Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) has announced plans to offer two Young Fives Kindergarten programs during the 2019-2020 school year. The district says there are enrollment opportunities at both Eastern Elementary and Silver Lake Elementary School.

Young Fives Kindergarten is a program intended for younger students whose birthdays fall in the latter half of the year. In Michigan, all children with birthdays on or before September 1 are eligible to enroll in a regular kindergarten class the year they turn five. The TCAPS Young Fives program will be open to students whose birthdays fall between July 1 and December 1. The goal of the program is “to provide younger children additional time to develop their abilities and skills prior to entering kindergarten the following year.”

In order to operate the programs, TCAPS needs a minimum of 18 students to be enrolled at each site by August 1. If TCAPS can get enough students to sustain the programs, both Young Fives offerings will be available at no cost to families. Each program will run five days a week for the full school day. When TCAPS has offered Young Fives Kindergarten classes in the past, they have typically only been half-day programs.

Curriculum for the TCAPS Young Fives programs would follow Michigan kindergarten standards, but would be different from the curriculum taught in other kindergarten classes throughout the district. Teachers would take more time with each lesson and would focus on “supporting the development needs of each child” to prepare them for success in a regular kindergarten environment the following year. Daily instruction would include math, reading, and writing, with science, social studies, music, art, and physical education incorporated on a regular but less frequent basis. Opportunities for play would also be built into the curriculum on a regular basis.

Parents interested in enrolling their students in Young Fives or learning more about the programs can do so by visiting www.tcaps.net/kindergarten.