OVERVIEW
Our kindergarten program provides developmentally appropriate practices designed to advance the cognitive, 
linguistic, emotional, and motor skills of each child. The daily routine includes a balance of teacher-initiated and child-directed activities. Teachers facilitate the growth of independent decision-making, problem-solving, and conflict resolution skills. Children have frequent opportunities to express themselves creatively through music, movement, art, and scientific exploration. Teachers provide frequent opportunities to develop emerging literacy and numerical concepts.
The interests, feelings, and individuality of each child and family are valued and respected. Parents are encouraged to take an active part in their child's school life. In addition to attending two conferences a year, parents are invited to volunteer in various capacities and encouraged to attend classroom functions throughout the year.
LANGUAGE ARTS
The Kindergarten language arts curriculum is designed to excite children about literacy. Each day is filled with experiences that develop expressive and receptive language. Art, dramatic play, story telling, and literature sharing are the activities used to develop listening, speaking, reading, writing, and viewing skills.
Kindergarten children learn that print carries meaning and represents language. They engage in pre-reading activities that include learning letter names and sounds and recognizing common words. Writing experiences are also an important part of the Kindergarten language arts curriculum.
MATHEMATICS
Kindergarten children develop mathematical skills through hands-on activities and games. They become familiar with numbers 1-100. The concepts of graphing, telling time, number patterns, fractions, and money are introduced.
SCIENCE
The kindergarten science curriculum introduces the very basic concepts of life, Earth, and physical sciences. A variety
of opportunities are provided to explore the world each day. We begin with the 5 senses and apply what we learn, using those senses, through units on plant and animal life, weather, and the water cycle. We participate in the school-wide Marine Activities Resources in Education (M.A.R.E) in conjunction with the Lawrence Hall of Science, exploring the habitat of a pond and its ecosystem.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Kindergarten is the foundation of developing true social skills. This is the main component of our entire year—learning to interact with each other and work together in supportive, positive, healthy ways. Our social studies curriculum is the backbone of what we do each day, learning about ourselves, our families, our peers, and who we are in the world around us. While our goals apply toward kindness and goodness, we also learn how to work with conflict and how to be responsible for ourselves in the world around us. Over the course of the year, we engage in a variety of activities, both in our class and within the school, to participate in outreach to others in our community and in the world.
OUTDOOR EDUCATION
The kindergarten takes part in an annual field trip to the pumpkin patch, as well as to community locations, such as the police and fire station. We also like to attend local plays. The kindergarten also has an annual Parent Show and Tell, in which family members are encouraged to take part by sharing an occupation or hobby with the children, modeling how their education helped to prepare them for this career or interest. We also have in-house events and guest speakers who perform for us throughout the year.