Sun Star Farm Half-Day Kindergarten

Half-Day Kindergarten (TK/K)

Do you have a child who is not “quite" old enough to start Kindergarten?
...or have a Kindergartener who would thrive with another year?

Our Transitional-Kindergarten (T-K) is for children who are 5 years old or turning 5 by 10/31.

In addition to being a part of the daily and weekly rhythm of the whole Folk School, TK/K children are with our Kindergarten teacher 5 days a week for social, emotional and academic learning. Outside of TK/K time, they are with older children for outside play, activities, snack, and lunch.

Our sensory rich environment is carefully crafted to facilitate imaginative play, story time, artistic activities, tactile exploration, and outdoor experiential learning. Warmth and wonder are created using natural materials such as wool, silk, wood, stones and shells and open ended toys help to further fuel the children’s imagination and open their minds to infinite possibilities.

Every aspect of our TK/K curriculum is created to inspire imagination, fuel creativity, encourage freedom of thought and expression and promote creative problem solving. It is our goal that in this nurturing and creative atmosphere our TK/K children will gain the confidence and discipline, as well as practical, artistic and social skills necessary for success in the challenging academic world of school that lies ahead.

TK/K Daily Rhythm

There is a comforting rhythm and flow to the day that is based on the natural rhythms of the children and not on a series of activities dictated by a strict schedule...

A day in TK/K may include bread baking, chopping vegetables for stone soup, drawing, collaborating with friends, painting, sewing, project time, building, reading books in our cozy corner, helping friends build a fort, feeding and grooming the farm animals, singing, exploring the creek, filling bird feeders, role playing, song and movement games, stories and puppet plays and so much more.

Predictable rhythms of the day, week and year provide security and confidence and establish a sense of time, sequence and predictability that are deeply nurturing to the children.

Free Play develops the child’s imagination and creativity, this forms the foundation for reading comprehension and learning abstract concepts. Through play children engage in compromises and negotiations, “trying on” different roles that help teach flexibility, adaptability and creativity. The amount and richness of children’s play has been directly linked to future executive functioning and the ability to self-regulate, which is absolutely essential to future success in life.

Exploration and Project Based Learning allow the children to follow their emergent interests and to create projects and art work based on their explorations.

Tidy-Up and setting up for snack engage the child’s brain in pre-mathematical concepts such as ordering, sorting and one-to-one correspondence.

Practical Activities such as sewing, knitting, gardening, other hand crafts, and feeding and caring for the animals are artfully modeled by the teachers with intention and joy, this fosters collaboration, empathy and mindfulness. In baking math skills are learned as we measure, use fractions (diving the apple into 8 pieces etc.) and count.

Circle Time with rhythmic movement and song helps build coordination, body awareness, and develops gross and fine motor skills. Singing and reciting increases vocabulary, language development, lengthens attention span, and develops memory.

Story Time artfully created stories told from the heart and presented visually through handmade table puppets, develop listening comprehension, imagination and strengthens the capacity for memory and empathy.

Social and Emotional Development is embodied through creative play and collaborative projects. Empathy, social inclusion, sharing and kindness are modeled and practiced in all that we do.

Please email Heidi to schedule a visit and learn more!

School Calendar

Parent Testimonials...

"My son has had the absolute blessing growing up at Sun Star Farm. We started out participating in the Parent-Child class when he was one. He easily transitioned into the preschool when he was two and a half. He is now five and currently in the Transitional Kindergarten and we couldn't be happier. It has been amazing watching our little boy grow, learn and play in such a nurturing and safe atmosphere. It makes my heart so happy that he is allowed to be a kid and enjoy the simple things like dirt, sunshine, fairy stories and love."
- L. Werrell

"There are too many ways that Sun Star Farm School has helped our child and family to make a list. We have learned so much about little kids and how they see the world by interacting with Heidi, Don and all the other teachers. Our daughter joined the school as an 18 month old. At that time, although she was comfortable walking, she still loved crawling on all fours. I wasn't concerned but was trying to encourage my daughter to walk instead of crawl. Heidi told me to let her crawl as much as she wants because that is the kids' way to keep building the connections in the brain and the body and is much more useful in their lives as they get older. I felt comfortable knowing how much Heidi understands the kids.
When I got late for pick-ups, I found Amelia helping Heidi's mom pick up eggs from the chicken nests or just eating a snack in their kitchen. This was so comforting for me to see as a parent, I can't describe. As she grew up to be a confident 3 and 4 year old, there were several instances from Heidi and other teachers of such intentional opportunities to help my daughter grow confident in her abilities to do all the wonderful things kids do.
One of the best things I appreciated came in the kindergarten group at the Folk School. As an almost 5 year old, I thought of helping her with phonics and read simple 3 letter words for 10 minutes a day during the summer. Those were the longest 10 minutes of the day for her and myself. I realized another year of play outside was definitely needed. When she joined kindergarten, they got to do jump rope for 20 minutes before starting any lesson or activity at school. I thought that got their jiggles out and were probably ready to sit better and learn. As the teachers later explained to me that they also look for the signs of readiness to read by their skills at jumping rope. Those two are developmentally linked. Heidi also shared a podcast on how children read that was great for me to listen to and understand the process better. Sure enough, my daughter was reading well by the end of the kindergarten. every child is different and the teachers at Sun Star Farm School understand and value this.
As a scientist, I deeply appreciate their science and nature driven school. Teachers from diverse training backgrounds make it a unique and wonderful resource for families in this area.
Best regards,
Promila

WHERE CHILDREN GROW AT THEIR OWN PACE...

Sun Star Farm School