Kindergarten Readiness: What is Really Means

One of our buzz words in Early Childhood Education is Kindergarten Readiness. But what really are the indicators for readiness in Kindergarten for our children? According to the Virginia Department of Education, preschool programs should be focusing on several developmental domains that include Social/Emotional development, Language and Communication development, Multiple approaches to learning, Physical development, and Cognitive development.

But what does that look like in practice at Parish Day School?

High-Quality, Play-Based Curriculum

For us, it starts with our high-quality, play-based curriculum. Our STREAMin3 Curriculum is designed intentionally to support inquiry, exploration, and purposeful play. Play is the work that children do at school. It allows them to problem solve, develop language with peers and teachers, lead to collaboration, all of which research shows develops long-term academic success. Our teachers are guiding and facilitating the purposeful play activities which allows them to be assessing student development along the way. Our classrooms promote open-ended materials that encourage creativity, allow for opportunities for independent choice and sustained engagement, and offer developmentally appropriate pacing allowing children time to master skills.

Fine Motor and Gross Motor Development

Throughout our day, fine motor and gross motor development are super important for our preschoolers. In the classroom, you will see playdough, manipulatives, and hands-on materials, all offered to strengthen our little learners fine-motor control needed for pre-writing strength. These activities are offered all throughout the day to keep our children's hands busy and moving. Outside with our large outdoor playgrounds, our children experiences to build gross motor development through practicing balance, coordination, and core strength.

Oral Language and Literacy Development

Strong oral language skills is one of the greatest predictors of later reading success. To foster this oral language and literacy development we have extensive classroom libraries and lending libraries for our families. Additionally, we participate in the LENA Grow language development program that supports adult-child and child-child conversation. Classrooms participate in daily book readings, storytelling, and offer a rich music program that supports listening, rhythm, vocabulary, and phonological awareness. All of this language-rich play promotes strong communication and literacy development.

Social-Emotional Readiness

Skills that help children function successfully in a classroom community as so important in Early Childhood. By practicing these skills, we are developing our students social-emotional readiness for Kindergarten. You will find our our classrooms students learning to listen and follow directions, student participating in group activities, students building friendships, and learning to regulate emotions and solve problems. Practice of social-emotional skills is embedded in our daily curriculum activities.

Early Mathematics, Inquiry, and Cognitive Development

Our preschoolers have early mathematics all throughout their day. We use foundational math language, counting, measuring, building, and patterning to help children understand the world around them. Through our curriculum, children participate in hands-on science activities, play-based investigation encouraging experimentation, and interact with manipulatives that support sorting, counting, building and patterning. Teachers create games that encourage counting and early math skills in the classroom.

Connecting our work to Kindergarten Readiness

All of our classroom experiences are intentionally aligned with Virginia's School Readiness and Early Childhood Classroom Learning Standards. Our focus is on inquiry-based learning, exploration through play, developmentally appropriate paced activities, and lots of opportunities for independence and collaboration with peers. Students build confidence, adaptability, and a love of learning right here in preschool. We are so thankful to be part of their early learning educational journey at Parish Day School!