Kindergarten @ MP&MS
Families who choose MP&MS’ K-8 program enjoy meaningful advantages provided by our tight-knit, joyful, learner-centered community. Here are just five of the many reasons to continue at MP&MS!
1) MP&MS’ academic advantage
Research proves that students in small, private K-8 settings flourish academically. This is true at MP&MS, as data show that MP&MS students consistently outperform their peers in local public schools. Our expert teachers honor each child in small classes with a high level of individualized learning.
2) MP&MS’ personalized environment
MP&MS is built upon purposeful, heartfelt relationships between students and teachers. Research proves that a strong bond between students and teachers results in higher motivation and engagement, better attendance, and stronger social-emotional development.
Each day, each student asks: Do my teachers appreciate me? Can I be myself here? Our faculty are experts at ensuring the answer to those questions is, “yes!”
3) MP&MS’ developmentally informed approach
MP&MS was founded on the understanding that school is not the child’s idea. Therefore, we make school as personally and individually meaningful as possible.
MP&MS students come to understand learning as a lifelong process of exploration, success, and failure through which they discover their passions and purpose. Research shows that investing in early education provides the highest return, and that a high-quality K-8 education is more predictive of long-term success than high school.
4) MP&MS’ high school outcomes
MP&MS graduates matriculate at top high schools throughout the Bay Area with a level of confidence, academic preparation, and character that sets them apart. Admission directors across the Bay Area comment frequently on how MP&MS students are well-prepared for the coursework, but, more importantly, how they enthusiastically engage in the entire high school experience.
5 MP&MS’ supportive, invested parent community
The adage is true: it takes a village. With MP&MS, you remain part of a warm and welcoming parent community that shares your values and looks out for your family. Families of MP&MS students and graduates enjoy lasting friendships and valuable support within a village built upon trust, care, and a shared purpose.
Discover MP&MS
Want to learn more? Fill out our inquiry form as the first step!
The MP&MS Kindergarten Curriculum
Kindergarten students at MP&MS become confident contributors.
By harnessing their natural curiosity and addressing their social and emotional potential, teachers support students through the transition from our preschool to our K-8 program with rich learning and increased academic expectations.
Kindergarten students….
Learn best through active play, repetition, and hands-on exploration.
When kindergarteners’ bodies are activated, their minds are activated.
- Frequent body breaks, especially before academic lessons.
- Recognize when to use tools like wiggle boards, different chairs and desks, etc.
- Movement-focused lessons in P.E., music, drama, Spanish, garden, and Pathfinders.
Benefit from consistent routines and rules.
Kindergarteners grow academically with clearly stated, realistic expectations that build trust.
- Morning meetings for social-emotional lessons, schedule review, and starting the day
- together as a group.
- Frequent communication of what is happening now and what is happening next.
- Structured games with clear rules during body breaks, recess, P.E., etc.
Like to help, cooperate, and follow rules.
Kindergarteners crave agency within a defined framework.
- Rotating jobs in the classroom, garden, Pathfinders, etc.
- Teacher-led projects in the Projects Lab and Tinker Lab with ample opportunities for individual creative decisions.
- Topics for class projects are defined by the interests of the group.
Think concretely.
Kindergarteners often see things one way and struggle to adopt other viewpoints.
- Social-emotional lessons emphasize a more flexible mindset and the value of other
- perspectives.
- Kimochis encourage students to consider other experiences and situations, and identify solutions that benefit others.
- Art, music, drama, and other specialist classes promote abstract thinking.
- Work quietly, alone, or with partners, for 15-20 minutes.
Kindergarteners embrace the responsibility of working diligently.
- Math manipulatives develop number sense and early computational skills.
- Self-portraits and personal narratives allow for the development of identity.
- Exploration time utilizes a wide array of activities and games in the classroom from which
- students choose.
Enjoy reading aloud and being read to.
Reading helps kindergarteners center their bodies and explore their world through narratives.
- Students may choose to read during quiet time periods in the classroom.
- Library classes emphasize reading, access to genres, and a love of literature.
- Reading aloud scaffolds to quiet reading through the course of the school year.
Join us for a campus tour
The best way to understand our joyful learning community is to see it for yourself. Come see how our students soar on a campus tour.
MP&MS Facts
275
Students–Connecting from preschool through eighth grade
7:1
Students Per Teacher–Every child is known
74%
8th graders accepted to their first-choice high school
50
Years of joyful learning in Marin County