How Do We Teach Academics in the Early Years?

In Lower Primary, we believe in children’s capacity and agency to construct meaning. Inquiry, through a language-rich environment, play and collaborative projects, is the most motivational and purposeful way for students to learn. Through a child-centered approach to teaching and learning, teachers design a developmentally appropriate curriculum where children’s interests are reflected. We believe in making learning visible by documenting and reflecting process, not product, thus assessing student learning authentically.

Literacy (Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing)

The Lower Primary School uses curriculum that is founded on standards by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Common Core State Standards. Reception 1 uses components identified by the Creative Curriculum for Preschool in conjunction with the NAEYC. Reception 2 through Grade 2 uses the Common Core State Standards and the Capacities of a Literate Individual as foundations to the curriculum.

Reception 1 Literacy Components:

• Building a reader and writer identity
• Speaking and listening
• Literacy as a source of enjoyment
• Vocabulary and language
• Phonological awareness
• Letters and words
• Comprehension
• Books and other texts

Reception 2, Grade 1 and Grade 2 Literacy Standards

• Literacy Foundational Skills: phonemic awareness, phonics/decoding, spelling, conventions
• Comprehension and Analysis: Reading and listening to various types of text (narrative, opinion, and informational texts) and analyzing language meaning
• Composition and Communication: Writing and using various forms of language related to narrative, opinion, and informational texts

Mathematics

HKIS uses the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and the Standards for Mathematical Practice to establish grade-level benchmarks. These standards provide a clear, organized, and developmentally appropriate set of math skills and concepts for students to cultivate throughout their academic journey. The standards are designed to build a coherent progression of learning from one grade to the next, with a focus on connecting new knowledge to previously learned foundations. The mathematics standards develop the knowledge and skills that students need to be prepared for mathematics in college, career, and life. The standards prioritize a greater focus on fewer topics, which helps students gain strong foundations, including a solid understanding of concepts, a high degree of skill and fluency, and the ability to apply the math they learn inside and outside of the classroom. The Standards for Mathematical Practice describe how students engage with the content standards. Both sets of standards work together to support our students. In accessing the knowledge and skills they need to develop true understanding. In Lower Primary, our goal is to help our students become confident and successful mathematicians.

The Standards for Mathematical Practice

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
• Model with mathematics
• Use appropriate tools strategically
• Attend to precision
• Look for and make use of structure
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

Domains for Mathematical Content

• Counting and Cardinality
• Numbers and Operations in Base Ten
• Measurement and Data
• Geometry
• Operations and Algebraic Thinking

Religious Education

At HKIS, Religious Education reflects the school mission and SLRs. As a school "grounded in the Christian faith and respecting the spiritual lives of all", we provide students an academic study of religion. Religion units in the Lower Primary explore a variety of topics and ideas. Each topic is explored from a Christian perspective. Students then explore how people of other faiths view that same topic, which helps them understand how others see the world. In LP we are focused on similarities of believers. We support our students in their individual spiritual journey.

HKIS has developed a unique set of standards to closely encompass our core beliefs. Our Religious Education program is developed around three standards.Each one is equally important. As students learn about Christianity and other world religions, the development of individual spirituality is the thread that ties everything together.

Standard 1:

Students recognize, define, and articulate their own spiritual identity, and demonstrate how it applies to their personal decisions.

Standard 2:

Students demonstrate an understanding of the Christian story and the centrality of Jesus in the Bible.

Standard 3:

Students understand both the common and unique beliefs, practices, and influence of the major religions of the world.

Grade levels hold monthly chapels focused on the Christian message, as well as assemblies focused on many themes including special visitors and cultural festivals. Divisional chapels and assemblies take place once a month.

Social Studies and Science

Science and social studies are taught using an inquiry-based approach. Scientific processes including observation, collecting, recording and interpreting data, predicting, classifying and drawing conclusions are practiced in hands-on, meaningful activities. Students learn concepts, as well as information. In addition, skills of reasoning, problem solving, working collaboratively, goal setting and decision making are practiced throughout the curriculum.

Design and Technology