The following are content descriptors for the core learning of Kindergarten students across the Early Stage 1 curriculum.
English
By the end of Early Stage 1 students respond to a range of spoken, written and multimodal texts from familiar contexts. They demonstrate active listening behaviours to follow simple instructions and ask relevant questions. Students communicate informally with peers, teachers and known adults in informal and structured classroom settings. They communicate clearly and purposefully when engaging in pair, group and class discussions. Students demonstrate an emerging awareness of how people use spoken language for different purposes. They deliver short presentations using familiar and learned vocabulary. Students explore the way familiar spoken texts are constructed and the features of these texts.
Students develop reading, viewing and comprehension skills and strategies using context, grammar, word usage and phonics to make meaning from short, predictable printed texts on familiar topics. They interpret and provide relevant explanations of characters and main events in imaginative texts, and key ideas and visual features in short informative texts, making connections to personal experience. Students recognise, discuss and respond to the different kinds and purposes of various written, visual and digital texts from a variety of cultures. They read with some fluency and accuracy, drawing support from concepts of print and their developing sound and letter knowledge. Students explore and identify some features of texts, including the use of rhyme, letter patterns and sounds in words in written and spoken texts.
Students engage in writing with an increasing awareness of the nature, purpose and conventions of written language. They create simple texts and recreate familiar imaginative texts by drawing on personal experience and through performance, drawing and images. Students retell events and experiences for known audiences that demonstrate an awareness of the text structure, basic grammar and punctuation needed. Students begin to apply simple editing techniques to their written work. They know and use letters and sounds of the alphabet to attempt to spell known words. Students write most lower and upper case letters appropriately, using the NSW Foundation Style as appropriate. They explore the use of digital technologies to construct a variety of multimodal texts. Students become aware of how to reflect on and assess their own and others' learning.
Language, Learning and Literacy L3 Reading Program
L3 is a research-based Kindergarten classroom intervention, targeting text reading and writing. It provides rich literacy experiences through systematic and explicit teaching. It complements the daily literacy program. The program aims to reduce the risk of students not achieving expected literacy levels by the end of their first year of schooling.
Students participate in reading and writing lessons in small groups, designed to meet their specific learning needs. They also engage in short periods of independent, individual or group tasks to practise and consolidate their current literacy learning.
Mathematics
By the end of Early Stage 1, students ask questions and use known facts to explore mathematical problems and develop fluency with mathematical ideas. They use everyday language, concrete materials and informal recordings to demonstrate understanding and link mathematical ideas.
Students count to 30 and represent numbers to 20 with objects, pictures, numerals and words. They read and use ordinal numbers to at least 'tenth'. Students use concrete materials to model addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They use the language of money and recognise the coins and notes of the Australian monetary system. Students divide objects into two equal parts and describe them as halves. They recognise, describe and continue repeating patterns of objects and drawings.
Students identify length, area, volume, capacity and mass, and compare and arrange objects according to these attributes. They manipulate, sort and represent three-dimensional objects and describe them using everyday language. Students manipulate, sort and describe representations of two-dimensional shapes, identifying circles, squares, triangles and rectangles. They connect events and the days of the week and explain the order and duration of events, telling the time on the hour. Students give and follow simple directions and describe position using appropriate language. Students answer simple questions to collect information. They use objects to create a data display and interpret data.
Science and Technology
By the end of Early Stage 1 students' sense of wonder and curiosity about the Natural Environment and the Made Environment is fostered through purposeful play, observing, questioning and exploring ideas. They learn about and use the processes of Working Scientifically and Working Technologically in a holistic way and they often work in situations where these aspects occur at the same time.
Students recognise that science involves them exploring their immediate surroundings using their senses. They identify that living things have basic needs and suggest how daily and seasonal changes in the environment affect them and other living things. Students recognise that the way objects move depends on a variety of factors. They identify that objects are made of materials that have observable properties and that familiar products, places and spaces are made to suit their purpose.
Through active participation in the processes of Working Scientifically and Working Technologically, students show a growing awareness of the appropriate use of a range of classroom equipment and work safely when using resources and materials. They communicate their observations and ideas about familiar objects, events, places, spaces and products. Students share their findings and ideas about what they already knew, what they observed, what they did, how they felt about it and the usefulness of their final solutions.
History
By the end of Early Stage 1, students communicate stories of their own family heritage and the heritage of others. They identify similarities and differences between families and recognise how important family events are commemorated.
Students sequence familiar events in order and pose questions about their own and their family's past. They identify and compare the features of objects from the past and the present. Students acquire information by direct observation, talking to others and by viewing, reading and/or listening to texts. Students relate a story about their past using a range of texts and language associated with time and change.
Geography
By the end of Early Stage 1, students identify familiar places and recognise why some places are special or important to people and how they care for them. They recognise that places can be represented on maps.
Students acquire information by observing, talking to others and viewing, reading and/or listening to texts. They use geographical tools and communicate geographical information in a range of forms. Students reflect on their learning from the findings of their inquiry.
Creative Arts
Creative Arts gives students experiences in the visual arts, music, drama and dance. They have opportunities to explore their creativity in each of these areas. They learn to appreciate the meanings and values that each art form offers. They perform and express themselves through the visual arts, music, drama and dance.
In Kindergarten children;
- make their own pieces of art about real and imagined experiences using materials such as paints, watercolours, sponges, crayons, brushes and sticks
- make simple 3-D constructions with boxes and use play dough to create models
- perform dance and drama with movement and expression
- sing, play and move to music, and experiment with sound
- copy the beat of music using clapping, tapping or percussion instruments
Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)
Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) develops the knowledge, skills and attitudes students need to lead healthy, active and fulfilling lives. Students learn about the importance of good food and regular exercise. They learn how bodies grow and change over time. They learn skills to play individual and team sports, and the values of sportsmanship and teamwork.
In Kindergarten children;
- become aware of safe and unsafe places and situations, eg near roads or water
- identify people who can help, and describe actions such as ‘no, go, tell’ that might be taken in unsafe situations
- label different parts of the body and name their functions, eg ears are for hearing
- identify how people care for each other
- participate in regular physical activity through creative play and minor games
- learn and practise fundamental movement skills such as hopping and jumping