| Welcome to Kid Garden |
| Articles - Life In BV |
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 Main and wondered - what is Kid Garden?Kid Garden is a unique, kinesthetic-based, academic preschool, kindergarten, and school. Learning looks like child-centered, creative play to kids at Kid Garden. It is fun! Kids are learning the whole time. Since kids are expected to come to school with so many skills, they need academics in order to succeed.  So how do we keep an academic curriculum age-appropriate and not get them frustrated? Kinesthetic learning! Kinesthetic learning capitalizes on kids' natural tendency to wiggle and move. Kinesthetic learning deals with body and movement, learning and knowing through physical activity and motion. Kinesthetic learning uses the whole brain, which is retained more  easily and stems from whole brain research.This method is excellent for all preschoolers, children with learning difficulties, and active children who don't sit well in desks. All learning is differentiated and individualized, incrementally stepped and paced for each child. The skills, concepts, and curriculum are designed as directly taught building blocks for later skills needed for reading and math. Direct teaching prevents children's misconceptions. All instruction as well as assessments are kinesthetic, which is developmentally appropriate for younger children. Workbooks and worksheets are not. Kid Garden teaches the six reading areas using age and developmentally appropriate, directly taught, kinesthetic methods. To kids, we're playing. They are learning the whole time. The areas of reading are Vocabulary, Phonemic Awareness/Rhyming, Sight Words, Phonics/Reverse Phonics (Writing), Comprehension, and Fluency. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds- phonemes- in spoken words. It is a purely auditory skill. There are 42 phonemes represented by 26 letters. Phonics links the visual letter with the auditory sound. The skill is both visual and auditory. Kinesthetic Phonics (TM) adds an action. We stand for vowels and sit for consonants. We teach all sounds of the vowels. We do a daily journal where basic concepts of letters, words and sentences are differentiated in a very creative, child-centered way. Kids write, using reverse phonics, which reinforces phonics skills. Children are read to daily and given opportunities to sequence and act out stories for comprehension. We teach math using whole brain, kinesthetic methods as well. All concepts are taught using manipulatives, songs, and play, using large muscle movements and imagination. The math curriculum includes calendar, number names and recognition to 100, place value, counting by 10s, money, time, measuring, shapes and colors, and one to one correspondence. Children practice letter and number writing using large markers and whiteboards as well as in sand, paint, magnetic letters, using play dough, and many other creative ways. Scissor use is taught directly and practiced daily which develops fine motor skills. To learn more about the special features of Kid Garden and for details about ages, hours, and pricing, please visit our website at www.thekidgarden.com or call 719-221-4259 The Kid Garden Mission Statement: We at Kid Garden, in partnership with family, dedicate ourselves: To nurture and facilitate the child’s personal growth, self- esteem, success, and joy To teach through the child’s own sense of wonder and curiosity To not compare children or use shame, but to build on the child’s own ability to flourish and bloom To creatively take each individual student far beyond the basic requirements of the Colorado State Standards To keeping a small class size of 10 students for the purpose of individual attention Each month South Main sends out an eUpdate which features new articles for and about the local Buena Vista community. To subscribe, please visit our contact us page. |
by: Jean Borne