Kindergarten at Children's Garden
Children’s Garden Nursery School is pleased to offer both Junior and Senior Kindergarten programs to children 4 and 5 years of age. All of our Kindergarten programs offer low student-teacher ratios; 8 to 1 class ratio. Small class sizes allow us to accommodate, modify and create individualized learning paths that meet the diverse need of our learning environment. This student-centered approach allows students to take responsibility for their learning while providing them with the proper guidance and support needed to meet specific learning objectives. Catering to the individual’s needs will result in a deeper understanding, higher self-esteem and a motivation or desire to keep learning.
Students will be able to discover and explore through hands on learning, problem solving, predicting, questioning, and risk taking in both small and large group settings.
Full Day Kindergarten Program
Our full-day Kindergarten program takes place Monday through Friday and is available for students whose parents have chosen to keep their child in a small group setting. This environment is recommended to either prepare students for future private school enrollment or to continue on in the public school system. Students enrolled in this program will experience all aspects of the learning curriculum including assemblies, field trips, and drama plays.
Our full-day program runs from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm.
Kindergarten Curriculum
Although we have a wide and varied curriculum for your children to enjoy, the primary focus of the kindergarten program at Children’s Garden is to teach children to read, write and gain basic math skills.
We traditionally refer to kindergarten children as Junior or Senior kindergarten students. This may reflect their chronological age, but it is not always a true representation of their level of learning. At Children’s Garden Nursery School we refer to kindergarten as a two year program that meets each child’s needs as they progress independently throughout the various stages of learning.
No matter if this is your child’s first or second year of kindergarten, we start with thorough assessments.
Do they recognize each letter?
Do they know the letter sound association?
Are they already reading? If so, at what level?
Can they hold a pencil correctly?
Do they have the confidence to attempt ‘inventive spelling’ (where the child attempts to sound out the word that they are writing independently)?
The answers to all of the above questions and many more are determined by the child. Some children are very nervous about making mistakes and therefore will not even attempt any of the above although they definitely have the required ability.
Kindergarten is about the process not the end result as the foundation we are building upon needs to be solid. This can only be strengthened by a child’s ability to take risks knowing that their work may not be perfect or even correct. We take great pride in offering a program where the children are immersed in various mediums that make learning fun and allow the children to take risks in a nurturing and supportive environment.
Each child develops at their own rate and within the kindergarten time period the range may be varied without necessary concerns. Their ability to click into reading or writing independently can happen at any time between the ages of 4 and 6. In our experience it is like a light bulb being switched on and then they are off to the races! We have excellent teachers who can provide the children with an enriched learning environment where both collectively and individually the children can build on their skills. Some children move forward faster than others in certain areas of the program and that’s okay. This is not a race but a time where the scaffolding needs to be carefully built in conjunction with each child’s needs.
Our kindergarten children have two years to prepare for grade one and during this time we ensure that they are exposed to a fun, well balanced, and engaging curriculum so that they are independent learners moving forward.
Our two year kindergarten curriculum will include, but not be limited to, the following:
- Introduction to chapter books
- Listening to stories read and told
- Group discussions
- Introduction to new vocabulary
- Maintaining a journal
- Phonics Book
- Identification of letters of the alphabet – upper and lower case
- Identification of alphabet sounds
- Identification of sight words
- Practice of sound/action association (Jolly Phonics)
- Sequencing
- Recognition of initial and final consonant sounds
- Identification of sight words
- Use of readers
- Printing of name (Both in Upper and lower case letters)
- Printing of single words
- Printing of sentences
- Use of inventive spelling for independent writing
- Identification of rhyming words
- Poetry
- Creative writing
- Superstar Learning Computer Program
- Handwriting Without Tears Program
- Sorting and classification of objects
- Counting of objects
- Knowledge of ordinal numbers
- Knowledge of time concepts
- Introduction to telling time
- Identification and creation of simple patterns
- Duplication of simple patterns
- Printing of numerals to 1-100 and beyond
- Counting orally by 5’s and 10’s
- Counting orally to 100 and beyond
- Identification of numerals to 100 and beyond
- Use of concrete materials to construct representation of single and double digit numbers
- Measurement
- Addition of numbers 0-10
- Subtraction of numbers 0-10
- Introduction to money (identification and counting)
- Geometry- shape recognition and formation; geometric solids
- 2D and 3D shapes
- Measurement- length, estimate and check area
- Graphing
- Sequencing
- Temperature
- Superstar Learning Computer Program
For our five day students, this is in addition to socializing with their peers, arts and crafts, cooking, science experiments, hatching chicks, assemblies, field trips, winter and spring plays, community outreach programs, French, Sportball, Music, Drama etc.
Application Form
Access our applications and to learn more about our application and registration process.
Meet Our Kindergarten Program Teachers
Meet Lezlie, Jill, and Joanna to learn more about their teaching experience and philosophy.
Our Other Programs
We are pleased to also offer Toddler, Preschool, Pre-J.K., including our Specialty programs, such as French, Music, Sportball and Drama. You also have the option to increase your child’s time with us by enrolling in our Extended Programs.
What The Parents Say
Lesley has done an incredible job engaging the children during online learning. She is patient and very inclusive. She ensures all the children are taking part and somehow manages to come up with activities that are fun and easily translated to the virtual platform. In a few short weeks, our 2.5-year-old daughter has learned how to properly hold a pencil and has drawn her first “real picture!” She is so proud of what she has accomplished and so are we! Thank you, Lesley and Children’s Buds!
Humara Rosenbaum
Olivia loves attending Children’s Garden Buds virtual school. Ms. Lesley is amazing at engaging Olivia in a fun, educational and creative way. My older children are Children’s Garden Nursery School graduates, which provided them with a strong educational foundation that they continue to benefit from. I am very grateful Olivia has had exposure to a Children’s Garden program to prepare her for kindergarten and beyond.
Jill Dundas
My son was in many preschool classes with Lesley when he was 3 years old. Lesley would always make him feel welcome into the programs by greeting him with a big smile each day. She was very organized, lesson plans were always very creative and fun crafts were planned for her programs and she always had a positive attitude which showed how much she loved being there each day. Lesley puts her heart into the planning of all her programs and when teaching you can tell she is absolutely loved by all the kids in her programs. My son absolutely adored Lesley and always looked forward to attending programs with her.
Emily Harris
I had the pleasure of having Lesley teach both my children in the Jump into Kindergarten program. My children were both very shy to be left and Lesley didn’t skip a beat to make them feel welcomed. Lesley always made sure each child was heard and had a chance to speak. She is warm, caring, fun and enthusiastic. Lesley always made a point to tell you something that your child did during class, she is truly involved!
Heather Dixon
In addition to how well she works with children, the feedback Lesley provided to parents was unmatched. Not a single class went by without Lesley having something meaningful to say to each and every parent about their child’s experience that day. Communication with Lesley was comfortable, clear, and extremely beneficial.
Every day that I picked up my child from Lesley’s class, I left feeling like my daughter had grown, and like her teacher had both encouraged that growth and, more importantly, celebrated that growth right along with me.
Any child and parent would be lucky to have Lesley as their educator. She is brilliant with children, is fiercely creative, and has a heart of gold.
Jewel McDonald
Our older child started in the preschool class at Children’s Garden and is about to graduate from Kindergarten. What an incredibly rich experience it has been. Every teacher has nurtured his curiosity and built his confidence through a fun and rigorous academic curriculum. The admin team lead by Pauline consistently goes above and beyond to enrich the student experience. The commonality amongst the families who are committed to a positive and comprehensive learning environment has provided the seeds for great young friendships.
The small class sizes are the perfect transition into a formal classroom environment, ensuring that each child feels safe as they take their first steps towards independence. The class size also guarantees that each child will receive personalized attention in these critical foundational early years. Whether it’s the level of French proficiency that our child has gleaned from the afternoon immersion program, the regular incorporation of the most current educational tools and approaches, or the unbearably cute plays/concerts that the students put on, I continue to be pleasantly surprised and impressed.
We are so happy that we will still be at CGNS for a few more years as our younger child transitions to the 3-Morning toddler class. It is truly a special place and it is a privilege to have our children walk through these doors every morning.
Dixie Ho
I found out about CGNS from an ad in a community newspaper. After visiting the school and meeting with some of the staff I decided to enroll my daughter in the 3 afternoon a week Senior Kindergarten program. I had a “gut feeling” it would be a positive environment for her. Now that she has attended the school I know that I made the right decision. I am impressed by all of the staff members and the diversity of the program. In only 3 afternoons a week my daughter is exposed to the S.K curriculum, French, Sportball, Drama, and Music. It has been a wonderful complement to her morning public school. All staff members are very friendly and caring. I feel that I made the right decision in choosing CGNS and would highly recommend this school to others.
Janet Russel
We are thrilled with the confidence and skills our daughter has gained from the Children’s Garden Kindergarten Enrichment program. The small class size has been a great advantage to her development, both socially and academically. Her teacher has been wonderful in adapting the curriculum to her specific needs and, most importantly, she is happy there and looks forward to each day that she is at Children’s Garden Nursery School.
Tracey N. Patel
Children’s Garden Nursery School is a delightful place to send your pre-schooler. It is well-organized with fantastic facilities and friendly teachers who really help the children learn the skills they will need to enter kindergarten. The teachers help the children learn how to socialize, how to be independent and how to play in a group setting. My son loved the music and French classes, the Hallowe’en party, Christmas concert and visit to Riverdale Farm, and the many fun events the school organized. His mother loved the birthday poster the teachers made, and the songs he came home singing!
Marina Jimenez, Globe and Mail writer
Our daughter has thrived at Children’s Garden Nursery School. It is a caring, supportive and stimulating environment that allows children to develop at their own pace. Each and every individual involved in the school is a committed educator who takes the time to meet the needs of each child by actively engaging them individually and collectively in a wide variety of activities. Perhaps the best indication of the success of this school is just how much our daughter loves to learn and the excitement you can see and hear in her when she talks about “her school”! We have nothing but praise for Children’s Garden.
