Preschool & Kindergarten

Our welcoming mixed-age preschool and kindergarten programs are imaginative, social and, nature-based, fostering creative and engaged students who love coming to school.

Foundational Skills

Through a multidisciplinary, multilayered approach to math and language, starting at the earliest ages, children at Marin Waldorf School build essential skills during preschool and kindergarten. Learn more about how we teach math from preschool to 8th grade.

Connection With Nature

Time outdoors teaches children about the Earth’s natural rhythms and cycles, allows them to experience natural phenomena before studying them in a classroom, and fortifies the child’s relationship with and respect for the natural world.

Play-Based Learning

In Waldorf early childhood education, play is at the center of the day’s activities—and for good reason. For young children, play isn’t just enjoyable, it is essential to their growth, naturally stimulating a child’s neural pathways, and encouraging healthy cognitive and brain development.

A Thoughtful Approach to Tech

Starting in early childhood, we prioritize building academic, social, and emotional capacities in our students, slowly and intentionally introducing media and technology so that it can be used as a resource and a tool.

 

Preschool

Our preschool is designed with the young child in mind, with cozy classrooms that feel like home and a gentle rhythm that creates a sense of order and security for preschoolers. At this age, children learn best through play, and our teachers encourage the children's explorations into the world with stories, songs, beautiful handmade toys, and seasonal craft projects. Through this play-based learning time, our teachers encourage social development, problem-solving skills and language development.

Preschoolers spend a large part of their day outdoors, rain or shine, in our beautiful preschool play yard and redwood grove. This inspires curiosity in the natural world, reduces anxiety helps improve cognition. Then, they gather to share a fresh organic snack, prepared in the classroom every morning. Most mornings, children will help to prepare and contribute to their own snack, helping to develop fine motor skills and patience. Our low-tech approach to school and home life encourages imagination and wonder.

We offer a 3-day (Monday - Wednesday) and a 5-day preschool program and extended care until either 3:00 or 5:20pm.

 

What does a preschool day at Marin Waldorf look like?

  • 8:30am - Welcome, doors open

  • 8:30 - 9:00 - Artistic activity, story time, imaginative play

  • 9:00 - 10:20 - Tidy up / circle time

  • 10:20 - 10:45 - Morning snack (provided by school)

  • 10:45 - 12:10 - Outside playtime

  • 12:10 - 12:45 - Lunch

  • 12:45 - Dismissal, aftercare begins

  • 1:15 - 2:20 Quiet time / nap

  • 2:20 - 3:00 - Outdoor playtime, snack

  • 3:00 - Early aftercare pickup

  • 3:00 - Late aftercare begins

  • 5:20 - Late aftercare pickup

 

Sample snack schedule

All snacks are made daily in the classroom by teachers using high quality, organic ingredients. Fresh organic apples and oranges are served daily at snack time.

Monday - Vegetable soup (parents send children to school with a vegetable to contribute)

Tuesday - Bread buns with honey butter

Wednesday - Oatmeal porridge with raisins

Thursday - Rice and beans

Friday - Baking day

Why is a warm homemade snack a part of every preschool day? For many reasons! Learn more about how sharing a snack creates connection and community.

Learn about our preschool application process here

 

Kindergarten

Guided by a team of dedicated and experienced early childhood teachers, our joyful two-year mixed-age kindergarten program is designed to ignite a child’s curiosity and imagination. Inviting and homelike classrooms and a beautiful outdoor play yard create a nurturing backdrop to structured activities and free play. In kindergarten, we are practicing academics implicitly, learning numbers and language through story-telling and daily activities. This lays the foundation for the academic program in the grades and prepares children for the explicit decoding of letters and numbers that happens in first grade.

Highlights of kindergarten activities include watercolor painting and handcrafts, gardening, cooking and baking, singing and puppet shows, healthy movement and physical activity, a fresh organic snack provided daily and weekly hikes in Lucas Valley (with parents encouraged to join whenever possible!).

Sample Kindergarten Day
Our kindergarten day has a natural rhythm, alternating between teacher-led activities and moments of free, imaginative play.

8:15 a.m. The day begins, doors open
8:20-8:40 a.m. Movement or outdoor activities
8:40–9:00 a.m. Artistic activity (watercolor, bee’s wax modeling)
9:00–10 a.m. Inside play
10:00–10:30 a.m. Circle time
10:30–11 a.m. Morning snack
11:00–12:15 p.m. Outside play
12:15–12:30 p.m. Story time, puppet play, costume play
12:30–1 p.m. Lunch
1pm Dismissal, aftercare begins

Hours and Aftercare
Our kindergarten program runs from 8:15am to 1pm, 5 days a week. We also offer extended care every day after school until either 3pm or 5:20pm.

About Our Early Childhood Aftercare Program
Our aftercare program builds on the daily rhythm of the regular school day with quiet time, play, snacks, and group activities. We work to build a nurturing space for children to grow, learn, and build relationships with each other.

Learn about our kindergarten application process here