Full Day Kindergarten - Campbell River School District

Within the Campbell River full-daykindergarten program:• All aboriginal students will haveopportunities to participate in and tolearn about their heritage and culture,in keeping with the district’s AboriginalEducation Enhancement Agreement.• Every child who enters kindergarten willsuccessfully graduate from our programswell prepared to enter the next phase oflife. (From School District 72’s Achievement Contract)As a parent,you can helpyour childto have thebest start byencouraging:Curiosity. Responding with wonder and awe; askingquestions; loving to observe, discover, experiment, andinvent.A positive attitude. Being eager, joyful,interested in learning and wanting to participate fully.Perseverance. Having the attention span andinterest to stick with play activities, to not give up, towant to figure things out for themselves.Self-control / self-regulation. Engaged,focused, in control of actions, feelings.Cooperation. Sharing materials and ideas, workingthrough problems, developing empathy, learning aboutrespect.Active thinking. Making connections, askingquestions, posing problems, being full of ideas,imaginative, creative, inventive.Confidence. A sense of belonging. Emotionalsecurity, solving problems, making decisions, taking risks.Competence. A sense of “I can do it”.Full Day Kindergartenin Campbell River SchoolsChildren are active learners.They learn with their whole bodies,their minds and their hearts.They learn best when all areas of theirdevelopment are addressed –social, emotional, intellectual, aesthetic,artistic, and physical.(Goals of the B.C. Primary Program)School District 72 • Campbell River, B.C.

In Campbell River, we believe that:All kindergartenstudents are“ready” for school.Children already havecapabilities and are full ofpotential when they arriveat school. We take childrenfrom “where they are”developmentally and helpthem take their next steps.Respectfulrelationshipswith childrenand theirfamilies arevital.We create anenvironment that iswelcoming, nurturing,safe and respectfulfor children and theirfamilies.Most learning in the kindergartenprogram occurs during play.Full-day kindergartenis not meant to rushacademics at an earlierage. Rather, it providesmore time for supportedplay-based explorationand inquiry. Thekindergarten programshould be rich in playbasedinquiry, wherestudents are providedopportunities to play withmaterials, to explore, anddiscover for themselves.The learning environment is “thethird teacher”.The kindergartenenvironment iscarefully designedto be dynamic, withengaging materialsand spaces.Multiple forms ofrepresentation –such as print, art,construction, drama,music, puppetryand shadow play– are welcome and encouraged in the kindergartenclassroom as students demonstrate their learning, andunderstanding of concepts and ideas.Orallanguageand otherforms ofrepresentingare thefoundationsof literacy.