Kindergarten Curriculum Overview

Kindergarten Overview

Time4Learning is an online student-paced learning system covering preschool through middle school. It is popular as a kindergarten homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer study.

For kindergarteners, Time4Learning provides language arts, math and science. Students also get access to an online playground.

This page provides:

• An Overview of Kindergarten Learning Objectives
• Language Arts and Reading Lesson Descriptions
• Math Lesson Descriptions
• Science Lesson Descriptions
• Structure of the Kindergarten Program

Overview of Kindergarten Learning Objectives

This section provides a summary of the key kindergarten learning objectives for reading, language arts, and math. A more detailed description of each subject is provided below, including links to detailed descriptions of the hundreds of learning activities. The Time4Learning language arts and math curriculum correlate to state standards.

Kindergarten is a year of highly visible progress in reading and language arts. The major milestones in kindergarten reading and language arts are:

• Developing an awareness of letters
• Recognizing that letters have specific sounds
• Awareness of the relationship of “letters to words” and “words to sentences”
• Developing a basic vocabulary set by listening to and identifying unknown words in stories
• Recognizing basic sight words in text

Kindergarten is also a year of exploration and discovery of numbers. Major milestones for kindergarten math include:

• Developing a strong number sense
• Identifying numbers up to twenty
• Expressing different ways to represent numbers up to twenty
• Ability to sort and organize objects based on different attributes
• Recognizing basic shapes and units for measurement, time, and weight

Below, there is a more in-depth description of the kindergarten curriculum for language arts, math, science, and social studies as well information about the online playground.

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Positive reinforcement is really important at this age, so when the lessons give my daughter a thumbs up after I do, it's like being rewarded twice!

After completing their lessons successfully,
students are complimented for their good work.

Kindergarten Language Arts & Reading - Lesson Overview

The kindergarten language arts section contains numerous learning activities, as well as worksheets and teaching materials that are primarily based on phonics, verbal comprehension, reading fluency, vocabulary building and following instructions. As the language arts curriculum constitutes a state standards aligned comprehensive curriculum, many homeschooling parents use the lessons as their entire curriculum for language arts. Afterschool students use the program as a kindergarten language arts tutorial, for extra practice, or summer enrichment.

A foundation of beginning skills are taught, as kindergarteners learn through guided lessons, direct teaching and the exploration of fundamentals with specific focus on the alphabet and letter sounds, phonemic awareness, and rhyming words. Game-like activities, decodable stories, and the “writer’s corner” isolate two letters at a time and allow students to explore all possible sounds and blends, creating phonological and phonemic awareness.

Through a series of pre-reading, reading, comprehension, and prewriting activities, students will further develop strategies such as recalling details, drawing conclusions, and summarizing stories. Kindergarten culminates with a thorough review of phonics, highlighting letter and sound recognition.

The lessons are organized into a series of chapters that introduce and cover:

1. "Print Awareness" - Teaches the alphabet, parts of a book and the fundamental concepts of print.
2. "Active Listening and Sound" - Develops active listening skills while teaching the concepts of rhyme, rhythm, pattern, and syllables .
3. "The Sights and Sounds of m and s" - Uses the nursery rhyme "Mary Had A Little Lamb" to teach the letters “m” and “s” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
4. "The Sights and Sounds of d and a" - Uses the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle" to teach the long and short sounds of the letter “d” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
5. "The Sights and Sounds of p and "i" - Uses the nursery rhyme "Pease Pudding" to teach the sound of the letter "p" and the short sound of the letter "i" using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
6. "The Sights and Sounds of l and n" - Uses a retold version of the nursery rhyme "Little Red Hen" to teach the letters “l” and “n” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
7. "Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Review" - Develops the understanding of the sounds of the letters “m”,“d”,“s”,“p”,“l”,“n” and the short sounds of the letters “a” and “i” through exercises that target recognition, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics.
8. "The Sights and Sounds of t and h" - Uses an authentic piece of nonfiction titled "Busy Baby Animals: Tiger" to teach the letters “t” and “h” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
9. "The Sights and Sounds of o and b" - Uses a retold version of the nursery rhyme "There Was an Old Woman" to teach the short sound of the letter “o” and the sound of the letter “b” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
10. "The Sights and Sounds of e and r" - Uses the nursery rhyme "It's Raining, It's Pouring" to teach the sound of the letters "e" and "r" using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
11. "The Sights and Sounds of k and f" - Uses the nursery rhyme "Ride A Black Horse" to teach the sound of the letters "k" and "f" using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
12. "Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Review 2" - Develops the understanding of the sounds of the letters “t”, “h”, “f”, “r”, “k”, b”, “d” and the short sounds of the letters “o”, “a”, “e”, and “i” through exercises that target recognition, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics.
13. "The Sights and Sounds of Hard g and Short u" - Uses the classic fable "The Lion and the Mouse" to teach the hard sound of the letter "g" and the short sound of the letter "u" using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
14. "The Sights and Sounds of Hard c and w" - Uses an authentic piece of nonfiction titled "My Cake" to teach the letters the hard sound of the letter “c” and the sound of the letter w using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
15. "The Sights and Sounds of y and qu" - Uses the nursery rhyme "Little Girl and Queen" to teach the letter "y" and the sound of the letter combination "qu" using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
16. "The Sights and Sounds of v and x" - Uses the classic fable "The Fox and the Crow" to teach the sounds of the letters "v" and "x" using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
17. "The Sights and Sounds of z and j" - Uses an original story titled "Jake and the Zany Zebra Show" to teach the sounds of the letters "z" and "j" using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
18. "Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Review 3" - Develops the understanding of the letters "c", "z", "v", "w", "j", "g", "x", "y" and their sounds, the letters "i", "a", "u", "o" and their short sounds, and the letter combination "qu" and its sound through exercises that target recognition, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics.

Click for lesson by lesson details on the Time4learning kindergarten language arts lesson plans.

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In kindergarten language arts, Pig teaches phonemic awareness in the phonics lesson 'Exploring the Sound of M'

In this lesson, students are asked to
choose the picture that starts with the "m" sound.

Kindergarten Math

The kindergarten math curriculum contains a number of math lessons, quizzes, teaching materials and chapter tests. Homeschooling families use the curriculum because it constitutes a solid kindergarten math program, correlated to state standards. Non-homeschoolers use it as an alternative to a kindergarten math tutor, for an online math tutorial, or for extra practice.

Animated characters present the kindergarten math lessons in bite sized pieces, at the student's pace. Kindergarteners are introduced to basic concepts of patterns and categories, spatial sense, number systems, operations, geometry, measurement, and probability through game-like activities.

The lessons are organized into multiple chapters that introduce and cover:

1. Tutorial - Teaches students how to use the math program. It teaches the functionality of buttons and shows students how to interact with and complete practice questions.
2. "Under the Sea" - Teaches how to sort and categorize based on similarities, differences, patterns and common attributes.
3. "Playtime in the Park" - Introduces shapes and basic concepts of spatial sense while reinforcing categorization skills. Students learn how to use positional words to describe locations and manipulate shapes from different locations.
4. “Let's Go On a Safari" - Teaches the numbers 1-10, the concepts of quantity, counting objects, reading numbers, basic graphing and equivalence.
5. "What's Cooking?" - Teaches the basics of time, temperature, calendars and basic units and tools of measurement.
6. "Numbers in the Neighborhood" - Teaches the numbers 11-20, number patterns, counting by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s, basic graphing and addition and subtraction.

For a more detailed description of the kindergarten math lessons, please visit our kindergarten math scope and sequence page.

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With Time4Learning, math lessons are taught by engaging characters in colorful, fun activities.

Kindergarteners learn about "grouping
and picture graphs" from the Grouping
Grouper in "Under the Sea"

Kindergarten Science

Kindergarteners are given access to the first grade science lessons as part of their membership. First grade science is the lowest level available on Time4Learning. It consists of 16 lessons, 10 worksheets and 6 quizzes, organized into 4 chapters.

Read more about the first grade science lessons.

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In first grade science, Bo learns about amphibians in "Slimy Swamp Animals".

In the lesson, students learn about
different creatures and their habitats.

Kindergarten Lessons - The Time4Learning Program Structure

Time4Learning has been refined through years of feedback from educators, parents, and students. Kindergarten subjects are organized into chapters composed of interactive lessons, printable worksheets, quizzes and tests. Kindergarteners are guided through the activities at their own pace by an automated system.

When students log in, they choose a subject, select a chapter, pick a lesson and complete the activities. A bright green arrow tells them where they left off, and completed work is clearly labeled with a check-mark or a gold star. Visual and auditory prompts guide kindergarteners through the lessons making them easy for young learners to follow, and an online playground (controlled by parents) rewards and motivates them to finish their lessons.

Parents get access to printable lesson plans, teaching tools, detailed reporting and parental support through our online Parent Forum.

Does your child have different achievement levels for math and language arts? No problem. Time4Learning lets you set each individual subject at the appropriate graded level, making this program great for special needs and gifted students.

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Kindergarten Curriculum for Homeschool, Afterschool and Summer Use

Time4Learning can be used for homeschool, afterschool or summer learning and is a great way to start kindergarteners off on the right foot. Time4Learning presents kindergarten curriculum in a style that is both engaging and effective. Kids love the funny sound effects and quirky cartoon characters delivering the material. Animated, interactive lessons feel more like video games than learning exercises. Plus, the student-paced nature of the program teaches them how to work independently, giving them a sense of ownership over their progress, which is a great motivator.

Time4Learning is entirely web based, so there is no software to download, no CDs and nothing additional to purchase. Your kids will be able to access the program 24/7 from any computer with an internet connection. It has a low monthly price, requires no contracts and offers a 14 day money-back guarantee.

Time4Learning has helped thousands of families. Why not yours? – Sign up now.