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Kindergarten

A class of children sit outside for a read aloud with a teacher

Kindergarten at Miquon

Kindergarten is an exciting beginning to the elementary experience at Miquon where children grow confidence, build friendships, and explore hands-on work.

Children begin their elementary journey in our mixed-age Kindergarten/First Grade classrooms, which we call Silver Maple and Sugar Maple. The Maples are encouraged to ask questions, take risks, and develop the skills they need to thrive as learners and community members.

Every day balances purposeful academic learning with ample time for play, exploration, creativity, and outdoor discovery. Children are known as individuals, supported through close observation, and challenged in ways that honor their unique strengths, interests, and developmental readiness.

A child paints his clay model in art class

Frequently Asked Questions

Two children on top of their crate structure that they built outside
A teacher and three children are gathered on the floor in front of a wooden shelf filled with books and toys, surrounded by bags of apples and colorful building blocks, with large pillows and a window in the background.
Elisa, a K/1 teacher, reads her chart paper story that the class has created together about maple tapping
Over the shoulder of a K/1 student as they journal about tapping maple trees
Children playing outside on logs
A child reads aloud to her classmates
A child works on a white board to write words with %22AM%22
A child does math with unifix cubes outside
Two young children are engaged in a colorful geometric puzzle activity at a wooden table, with a wooden staircase visible in the background.
A child receives high fives from her classmates after performing at all-school assembly
Two children build with blocks indoors together
Some children play outside in the sand
Three children build with magnatiles outside
A group of children sort vegetables with their teacher for soup
The kindergarten classroom wall is covered with students' tree journals and collage art work
Children working together to carry bamboo
Two young boys play a card game at a table in the foreground, while other children engage in activities in a brightly lit classroom in the background.
Children and an adult are busy preparing food at a table in the foreground, while a bright, sunlit room with a staircase and snowy trees visible through the windows forms the background.

A Two-Year Journey

At Miquon, kindergarten and first grade are part of an intentional two-year classroom experience. Most children remain with the same teachers and classmates for both years, creating continuity during a time of remarkable academic, social, and emotional growth.Beginning readers, writers, and mathematicians benefit from an environment where they are already known and understood. By looping with the same teachers, children spend less time adjusting to a new classroom and more time building confidence and engaging in meaningful learning.

The mixed-age classroom also creates natural opportunities for leadership. During their second year, first graders model routines, take on greater responsibility, and strengthen their own understanding as they support younger classmates. Kindergarteners benefit from seeing confidence, independence, and curiosity in action.

While the classroom community is shared, instruction is thoughtfully differentiated to meet each child’s needs. For example, at certain times during the day, the first graders from both Maple groups come together for literacy in one room, while the kindergarteners from both groups meet in the other.

Three students look into the pond
A group of students sits outside working on clipboards
A child stands proudly next to her tree

Social Emotional Learning

Social and emotional learning is woven throughout every day. Children learn to communicate their ideas and feelings, solve problems together, advocate for themselves and others, and contribute to a caring classroom community. Three guiding principles shape much of our work together:

We take care of ourselves. We take care of each other. We take care of our environment.

As children practice independence—whether pulling on creek boots, packing backpacks, or navigating a disagreement with a friend—they learn that mistakes are a natural and valuable part of learning.

read more about social emotional learning at Miquon

Learning Through Play, Inquiry, and Choice

Kindergarteners are naturally curious. They ask thoughtful questions, make observations, test ideas, and delight in discovering how the world works. At Miquon, we nurture that curiosity through an integrated curriculum that encourages children to wonder, investigate, and create.

Long stretches of Choice Time allow children to build, invent, create, write, explore nature, engage in dramatic play, and collaborate with classmates. Teachers thoughtfully design experiences that invite exploration while observing children's thinking and extending their learning through questions, materials, and conversation.

Whether children are exploring the woods, creating a class book, building with blocks, or investigating a question together, they are developing the habits of confident, independent learners.

Children in protective gear hammer on a red table in the foreground, with a wooded area and building in the background.

Building Strong Foundations

While learning is joyful and inquiry-driven, children also receive intentional instruction in the foundational skills that prepare them for future success.

A group of students sits on benches facing a teacher who is doing a read aloud. They are sitting in the bamboo forest
A group of students holds out their hands for a Monarch butterfly to land on
Two children use magnifying glasses to look at a leaf outside
A first grade student works in their math journal while modeling with unifix cubes
The view from above a 1st grader working on their writing
A child tastes the sap from the maple tree
A kindergarten student counts apples in math
Four children gather at a table outside for their reading group
A group of children dig in the dirt together
Two children work together to count marshmallows in math
A child plays outside in the snow by the creek
A child records the results of dice race during math
Two children do a bark rubbing on the same tree
Two children sit on a rug reading
Two students work together to crack an egg
Two children playing imagination games
A child and a teacher look at a plant together
Three children pick apples together
Two children work on a leaf print painting project side-by-side
A child uses a cider press
Two children read side-by-side
Children following their teacher on a hike
The sand box is busy with children playing together
A small child climbs a tree
A young boy in yellow boots stands in a wooden block fort, with another child playing in the background of a classroom.
Two children stand behind a large wooden block structure in a room with shelves of toys and a window.
Three young girls stand inside a fort made of blue rods and red connectors, with colorful artwork and a calendar visible on the wall behind them.
Children outside in winter jumping over pool noodles for an obstacle course

By the end of their two-year experience, children leave with more than strong academic foundations. They have developed confidence, independence, curiosity, compassion, and a genuine love of learning that prepares them for the years ahead.

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