Kindergarten Program

Monday through Friday Morning Kindergarten:
(For children 5 years old in the fall)

We follow the Groton-Dunstable Public School guidelines for Kindergarten entrance age: five years old by August 31st of the year entered. Kindergarten students at Groton Community School benefit from the individualized attention made possible by an excellent teacher-child ratio.  A maximum of sixteen children attend, with two teachers for classes over ten children. Five-year-olds are more independent in accepting responsibility, making choices, and cooperating. Kindergarten children develop both a sense of empathy for others and a concern for fairness. Their fine and gross motor skills are typically well-developed, as are their abilities to count, sort, identify initial sounds and letters, and understand and recognize a growing collection of sight words. While still offering choices and opportunities for creative expression, the Kindergarten program has greater individualized expectations for the children to complete specific, structured curriculum activities.

Although our Kindergarten is a Half-Day morning program, many Kindergarten families also take advantage of our Extended Day Program before and after class as well.

Highlights of our Kindergarten Program include:

• Innovative, nationally accredited curriculum and learning environment
• Small class size and exceptional teacher-child ratio
• Kindergarten Teacher, Jolene Zukauskas, celebrating over 20 years of teaching excellence at GCS with over 15 years experience as the Kindergarten Teacher
• Individualized attention and assessment  including initial screening
• Enhanced reading literacy instruction including the Telian-Cas Lively Letters Program 
• Formalized writing literacy instruction through the Kindergarten Handwriting Without Tears® Program
• Formal Spanish language instruction
• Intergenerational musical experiences at Rivercourt Extended Care Center
• Global outreach through participation in such programs as the Heifer Project
• “Kindness, Peace and Love Day” each September 11th
• Memorial Day Observance led by the Kindergarten Class
• Hot lunch program in the spring to aid in the transition to elementary school