Kindergarten Program
Full-Day Kindergarten at The Vanguard School
The Vanguard School offers a full-day kindergarten program for students. Through a wide range of activities, students are provided with opportunities that promote positive social skills and character development utilizing The Vanguard School’s “Keys to Success.”
In the full-day kindergarten program, students are grouped by achievement level in reading, spelling, and math. The groups are small and fluid, effectively optimizing instruction tailored to their specific needs. We use Reading Mastery, a phonics-based Direct Instruction program that uses a highly explicit, systematic approach to accelerate reading. It addresses five essential components of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics and word analysis, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Students are also taught how to write in cursive, which helps reinforce the blending of sounds as students learn how to read, and they are exposed to a variety of stories, familiar sayings, and classic poems. Saxon Math is used to teach basic math skills, including counting, symbol identification, addition and subtraction facts, and place value problem-solving.
The full-day kindergarten program allows for a more robust and well-rounded experience by exposing students to an in-depth study of various science, history, and geography units taught through the Core Knowledge series. Students are also provided with opportunities for extra practice and reinforcement in all subject areas and participate in a weekly physical education program.