Kindergarten

Welcome to St. Mary’s Academy Kindergarten where children are encouraged to explore, dream and engage in the world around them. Kindergarten is a year of discovery and tremendous growth. Children gain independence, self-confidence and the skills necessary for success.

St. Mary's Academy offers a developmentally appropriate Kindergarten program where students feel loved, nurtured, challenged and thrive in an environment to become life-long learners.  We are able to do this by using daily, hands-on centers and purposeful activities to help explore our themes. We focus on the whole child and are invested in doing what is right for each child by knowing how students learn differently and adapting lessons to help reach them individually.

At St. Mary's Academy, we also value leadership, social justice and the ability to enact change in the world. Starting in Kindergarten, students explore ways they can make a difference locally and globally. Our Loretto School Values of faith, community, justice and respect, provide the framework for everything we do.

Our challenging academic, yet developmentally appropriate program begins with an introduction to our literacy program, ReadyGen. Students are reading, writing, listening and speaking using authentic texts. enVision 2020 math forms the foundation of our math curriculum and our students learn to manipulate numbers, identify patterns and solve problems with a hands-on approach. Science is hands on and children are given opportunities to creatively explore such topics as motion and force to plants and animals. STEM is incorporated into our curriculum and our children build and create in our Lower School Inspiration Lab.  Students take purposeful field trips, listen to guest speakers and participate in assemblies by leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Spanish, art, music, library, computer science and religion are integral pieces in helping our students to develops as learners. As part of a larger school,  our students are able to work with Middle School boys as mentors and High School National Honor Society girls each week, building friendships and community.

What more will you find in Kindergarten at St. Mary's Academy?

• Small class sizes
• 60-90 minutes of direct instruction in literacy and math
• Traditional curriculum that is scaffolded with project-based, hands-on learning
• Public speaking opportunities
• Computer science integrated into the curriculum
• Indoor and outdoor play time every day: two outdoor recess periods and 30 minutes of center-based play
• Focus on kindness and empathy utilizing Second Step curriculum, provided by school counselor
• Field trips to great locations such as the Denver Zoo, Butterfly Pavilion, National Western Stock Show, local police stations, and more
• Before- and after-school care and extracurricular programming

Kindergarten students have access to a dedicated Instructional Specialist who supports students and provides instructional support to teachers.  A buddy system also pairs every Pre-Kindergarten student with a Kindergarten student as a mentor and buddy, helping both to learn, grow, and communicate more effectively.

View Lower School Academics