Kindergarten

Language skills and literacy learning begin long before students enter kindergarten. Their pre-school experiences and established communication patterns are important foundations for continued language acquisition and development in the classroom setting. Young students possess remarkable repertoires of oral language and have used their first or home language in familiar environments for various purposes. For some students, kindergarten experiences and language activities at school will introduce them to the English language. For other students, these experiences and activities will expand and enrich their present English vocabularies and language skills. All students need a supportive, non-competitive atmosphere in which their cultures and languages are accepted and respected. Kindergarten programs should nurture interest in oral, print, and visual language, and expand the communication and learning abilities for students of all cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

There are marked variations in the levels of language competence and awareness among students during this Emerging Phase of development (kindergarten-grade 1). Students develop listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and representing abilities interdependently. Growth and development in one strand supports and extends growth and development in the others. Although a strong oral language base assists the growth and development of reading, writing, viewing, and representing skills, oral fluency or mastery of English is not a prerequisite for emerging literacy.

Many students live in print-rich environments, where they observe and interact with print daily. Often they enter kindergarten with an awareness of written language. They are curious about printed letters and patterns, and try to make connections between print and their daily experiences. Students will continue to reconceptualize and increase their understanding about how print is used and about how the system of written language works through their experiences with print in the kindergarten classroom.

Other students will demonstrate little curiosity, experience, or knowledge about print. However, by modeling the processes of reading and writing daily, teachers nurture students' interest in print. Students rapidly acquire an awareness that print rewards readers and writers with enjoyment and information. The ideal environment entices students to build upon and to extend their individual language abilities and understanding.

Children develop their language skills and abilities as they explore topics, materials, and resources that are interesting and meaningful to them. Language acquisition and growth in such meaningful contexts is natural and more effective than through isolated workbook exercises that bear little relevance to children's daily experiences and their use of language. Formal, whole-class skill instruction is inappropriate at the kindergarten level and is not advocated. Informal individual, small group, and whole class activities, observations, and discussions are preferred.

English language arts objectives for kindergarten students have been included in this curriculum. The objectives are appropriate for students in kindergarten and grade 1 who are in the Emerging Phase of language growth and development. These objectives will be achieved gradually. Although some students will demonstrate these competencies in kindergarten, many students will achieve these competencies over a longer period of time.

Students develop these language skills, attitudes, and understandings at individual rates. They will continue to refine and extend them throughout the Developing Phase (grades 1-5).

Objectives and Instructional Guidelines (Emerging Phase)

Students will demonstrate use of oral language to bring meaning to what they observe, feel, hear, and read.
- Provide daily opportunities for students to share thoughts and information about events and experiences.
- Provide daily opportunities for students to generate oral language through participation in dramatic play and various interpretive or role play activities. E.S.L. students often use their first language in such activities and quickly acquire English vocabulary and language structures through informal interaction with English speaking peers.
- Provide opportunities for students to experience and respond to various media and resources including guest speakers or storytellers, books, pictures, environmental print, newspapers, displays of objects and artifacts, audio and visual materials, and field trips.
- Provide rich classroom experiences through activity centres that naturally spark children's need and desire to communicate.
- Model English pronunciations and language patterns in positive ways. Model respect for the language and communication styles of each student.
Students will demonstrate ability to listen to the ideas of others in small and large group situations.
- Encourage each student to participate in oral activities such as discussions and brainstorming.
- Focus students' attention by clarifying the purposes for listening.
- Model and discuss ways to be a courteous and thoughtful listener.
- Vary classroom experiences to include individual, small group, and whole class activities. Limit the number and duration of daily whole class activities as small group and individual activities are more effective for young children.
- Provide frequent, constructive feedback to students and parents regarding students' oral language abilities and attitudes. Such feedback should be based on close observation of students' participation in classroom activities, and interaction with peers and teachers.
Students will demonstrate recognition that what is said can be written and read.
- Model writing for various purposes daily.
- Model interest in writing as a means of communicating with others and as a means of discovering and organizing ideas.
- Encourage students to contribute ideas for experience chart stories, class books, and captions or titles on their drawings. Repeat students' words as you transcribe them into print.
- Collaboratively compose written communication such as class invitations, messages, letters, and get well and thank-you notes.
- Encourage students' efforts to communicate with others and to express themselves in print. Promote risk taking and experimentation with drawing, scribbling, letter symbols, and temporary spelling.
- Encourage students to share their drawings and writing with others by explaining the message and meaning being conveyed.
Students will demonstrate interest in participating in the exploration of the patterns, sounds, and rhythms of language.
- Incorporate songs, games, rhymes, chants, poems, and stories into daily classroom activities to acquaint students with various sentence structures, phrases, and vocabulary.
- Ensure access to audio recordings of stories, songs, rhymes, and poetry.
- Collaboratively compose and display adaptations to familiar songs and verses.
Students will demonstrate desire to participate in the discussion of ideas and illustrations in a variety of resources.
- Read to children daily. Reread favourite books. Read teacher-selected resources as well as selections chosen by students.
- Encourage students to share thoughts and images evoked by literature.
- Provide frequent opportunities for students to browse through print resources and to discuss selections with others.
- Provide opportunities for students to interpret, clarify, and demonstrate their understanding of literary selections through dramatizations, role playing, art, music, movement, and written and oral language.
- Model and encourage acceptance of, and respect for, individual expression and opinions.
- Relate events, characters, illustrations, and information from resources to what students have read, heard, or observed elsewhere.
Students will demonstrate awareness that various cultures, lifestyles, and experiences are portrayed in literature.
- Share a variety of selections with students. Include concept books, pattern books, wordless picture books, nonfiction, poetry, folktales, fables, and oral literature.
- Classroom resource collections should include a variety of materials including fiction and nonfiction materials, books, posters, charts, maps, recipes, pamphlets, pictures, newspapers, models, and magazines.
- Selections should accurately reflect the experiences and lifestyles of both genders, and of many social and cultural groups including all cultures represented in the classroom and community.
Students will demonstrate awareness that print and symbols in their environment convey meaning.
- Model interest in reading various resources for enjoyment and information.
- Display students' names and labels for centres, furniture, and equipment. Also display words requested by students for writing efforts or for signs in the dramatic play area.
- Display environmental print in the classroom. Print items relevant to students may include food labels, announcements, calendars, advertisements, store receipts and price tags, replicas of street and business signs, greeting cards, and product instructions. Students should contribute items for display.
- Display print materials that are relevant to students' experiences and interests, topics or units of study, and/or community events and issues. Include examples of Braille print and materials from various cultures, printed in their respective languages.
- A variety of reading and writing materials should be readily available in every kindergarten classroom. Students should have access to paper of different types (e.g., lined, unlined), colours, and sizes and to various writing tools including pencils, paints, crayons, and colour markers. Dramatic activities and play areas offer many opportunities for students to observe and practise literacy behaviours. Students can use or create print materials such as menus, recipes, order forms, prescriptions, books, posters, signs, and charts.

More information related to kindergarten and early literacy can be found in:

Children First: A Curriculum Guide for Kindergarten (Saskatchewan Education, 1994)
Early Literacy: A Resource for Teachers (Saskatchewan Education, 2000).

Kindergarten Objectives at a Glance

Listening	Speaking
Make connections between oral language and personal experiences Listen attentively to others Listen to a variety of stories, nursery rhymes, poetry, and informational texts for enjoyment and information Make connections between story events and own experiences Demonstrate increased awareness of rhymes and various forms of alliteration when listening to stories, poems, and songs Follow simple directions Recognize environmental sounds Show awareness of sound qualities (e.g., loud/soft) Use the language cueing systems (including the phonemic) in oral text to construct meaning by: identifying separate words recognizing and generating rhyming words recognizing word families (e.g., cat to fat) identifying sounds in words	Engage in imaginative play - talking to self and others Incorporate words and phrases from books into their play Repeat short sentences with varying forms Join in and contribute to shared language experiences, songs, action verses, and rhymes Talk about personal experiences, preferences, and topics of interest Make relevant comments and ask questions about topics of interest Answer questions related to personal experiences and text Recall some details about personal experiences and about stories Talk about new learning Share feelings prompted by texts and talk about favourite stories and books Experiment with rhythm, rhymes, and sounds
Reading	Writing
Participate in shared reading of big books, charts, and co-operative class stories Connect own experiences with print and pictures Anticipate that stories and informational texts will have meaning Begin to predict what text is about during shared reading Use growing awareness of text cues such as sense of story, sentence pattern, and familiar words to construct meaning Demonstrate reading-like behaviours and book handling skills Recognize signs, symbols, and print in the environment Recognize own name in print Recognize that print and pictures are related Explore the alphabet, and letter names and shapes Know some letters and a few words by sight Begin to track print with finger and eyes Recognize some letters and words	Contribute ideas for experience chart stories, class books, captions, and titles Contribute to collaboratively written communication such as messages, letters, and notes Experiment with drawing, scribbling, letters, and temporary spelling Share drawing and own or scribed writing with others by explaining message and meaning Begin to develop an understanding of written language conventions including to: develop a sense of sentence demonstrate curiosity about visual features of letters and familiar words use some sound-letter correspondence in writing print own name and copy environmental print and familiar words recognize capital letters and periods in print texts Explore the alphabet, and letter names and shapes Make letter-like shapes or actual letters and numbers
Viewing	Representing
Participate in shared viewing experiences Discuss pictures/illustrations Become aware that pictures, photographs, graphics, and illustrations convey meaning Distinguish print from illustrations Recognize shapes in the environment and in printed materials Share personal experiences and feelings prompted by various visuals Talk about visuals they like	Share ideas and experiences in a variety of ways including dramatizations, role playing, art, and movement Respond to stories through drawing Communicate through and about their drawings Dictate short stories to accompany their drawings Incorporate story elements into their play Contribute ideas for group creations such as drawings, dioramas, and puppet plays Experiment with sound, movement, and other forms of representing to share ideas and experiences

Note: For additional objectives related to Kindergarten, teachers should refer to the Kindergarten curriculum. In addition, the Early Literacy resource provides detailed guidance for addressing early literacy needs.