Ojibwa Indian School Kindergarten Guidelines and Requirements

Kindergarten Not Mandatory in North Dakota

In North Dakota, children are not required by law to attend kindergarten. However, all districts must offer at minimum a half-day program to their residents.

Current Age Requirements

Young students must have turned 5 years old before July 31st of that same school year in order to be eligible to attend kindergarten. In North Dakota, the compulsory school age is 7 years old.

Early Entry Rules

To qualify for early entry into a North Dakota kindergarten, a student must be age 5 by December 1st and either enrolled previously in an approved kindergarten and have passed a district approved developmental and readiness screening.

Required Immunizations and Available Exemptions

In order to attend school in North Dakota, students must have proof of all required immunizations (or a valid exemption as discussed below). Required immunizations include DTaP, polio, MMR, hepatitis Band varicella. Pre-entrance testing/screening Requirements are an option and is being researched to determine the best approach in educating our students.

Early Learning Guidelines

Ojibwa Indian School will follow the North Dakota guidelines for early learning. North Dakota has Early Learning state standards in place intended to prepare children ages 3 to 5 years old for Kindergarten. These guidelines address all core subjects, as well as approaches to learning, expressive arts and creative thinking, health and physical development, and social and emotional development.

What is Kindergarten Ready?

Self-care skills:

• Uses the bathroom and washes up independently
• Does basic self-dressing (may still need help with buttons, zippers, shoelaces}
• Knows and can say full name and age Social/Emotional:
• Follow routines
• Plays cooperatively with others
• Verbally expresses feelings and emotions
• Participates in activities
• Pay attention to a story or activity for ten minutes Motor Skills:
• Identifies body parts such as: head, toe, elbow, knee,
• Write name
• Draw vertical and horizontal lines
• Cut paper with scissors
• Hold a pencil using tripod grip
• Copy letter, shapes
• Follow basic safety rules; no running from the classroom, stay in group, etc. Language and Reading:
• State full name and can recognize and tries to write own name
• Know some letters and sounds of the alphabet
• Listen and talk about stories
• Understand we read books from left to right, top to bottom
• Notice words that rhyme
• Don't use "baby talk" when speaking
• Can be understood by others most of the time
• Uses words to express needs and wants

Math (Beginning of Kindergarten):

• Count to
• Recognize and name numbers 1-10
• Write most numbers 1-10
• See "how many" up to 5
• Identify shapes such as circle, square, rectangle, and triangle
• Sort by shape and color, like and unlike