Pre-Kindergarten

Kindergarten students making their way through an obstacle course in the playground

Pre-kindergarten offers a rich play-based curriculum that keeps children engaged and cultivates agency, confidence, and a sense of wonder in our youngest learners.

Our pre-K program focuses deeply on an exploration of community: learning to be in community with one another and thinking about their role in our broader community of San Mateo. Family partnership is foundational to the pre-K experience, and families benefit from the deep knowledge and expertise of our pre-K faculty who have decades of experience informing their practice. Our pre-K program provides a joyful foundation for a child's school experience for years to come.

A Day in the Life of Pre-K & Kindergarten

Lower School Admissions Calendar

School Day Schedule

Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri:		Wed (late start):
Arrival	8:05 a.m.	8:50 a.m.
Dismissal	2:15 p.m.	2:15 p.m.

Mustang Afterschool Program (MAP)

We provide after-school activities Monday through Friday.

KATIE MCDOUGALL
Lower School Director

Core Curriculum
Specialty Curriculum

Core Curriculum

An experienced teacher instructs her class of students

Reading and Language Arts

Our youngest learners develop strong foundational pre-literacy skills through interactive storytelling, regular readalouds, and dynamic, explicit instruction in phonics, phonemic awareness, and decoding skills. Our intentionally designed play-based curriculum uses games and narrative to build students' vocabulary, comprehension, and oral language skills. Fine motor skills are also built through a wide range of engaging, play-based tasks, as well as explicit instruction in writing.

Science

Pre-K students are natural scientists! Our exploratory, student-centered curriculum provides our youngest learners opportunities for hands-on engagement with scientific concepts, including geology, plant and insect life cycles, animals and habitats, simple machines, and the five senses. Driven by student interest, our responsive pedagogy gives students authentic opportunities to develop the key science skills of questioning, observation, and logical reasoning. In pre-K, no question is too big or too small to investigate!

Math

Our pre-K math program is dynamic, hands-on, collaborative, and thinking-focused. Students engage with games, puzzles, and problem solving tasks to develop foundational math skills including number sense, sequencing, patterns, estimation, and logic. Students begin to develop important mathematical practices, including using mathematical models, explaining their thinking, using multiple methods to solve a problem, and persisting in problem-solving.

Social Studies

In social studies, pre-K students think about and experience what it means to be in community. This begins with an exploration of self, identity, and family, and those in our community who may be similar or different from themselves. Pre-K students learn about and interact with community helpers, spend time exploring our San Mateo community through neighborhood walks, and consider how they can be of service to those in our community who may be in need.

Specialty Curriculum

Physical Education

In PE class, games and activities contribute to the development of large and small muscle coordination through strength building activities, endurance, balance, and hand-eye coordination. Group skills, cooperation and teamwork are practiced both in PE class and during free play.

World Languages

Spanish songs, games, art projects, and stories expose our young learners to the sounds and cultures of Spanish-speaking people. Students develop basic vocabulary and knowledge of key phrases in the Spanish language.

Students practice early reading in conversation with each other

Library

A visit from the librarian is a special part of each week. As a part of our multi-disciplinary curriculum, storytime creates connections to classroom units, reinforces vocabulary, comprehension, and oral language skills, and builds enthusiasm for narrative storytelling. It is a common occurrence for students to exclaim, “Read it again!”

A young student poses with a bunch of grapes grown on campus

Visual Arts & Maker Lab

Creativity is deeply integrated into pre-K learning. Pre-K art and maker lab is all about the process, providing students an opportunity to engage with a wide variety of art media, loose parts, and tools. Students collaboratively design and build cardboard structures, create art from found objects and the natural world, use their knowledge of simple machines to build Rube Goldberg devices work with their fourth grade buddies, and explore color, texture, and shape with paints, collage, pastels and more.

Students and our Lower School Director work together at a desk in a classroom

Performing Arts

Music, movement, and performance are a natural and joyful part of the pre-K day. Students engage in dramatic play and storytelling games, and explore melodies and rhythms through singing, instruments, and movement. Pre-K students participate in formal and informal performances throughout the school year, gently building their comfort and confidence with expression and public speaking.

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