Kindergarten

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!

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.

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!

Ms. Luz Shoemaker
I am Luz Shoemaker and I am honored to be Manitou Springs Elementary School's first participant in The Teacher Apprenticeship Program. This program allows schools to grow their own teachers from qualified and experienced paraprofessionals, custodians and coaches. This program also allows an affordable pathway for dedicated staff to become teachers. I have been a paraprofessional at MSES since August, 2014. In that time, I have worked on the playpark, in many classrooms and on the intervention team. I believe in building strong relationships based on trust, respect and fun. I am excited to teach KG and watch students learn, experiment and grow. In my free time you can find me reading a book, hiking or hanging out with my own Mustang.