The Kindergarten program at World Elementary School is a five day a week, full day program (8:45am - 2:30pm) with the option to extend the day with before and after school care. Child to teacher ratios are kept low at 18:1. All children enrolling in Kindergarten must be 5 years of age before October 1st of the current school year.  If your child does not meet the minimum age requirements, we may consider early admission after the results of testing and a review by the Admissions Committee.

Kindergarten at World Elementary reflects the notion that five-year-olds are vibrant, active, doers. Our children experience life through learning centers and teacher support.

The program is designed to encourage a sense of "we-ness" that invites the children to work cooperatively, to give and take leadership. The curriculum feeds children's curiosity and addresses their sense of industry...it keeps the mental wheel "humming." We take advantage of a child's insatiable desire to learn -- exposing our kindergartners to all of the vital information they are demanding about the world. The classes promote the joy of learning, and are opportunities for our children to learn control over their lives by offering choices and encouraging the development of their sense of self. This is an important time for our youngest elementary students to develop socialization skills in areas including patience, sharing, listening and negotiation.

We also recognize this is a time for building a strong foundation of language and math skills. Special focus is placed on these two areas in our Kindergarten classrooms. A McGraw Hill reading program is used in the classroom as well as an Addison Wesley math program. Both programs are extremely useful in teaching to all levels, enrichment worksheets may be completed by children needing more of a challenge and additional activities are suggested for students having trouble understanding certain lessons.

Specialists are also an important addition to the curriculum. Music, Physical Education, Technology, American Sign Language and French classes round out the Kindergarten program. Our enrichment programs are an important feature of a World Elementary education. Each program has been outlined more in-depth below:

World Language
In French class at World Elementary, students are exposed to another culture, another language and another window to view the world in which they live. Students begin their French voyage in the early grades through conversational French while exploring French geography, culture and art through hands-on activities music, games, crafts and dramatic expression.


Technology
Students from our Pre-school 4 program and older attend computer class for 45 minutes per week. The Technology program's focus is to use computers to enhance, enrich, and augment classroom learning. Each grade level program is tailored from year to year to benefit the students' learning styles and development while targeting the topic being studied.


Music
Singing, dancing, storytelling, acting, creative expression, and rhythm exercises are some of the curriculum components engaging Kindergarten through Grade Six students on a regular basis. In addition, the music program incorporates the progressive series Share the Music from McGraw Hill. This series supplements the curriculum with concepts including music theory, history, social and cultural commonalties and diversities, various instrumentation and familiarity with acclaimed performers.

Physical Education
Our Physical Education program is designed to increase our students' awareness of the importance and benefits of physical activity while making physical activity enjoyable. By introducing various sports in a non-competitive atmosphere, we can assist our children in developing their own athletic interests and skills. Emphasis is placed on teamwork, cooperation, effort and good sportsmanship.

Art
Our Arts Program provides students with the opportunity to express themselves visually. Our program explores the elements of art including shape, form, line, space, color, value and texture. Through the year, using different media, students develop their critical thinking skills including decision making, problem solving, creative and evaluation skills. Art production skills are developed using a variety of two and three-dimensional medial. When applicable, art history knowledge and concepts from other disciplines are also incorporated into lessons.