Transitional Kindergarten

 

 

 

The California Legislature passed a law to change the age when children can begin Kindergarten. Under this law, children must turn 5 years old on or before September 1st to enroll in Kindergarten. Previously, children could be enrolled in Kindergarten if they turned 5 years old by December 2nd. While this change of a few months may seem small, it can mean a big difference during these early years when children are rapidly growing and developing. The law also created Transitional Kindergarten, so the children who will be affected by this change will have an opportunity to continue building their skills and abilities. Their time in Transitional Kindergarten will help them to succeed in Kindergarten and become leaders in the classroom.

 

In our district, Transitional Kindergarten will be offered to children turning 5 years old between September 2nd and June 2nd to give them an opportunity to develop the social and academic skills and the confidence that will help them succeed in Kindergarten and beyond.

 

 

In Transitional Kindergarten, teachers help children develop social skills through activities that build confidence and communication. They also expose children to reading and math in an exciting, interactive way by using educational games to teach children about words and sentences and help them understand mathematical concepts such as counting and patterns.

 

 Classroom facility and teacher: Transitional Kindergarteners have their own classroom with their own teacher. Classrooms also have an aide. The student to adult ratio is 12:1

 Length of school day: Some sites offer full day TK, while others offer half day. Half day students go to school every day for three hours and twenty five minutes.

 Shared activities: They participate in some of the kindergarten activities such as music and art throughout the year.

 Curriculum and learning: They will learn important new skills: letter/sound recognition, language development, concepts of print, develop number sense and develop fine motor skills. All of these critical concepts will help them adjust to elementary school.

 Learning environment: Our TK classrooms are busy with activities and conversations filled with the excitement of small groups composed of children building similar skills together while placing emphasis on sensory based learning experiences.