Kindergarten Readiness

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Kindergarten today looks very different than the kindergarten experience of the 80’s and 90’s. As former elementary school teachers and parents of young elementary school students, we’ve experienced the rigor of modern day kindergarten and understand what children need to know and be able to do in order to successfully navigate today’s kindergarten. Kindergarten readiness encompasses more than just a foundation of literacy and math skills; just as important as academic skills are social-emotional competencies such as self-help skills, independence, problem-solving, and following directions and routines.

We want our Falmouth KinderVillage students to have a smooth transition to kindergarten, which is why we keep our class size small. With just 12 students and two classroom teachers, we are able to build personal relationships with each student. Our 12:2 ratio also allows us to design and differentiate instruction to meet each child’s individual needs.

We have also spent time meeting with Falmouth Elementary School (FES) kindergarten teachers and building a relationship with them. We have worked to align our phonemic awareness curriculum with that of the Falmouth kindergarten, and we’ve adopted the FES expectations (Be Safe, Respectful, and Responsible) to ensure common language. We’ve also intentionally built opportunities into our school day to foster important social-emotional development. For example:

  • Self-Help Skills: getting dressed for outdoor play, opening snack and lunch containers

  • Independence: making center time choices, gathering appropriate materials for an activity

  • Problem-solving: working cooperatively with a village friend during group learning time, coming up with logical solutions throughout the school day (i.e., my glue stick ran out so I should throw it away and take out a new one)

  • Following directions & routines: arrival and departure routines, lining up, transitioning between activities, building strong listening skills during circle and read aloud times.

We recognize that every child is unique and readiness will not look the same for every child. We will work diligently to meet your child where they’re at, and work with you to build a strong foundation to successfully navigate kindergarten and beyond.