Overview
Courtyard offers a full-day (8:30a -3:00p) Transitional Kindergarten (TK) Program. Students who are 4 years old and potty trained by the start of the year are welcome to apply. Our TK program typically reaches capacity by the spring the year prior. Families interested in the Courtyard TK program are encouraged to request a tour at their earliest convenience.
TK is a year in which students can develop both academic and social skills as they prepare for kindergarten. Though they are young, students are encouraged to see that they have valuable contributions to make as authors, scientists, problem-solvers, and members of the community. Young children learn best through play, so each day we make time to create, move, sing, discuss, observe, read, and of course – play! We want to utilize their natural sense of wonder and love of learning to fall in love with school, as for most students this is their first experience on a multiage school campus. Students in TK will be exposed to engaging group experiences and individual support as they develop their cognitive, emotional, and physical skills. A classroom filled with hands-on, playful learning in a caring social environment will help your child lay a strong foundation for becoming a life-long learner and long-term academic success.
Social Emotional Learning is at the Core of our Classroom
Relationships are central to the TK classroom. Through our staff and a close partnership with your family, we want students to build upon their ability to engage in positive relationships with adults and other children. During the course of the school year, we will get to know your child very well. We look forward to using this understanding of your child’s unique personality, interests, abilities, and strengths to better support their learning and development.
Students at this age are developing self-awareness, so we seek to help them feel competent and confident as learners. They are also learning about themselves and others through social interactions. In the TK classroom students will develop the vocabulary and skills to self-regulate, and process their emotions. Teachers work with students to help them understand their roles and responsibilities in the classroom and larger learning community. Students are supported in their language development and build the relational tools for how to communicate thoughtfully and assertively with others.
Curriculum
We base our curriculum on The California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations (PTKLF). Through a balance of child-initiated and teacher-guided activities, children’s hearts and minds are engaged in playful learning experiences.
Students learn language arts and math skills both in large group lessons and small groups related to their individual levels. In science we learn to use our senses to become investigators, then apply those skills to learning about the world around us. We also learn to use scientific reasoning to solve problems through STEAM challenges, which are frequently integrated with our language arts stories.
TK students participate weekly in the Spanish, PE, Theater and Music specialist programs at Courtyard. We are also passionate about visual arts and integrate a lot of visual and performing art into the TK classroom daily.
Field Trips
TK students love to engage with the world outside our classroom. Some of the places we have visited in past years are:
- Fog Willow Pumpkin Patch
- B Street Theater
- Sacramento Children’s Museum
- McKinley Park
