A great start to new beginnings!

I cannot believe how quickly the month of September has come and gone. In just one month there has been some incredible growth and learning demonstrated by the children in our class. I want to take this time to showcase and celebrate some of this advancement and place it in the perspective of the newly updated Kindergarten Program. I hope that this may guide and support you in familiarizing yourself with the new document.

The Ontario Ministry of Education has released the newly updated Kindergarten Program for use in all Ontario public schools. The program now focuses on Four Frames of learning.

In the Kindergarten program, four "frames", or broad areas of learning,are used to structure thinking about learning and assessment. The frames - Belonging and Contributing, Self-Regulation and Well-Being, Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours, and Problem Solving and Innovating - are designed to support an approach that aligns with the way children's learning naturally occurs and that focuses on aspects of learning that are critical to young children's development. The frames reflect the integrated way in which learning occurs during children's play and inquiry in Kindergarten. 

The Kindergarten Program, pg. 13

Each of the four frames also contains overall expectations along with specific expectation examples to support and guide learning. 

2016 Kindergarten Program: Overall Expectations

Create by Kelly Write Twitter: @Kelly_M_Wright

Below are a few photographs of our month long learning. I have placed the photographs according to the frame it may pertain to, but it is important to note that there may be overlap between the frames as so much of the learning is interconnected. 

***As you view the photographs, I encourage you to glance at the 2016 Kindergarten Program: Overall Expectations chart above, and try to familiarize yourself with the type of learning that may be demonstrated in the photographs.

The Four Frames

Belonging and Contributing

This frame encompasses children's learning and development with respect to:

• their sense of connectedness to others;
• their relationships to others, and their contributions as part of a group, a community, and the natural world;
• their understanding of relationships and community, and of the ways in which people contribute to the world around them.

The learning encompassed in this frame also relates to the child's early development of the attributes and attributes that inform citizenship, through his or her sense of personal connectedness to various communities.

Kindergarten Program, pg. 47

  

  

Self-Regulation and Well-Being

This frame encompasses children's learning and development with respect to:

• their own thinking and feelings, and their recognition of and respect for differences in the thinking and feelings of others;
• regulating their emotions, adapting to distractions, and assessing consequences of actions in a way that enables them to engage in learning;
• their physical and mental health and wellness;
• the interrelatedness of children's self-awareness, sense of self, and ability to self-regulate;
• the role of the learning environment in helping children to be calm, focused, and alert so they are better able to learn.

What children learn in connection to this frame allow them to focus, to learn, to respect themselves and others, and to promote well-being in themselves and others.

Kindergarten Program, pg. 54

Demonstrating Literacy and Mathematics Behaviours

This frame encompasses children's learning and development with respect to:

• communicating through thoughts and feelings - through gestures, physical movements, words, symbols, and representations, as well as through the use of a variety of materials;
• literacy behaviours, evident in the various ways they use language, images, and materials to express and think critically about ideas and emotions, as they listen and speak, view and represent, and begin to read and write;
• mathematics behaviours, evident in the various ways they use concepts of number and pattern during play and inquiry; access, manage, create, and evaluate information; and experience an emergent understanding of mathematical relationships, concepts, skills, and processes;
• an active engagement in learning and a developing love of learning, which can instil the habit of learning for life.

What children learn in connection with this frame develops their capacity to think critically, to understand and respect many different perspectives, and to process various kinds of information.

Kindergarten Program, pg. 54

 

 

Problem Solving and Innovation

This frame encompasses children's learning and development with respect to:

• exploring the world through natural curiosity, in ways that engage the mind, the senses, and the body;
• making meaning of their world by asking questions, testing theories solving problems, and engaging in creative and analytical thinking;
• the innovative ways of thinking about and doing things that naturally arise with an active curiosity, and applying those ideas in relationships with others, with materials, and with the environment.

The learning encompassed by this frame supports collaborative problem solving and bringing innovative ideas to relationships with others.

 

   

  

 

 

  

    

I hope this supports you with gaining a bit more understanding of the new updated Kindergarten Program as well as furthering your knowledge about children's learning.