Kindergarten

In a perfect world, learning is individualized and continuous—children progress at their own rate, moving on to the next challenge when the present one is mastered. In this world, there would be no need for kindergarten, the “children’s garden” that was created to help children make a transition from learning at home to learning in an institutional setting.

60-72 Months

Kindergarten is recognized by Parents and Society

Kindergarten is the norm, ideally the launching pad for a successful academic experience. Even though kindergarten is actually the preparatory program for children who, in general, have no school experience, kindergarten has become synonymous with “getting ready.” Most responsible parents want their children to be ready; hence, most parents want kindergarten, even HeadsUp! parents whose children have been getting ready since they were in the infant room.

Exposure to Traditional School Setting

We want to give children a glimpse of school practices they will encounter sooner or later in their academic careers, such as working exclusively with age peers, doing the same activities at the same time, and so forth. Even children who do go on to our own elementary programs will need these skills for outside activities such as sports, scouts, and church groups.

Kindergarten is an “elite” activity that excites children

A segregated grouping signals “specialness”, thereby encouraging the notion that “school is cool.” Children begin to look to their peers for support and guidance rather than parents, teachers, and other adults.

The Goals of Kindergarten

The HeadsUp! kindergarten program is designed to meet six goals:

To give more focus to three essential academic skills: reaching, writing, and number literacy
To tune up children’s ability to manage their behavior
To encourage children to take responsibility for their own academic progress
For children who will sooner or later move away from the self-directed nature of a Montessori classroom, to provide an experience with a classroom format where everyone works on the same things at the same time
To create a sense of excitement for children who are going to enter the elite ranks of elementary school students
To develop children’s leadership in the classroom with respect to the younger children

To meet all these goals requires a combination of two settings: our non-graded, Montessori classroom with its full range of ages and a segregated, peer-age grouping.

Exposed to all of the elements of the California Kindergarten Framework

While children’s abilities and development vary greatly and no guarantee can be made that an individual child will attain a specific performance level, it is expected that—by the time they leave the kindergarten program—the majority of children will, at a minimum, be able to:

Read basic phonics readers with all the vowel sounds and all initial consonants

Write simple sentences, forming letters correctly and using both standard and invented phonic spelling

Understand the decimal system to 100 and be able to perform addition and subtraction

Have sufficient self control and manners to participate actively in group-learning activities without disturbing or interrupting other participants