze data by counting and comparing the number of responses in each group and use equations to represent the data.

Comparing and ordering quantities: As students describe and analyze data, they count how many are in each group and compare quantities, developing understanding of concepts such as more than, fewer than, and the same as.

Counting and representing quantities: Students apply counting skills as they represent the number of people in their class, complete surveys, and solve problems. In addition to counting by ones and using one-to-one correspondence, students are introduced to contexts involving two-to-one and ten-to-one correspondence, which prepare them for future work.

Mathematical Practices

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

Connections to Previous Content

This unit builds on the classroom routine Today’s Question and the counting, comparing, sorting, classifying, and data representation work students have done throughout kindergarten.

Connections to Future Content

In Unit 8, students extend their counting to 100 and continue counting by tens. In Grade 1, students collect, record, represent, and interpret data in two and three categories and compare data by answering questions about how many more or fewer. Survey data also supports work with comparison story problems.

Math at Home

• Play games on the Savvas Realize site after they are introduced in the classroom, including Attribute Block Match-Up, Attribute Dominoes, Button Match-Up, Pattern Block Grab, Pattern Block Grab: Comparing Handfuls Left and Right, and Pattern Block Grab: Two Handfuls.
• Sort collections of objects at home, such as coins, stamps, toys, containers, or laundry.
• Help your child take a survey of family members, friends, or neighbors and talk about the results.
• Collect data about items in your home, such as how many forks, windows, or doors there are.
• Review the Math Words and Ideas videos for this unit on the Savvas Realize site.

Mathematics Curriculum Parent Overview (Kindergarten)

Unit #8: Ten Frames and Teen Numbers

Content Focus

Students solve story problems with an unknown result and connect each problem to the equation it represents. They create and solve their own stories to match subtraction expressions and play games that develop fluency with addition and subtraction within five.

Students compose and decompose numbers into two groups and find the complement of ten when given one addend. They engage in activities that focus on writing teen numbers and understanding them as a group of ten ones and some leftover ones. Students also compare the weight of objects, first using their hands and then using a pan balance.

Unit Focus

Counting and representing quantities: Students extend and refine rote counting skills by counting higher in the number sequence and starting from numbers other than one. They develop familiarity with counting by tens and continue to refine strategies for counting larger quantities.

Understanding, representing, and solving addition and subtraction problems: Students retell, model, and solve story problems with a particular focus on subtraction. They develop strategies for solving problems and recording their work. Students tell stories to match given addition and subtraction expressions and continue to decompose numbers in different ways.

Understanding place value: A major focus of this unit is making sense of teen numbers as ten ones and some number of ones. Students connect number names, numerals, and quantities and begin to notice patterns and regularities in the structure of teen numbers and equations. This work lays the foundation for place value concepts in Grade 1.

Understanding weight: Students compare weights directly using their hands and then use a pan balance. They use language such as heavy, heavier, light, and lighter and begin to measure weight by determining how many cubes or pennies balance an object.

Mathematical Practices

• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
• Look for and make use of structure.

Connections to Previous Content

In Unit 6, students developed number sense to 20 and worked with addition and subtraction through story problems and games. Unit 7 extended counting to 75 and introduced counting by tens. This unit builds on those skills and understandings.

Connections to Future Content

This unit lays the foundation for Grade 1 work with counting, addition and subtraction, and place value. Students build on the idea that ten ones make a group of ten as they learn to compose and decompose two-digit numbers using tens and ones.

Math at Home

• Play games on the Savvas Realize site after they are introduced in the classroom, including Build and Remove, Build It Then Race to the Top, Build It: Teen Numbers, Fill the Treasure Chest, How Many to 10, Race to the Sun, Race to the Top: Teen Numbers, Race to the Top: Teen Numbers 2, Race to the Top: Ten Frames, and Toss 10 Chips.
• Practice counting with larger numbers and counting by tens, letting your child choose the starting and ending numbers.
• Practice solving addition and subtraction problems using different strategies.
• Talk about different ways to make ten.
• Review the Math Words and Ideas videos for this unit on the Savvas Realize site.

West Aurora Elementary Curriculum Map

Kindergarten Art

Overview: In kindergarten art, students will use a variety of art materials to create and explore lines, shapes, color, and textures. Students will learn basic safety classroom procedures and routines as they work in the art studio at their school.

Unit 1: Exploring Line & Shape

Timeframe: 12 weeks

Essential Question: How do artists use line and shape?

Essential Understandings: Students will discover that diverse media (clay, paint, marker, yarn, sand, etc.) can produce a range of dots, lines, and shapes. They will recognize that closed lines form shapes, gaining insight into how artists incorporate line and shape in their creations.

Attitude

Students will be…

• Observant
• Expressive
• Reflective

Skills

Students will be able to…

• Talk about how they have used line and shape in their artwork
• Recognize and name a variety of lines and shapes
• Create artwork that shows line and shape using a variety of medium
• Create artwork that shows a story about my world using lines and shapes

Knowledge

Students will know…

• Vocabulary: line (straight, wavy, zig-zag, dashed, squiggly, etc.), shape (circle, square, triangle, etc.)
• Required media/tools: marker, clay, paint, yarn, scissors, pencil
• Suggested media/tools: sand, forms (cube, cylinder, cone, sphere)

Unit 2: Exploring Color

Timeframe: 12 weeks

Essential Question: How do artists explore color?

Essential Understandings: Students will begin to grasp the concept of the color wheel and recognize that everything possesses a color. They will learn to articulate how and why they use color in their artwork, advancing their understanding of how artists explore and employ color.

Attitude

Students will be…

• Observant
• Expressive
• Reflective

Skills

Students will be able to…

• Talk about why they used the colors they chose to make their artwork
• Observe and describe colors
• Recognize, name, and use the primary colors
• Mix colors in different ways using traditional and non-standard tools/media

Knowledge

Students will know…

• Vocabulary: primary colors, mix, color wheel, paint brush, tempera, watercolor, element, design
• Colors: red, blue, yellow
• Required media/tools: model magic, watercolor, tempera, light sources, colored cellophane
• Suggested media/tools: colored pencil, crayon, marker

Unit 3: Exploring Texture

Timeframe: 12 weeks

Essential Question: How do artists use texture?

Essential Understandings: Students will learn that everything has texture, and artists use it purposefully in their work. They will also discover the various ways artists create texture, helping them understand its role in artistic expression.

Attitude

Students will be…

• Observant
• Expressive
• Reflective

Skills

Students will be able to…

• Talk about their artwork and how it was made
• Observe and describe texture
• Recognize, name, and use different textures
• Create textures in different ways

Knowledge

Students will know…

• Vocabulary: texture, “feels like” & “looks like”, pressing, rubbing, stamping
• Textures: smooth, rough, bumpy, soft, etc.
• Required media/tools: model magic, clay, paint, found objects, texture plates
• Suggested media/tools: colored pencil, yarn, feathers, buttons, crayons, markers, burlap, colored tissue paper, glue

Kindergarten Illinois Arts Learning Standards

Creating

• Engage in exploration and imaginative play with materials. (VA:Cr1.1.K)
• Engage collaboratively in creative art-making in response to an artistic problem. (VA:Cr1.2.K)
• Through experimentation, build skills in various media and approaches to art-making. (VA:Cr2.1.K)
• Identify safe and non-toxic art materials, tools, and equipment. (VA:Cr2.2.K)
• Create art that represents natural and constructed environments. (VA:Cr2.3.K)

Presenting

• Select art objects for a personal portfolio and display, explaining why they were chosen. (VA:Pr4.1.K)
• Explain the purpose of a portfolio or collection. (VA:Pr5.1.K)
• Explain what an art museum is and distinguish how an art museum is different from other buildings. (VA:Pr6.1.K)

Responding

• Identify uses of art within one’s environment. (VA:Re7.1.K)
• Describe what an image represents. (VA:Re7.2.K)
• List details and identify subject matter of works of art. (VA:Re8.1.K)
• Explain reasons for selecting a preferred artwork. (VA:Re9.1.K)

Connecting

• Create art that tells a story about a life experience. (VA:Cn10.1.K)
• Identify a purpose of an artwork. (VA:Cn11.1.K)

Studio Habits of Mind

1. Develop Craft: Learning to use tools, materials, artistic conventions; and learning to care for tools, materials, and space.
2. Engage & Persist: Learning to embrace problems of relevance within the art world and/or of personal importance, to develop focus conducive to working and persevering at tasks.
3. Envision: Learning to picture mentally what cannot be directly observed, and imagine possible next steps in making a piece.
4. Express: Learning to create works that convey an idea, a feeling, or a personal meaning.
5. Observe: Learning to attend to visual contexts more closely than ordinary “looking” requires, and thereby to see things that otherwise might not be seen.
6. Reflect: Learning to think and talk with others about an aspect of one’s work or working process, and learning to judge one’s own work and working process and the work of others.
7. Stretch & Explore: Learning to reach beyond one’s capacities, to explore playfully without a preconceived plan, and to embrace the opportunity to learn from mistakes.
8. Understand (Arts) Community: Learning to interact as an artist with other artists (i.e., in classrooms, in local arts organizations, and across the art field) and within the broader society. Arts is in parenthesis here as it can easily be switched with other disciplines, like science or history.

West Aurora Elementary Music Curriculum Map

Kindergarten Music

Kindergarten Overview: In kindergarten music, we seek to build background knowledge. Through learning songs, playing games, moving, and listening, we learn to control our voice, sing and chant with a group, and move to the music. The repertoire of songs we learn this year will become the foundation on which we will begin to build literacy and skills in first grade.

Unit 1: Steady Beat

Timeframe: 12 weeks

Essential Question: Where can you hear and feel the steady beat in music?

Essential Understandings: Through singing, gameplay, and movement, students will begin to understand how to hear and feel the steady beat in music. They will begin to build a repertoire of songs that will be used throughout this year and subsequent years as they build skill and understanding around musical concepts.

Attitudes

Students will be…

• Ensemble members
• Listeners
• Joyful

Skills

Students will be able to…

• Begin to show the beat (duple) in a musical recording
• Begin to show the steady beat while singing
• Identify songs with visual representations

Knowledge

Students will know…

• Vocabulary: steady beat, instrument, loud/soft
• Instruments: rhythm sticks, tambourine, maracas, cowbell, woodblock, tone blocks, hand drum

Unit 2: Musical Opposites

Timeframe: 12 weeks

Essential Question: How are opposites used in music?

Essential Understandings: Students will understand that there are opposites in music and that these opposites can help music sound communicate an idea, feeling, or story to the listener. They will understand the differences between their “five voices” and use them appropriately in the music classroom. Students will continue to get more confident in their singing and more consistent in showing the beat while listening and/or singing. Students will continue to build their repertoire of songs and recognize multiple songs with visual or aural cues.

Attitudes

Students will be…

• Ensemble members
• Listeners
• Joyful

Skills

Students will be able to…

• Identify and demonstrate musical opposites: fast/slow, loud/soft, high/low and up/down
• Show their five voices; begin to explain the differences
• Perform appropriately on select classroom instruments
• Identify songs with visual representations and songs sung on a neutral syllable by the teacher

Knowledge

Students will know…

• Vocabulary: five voices, opposites, loud/soft, high/low, up/down, same/different, fast/slow
• Voices: singing, speaking, whisper, calling/shouting, thinking
• Instruments: rhythm sticks, tambourine, maracas, cowbell, woodblock, tone blocks, hand drum; barred instruments: glockenspiel and metallophone

Unit 3: Tuneful Singing

Timeframe: 12 weeks

Essential Question: How do you respond to music?

Essential Understandings: Students will understand that they are musicians and can sing, play instruments, and even make up their own music as they improvise musical responses. They will be able to sing a range of songs that will serve as background knowledge as they prepare to begin to become musically literate in first grade. They will also begin to notice the rhythm of a song and how it can be the same or different from the steady beat.

Attitudes

Students will be…

• Ensemble members
• Listeners
• Joyful

Skills

Students will be able to…

• Perform action/instrument at a specific point (and/or on the beat) in a song
• Sing and gameplay using responsorial songs
• Explore/improvise within musical form

Knowledge

Students will know…

• Vocabulary: musician: performer (ensemble member), listener (audience member), tunefully
• Instruments: rhythm sticks, tambourine, maracas, cowbell, woodblock, tone blocks, hand drum; barred instruments: glockenspiel and metallophone

Kindergarten Music Illinois Arts Learning Standards

Creating

• With limited guidance, create musical ideas (for example, answering a musical question) for a specific purpose. (MU:Cr1.1.K)
• With guidance, demonstrate and choose favorite musical ideas. (MU:Cr2.1.K)
• With guidance, apply personal, peer, or teacher feedback in refining personal musical ideas. (MU:Cr3.1.K)
• With limited guidance, demonstrate a final version of personal musical ideas to peers. (MU:Cr3.2.K)

Performing

• With guidance, demonstrate and state personal interest in varied musical selections. (MU:Pr4.1.K)
• With guidance, explore and demonstrate awareness of musical contrasts (for example, high/low, loud/soft, same/different) in a variety of music selected for performance. (MU:Pr4.2.K)
• With guidance, demonstrate awareness of expressive qualities (for example, voice quality, dynamics, tempo) that support the performers’ expressive intent. (MU:Pr4.3.K)
• With guidance, apply personal, teacher, and peer feedback to refine performances. (MU:Pr5.1.K)
• With guidance, perform music with expression. (MU:Pr6.1a.K)
• Perform appropriately for the audience. (MU:Pr6.1b.K)

Responding

• With guidance, list personal interests and experiences and demonstrate why they prefer some music selections over others. (MU:Re7.1.K)
• With guidance, demonstrate how a specific music concept (for example, beat, melodic direction) is used in music. (MU:Re7.2.K)
• With guidance, demonstrate awareness of expressive qualities (for example, dynamics, tempo) that reflect performers’ expressive intent. (MU:Re8.1.K)
• With guidance, apply personal and expressive preferences in the evaluation of music. (MU:Re9.1.K)

Connecting

• Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate to personal choices and intent when creating, performing, and responding to music as developmentally appropriate. (MU:Cn10.0.K)
• Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life as developmentally appropriate. (MU:Cn11.0.K)

Quarter 1 (August-October)

Kindergarten

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Teambuilding
• Locomotor Skills
• Throwing and Catching
• Dribbling, Passking, Kicking

First Grade

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Teambuilding
• Locomotor Skills
• Throwing and Catching
• Dribbling, Passking, Kicking

Second Grade

• Intro to PE
• Throwing and Catching

Third Grade

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Teambuilding
• Locomotor Skills
• Throwing and Catching
• Dribbling, Passking, Kicking

Fourth Grade

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Teambuilding
• Locomotor Skills
• Throwing and Catching
• Dribbling, Passking, Kicking

Fifth Grade

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Teambuilding
• Locomotor Skills
• Throwing and Catching
• Dribbling, Passking, Kicking

Quarter 2 (October-December)

Kindergarten

• SEL Choice
• Volleying and Striking
• Holiday Games

First Grade

• SEL Choice
• Volleying and Striking
• Holiday Games

Second Grade

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Teambuilding
• Locomotor Skills
• Dribbling, Passking, Kicking
• SEL Choice
• Volleying and Striking
• Holiday Games

Third Grade

• SEL Choice
• Volleying and Striking
• Holiday Games

Fourth Grade

• SEL Choice
• Volleying and Striking

Fifth Grade

• SEL Choice
• Volleying and Striking
• Holiday Games

Quarter 3 (January-March)

Kindergarten

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Non-Locomotor Skills
• Jump Rope/Rhythms
• Fitness Testing
• Throwing and Catching

First Grade

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Non-Locomotor Skills
• Jump Rope/Rhythms
• Fitness Testing
• Throwing and Catching

Second Grade

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Non-Locomotor Skills
• Jump Rope/Rhythms
• Fitness Testing
• Throwing and Catching

Third Grade

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Non-Locomotor Skills
• Jump Rope/Rhythms
• Fitness Testing
• Throwing and Catching

Fourth Grade

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Non-Locomotor Skills
• Jump Rope/Rhythms
• Fitness Testing
• Throwing and Catching

Fifth Grade

• Intro to PE
  • Recess Games
  • SEL-Choice
  • Conflict Resolution
• Non-Locomotor Skills
• Jump Rope/Rhythms
• Fitness Testing
• Throwing and Catching

Quarter 4 (March-May)

Kindergarten

• Throwing and Catching
• Volleying and Striking
• Dribbling, Kicking, Passing
• Outdoor Games
• SEL, Teambuilding

First Grade

• Throwing and Catching
• Volleying and Striking
• Dribbling, Kicking, Passing
• Outdoor Games
• SEL, Teambuilding

Second Grade

• Throwing and Catching
• Volleying and Striking
• Dribbling, Kicking, Passing
• Outdoor Games
• SEL, Teambuilding

Third Grade

• Throwing and Catching
• Volleying and Striking
• Dribbling, Kicking, Passing
• Outdoor Games
• SEL, Teambuilding

Fourth Grade

• Throwing and Catching
• Volleying and Striking
• Dribbling, Kicking, Passing
• Outdoor Games
• SEL, Teambuilding

Fifth Grade

• Throwing and Catching
• Volleying and Striking
• Dribbling, Kicking, Passing
• Outdoor Games
• SEL, Teambuilding

Wellness Policy

West Aurora School District 129

Belief Statement

The Board of Education of West Aurora School District 129 recognizes that healthy eating habits and regular physical activity are essential for students to optimize their physical and mental health and achieve their full academic potential. Research indicates that obesity, malnutrition, and subsequent diseases are largely preventable through healthy eating habits and daily physical activity. Schools, parents, and the community share the responsibility in promoting healthy eating habits and encouraging physically active lives amongst young people.

Rationale

Congress passed the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 on June 30, 2004. Recognizing the role schools can play in health promotion; this law requires local education agencies participating in a program authorized by the National School Lunch Act or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to develop a local wellness policy. The objectives of the wellness policy are to improve the school nutrition environment, promote student health and reduce childhood obesity through physical education and nutrition education. In addition, Public Act 094-0199 amends the Illinois School Code, requiring the Illinois State Board of Education to establish a state goal that all districts have a wellness policy.

To Achieve These Policy Goals

The school district will work within an existing district health wellness committee representing the schools and community to develop, implement, monitor, review, and, as necessary, recommend revision of school nutrition and physical activity policies to the school board. The committee also will serve as a resource to school sites for implementing those policies. To the maximum extent practicable, all schools will participate in available federal school meal programs (including the School Breakfast Program, National School Lunch Program, and after-school snacks) and include daily physical activity.

Elementary, Middle and High School

In elementary, middle and high schools, all foods and beverages sold individually during breakfast or lunch periods, outside the reimbursable school meal programs (including those sold through a la carte [snack] lines, vending machines, and student stores, or fundraising activities), will meet nutrition and portion size standards required by the USDA. Schools are encouraged to use fundraising activities that promote student exercise. If fundraising activities involve food, schools are encouraged to follow USDA requirements. Schools are encouraged not to use foods or beverages, especially those that do not meet the nutrition standards as rewards for academic performance or good behavior. Schools will not withhold food or beverages served through school meals as a punishment.

I. Food Safety

All food service equipment and facilities will meet applicable local and state standards for safe food preparation and handling, sanitation, and workplace safety.

II. Nutrition Education and Physical Activity

Schools should provide nutrition education and integrate physical activity into the classroom setting.

Goals for Nutrition Education

Nutrition education is offered as part of a sequential, comprehensive, standards-based program designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to adopt healthy eating behaviors and aimed at influencing students' knowledge, attitudes and eating habits. To achieve positive changes in students' eating behaviors, it is recommended that education opportunities be provided to students each year. Opportunities may include a combination of classroom instruction, nutrition education provided in the cafeteria, and assemblies providing nutrition education.

Goals for Physical Activity

Students shall participate in physical education activities during the school day through recess periods, physical education (P.E.) classes, walking programs, and the integration of physical activity into the academic program. Schools will promote an environment supportive of physical activity. All students in grades K-12, including students with disabilities, special health-care needs, and in alternative educational settings, will receive regular physical education. Schools are encouraged to provide students with moderate to vigorous physical activity.

III. Mental Health and Wellness

Schools will support student mental health by providing resources for social-emotional wellness to students and families, including staffing school social workers across all grade levels. Students and families may access school social workers in their child’s school building to request resources or support for a student struggling with social-emotional issues (i.e., stress, anxiety, depression, etc.) that may be affecting their overall wellness and school success. Topics supporting mental health and wellness are included in the Health class curriculum for grade levels 6-9, and are aligned with social-emotional learning standards. Social and Emotional lessons were added to the physical education curriculum during the 20-21 school year and will be expanded on in the following school years to further support our students and their mental health and wellness. Additional resources and information may be accessed through the district Student Services webpage.

IV. Immunizations

Physical examination and immunizations are required for school entrance in specific grades according to Illinois Code. Schools will provide the list of required physical examinations and immunizations on the District's website.

V. Goals for Other School-Based Activities Designed To Promote Student Wellness

Schools will support parents' efforts to provide a healthy diet and physical activity for their children. Parents will be encouraged to pack healthy lunches and snacks and to refrain from including beverages and foods that do not meet the above nutrition standards for individual foods and beverages. The school will provide information about physical education and other school-based physical activity opportunities before, during, and after the school day.

VI. Policy Implementation

One individual will be assigned to monitor standards of the Local Wellness Policy. This individual will report findings to the District Health Wellness Committee. The Director of School Dining Services will ensure compliance with nutrition guidelines within the school food service menus and will report on this matter to the School Health Council. The individual assigned for compliance of the Local Wellness Policy will report on the district's compliance to the superintendent/designee. Assessments will be completed every year to help review policy compliance, assess progress, and determine areas in need of improvement.