Kindergarten

welcome

Our Kindergarten Team strives to makes school a fun, caring, and creative learning environment for our students. Through the use of stories, songs, crafts, creative play time, group discussion and work, and role playing, we teach students not only foundational academic skills but also positive social and emotional skills. We grow together as a group and treat each other like family. It is a wonderful place to spend the day!

curriculum

Kindergarten students learn listening skills through the use of our school-wide Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) curriculum. Listening comprehension is practiced as students learn about various Science and Social Studies “domains.” The CKLA Curriculum is also used to teach foundational reading skills. We begin with learning letter sounds and quickly begin reading simple Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) words! Kindergartners become emerging readers throughout the year, which is always an exciting journey! Math in Focus (MIF) is a hands-on math curriculum that teaches a variety of math skills. Social and Emotional Learning is experience through our awesome Dinosaur School Program. Our puppets, named Dina, Molly, Wally, and Tiny, teach students to understand their own feelings and how to recognize the feelings of others, a variety of solutions to everyday problems, how to manage anger, and how to be a helpful and caring person.

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In kindergarten, we also provide many exciting opportunities for our students. We look forward to field trips to many locations around our town of Manitou Springs throughout the year. Our students also enjoy going to Exploratory Classes each day rotating through Art, Music, P.E., Spanish, and TEAMS. Recess is a FAVORITE part of the day for our students, and we enjoy going outside for learning times as often as we can. Hands-on and experiential learning is key to a happy time in kindergarten!








Kindergarten Teachers

Mrs. Lindsay Hammel:
I began my teaching career here at MSES and have been a kindergarten teacher here since 2006. It was a dream of mine to become a teacher at this fabulous school since I was a little girl. My mother, Mrs. Debbie Heidenreich, was an MSES teacher for most of my life. She always spoke so highly of this school that I wanted to be a part of it too! I love working with this special group of young children and helping them develop a love for learning. Kindergarten is a very important year to build a strong foundation for lifelong learning, and I work hard to help every child succeed. Working with young children at MSES brings me joy each and every day! Born and raised in Colorado Springs, I have always loved spending time outdoors. Hiking, camping, and skiing are some favorite outdoor activities that I enjoy with my husband and two children as often as we can go. During time away from school, my family also loves to travel! I was fortunate to get to visit all 50 states of our country during my adolescent years, and it is my goal to visit them all again with my children!

Mrs. Jeana Farrell:
I have been teaching Kindergarten since 2001 and have had the good fortune to be a Manitou Mustang since 2008! After I received my Masters Degree in Education from Colorado College in 2001, I began my teaching career at Canon Elementary School in District 12 and taught there for seven years. As Manitou Springs residents and parents of two boys in the Manitou Schools, my husband and I value the strong sense of community and small-town atmosphere of Manitou. From a teacher’s perspective, I appreciate the high standards and academic success of the Manitou Public Schools. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to be a part of the education system in our neighborhood school. The love I have for teaching is daily returned to me as I see my students acquire new skills, make friends, and gain confidence in themselves. In creating an environment that encourages students to explore, work cooperatively, and make thoughtful choices, I consistently model the excitement and joy of the learning process. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to guide my students on the path of becoming lifelong learners.

Mrs. Missi Thomson:
I am so thrilled to be a kindergarten teacher here at Manitou Elementary School. I am pleased to say I have been a Manitou Mustang since attending MSES in kindergarten and graduating from MSHS in 1996. I married my high school sweetheart M.J., and we have two beautiful boys, Ty and Jake (who are also Mustangs)! After volunteering at this school while Ty was in kindergarten, my heart ached to be in a classroom. So, I decided to go back to school to be a kindergarten teacher. It was a long road trying to balance being a mom, wife, student, employee, friend, and sister, but I did it and here I am…my dream come true! I received my Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Phoenix. I believe that kindergarten is the most important year in a child’s school career. If they have a teacher who loves them and helps them discover how wonderful and exciting learning can be, they will love learning the rest of their lives. The great thing about MSES is that all of these teachers love your students and love learning themselves! I am blessed to be a part of this school and a part of your child’s life! GO MUSTANGS!!!


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