Welcome to Kindergarten...
Our Kindergarten program at Tender Years is licensed by the PA Department of Education and taught by a certified teacher. As a parent, you are faced with many options for your child’s education. When selecting a Kindergarten program for your child, we would like you to know what makes Tender Years’ program different from the rest:
- Tender Years follows a 1:15 ratio for our Kindergarten class. Most public schools and other programs offer a 1:25 ratio for their Kindergarten class. This means that your child will receive more individualized attention from his/her teacher.
- Before and After school care is included! This means that you will not need to worry about enrolling your child in a second program, or arrange transportation during the day.
- We are rarely closed for inclimate weather. We are also open on most state holidays and public school in-service days for full-day care.
- Your child can attend our Kindergarten as long as he/she turns 5 by September 30th. Most schools in our area have an earlier cut-off date.
- We also have the flexibility to offer our Kindergarten program to students who may miss the cutoff by a few weeks and do not want to repeat a year of Pre-k. Those students can have the added benefit of spending a year in our K, and then following with another year of K in your school district.
- We are a private Kindergarten, but we follow a public school curriculum and the PA State Learning Standards. Our school is also licensed by the PA Dept. of Education, so our Kindergarten is taught by an experienced teacher who holds a Bachelor’s degree and an active PA teaching certificate.
Daily Information & Communication…
Parents are included in the daily routine through the Daily Board. This includes a morning message that parents and children read together at the beginning of the day. It usually includes information on the upcoming activities of the day. The students then use the message later on in the day as a language activity.
Meals & Snacks…
Tender Years provides a morning snack. A general menu is posted to give you an idea of the types of snack items that we will serve. The afternoon snacks are provided by the parents for the class on a rotating basis. Bought snacks need to be unopened and in their original wrapping. No glass bottles, please. Homemade goodies are welcome; however, uneaten portions must be sent home or thrown away. For lunch, you may choose to pack a lunch, or purchase a hot lunch for an additional cost from our catering service. Menus are available to help you make your choices. When packing lunch, please note that we are not permitted to microwave food for the children. You may pack hot foods in a thermos, or pack items that are ready to eat. All items that require refrigeration must be labeled before putting them in the refrigerator.
Curriculum…
Our certified Kindergarten follows a curriculum modeled after those in the public schools, and are based on the Kindergarten State Standards.
Daily Schedule:
- 7:00 - 8:00
- 8:00 - 8:30
- 8:30 - 9:00
- 9:00 - 9:30
- 9:30 - 10:00
- 10:00 - 10:30
- 10:30 - 11:00
- 11:00 - 12:00
- 12:00 - 12:30
- 12:30 - 1:30
- 1:30 - 2:30
- 2:30 - 3:30
- 3:30 - 4:00
- 4:00 - 6:00
- Arrival/Free Play in opening room
- Arrival in Kindergarten room, Free Play
- Circle Time: includes jobs, songs, calendar, weather, Pledge of Allegiance,
- Focus Lesson, poems, and books
- Gross Motor exercise/Outdoor play
- Bathroom break and morning snack
- Language Lesson: includes letter of the week, vocabulary, word families,
- word wall, punctuation, and the morning message
- Math Lesson: includes counting skills, skip counting, addition and subtraction
- Centers: includes computers and table activities
- Bathroom break, lunch
- Complete morning work
- Day 1: Social Studies
- Day 2: Art
- Day 3: Science
- Day 4: Music
- Day 5: Physical Education
- Bathroom break, free play
- Afternoon snack
- Outdoor play/free play in closing room
Observations and Evaluations…
Since our Kindergarten follows the regular school year, our program is divided into marking periods. Your child’s progress will be monitored and shared with you with a report card each marking period, and regular opportunities for parent/teacher conferences.