Kindergarten Picture

 

Lindie Keaton warmly guides her class of five and six-year-old explorers. Her philosophy is that children are efficient, able learners who pose the questions they need to have answered. Lindie actively observes each child and provides them with the materials, opportunities and activities needed to understand and grow. One of her goals is for the Kindergartners to become excellent problem solvers.

Exploration and play, within safe, age-appropriate limits, are seen as the best ways for children this age to learn. The children are encouraged to touch, manipulate, experiment, contemplate and assimilate their experiences through play. As Lindie says, "Kindergarten is where the real movers and shakers of the world reside, and they need lots of opportunities to do just that!"

As with all age groups, the Kindergarten participates in Art & Science classes, spends time hiking in Glen Helen, learning in their forest classroom, creates stories and plays, and is guided in other explorations of the class's choosing. Kindergartners also go swimming bi-weekly at the Antioch College Wellness Center pool.

 

 

Kindergarten Newsletter/Blog

 

Kindergarten Newsletter

  • Jumping right in!
    Written by

         This year's Kindergarten group is twelve children strong.  All of them attend full day, and they are already making the most of it.  In our first week, they played in the loft with such abandon that they were unable to complete the clean up in the allotted time--twice.  They didn't like that the loft was then closed for the next activity time, and both times a small group went up and completed the clean up.  At a snack discussion they suggested and agreed to not dump things on the floor or mix things together, creating large amounts of sorting work,  They'll try out their solutions next week.  This is work that every Kindergarten group confronts at some point, but to do it in the first week is something I've never seen before.

         And they did so much more.  They made hallway agreements and used the hallway for big block construction each day.  Two children completed the September calendar independently.  They had meetings to solve problems, like reckless trike driving and how to include everyone.  We used rhythm instruments during songs.  End of the day jobs, which are notoriously challenging at the start of a Kindergarten school year, were completed with relative ease.  They planned for shape days, not only listing the shapes they want to include, but also helping categorize them to fit the number of days in the week.  They noted the relationships among squares, diamonds, triangles, and rectangles.  They completed their first self-portraits for our birthday chart, and they had a wonderful time listening to The Hungry Thing books and participating in the rhyme play.  A small group of children made our first batch of granola for our first forest Kindergarten morning. 

         It was a wonderful, whirlwind of a first week with many old friendships rekindled and more new friendships begun.  I can't wait to see what this group does next!

Read more from Lindie's blog...