Kindergarten

Our youngest students get creative on the beach, work with KAUST robotics, learn about waste management, and explore coast and marine life.

From our Kindergarten Principal

As part of our ongoing curriculum development, Kindergarten has been working with international consultants on developing our learning environments to support self-directed learning and student agency.

You may have noticed the changes as you’ve walked through our spaces: the use of natural materials to connect children to nature and the outside environment; an increased emphasis on our host country culture; the creation of a STEAM center to promote Science, Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.

This year we’ve been approached by several international and local schools who have heard from our consultants and through the international grapevine about our work. We are delighted to host these schools and share our journey and educational practice.

Also connected to our commitment to continuous professional development, a member of our PE department has just had a research paper published on the work we are doing with nurturing children’s physical development.

We are so grateful to the entire TKS early years team! Everyone was welcoming and proud to share not only the beautiful learning environment that they have cultivated but also the learning journey that they have been on to get to this point. All spaces have been intentionally designed as learning spaces and the children were clearly developing as active inquirers and self-directed learners.

Director of Teaching and Learning, American International School of Riyadh

Our teachers returned with inspiration! They have already made changes to the learning program as well as their learning environments. The experience of seeing other spaces and speaking with other early years teachers has had such an impact. We are looking forward to continuing our learning journey and also our collaboration!

Principal, American International School of Riyadh

As I reflect on the work the Kindergarten division has done together this year. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with some of the top early childhood consultants in the world! I am thankful for the support of the KAUST community as we continue our journey.

And, perhaps most of all, I am appreciative of our teachers who are committed to continuous growth and improvement and who constantly strive to reach above and beyond, to provide our children with the best possible early childhood experiences. We are building strong foundations for lifelong learning.

Tiffany Hill

Kindergarten Principal

KG3 gets creative
at the beach

In December, KG3 held creative arts classes at the Island Recreation Center’s beach. Children explored different art elements with a focus on color. They utilized various mediums and techniques as they continued building their artistic skills through experimentation and practice.

Children mixed primary colors to create secondary colors. They explored and inquired into the different colors of the Red Sea, creating tints, tones and shades. They carefully observed their environment and attempted to recreate their surroundings. As they visited the same place on different days, they were able to notice changes in colors and the environment.

Children made paintings, observational drawings, mixed media collages, and even sand representations of familiar objects. They shared and talked about their personal artworks with their own class as well as with children from their buddy class in the other building.

It was an excellent opportunity for them to explain the process of making art as they were creating.

Katie Hoffman and Olga Pacheco
KG Creative Arts teachers

KAUST RISC Lab joins forces with KG

As part of Computer Science Education Week (#CSEdWeek) in December, our Kindergarten collaborated with students from the KAUST Robotics, Intelligent Systems, and Control Lab (KAUST RISC Lab). University students supported KG students in inquiry as they explored a range of computer science playgrounds, from programming robots to designing and making their own computer.

This #CSEdWeek event also signified the launch of a robotics learning unit. KG students will also be contributing robotics designs and creations to the KAUST Research Conference on Robotics and Autonomy event, happening in May.

Candace Taylor-Weber & Elaine Manalastas
KG Information & Digital Literacy Coaches

Promoting waste management awareness to our children

The KG Reuse Centers aim to develop an awareness of waste management in children who will later make a connection to their role in the environment. Our reuse center will provide materials for other spaces, such as our Tinker Room, Art Studio, and the Maker Spaces in our classrooms. These spaces support Kindergarten's STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) program.

KAUST Waste Management and Averda helped launch our KG Reuse Centers last December. They’ve been collecting and providing the materials to stock our space on a regular basis. This ongoing collaboration supports our children’s different events and inquiries. For example, our students created their own computers during our Computer Science Education Week. Different classes visited the area to gather supplies as they learned about repurposing materials during their units about Sharing the Planet. Our young learners visit the center as they explore and discover ways to be creative during their unit on How We Express Ourselves in the classrooms and our newly-opened Art Studio.

We are very grateful for this partnership and are confident about the positive impact this has on our students and community.

Elaine Manalastas
KG Information & Digital Literacy Coach

“Why is the sand black?”

KG2 Red Sea Research Center and
Coastal & Marine Resources Core Lab Field Trip

During our Sharing the Planet unit, our children inquired into how they can explore, connect and gain new understandings of the natural world. Throughout this unit ,we went on weekly field trips to KAUST’s beaches. The children inquired into the many lifeforms they discovered along the shores. They made discoveries ranging from snails in the mangroves, small fish, bigger fish, fish that jump out of the water, hermit crabs, and a variety of birds. The children were truly fascinated by the things they discovered and observed and they soon began to wonder more and more about life under the water.

As the children continued to explore the natural world, their questions began to develop further. They began to ask questions like: “Why is there soap on the beach? (referring to the white foamy substance they found on the shore while at North Beach)”, “Why is the sand black?”, “Do fish have mommies and daddies?”, “Where is the fish’s house?”, “What do the fish eat?”. We took this opportunity to reach out to the Red Sea Research Center to coordinate a visit to the lab and coral facilities.

During their time at the Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), the children learned about some of the bigger animals that live in the sea, such as the Whale Shark and the Hawksbill Sea Turtle. The children had the opportunity to interact with objects that were unique and even to scale in some cases. They held the skull of a Hawksbill Sea Turtle, and learned that they don’t have teeth; only a very strong beak that they use to tear up their food. They also learned that the Whale Sharks’ bodies are made of cartilage, and not bone. The children were truly fascinated by all the information that the scientists shared.

While at the Coastal & Marine Resources Core Lab (CMOR), the children learned more about the smaller inhabitants of the sea. They got to see up close different types of corals, sea sponges, snails, fish, sea cucumbers and much more. They discovered that corals can be a variety of colors, textures, sizes and shapes. They even had the opportunity to visit the clown fish that are in the research lab. Here they learned that fish do in fact have moms and dads! Luckily there were some eggs in one of the tanks that had not yet hatched, the children were fascinated by this discovery, and overjoyed to be able to see real fish eggs.

Chelle Jones
KG2 Teacher