All preschool children 3 years turning 4 years are exposed to music, art and stories through group and independent activities. Emphasis is on developing a positive self-concept, refining gross and fine motor skills, enhancing language and social skills, and promoting reading and math readiness.

In the pre-kindergarten program of children 4 turning 5, we provide a strongly academic curriculum. The Houghton Mifflin Pre-Kindergarten Core Curriculum, the Handwriting Without Tears Curriculum, and the Second Step program make up the integral part of their morning. Working in partnership with our parents, the Second Step Program provides training in empathy, emotion management and problem solving.

All preschool children are exposed to music, art, and stories through group and independent activities.

Our three-year-old program is multi-faceted, providing a foundation of learning that extends through our third grade. Emphasis is on developing a positive self concept, refining gross and fine motor skills along with social skills for cooperative play. The Houghton Mifflin Three-Year-Old Curriculum enhances language skills promoting reading and math readiness.

Our full day kindergarten program emphasizes reading, mathematics, and handwriting. Students who are developmentally ready will be reading prior to the completion of the kindergarten year. Language, early writing, science, social studies, music, art, physical education, and computer skills are also an integral part of the curriculum. A variety of opportunities for the development of social and motor skills round out the program. Emphasis is given to hands-on activities.

LITERACY

According to Webster's New World Dictionary, LITERACY is defined, simply, as the ability to read and write. In Kindergarten, we use several different curriculum types to achieve literacy for every student.

1. The 2005 Houghton Mifflin reading program delivers effective instruction in five key areas of reading.
      A. PHONEMIC AWARENESS - letter sounds
      B. PHONICS - the science of sounds and their relationship to each other
      C. FLUENCY - the ability to write or speak easily, smoothly and expressively
      D. VOCABULARY - the many words of a language
      E. COMPREHENSION - the capacity for understanding

2. HANDWRITING WITHOUT TEARS is our handwriting curriculum that was developed by Jan Olsen, an occupational therapist, in 1975. She applied the task analysis skills of an OT to the problem of handwriting. The HWT curriculum is a simple developmentally-based curriculum for writing readiness and printing. The multi-sensory lessons teach to all learning styles - visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. The unique materials and appealing workbooks eliminate problems with letter formation, reversals, legibility, and sentence spacing.

3. SUCCESS - Duke University developed this whole language approach to literacy. Two facets are used daily in kindergarten.

The use of labeling pictures, drawings, maps, classroom items and charts to associate words with objects.

The art of questioning before, during and after a story.

These literacy objectives will be realized in the classroom everyday by every student.

MATHEMATICS

Our kindergarten mathematics curriculum is based on the Kansas State Math Standards which meet the National Math Standards dictated by the "No Child Left Behind Act". The standards are divided into four categories: Number and Computation, Algebra, Geometry, and Data.

Every student will meet the standards with the daily use of manipulatives, problem solving tasks, discussion groups, cooperative learning, daily math minutes, mental math games, math centers, the computer, the calculator and pencil and paper.

The Kansas Math Standards are aligned between every grade level kindergarten through grade 12. Skills will be reviewed; new skills will be introduced and practiced which will result in a solid foundation in math.

THE ESSENTIAL CURRICULUM

  The Essential Curriculum, formerly called Project Essential, seeks to teach children, youth and adults behaviors that build and maintain self-respect, personal integrity, and character. Principles, concepts, and skills that develop such character traits as self-control, responsibility and respect for others are among the benefits of teaching the curriculum.

  The Essential Curriculum is taught daily in kindergarten. Self esteem must be earned; it cannot be given. Self-esteem is thereby developed within the child through this curriculum.

Kindergarten Afternoon Rotations
Kindergarten color group rotations meet on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 12:30pm to 2:30pm. These educational rotations are an integral part of our full day kindergarten program.

Spanish
Children will be learning the Spanish language and experiencing the Spanish culture through literature, songs, drama, dance, art, and games. We are fortunate to have Señora Woolf as a part of our faculty to facilitate our Spanish Classes.

Music
Music is an important part of every Brookridge day. In addition to promoting a love of singing, our program fosters the life-skills of leadership, responsibility, and self-control. Mrs. Booth brings the songs of Friday Afternoon Music and Safety Kids' Club, along with a variety of other musical experiences, to this focus group.

Physical Education:
The primary goal of physical education is participation in activities that promote physical fitness and lifetime fitness skills. This goal is achieved through exercise and group games.

Art
The art environment focuses on personal expression and creativity thus giving children and opportunity to develop process-oriented problem solving skills.

Math Mania
Math is a part of daily living and is reinforced through creative, hands-on activities that are aligned with the kindergarten math curriculum.

Phonics Fun
The purpose of our phonics color group is to develop strong auditory discrimination and awareness through a variety of sensory experiences.

The grade school curricula at Brookridge are consistent with those of the surrounding public school districts. Emphasis is on reading, writing and mathematics. Focus groups provide additional exposure to science, health, social studies, art, music, foreign language, computer skills, and physical education.

LITERACY

According to Webster's New World Dictionary, LITERACY is defined, simply, as the ability to read and write. We use several different curriculum types to achieve literacy for every student.

1. The 2005 Houghton Mifflin reading program delivers effective instruction in five key areas of reading.
      A. PHONEMIC AWARENESS - letter sounds
      B. PHONICS - the science of sounds and their relationship to each other
      C. FLUENCY - the ability to write or speak easily, smoothly and expressively
      D. VOCABULARY - the many words of a language
      E. COMPREHENSION - the capacity for understanding

2. SPELLING: The 2005 Houghton Mifflin reading program has aligned the reading with our spelling program. Because learning to spell is a developmental process, students can learn the regularities of English spelling if instruction is paced to their development. Students should move from what they know to what they are developmentally ready to learn. The emphasis is placed on LEARNING PRINCIPLES AND PATTERNS rather than on simply learning individual words. Research state it is important for words that are already known in reading to be grouped together according to a common feature such as sound, syllable pattern, spelling pattern or word part (base, prefix, and suffix).

3. SUCCESS - Duke University developed this whole language approach. We use the research module, which gives students the opportunity to search for information in a variety of written materials.

These literacy objectives will be realized in the classroom everyday by every student.

GRADE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

Our grade school mathematics curriculum is based on the Kansas State Math Standards which meet the National Math Standards dictated by the "No Child Left Behind" Act. The standards are divided into four categories.

NUMBER AND COMPUTATION

Number Sense - The student demonstrates number sense for whole numbers, fractions, and money using concrete objects in a variety of situations.

Number Systems and their Properties - The student demonstrates an understanding of whole numbers with a special emphasis on place value in a variety of situations.

Estimation - The student uses computational estimation with whole numbers in a variety of situations.

Computation - The student models, performs, and explains computation with whole numbers using concrete objects in a variety of situations.

ALGEBRA

Patterns - The student recognizes, describes, extends, develops, and explains relationships in patterns using concrete objects in a variety of situations.

Variables, Equations, and Inequalities - The student solves addition equations using concrete objects in a variety of situations.

Functions - The student recognizes and describes whole number relationships using concrete objects in a variety of situations.

Models - The student uses mathematical models including concrete objects to represent, show, and communicate mathematical relationships in a variety of situations.

GEOMETRY

Geometric Figures and their Properties - The student recognizes geometric shapes and their attributes using concrete objects in a variety of situations.

Measurement and Estimation - The student estimates and measures using standard and nonstandard units of measure with concrete objects in a variety of situations.

Transformational Geometry - The student develops the foundation for spatial sense using concrete objects in a variety of situations.

Geometry from an Algebraic Perspective - The student identifies one or more points on a number line in a variety of situations.

DATA

Probability - The student applies the concepts of probability using concrete objects in a variety of situations.

Statistics - The student collects, records, and explains numerical (wholenumber) and non-numerical data sets including the use of concrete objects in a variety of situations.

Every student will meet these standards with the daily use of manipulatives, problem solving tasks, discussion groups, cooperative learning, daily math minutes, mental math games, math centers, the computer, the calculator and pencil and paper.

The Kansas Math Standards are aligned between every grade level kindergarten through grade 12. Skills will be reviewed; new skills will be introduced and practiced which will result in the forming of the solid beginning of your child's math foundation.

THE ESSENTIAL CURRICULUM

  The Essential Curriculum, formerly called Project Essential, seeks to teach children, youth and adults behaviors that build and maintain self-respect, personal integrity, and character. Principles, concepts, and skills that develop such character traits as self-control, responsibility and respect for others are among the benefits of teaching the curriculum.

  An extensive study of the impact to the Essential Curriculum on student behavior by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation demonstrated conclusively that students taught the curriculum were better able to:

Admit errors, accept consequences, correct their errors and learn from them.

Properly separate emotion from reason and use the skill of reasoning to demonstrate self-control and self-discipline.

Take responsibility for their own actions and learn to fulfill their true responsibilities.

Give equal weight and respect to their own rights and the rights of all others.

  The Essential Curriculum is taught daily in our grade school. We learn that self esteem must be earned; it cannot be given.

Grade School Focus Groups
Each week our grade school students participate in educational specials that enrich their total school experience.

Physical Education
The primary goal of physical education is participation in activities that promote physical fitness and lifetime fitness skills. This goal is achieved through exercise and group games.

Music
Music is an important part of every Brookridge day. In addition to promoting a love of singing, our program fosters the life-skills of leadership, responsibility, and self-control. Mrs. Booth brings the songs of Friday Afternoon Music and Safety Kids' Club, along with a variety of other musical experiences, to this focus group.

Spanish
Children will be learning the Spanish language and experiencing the Spanish culture through literature, songs, drama, dance, art, and games. We are fortunate to have Señora Woolf as a part of our faculty to facilitate our Spanish Classes.

Science
The concentration of our science focus group is the Kansas Science Standards. Through experimentation, the students are introduced to the fundamental principles of science.

Art
The art environment focuses on personal expression and creativity thus giving children an opportunity to develop process-oriented problem solving skills.