Kindergarten 1 Curriculum and Programmes at
Primus International Kindergarten Singapore
The curriculum for our 4 turning 5 year olds is based on the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum (EYFS) and embraces the Learning Goals within the Singapore curriculum, Nurturing Early Learners (NEL). The Curriculum is further enhanced by international curricula. The children learn through purposeful play combined with focused first steps in learning to read and beginning to write in both English and Chinese and in developing numeracy skills.
The Primus Schoolhouse International Kindergarten Singapore curriculum is arranged around Seven Spheres of Learning:
| Prime Areas | Specific Areas |
| Language Arts Speaking and Listening English/Chinese | Language Arts Reading and Writing English/Chinese |
| Personal Empowerment | Thinking Mathematically |
| Healthy Bodies | Creativity and Culture |
| Inquiring Minds |
Inquiring Minds and Creativity and Culture provide the breadth of curricula whilst teaching staff maintain a balanced academic focus on Maths and Language Arts both in English and Chinese. We follow Singapore Maths curriculum ensuring a smooth transition between each phase of a child’s education. A wide range of curricular activities are designed to enable each child to achieve the goals and objectives appropriate to his or her individual stage of development. The Unique Child reaches out to relate to people and things through the Characteristics of Effective Learning, which move through all spheres of learning. These are,
| Playing and Exploring Engagement |
Active Learning Motivation |
Creating and Thinking Critically Thinking |
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Finding out and exploring
Playing with what they know
Being willing to “have a go”
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Being involved and concentrating
Perserverance
Enjoying achieving what they set out to do
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Having their own ideas
Making Links
Choosing ways to do things
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Children develop at their own rates, and in their own ways. The learning as outlined briefly below and overleaf is for Kindergarten 1. The age/stage bands and curricula overlap because learning is not fixed to age but suggests a typical range of development. Staff assess where each individual child is within their developmental stage and facilitate learning experiences appropriate to them.
Language Arts Speaking and Listening English/Chinese
| Listening | Speaking |
| Children at the expected level of development will: – Listen carefully and respond appropriately when being read to and during whole class and small group discussions; – Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding; – Hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers. |
Children at the expected level of development will: – Participate in small group, class and 1-to-1 discussions, offering their own ideas, using new vocabulary; – Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of new vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate; – Express their ideas using full sentences, with modelling and support from their teacher. |
Personal Empowerment
| Self Regulation | Managing Self |
| Children at the expected level of development will: – Show an understanding of their own feelings and those of others, and regulate their behaviour accordingly; – Have a positive sense of self and show resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge; – Pay attention to their teacher and follow multi-step instructions. |
Children at the expected level of development will: – Manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs, including dressing and going to the toilet; – Understand the importance of healthy food choices; – Explain the reasons for rules and know right from wrong. |
| Building relationships | |
| Children at the expected level of development will: – Work and play cooperatively and take turns with others; |
– Form positive attachments and friendships; – Show sensitivities to others’ needs. |
Healthy Bodies
| Gross Motor Skills | Fine Motor Skills |
| Children at the expected level of development will: – Negotiate space and obstacles safely, with consideration for themselves and others; – Demonstrate strength, balance and coordination; – Move energetically, such as running, jumping, dancing, hopping, skipping and climbing. |
Children at the expected level of development will: – Hold a pencil comfortably using the tripod grip; – Use a range of small tools, including scissors, paintbrushes and cutlery; – Show accuracy and care when drawing and copying. |
Language Arts Reading and Writing English/Chinese
| Comprehension | Word Reading |
| Children at the expected level of development will: – Demonstrate understanding of what they have read and has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and new vocabulary; – Anticipate – where appropriate – key events in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems; – Use new vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems and during role-play. |
Children at the expected level of development will: – English: Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs; – English: Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending; – English: Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including common exception words. |
| Writing | |
| Children at the expected level of development will: – Write recognisable letters and characters most of which are correctly formed; – In English, spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters; – Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others. |
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Thinking Mathematically
| Whole Numbers | |
| Understand and use ordinal numbers to describe position – Count objects in a set, read and write numerals to 10. – Compare two or more sets of objects up to 10 and identify which set is equal to, more than, or less than the other. – Compare two sets of objects up to 10 and determine how many more or less are in one set than the other. – Count and identify 1 more than or 1 less than a number within 10. – Make addition/subtraction stories from problem situations. |
– Begin to explore number bonds and part-whole concept to 10 – Begin to explore the meaning of addition (missing whole, putting together, counting on, and simple addition stories). – Introduced to the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction. |
| Length, Weight, Mass, and Capacity | Data Analysis and Probability |
| – Compare and measure length and weight by making direct comparisons with reference objects. – Compare and measure capacity by making direct comparisons with reference objects. – Compare and measure length, and weight using nonstandard units. – Compare and measure capacity using nonstandard units. |
– Sort objects and data by common attributes. – Represent and compare data using picture graphs – Represent and compare data bar graphs. – Represent and compare data using tally charts. |
Creativity and Culture
| Music and Movement | Art |
| Children at the expected level of development will: – Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs; – Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – move in time with music; – Co-construct, invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher. |
Children at the expected level of development will: – Draw and paint using a range of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function; – Share their creations, explaining the process they have used; – Make use of props and materials when role-playing characters in narratives and stories. |
Inquiring Minds
| Active Learning, Creating and Thinking Critically | Playing and Exploring |
| Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society; – Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class; – Recall some important narratives, characters and figures from the past encountered in books read in class. |
Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps; – Know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class; – Explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and – when appropriate – maps. |
| Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants; – Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class; – Understand the effect of the changing seasons on the natural world around them. |
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