Kindergarten Age Qualifications
Families with children who have turned five by May 31st may apply for our kindergarten program. We recognize that this kindergarten cut off date differs from DCPS and have chosen it because it works best with the scope and trajectory of our unique program. Please read below for more information.
Kindergarten entrance ages vary around the world. "School entry is set at 6 in Russia, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, and Germany. In Sweden, children enter school at age 7, in England they begin school between 4 and 5 years of age, and in New Zealand children begin school on their fifth birthday, rather than on a specific uniform date in the fall. Although school entry also varies across the United States, with cutoff birth dates for enrollment typically set by the state, children in traditional American schools begin kindergarten at about age 5, placing the United States in the earlier portion of school-entry ages when compared with other countries. . . During the past several decades there has been a trend toward making the cutoff date earlier, so that children enter kindergarten older on average than was once the case" - taken from the academic journal Early Educational Development, 2007; 18(2): 337–368.
This has been the case in DC, where the original kindergarten cut off date of December 31st was moved to September 30th approximately 15 years ago, presumably due to research showing a positive correlation between an older entrance age and future school success. At CHLG we have chosen to go a bit further still with our cut off date, to May 31st, due to observations we've made with our kindergarten students over the past number of years. In this time we've found that students who are five by May 31st consistently have the social-emotional maturity to manage the University-Model® requirements and expectations both in class and at home. In the time since we've made the change to a May 31st cut off date we've seen, across the board, that our kindergarteners consistently feel prepared for the tasks that are expected of them and voice a love for school and learning, which is exactly the foundation we want to build at CHLG.
Many parents assume that because their child is smart / an early reader / etc. that this means the child should enter kindergarten (presumably to avoid boredom at school). The problem with such an assumption is that it places an unreasonably high value on academic development when considering readiness for formal education, something that educational research does not bear out. What we see in the research is that social- emotional development is as much a factor in a child's future success, both academically and otherwise, as is academic development. We also see that social - emotional development, unlike academic development, is most easily acquired prior to the age of seven (see below for a research excerpt). When we encourage formal academic pursuits too early we risk cutting off children's natural opportunities to develop greater social - emotional skills, because we put them in an environment where most of their energy must be geared toward acquiring new academic skills. We also risk placing students in situations which can encourage the formation of negative attitudes about school and learning, because school becomes a place where the challenges outweigh the encouragements and successes.
David Elkind, a professor of child development at Tufts University and the author of Reinventing Childhood and The Hurried Child, gives a warning with regards to pushing academics too early. "It is during the early years, ages four to seven, when children’s basic attitudes toward themselves as students and toward learning and school are established. Children who come through this period feeling good about themselves, who enjoy learning and who like school, will have a lasting appetite for the acquisition of skills and knowledge. Children . . . who develop an antipathy toward learning, and a dislike of school, will never fully realize their latent abilities and talents."
If your child was born in June- September of 2017 we encourage you to apply to our preschool program. Your child will be placed in our oldest preschool class, Fireflies, with other students who will be of age to enter our kindergarten program in 2023-24. The Fireflies class is a wonderful place for our older four and five year old students to develop a variety of skills sets, including strong social-emotional skills. Additionally, our Fireflies receive a solid foundation of phonemic and numeric awareness, which we have found leads to a natural acquisition of reading, writing and mathematics in the kindergarten year. Our goal is to set our preschoolers up for successful reading by helping them acquire the phonemic skill sets needed to more easily grasp independent reading during the Kindergarten year.
Most young children will have an area or two where they excel, a few areas where they are operating closely alongside their peers, and then some areas that need more specific attention and direction from the adults in their lives. In addition to social-emotional skills there are many other areas of development that are strengthened in the preschool classroom, including fine and gross motor control, working memory, problem solving, creativity, self-help, collaborative learning and the ability to listen, follow directions and stay focused. Additionally, there are many factors that feed into a true and comprehensive development of literacy and numeracy skills, and it's important to ensure that students have a solid foundation of phonemic and numeric awareness before moving into the more formal academic instruction of the kindergarten classroom. We couldn't encourage you enough to consider the benefits of a year in Fireflies!
We welcome any questions you may have about our Fireflies classroom or our kindergarten entrance age. Additionally, if you would like to speak to a current CHLG parent about their child's experience in the Fireflies class or with kindergarten entrance at CHLG we are happy to arrange a conversation. Please feel free to reach out to us via our contact tab.
The Impact of Preschool Social-Emotional Development on Academic Success of Elementary School Students
The below excerpt is from the above article, which was published in the academic journal "Psychology", 2013. Vol.4, No.11, 787-791 linked HERE
The main aim of this study was to determine the relationships between prekindergarten students’ social and emotional development and later academic achievement, using the multiple regressions. Based on the results of separated multiple regressions analysis for each grade, it is obvious that there is a greater association between social-emotional development and academic achievement in elementary school, especially during the first three years. . . . While regarding the association between social-emotional development and academic achievement in elementary school, our findings are similar to the findings of previous research which found that social and emotional development can predict later academic success (Agostin & Bain, 1997; Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Pianta, & Howes, 2002; Normandeau & Guay, 1998; Pianta & Harbers, 1996; Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990; Slaughter-Defoe & Rubin, 2001; Smith & Walden, 2001; Stipek, 1993; Reynolds, 1989; Turner & Johnson, 2003; O’Connor & McCartney, 2007).
Children need a combination of intellectual skills, motivational qualities, and social-emotional skills to succeed in school (Thompson, 2002). With regard to that, Greenberg et al (2003), states that learning social and emotional skills is similar to learning other academic skills in that the effects of initial learning are enhanced over time to address the increasingly complex situations children face regarding academic achievement, social relationships, citizenship and health. In addition, several reviews found evidence of greater effectiveness in the early years (ages 2 - 7) than in older children (Tennant et al., 2007; Browne et al., 2004). “Learning is a social process” (Zins et al., 2004), and if we expect children to enter school “ready to learn” they must have the underlying security and emotional foundation for that learning. Social-emotional development is too important to be left to chance.
Kindergarten entrance ages vary around the world. "School entry is set at 6 in Russia, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, and Germany. In Sweden, children enter school at age 7, in England they begin school between 4 and 5 years of age, and in New Zealand children begin school on their fifth birthday, rather than on a specific uniform date in the fall. Although school entry also varies across the United States, with cutoff birth dates for enrollment typically set by the state, children in traditional American schools begin kindergarten at about age 5, placing the United States in the earlier portion of school-entry ages when compared with other countries. . . During the past several decades there has been a trend toward making the cutoff date earlier, so that children enter kindergarten older on average than was once the case" - taken from the academic journal Early Educational Development, 2007; 18(2): 337–368.
This has been the case in DC, where the original kindergarten cut off date of December 31st was moved to September 30th approximately 15 years ago, presumably due to research showing a positive correlation between an older entrance age and future school success. At CHLG we have chosen to go a bit further still with our cut off date, to May 31st, due to observations we've made with our kindergarten students over the past number of years. In this time we've found that students who are five by May 31st consistently have the social-emotional maturity to manage the University-Model® requirements and expectations both in class and at home. In the time since we've made the change to a May 31st cut off date we've seen, across the board, that our kindergarteners consistently feel prepared for the tasks that are expected of them and voice a love for school and learning, which is exactly the foundation we want to build at CHLG.
Many parents assume that because their child is smart / an early reader / etc. that this means the child should enter kindergarten (presumably to avoid boredom at school). The problem with such an assumption is that it places an unreasonably high value on academic development when considering readiness for formal education, something that educational research does not bear out. What we see in the research is that social- emotional development is as much a factor in a child's future success, both academically and otherwise, as is academic development. We also see that social - emotional development, unlike academic development, is most easily acquired prior to the age of seven (see below for a research excerpt). When we encourage formal academic pursuits too early we risk cutting off children's natural opportunities to develop greater social - emotional skills, because we put them in an environment where most of their energy must be geared toward acquiring new academic skills. We also risk placing students in situations which can encourage the formation of negative attitudes about school and learning, because school becomes a place where the challenges outweigh the encouragements and successes.
David Elkind, a professor of child development at Tufts University and the author of Reinventing Childhood and The Hurried Child, gives a warning with regards to pushing academics too early. "It is during the early years, ages four to seven, when children’s basic attitudes toward themselves as students and toward learning and school are established. Children who come through this period feeling good about themselves, who enjoy learning and who like school, will have a lasting appetite for the acquisition of skills and knowledge. Children . . . who develop an antipathy toward learning, and a dislike of school, will never fully realize their latent abilities and talents."
If your child was born in June- September of 2017 we encourage you to apply to our preschool program. Your child will be placed in our oldest preschool class, Fireflies, with other students who will be of age to enter our kindergarten program in 2023-24. The Fireflies class is a wonderful place for our older four and five year old students to develop a variety of skills sets, including strong social-emotional skills. Additionally, our Fireflies receive a solid foundation of phonemic and numeric awareness, which we have found leads to a natural acquisition of reading, writing and mathematics in the kindergarten year. Our goal is to set our preschoolers up for successful reading by helping them acquire the phonemic skill sets needed to more easily grasp independent reading during the Kindergarten year.
Most young children will have an area or two where they excel, a few areas where they are operating closely alongside their peers, and then some areas that need more specific attention and direction from the adults in their lives. In addition to social-emotional skills there are many other areas of development that are strengthened in the preschool classroom, including fine and gross motor control, working memory, problem solving, creativity, self-help, collaborative learning and the ability to listen, follow directions and stay focused. Additionally, there are many factors that feed into a true and comprehensive development of literacy and numeracy skills, and it's important to ensure that students have a solid foundation of phonemic and numeric awareness before moving into the more formal academic instruction of the kindergarten classroom. We couldn't encourage you enough to consider the benefits of a year in Fireflies!
We welcome any questions you may have about our Fireflies classroom or our kindergarten entrance age. Additionally, if you would like to speak to a current CHLG parent about their child's experience in the Fireflies class or with kindergarten entrance at CHLG we are happy to arrange a conversation. Please feel free to reach out to us via our contact tab.
The Impact of Preschool Social-Emotional Development on Academic Success of Elementary School Students
The below excerpt is from the above article, which was published in the academic journal "Psychology", 2013. Vol.4, No.11, 787-791 linked HERE
The main aim of this study was to determine the relationships between prekindergarten students’ social and emotional development and later academic achievement, using the multiple regressions. Based on the results of separated multiple regressions analysis for each grade, it is obvious that there is a greater association between social-emotional development and academic achievement in elementary school, especially during the first three years. . . . While regarding the association between social-emotional development and academic achievement in elementary school, our findings are similar to the findings of previous research which found that social and emotional development can predict later academic success (Agostin & Bain, 1997; Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Pianta, & Howes, 2002; Normandeau & Guay, 1998; Pianta & Harbers, 1996; Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990; Slaughter-Defoe & Rubin, 2001; Smith & Walden, 2001; Stipek, 1993; Reynolds, 1989; Turner & Johnson, 2003; O’Connor & McCartney, 2007).
Children need a combination of intellectual skills, motivational qualities, and social-emotional skills to succeed in school (Thompson, 2002). With regard to that, Greenberg et al (2003), states that learning social and emotional skills is similar to learning other academic skills in that the effects of initial learning are enhanced over time to address the increasingly complex situations children face regarding academic achievement, social relationships, citizenship and health. In addition, several reviews found evidence of greater effectiveness in the early years (ages 2 - 7) than in older children (Tennant et al., 2007; Browne et al., 2004). “Learning is a social process” (Zins et al., 2004), and if we expect children to enter school “ready to learn” they must have the underlying security and emotional foundation for that learning. Social-emotional development is too important to be left to chance.