Kindergarten

At Fremont Christian School, kindergarten begins at 8:30 AM and ends at 2:45 PM, with options for Extended Care. Enrollment is open to students who turn five years old on or before November 1. Students who fall outside these age requirements may be eligible for transitional kindergarten.

KINDERGARTEN CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Mathematics  
Designed to reflect the way children learn mathematics, Math Expressions (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) provides a solid conceptual base grounded in more than 20 years of research. Students are expected to problem-solve, explain their thinking, and prove their answers. Each unit begins with an inquiry-based activity to activate thinking, access prior knowledge, and address preconceptions. 

Foundational to our mathematics instruction is the understanding that there are multiple paths to solving a problem. Providing a math learning environment that goes beyond memorization, rote learning, and basic computation allows students to learn with understanding, which leads to transference and the ability to apply learning in new situations.

In kindergarten, math manipulatives are used extensively to help students connect abstract concepts with tangible, hands-on practice to understand the foundations of numbers that will lead to mathematical fluency in elementary and beyond.

English Language Arts   
In kindergarten, students focus on the foundations of the English language, including letter-sound correspondence, phonemic and phonological awareness, and fluency.

The Fountas & Pinnell Classroom is a cohesive, multi-text approach to literacy instruction. The system is designed to support whole-group, small-group, and independent learning opportunities including: interactive read-aloud; reading mini-lessons; writing mini-lessons; shared reading; phonics, spelling, and word study; guided reading; and independent reading collections.

Students set personal goals for becoming better readers and writers, which they work toward through extensive and close reading, guided reading, conferring, and daily writing. This approach emphasizes skill development with a particular focus on vocabulary development.

Social Studies & Science     
Published by UpLevel, our social studies and science curricula are California standards and Next Gen standards-based with Project GLAD strategies embedded. CCSS ELA standards play an integral part in the instruction. Of key importance in the UpLevel curriculum is that students learn how to learn, their learning capacity is increased, and they are able to comprehend new ideas and concepts more quickly. All elementary students receive the weekly magazine TIME for Kids, which teachers use to discuss current events and further extend social studies learning. Field trips, projects, labs, engineering kits, STEAM nights, and other media and materials provide enrichment for these content areas.

Bible Studies     
Building on the Rock (Summit Ministries) is used in all elementary grades, which not only focuses on character development but on understanding the foundations of a Christian worldview through the building of the House of Truth. The content of the curriculum affirms the metanarrative of Scripture: (1) God created all things good. At creation, all things were in harmony. (2) At the Fall (Genesis 3), the whole created order fell into disharmony due to the disobedience of man. (3) In the person of Jesus Christ, God began the process of redemption and renewal. (4) In the end, God will restore all things through his Son Jesus Christ.

We believe the biblical metanarrative is manifested in four key relationships of creation. (1) Fellowship: The relationship between God and man. God created man for relationship with Himself; that relationship was broken because of sin; that relationship is restored through Jesus Christ. (2) Image-bearers: Man was created as whole and healthy being, as an imagebearer of God; sin brought disharmony and conflict into the life and heart of man. Redemption through Jesus Christ begins the healing process within man. (3) Servanthood: God created man for harmonious and loving relationships with other people; sin is the cause of disharmony and discord among people; part of restoring mission of Jesus Christ is to bring people back into harmonious relationship with one another. (4) Stewardship: God placed the whole created order under the rule and care of His image-bearers (Genesis 1); with the Fall, the relationship between man and the rest of the created order was marred; In Jesus Christ, God continues to call His image-bearers to work to preserve and protect the created order.

Additional Courses   
In the interest of developing the whole child, all students receive twice-weekly instruction in both music (Kodály Method) and physical education.

Chromebook carts are provided for every grade level and are used to integrate web-based applications into the teaching and learning, both in classrooms and at home.

Full School Accreditations & Curriculum

Elementary Department Chair

Elementary Department Chair Esther So has taught fifth grade at Fremont Christian School since 2013. Mrs. So holds a bachelor’s degree in psychobiology from UCLA, a master’s in intellectual disabilities/autism from Teachers College at Columbia University, and a master’s in educational leadership and administration from Cairn University.

As part of her education approach, Mrs. So strives to partner with parents and families in order to educate students holistically, while adhering to high academic standards. She helps students grow socially through group work, and most of all, by guiding each student to know and love God with all their heart, soul, and mind. 

Two of Mrs. So’s children currently attend FCS: Samuel (Class of 2023) and Johanna (Class of 2025). Mrs. So loves eating good food and spending time with family and friends, as well as attending her kids’ basketball games. 

Elementary School Photo Gallery

Click image to view all photos on Flickr.