Kindergarten

Welcome to kindergarten! This is a special time when children are introduced to new learning experiences, friendships and environments. We are excited to have your child start their educational journey here in District 401.

Kindergarten is open to all Elmwood Park children who will be 5 years old on or before Sept. 1 of the school year in which they will be entering the program.

This page will answer questions regarding kindergarten curriculum, day-to-day schedules, student expectations and how to best prepare your child for the transition to kindergarten!

We look forward to getting to know your child and watching them learn and grow. Welcome!

Full-Day Kindergarten in District 401

District 401 offers full-day kindergarten at both of our elementary schools: John Mills (north of the railroad tracks) and Elmwood (south of the tracks).

The full-day program is open to all Elmwood Park children who are 5 years old on or before Sept. 1 of the school year in which they will attend kindergarten.

To learn what the program offers and to help decide whether it would be the right fit for your child, we invite you to watch the following video. We hope to see you in District 401!

Our kindergarten students attend either John Mills Elementary School or Elmwood Elementary School.

Students attend John Mills for kindergarten if they live north of the railroad tracks.

They attend Elmwood if they live south of the tracks. (Please note that all District 401 pre-kindergarten students attend John Mills.) For contact information, see directly below.

John Mills Elementary School

Grades PK-5
2824 N. 76th Ave., Elmwood Park, IL 60707
Enrollment Contact: Denise Wurtz
Phone: 708-452-3560

Elmwood Elementary School

Grades K-5
2319 N. 76th Ave., Elmwood Park, IL 60707
Enrollment Contact: Jacklyn Santana
Phone: 708-452-3558

Kindergarten Programs

District 401’s kindergarten program is a full-day model. However, parents always have the right to request a half-day option for their child.

In addition, we provide a one-way (Spanish) dual-language immersion program at John Mills, and we offer special education services for kindergarten students at both schools.

Full-Day Kindergarten

Full-day students receive instruction in the core curriculum, as well as daily opportunities to engage in purposeful play and participate in specials such as art, music, physical education, technology and enrichment.

Half-Day Kindergarten

Students receive literacy and math instruction in the morning before they are picked up at lunchtime. Families interested in half-day kindergarten should speak with their building administrator to request the half-day option.

One-Way (Spanish) Dual-Language

District 401 offers a one-way (Spanish) dual-language immersion program in which students who are native Spanish speakers qualify for the (Spanish) bilingual program. Students in kindergarten receive 50 percent of their instruction in Spanish and 50 percent of their instruction in English by a certified instructor.

Special Education

District 401 provides a full range of special education and related services, which are determined by a student's individualized education plan (IEP). For students eligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), we follow procedures for identification, evaluation, placement and delivery of services to children with disabilities provided in the ISBE Special Education rules. For more information about the services we offer, contact our PK-5 Special Education Coordinator at 708-583-5852.

Kindergarten Core Curriculum & Specials

District 401’s core curriculum is aligned to Common Core State Standards and Illinois Learning Standards. For more information about the materials used for kindergarten instruction, please see Curriculum & Instruction.

English language arts (ELA), mathematics, science, social studies and social-emotional learning (SEL) make up our core curriculum, along with time for purposeful play and movement. This curriculum is supplemented by instruction in "specials" — that is, weekly classes in art, music, enrichment, technology and physical education.

To learn more about our core curriculum and specials, please click any of the following rows:

English Language Arts (Literacy & Reading)

Literacy includes reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Our kindergarten literacy curriculum develops foundational skills and competencies, enabling our students to:

Demonstrate phonemic awareness
Recognize and name capital and lower-case letters
Use knowledge of letter sounds to decode words and read kindergarten sight words
Demonstrate comprehension of stories and informational texts; ask/answer questions about key details from a text; compare/contrast adventures and experiences of characters in a text
Read and understand grade-level text with independence
Apply sound-letter knowledge in written work and begin to understand the writing process
Write using illustrations, including writing text that accompanies a related picture and self-generated writing
Participate in collaborative conversations with peers and adults

Mathematics

Our kindergarten math curriculum focuses on the foundational skills and essential concepts that enable our students to:

Know number names and the count sequence
Count to tell the number of objects
Compare numbers
Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from
Work with numbers 11-19 to gain foundations for place value
Describe and compare measurable attributes
Classify objects and count the number of objects in categories
Identify and describe shapes
Analyze, compare, create and compose shapes
Developmentally appropriate understanding of the eight Standards for Mathematical Practice

Science

Our kindergarten science curriculum focuses on the foundational skills and essential concepts that enable our students to:

Compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object
Analyze data to determine if a design solution works to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull
Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth's surface
Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area
Use observations to describe what plants and animals need to survive
Share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time
Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals and the places they live
Ask questions, make observations and gather information to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool

Social Studies

Our kindergarten social studies curriculum focuses on the foundational skills and essential concepts that enable our students to:

Create questions and explore facts
Gather information with guidance
Evaluate a source by distinguishing between fact and opinion
Ask and answer questions about arguments and explanations
Explain how weather, climate and other environmental characteristics affect people’s lives
Compare life in the past with life today
Explain the significance of our national holidays

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

Our kindergarten social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum focuses on the foundational skills and essential competencies that enable our students to:

Develop social-emotional life skills such as listening, focusing attention, following directions and identifying emotions
Collaboratively work and play with peers in activities that require sharing, taking turns and cooperation

Health

Art

Our kindergarten art curriculum focuses on the foundational skills and essential competencies that enable our students to:

Engage in exploration and imaginative play with materials
Engage collaboratively in creative art making in response to an artistic problem
Through experimentation, build skills in various media and approaches to art making
Identify safe and nontoxic art materials, tools, and equipment
Create art that represents natural and constructed environments
Explain the process of making art while creating
List details and identify subject matter of works of art
Create art that tells a story about a life experience

Enrichment

Music

Our kindergarten music curriculum focuses on the foundational skills and essential competencies that enable our students to:

Create musical ideas for a specific purpose
Demonstrate and choose favorite musical ideas
Apply personal, peer or teacher feedback in refining musical ideas and performances
Demonstrate a final version of personal musical ideas to peers
Explore and demonstrate awareness of musical contrasts in a variety of music selected for performance
Demonstrate awareness of expressive qualities that support the performers' expressive intent
Perform music with expression and appropriately for the audience

Physical Education

Our kindergarten physical education curriculum focuses on the foundational skills and essential competencies that enable our students to:

Demonstrate control when performing fundamental locomotor, non-locomotor and manipulative skills
Participate in moderate to vigorous physical activity while performing basic movement patterns
Understand spatial awareness and relationships to objects and people
Understand how to execute basic movement patterns
Demonstrate safe movement in physical activities
Follow directions and procedures while participating in physical activities
Work independently on tasks for short periods of time
Work cooperatively with another to accomplish an assigned task

Technology

Our kindergarten technology curriculum focuses on the foundational skills and essential competencies that enable our students to:

Recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical
Communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals

A Typical Day in Kindergarten

A possible schedule for your kindergartener will include a day filled with academic and social exploration:

Students take part in learning activities focused on reading, writing, speaking and listening, math, science and social studies
Students participate in a daily special. We offer the following specials: music, art, physical education, technology and enrichment
Students also have a daily recess before or after lunch

We Use SeeSaw!

Our kindergarten teachers use the SeeSaw app for digital tasks, learning centers and communication with families.

Information on how to access your child’s SeeSaw account and classroom will be sent home by your child's teacher.

Tips to Prepare Your Child for School

Read one of our social stories and get to know your child’s school:
Speak positively about school so your child is excited about starting kindergarten and learning new things
Help your child be more independent with meals, using the bathroom, zipping jackets and putting on shoes
Practice basic numbers and letters with your child and how to write their first name
Encourage your child to express wants or needs, to be a good listener and friend
Introduce and review school-day routines so your child is familiar with the structure of school days
Make home a place for learning. Designate a spot where you can do school activities with your child after school on a regular basis

Have a question? See our Frequently Asked Questions document, which can be found here:

To learn more about the school your child will be attending, please see the contact information located above near the top of this page.

Again, welcome to kindergarten!

In This Section