At Hartland North Elementary School our goal is to ignite students’ curiosity and develop a love of learning. Our four-year-old kindergarten teachers are highly qualified licensed professionals who truly care about their students. The teachers create safe, nurturing classroom communities that honor the uniqueness of each student. They recognize and nurture the talents of all students and work diligently to ensure our students develop the social emotional skills and foundational academic skills necessary for success.
Students learn best through active engagement. Our hands-on, inquiry-based curriculum provides students with multiple ways to learn and grow alongside their peers. As students learn to work with each other, they become a community of learners who explore, create, communicate, and problem-solve together. The friendships and sense of community created in the classrooms carry over into the entire school building and the Hartland community at large.
Science is incorporated into each unit of study in four-year-old kindergarten. Our curriculum includes
Science experiments, scientific theory, inquiry, investigation, exploration, the five senses.
Our classrooms offer state-of-the-art technology to support endless learning such as Promethean Boards and Tables, SMART Boards, iPads for each student.
EARLY ENGINEERING CONCEPTS:
Engineering activities encourage brain development as children solve problems, use a variety of materials, design and create, and build things that work.
Our licensed art teacher engages students in a celebration of arts in the classrooms, art room, and outdoors. When children are encouraged to express themselves and take risks in creating art, they develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their academic careers and adult lives. Our children need to be strong critical and innovative thinkers.
Our curriculum relates to ideas and concepts about quantity and addresses logical and spatial relationships. The foundation of math is formed out of the children’s concrete experiences. It is not limited to “math time”, but is embedded in all day classroom activities.
Early literacy development is critical for our youngest students! Our kindergartners are in the pre-emergent readers stage. Using a balanced literacy approach, we work to expose our students to a variety of age appropriate literature and help them develop a love for reading and writing. We use Jolly Phonics to give our students a foundation of letter recognition and letter sounds. We use read alouds daily with our students and encourage early reading strategies and skills that they will need to know and use as they grow. By giving them access to books in our classroom libraries, in the school library and in our public library, our students have the opportunity to grow, learn, and love books! We encourage our families to make reading a priority in their home.
We use Handwriting without Tears for our writing curriculum It is very hands-on and incorporates developing fine motor coordination in addition to handwriting. We use various manipulatives to practice letter formation.
Our four-year-old kindergarten is involved in outdoor classroom activities including planting trees, nature walks, musical forest, outdoor large group science activities in which children learn to appreciate, maintain, and take care of our planet.
Hartland/Lakeside is connected with a school in Haiti. During “Haiti Week” at school, students are immersed in Haiti culture trying new foods, games, stories, and activities children in Haiti experience. Also included this week are stories, art and music!
SUPPORT YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING:
- See that your child comes to school rested, well fed, and ready to learn.
- Talk to your child every day about what happens at school. Review your child’s work and ask questions.
- Take an interest in what your child is learning; recognize your child’s achievement and progress.
- Read out loud with your child every day.
- Discuss familiar letters or words found all around your child’s environment.
- Engage your child in learning games and conversations.
- Reinforce classroom and school rules.
- Work in cooperation with school and your child’s teacher.
- Read classroom and school communications.