K2: Ages 5 – 6 years
Timings:
Mondays – Fridays
8:00 am – 2:30 pm
We know that early childhood education sets the foundation for a child’s future. It is well researched that the first three years of life are the most fundamental in a human’s development and their potential. However, the second most crucial phase in a child’s life is between 3 – 6 years of age. While 80% of a child’s brain is formed by age 3, 90% of a child’s brain is formed by age 6. Keeping this in mind, the K2 class is designed to provide a dynamic range of activities to help stimulate your child’s senses and unleash their innate curiosity through our unique international curriculum (IB & Montessori) for holistic development – social, emotional, physical, cognitive, language and creative.
Social & Emotional Development:
At Kai, we understand that a smooth transition from home to school is crucial, and in response to this, we make sure that your child has a safe and hygienic learning environment for your child to explore and engage with warm and vibrant facilitators with whom they can develop secure relationships – a crucial foundation for learning and life-long happiness.
We have a clear plan to support both the child and parent with the transition and settling in process, while also helping to establish healthy routines. Becoming familiar with and comfortable in the school environment, peers and teachers is always the first priority.
Once settled, the teachers plan for opportunities for your child to gain a sense of self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence and independence. We also begin our day together, as a family, by eating breakfast together and learning good table manners from others as well as, taking turns, sharing, caring for ourselves and for our environment.
Participating in circle time to share experiences and feelings adds to a child’s social and emotional development, as well as having various times in the day to interact with peers across different age groups to either learn from or role model.
Throughout the year, Kai students participate in different programs to come together with their parents, friends and greater community.
Physical Development:
Physical development at this age continues to evolve and our teachers prepare the environment with curated activities for them to improve their balance and coordination, strengthen their core and be able to expand their abundance of energy. Children also have a plethora of space on our sprawling 2 acre campus, such as the sandpit, balancers, tunnel, rock climbing wall, indoor slide, athletic track with various equipment such as bikes or the very popular climbing mound, to help each child explore and thrive in their physical development.
Cognitive Development:
This area focuses on how a child constructs their thought processes; children will continue to gather, sort, and process information around them, using the data to develop perception and thinking skills. The areas of cognitive development include remembering, information processing, problem solving, reasoning, decision-making and language development.
Age appropriate Montessori materials for cognitive development guide the child for more complex activities as they grow, particularly in math, language and culture. These activities are also uniquely integrated with K2’s 4 International Baccalaureate* transdisciplinary themes.
Transdisciplinary Themes (theme across disciplines/subjects)
Who We Are
Central idea: Habits and routines impact the quality of our living
How We Express Ourselves
Central idea: People recognize important events through celebrations and traditions.
How the World Works
Central idea: Weather and climate affect people in their environment.
How We Organize Ourselves
Central idea: Food that reaches us go through many processes
Also in line with the Montessori and IB philosophies, at Kai we follow the child, which allows time for him or her to process, repeat and master activities on their own, while also differentiating the activity according to the child’s individual pace.
Our approach as an IB school is to teach through open-ended guided inquiry approaches, which are hands-on and provide meaningful play and exploration of the many different learning environments that Kai has to offer – there are several learning connections for the children to make within the school’s purpose-built premise.
Language Development:
At Kai, we provide each child a language rich environment which provides exposure to new vocabulary through exploration and new experiences. This supports children in their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
To further language and brain development, our international curriculum ensures experiences for the children to enhance their mother tongue, should it not be the working language of the school, and additionally be exposed to both Hindi and Spanish as additional languages.
In K2, we focus on setting a solid foundation where they will become confident readers with key writing skills. The well-renowned Montessori materials provide a clear progression and individualized approach each step of the way.
Creative Development:
The future for our children is yet to be seen. With several careers that don’t yet exist, and areas such as technology continuously advancing, Kai ensures that each child’s innate creativity is nurtured and developed. This includes opportunities for creating and responding through exploration of art, dance, music and other learning experiences. Each of these classes are integrated into the current IB transdisciplinary themes to be able to make real world connections and view themes and ideas holistically.
Additional Aspects of the Program & Transition to Primary School
Our standards follow a 1:12 student teacher ratio for this age group, along with a support staff helper. Kai strives to give each child the attention and support to grow, develop and achieve their milestones. We also believe in creating opportunities for our students to begin to develop life attributes, skills & values, such as curiosity, sharing and responsibility through the IB Learner Profile.
As a key year to prepare students for their transition to Grade 1, our international curriculum has been carefully aligned with various boards to ensure a smooth transition into any primary school. The 5 IB skills inculcated throughout their time at Kai also serves as a foundation for a child to cope with any program going further. We also strive to ensure that children are able to focus for increased periods of time, and are able to exhibit executive functioning skills while still providing sufficient time for their early childhood needs of exploration and self-discovery.