Our Day in the Life series for this school year continues in Kindergarten with Maidhili U., Class of 2035!

Unlike our older students, Kindergarten students don’t move classrooms for every subject and primarily remain with their two Early Learning Teachers (ELT) throughout the day. Some subjects, such as Mandarin, are taught by a separate Subject Expert Teacher (SET) in the Mandarin classroom. Depending on the day, they may have six to seven courses. They also have a mid-morning and mid-afternoon recess, along with their lunch and recess time. They begin their day at 8:15 AM and end their last instruction at 3:10 PM.

Maidhili begins her day with her first subject, Enrichment. One of her ELTs, Ms. Oh, leads this subject twice daily, 30 minutes in the morning and at the end of the school day. Enrichment teaches students to develop their social and emotional skills through direct instruction, collaboration, and practical application of social-emotional skills. In today’s lesson, Maidhili practiced writing her numbers on a dry-erase board while collaborating with her classmates to ensure that their numbers were written correctly.

After Enrichment, Maidhili switches gears to Math Foundation with her other ELT, Ms. Chohan. She has Math five times a week for an hour a day. This course allows teachers to scaffold instruction of each concept and continue to review and build on the information introduced. Math topics that are introduced include: skip counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s; compare and order numbers; identify ordinal position to tenth; identify a sorting rule; identify and extend patterns; solve routine and non-routine problems; and master all basic addition facts and most of the basic subtraction facts. Ms. Chohan held a math circle on the thinking rug and used flashcards to go over coin values and fractions. Maidhili was quick to raise her hand and give the correct answer to the question asked.

Maidhili is then guided to the playground for her mid-morning recess. She has a 15-minute morning recess every day.

After recess, Maidhili focuses on Language and Literacy Foundation with Ms. Chohan. Kindergarten students have Language and Literacy every day. The instruction is separated into three increments throughout the day that total an hour and 45 minutes. This course will emphasize phonemic awareness, phonics, and handwriting. Students will begin the year developing these skills, and by the end of the year, they will be able to express complete thoughts while writing sentences using subjects and verbs, basic capitalization, and punctuation. Ms. Chohan focuses on students’ reading skills, as the goal for them is to read age-appropriate chapter books based on their reading level. Throughout the year, lessons will engage students to work as a whole class, in groups, or follow individual instructions.

Today’s lesson focused on writing ‘Asking Sentences’ and using the correct punctuation to end each question. Maidhili completed her worksheet and was proud to show her classmates and teachers.

After Language and Literacy, Maidhili heads for lunch! Kindergarten students eat their lunch in the multipurpose room before heading outside for recess. Students can bring their own lunch or purchase one from our provider, My Green Lunch. The lunch period is 45 minutes long. Maidhili enjoyed playing on the slide during the recess portion of her lunch period.

After lunch, Maidhili makes her way back to her classroom and gets ready for Engineering & Technology Foundation with her Subject Expert Teacher (SET) Ms. Hetu. In this course, students will develop problem-solving, logic, and relationship skills through unique and meaningful projects. Solutions created by the students will be analyzed, reported, and communicated using a variety of media. This class is taught twice a week and is 60 minutes long.

Ms. Hetu prepared a fun activity for her students in today’s lesson. She introduced the musical instrument, the saxophone, and gave some background on famous African American artists who use the instrument in their songs. Maidhili learned about Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald while listening to their music and hearing the saxophone play. Ms. Hetu described the working parts of the instrument and had her students draw their own version using their imagination and creativity.

Next, Maidhili gets ready for her Civics, History, and Science Foundation portion of the day with Ms. Chohan. This course is a combination of two programs. Our history program covers several time periods. It gives the opportunity to discuss morals and ethics from great men and women of the past. Classroom discussions reflect on the problems they face today that are similar to problems people have faced in the past. The science program is designed for students to not only understand the world around them but also to foster creativity. It also enables them to be innovative in science and develop problem-solving skills. They learn to apply the Scientific Method and draw conclusions on the basis of observation, investigation, and experimentation.

Ms. Chohan focused on science in today’s lesson. Students learned about the various plants and animals found in nearby ecosystems and drew them on strands of paper. After the drawings were completed, the strands were then weaved together into an ecosystem chain.

After Civics, History, and Science Foundation, Maidhili takes a quick 15-minute afternoon recess. During this time, she played with friends on the playground and ate a snack.

After recess, Maidhili heads back to her classroom and continues to work on her Language and Literacy Foundation sentence assignment for 30 minutes. Both of her Early Learning Teachers, Ms. Chohan and Ms. Oh, walk around the room helping students correct their sentences and grammar.

Next, Maidhili heads outside to the basketball court with SET Mr. Butler for her Movement Foundation class. This course focuses on the introduction of physical education skills and concepts. Throughout the course, students will learn a number of motor and social skills through physical activity. This class is every day and 30 minutes long.

Maidhili and her classmates played broomball during their class on our basketball court. Broomball helps students focus on their precision, aim, and coordination. Maidhili was picked to be the goalie and did a phenomenal job at securing her post.

After playing broomball, Maidhili made her way back to her classroom for the last portion of her Language and Literacy Foundation course. This portion is 30 minutes long. Ms. Chohan and Ms. Oh ensure that each student comprehends the material and answer any final questions.

To end her day, Maidhili has her second half of Enrichment for 30 minutes. During this time, Ms. Oh played a popular song called “Ham It Up” and let the students sing and dance. Maidhili and her classmates enjoyed themselves and knew all the words and dance moves to the song!

Some other classes that Maidhili takes during the week are Mandarin, Visual Arts Foundation, Music Foundation, and Performance Arts Foundation.

She studies Mandarin three times per week for 30 minutes a day and has Visual Arts, Music, and Performance Arts Foundation once a week for 30 minutes.

Thank you to Maidhili and her family for allowing us to document her Day in the Life!