There’s much to consider when selecting a kindergarten for your little one. Early learning is important to both your children’s development and well being. And as parents we must demand quality educational opportunities to help us best prepare our children for future success.

Be INTENTIONAL
Learning is something that happens all the time and there are no greater learners than the children among us. It is for this very reason that we must be intentional in our selection of learning supports, programs and schools for our children. Quite simply, you wouldn’t buy a car without taking it for a test drive. You must, at the very least, engage in similar considerations regarding your child’s care and learning.

Be a LEARNER
As research and common sense demonstrate, we learn new knowledge by building on what we already know. It’s important to begin building foundations of knowledge in the early grades because this is when our children are both most capable and eager to learn.

Children who spend their kindergarten years in a quality learning program are more likely to make a successful transition into elementary school. Moreover, they are better prepared for elementary school, building on their knowledge and experiences, formulating concepts and developing sound inquiry skills.

What is Full-Day Kindergarten?

Studies by the U.S. Department of Education show that children learn more in full-day kindergarten programs than they do in half-day programs. Significantly stronger academic gains are achieved in reading, language arts and mathematics.

Full-day kindergarten classes spend more time each day on teacher-directed whole class, small group and individual activities. While the majority of both full-day and half-day classes have reading and language arts activities every day, full-day classes are more likely to spend time each day on math, social studies and science.

Specific skills and activities (e.g., reading, writing, phonics and counting) are more frequently
covered in full-day kindergarten classes including mathematic skills and activities covered in full-day kindergarten that are typically those found in first-grade curriculum (e.g. recognizing fractions, telling time and writing numbers from 1-100).

It’s no wonder the trend toward full-day kindergarten classes is increasing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, sixty percent of all public and private Kindergarten school students in the U.S. attend full-day programs. For students who would otherwise make multiple transitions between home, childcare and school each day, full-day kindergarten offers a more stable, less stressful, and stimulating environment in which to learn and grow.

What is First-Grade Readiness?

Full-day kindergarten has a positive effect on both short-term and longer-term student achievement. Academic benefits of full-day kindergarten have been shown carry into first grade.

These benefits of a longer kindergarten day are attributed to the increased amount of time children spend at school, but more importantly, the way in which the extra time is spent.

Reaping the benefits of full-day kindergarten probably has as much—if not more—to do with the quality of curriculum and instruction as it does with the length of the kindergarten day. According to a report published by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, effective kindergarten programs:

✔ Integrate new learning with past experiences through project work and through mixed-ability and mixed-age grouping in an unhurried setting.
✔ Involve children in firsthand experience and informal interaction with objects, other children and adults.
✔ Emphasize language development and appropriate emergent literary experiences.
✔ Make it easier for teachers and parents to share information about children and build common understanding.
✔ Align with brain research.
✔ Offer a balance of cooperative groups and individual activities.
✔ Assess students’ progress through systematic collection and examination of students’ work, often by using portfolios.
✔ Develop children’s social and conflict resolution strategies.

What to Consider
When evaluating your choices of kindergarten education for your child, carefully examine the type of program offered. Even full-day schedules can differ significantly in learning activities, costs, before/aftercare and level of expectations on child readiness and parent involvement.

Positive early experiences in the kindergarten classroom include teachers attune to meeting each child’s developmental, social, emotional, physical and cognitive needs in a secure, respectful and nurturing environment.

Overall, full-day kindergarten demonstrates an increase in the amount of time dedicated to learning that works:

✔ Teacher-directed class
✔ Subject matter depth
✔ Individualized instruction
✔ Small group cooperative learning activities

And as a result:
✔ Students feel more relaxed and less rushed
✔ Teachers engage in follow-up and re-teaching that strengthens foundational prior knowledge

What Should Parents Ask?

FIRST
The first consideration is that of full-day or half-day kindergarten. While many schools, both public and private, offer full-day kindergarten, several do not offer a full-day curriculum. Instead, they offer a traditional half-day program supplemented with a half-day of crafts and play. This is critical. MOST IMPORTANT is that your child be surrounded by a safe and structured learning environment with a clear and proven curriculum.

Rayito de Sol recognizes that you are your child’s first and most important teacher and supports parents by working in partnership with them. This includes a transparent schedule, learning plan and curriculum. All while developing your child’s Spanish (and English too) language skills through an immersive Spanish language environment.

NEXT
Ask to see the curriculum (This should be more than an outline). Look for these three things (and expressly ask about each):

I. What will my child learn?
II. How will my child be taught this? (What are two specific strategies that demonstrate this?)
III. How will my child’s learning be measured?

Of course, you’ll want to ask these questions of school directors as well as the teachers. After all it is the teacher who will be most directly assisting your child in achieving their learning goals.

Rayito de Sol proudly aligns with the Core Knowledge Sequence curriculum.
Core Knowledge schools are dedicated to teaching solid academic content and skills to all children. This commitment by Rayito de Sol ensures consistency helping to avoid serious gaps in knowledge, as well as needless repetitions in instruction, as students progress through the grades.

A broad overview of the Core Knowledge Sequence includes:
✔ Language Arts/English (reading and writing, poetry, fiction, sayings and phrases)
✔ Spanish (language and Latin culture)
✔ History and Geography (spatial sense, the continents, Native Americans, early exploration and settlement of the United States, Presidents, symbols and figures)
✔ Visual Arts (elements, sculpture, viewing and discussing art)
✔ Music (elements, listening and understanding, songs)
✔ Mathematics (patterns and classification, numbers and number sense, money, computation, measurement and geometry)
✔ Science (plants and plant growth, animals and their needs, human body: five senses, introduction to magnetism, seasons and weather, caring for the earth, science biographies)