Kindergarten
Program Overview
The St. Paul's Kindergarten program is unique for its blend of experiential learning, special programs, small group focus, and social-emotional skill development. Kindergarten is a pivotal year for students as they prepare for a more rigorous academic environment. During the core academic day, five teachers work with students during Guided Reading and Guided Math. Every week, students complete seven math and reading projects in small group activities. Learn more about Kindergarten curriculum, special classes, and a typical daily schedule below.
Community Pledge
Everyday at Chapel, students say the St. Paul's Community Pledge.
As a member of the St. Paul's community, I pledge to be honest, to respect others, to take responsibility for my actions and words, to be kind and inclusive, and to help others do the same.
These words reinforce the St. Paul's mission and values and help students focus on the day ahead.
Preparing for Kindergarten
- Taking responsibility: Ask your student to clean up messes, dress themself, get their own snack
- Practice fine motor skills: holding a pencil, cutting with scissors, coloring
- Social skills: Talk through concepts like sharing, taking turns, using positive words, expressing big feelings
- Writing practice: Have your student practice writing their name with only the first letter capitalized
- Read to them! Ask them to re-tell the story and keep them engaged with questions throughout the book.
- Summer in the City: Sign up for the Welcome to Kindergarten summer camp to get ready for the classroom!
Explore What Comes Next
Kindergarten Learning Highlights
Kindergarten Farmers Market
As part of their project based learning unit that asks the question, "How can we create recipes with locally grown ingredients?", kindergarteners visit the Overland Park Farmer's Market. Students select and pay for fresh food that they use in cooking class to make recipes that utilize seasonal, local ingredients. For many kindergarteners, it's their first time representing St. Paul's and riding a bus on a field trip.
Kindergarten Wedding for Q & U
As an example of the many creative ways that Kindergarten students get comfortable with phonics, they host a wedding for letters Q and U. These two letter officially make the /kw/ wound! Students proceed into the room to real wedding music, participate in a beautiful ceremony, and party at the reception. They round out the celebration with dancing, a wedding cake, and fancy drinks. Who knew learning phonics could be so fun?
Project Lead the Way
Kindergarten complete their first Project Lead the Way project exploring structure, function, and design. After discuss structure (how something is built) and function (why it's built that way), students listened to the story Jack and Beanstalk. These little engineers then planned designs in their Launch Logs and created beanstalks from pipe cleaners that could hold the golden egg.
Human Body & Casts
Kindergarten students complete a unit focused on the structure and function of the human body. During this time, they are challenged to design and create a cast for a friend. The cast has to be comfortable, strong, waterproof, and light. Assignments like this are a perfect example of St. Paul’s Project Lead the Way curriculum featuring hands-on activities that challenge students to solve real-world problems.
Chicken Life Cycle
Kindergarten finishes up their unit on chickens by hatching chicks in a classroom incubator. Over several weeks, students learn about the life cycle and habitat of chickens and patiently wait 21 days for their classroom chicks to hatch. During this time, they also create a pop-up book to illustrate each phase of the chick life cycle.
Outdoor Play
Play is a very important part of the kindergarten program. Students play outside each day in the morning and afternoon. Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills.
At St. Paul's, our mission of developing confident learners, ethical leaders, and compassionate, engaged citizens is evident in each classroom, and the work and play that happens here serves each student for much longer than their time at St. Paul's. Mindy Stephenson, St. Paul's Early Childhood Division Head